Riley’s whole face turned red. He wasn’t used to women doing anything but falling at his feet. Law had to admit, it was kind of cool to watch his usually unflappable brother fucking up right and left with a woman. “You are either insane or stupid.”
“And you are rude!” Kinley screamed right back at him.
Not only was Riley rude, he also looked hard. His brother’s erection was practically poking her in the belly. If his damn jeans weren’t so tight, his cock would very likely be knocking on Kinley’s stomach right that second.
He might be acting like the bad cop, but Riley was obviously the horny cop. And that probably pissed him off. He didn’t want to want Kinley.
Slowly, her body softened. Her lips flushed and parted. She was responding. To his brother.
“I’m going to speak really slowly so you can understand.” Sarcasm dripped from Riley’s mouth. “I’ll bet you don’t know why Jansen asked you to marry him, but I do. Ten million dollars, cupcake. He was going to kill you on your honeymoon and collect the insurance money.”
“I am going to use very small words so you can understand. Fuck off.” She slapped her right hand over her mouth. “You made me curse!”
Riley growled and rolled his eyes.
She turned to Law, her shoulders squaring. “You can’t prove any of this and you’re wrong. Let me go.”
“Eventually, we will—but not until it’s safe. But you need to listen to us. We do have evidence and we’re going to prove our case to you.”
All that blonde hair ruffled around her shoulders as she shook her head stubbornly. “It’s impossible to prove that Greg is a criminal because he’s not.”
“If you’re so sure, then it won’t hurt to listen. But you can’t listen without eating, sweet…I’m sorry. Kinley.” Law remembered that she didn’t want endearments from him. And it pissed him off. “That’s final.”
She sighed in annoyance. “I can’t eat.”
“You don’t like eggs? I’ll get you something else.”
She bit her lip and hesitated, clearly not wanting to admit the reason. “I can’t eat when my dress is so tight. And I can’t get out of it by myself. I tried. I can’t unbutton the back without help.”
Oh shit. He had to undress her. His fantasy and his nightmare rolled into one. “Turn around.”
She hesitated.
“I promise not to touch you. I’ll be careful. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
She slowly turned around, as if she wasn’t really sure this was a good idea. But if she wanted out of the dress, what were her more appealing options?
Finally, she showed him the elaborate back. The bodice was snug in a good way, and he couldn’t help but notice how it exaggerated the curve of her waist, the way her skin glowed against the lace, looking creamy and so damn soft. He wanted nothing more than to run his hand down every patch as he exposed it, but he couldn’t. His hands were callused. They didn’t belong touching anything so fine as her flesh.
Riley sat down on the sofa, shaking his head in an exasperated fashion. “We don’t have to torture her. That dress already does it. We should leave her in the sucker until she tells us what we need to know.”
“We’re not going to do that.” Law sent Riley a nasty glare as he stared at the buttons. Would the calluses on his hands snag the silk?
“Can you not undo it? Is it too tight? Oh, god. Are you going to have to cut me out?” She sounded horrified. “It really is too small for me. Becks was right; I shouldn’t have picked this dress.”
Becks was full of shit. The dress was perfect. “It’s lovely on you. And it fits just fine. It’s supposed to hug your curves, baby.” Damn it. “Sorry.”
Kinley looked over her shoulder at him. “Apology accepted. I usually like endearments. Just not from my kidnapper.”
She should have someone in her life who adored her, who called her baby or sweetheart every day of her life.
He reached for the top button, his hand shaking slightly. “Is it all right if I move your hair so I can reach the buttons?”
The soft honey strands were everywhere, long tresses of blonde silk that made him want to fist it as he fucked her deep. Law swallowed against his lust.
“Please. I would do it myself, but my arms are sore. I think I slept on them wrong.”
He brushed the curtain of golden tresses to the side and stared at her graceful neck and feminine shoulders. God, he was the horny cop now. What was he doing? Staring at her back and thinking about all the things he wanted to do to her once he got her undressed.
With a curse, Law forced himself to move. He began to unbutton the dress. “I’m sorry about your arms. We tried to make you comfortable.”
“Hell, most of the time you were being held like a baby,” Riley interjected.
“What?” She sounded scandalized by the thought they’d been anywhere near her in her sleep.
“Would you shut it?” Law snapped. “Now she thinks we’re perverts. We have a purpose. Convincing her that Jansen is a creep. Let’s not stray.”
And as soon as they were alone, he was going to have a long talk with his brother. Especially since Kinley had been softening again, responding to his attempts to be gentle. It worked—except Riley kept pissing her off.
“I’m terrible when I’m under the influence of anything. God, please tell me I didn’t do something I’ll regret.”
How the hell could Riley or Dominic think she was a manipulative bitch? Here she was being held hostage by three men she didn’t know and she was worried that she had done something wrong.
Kinley wasn’t a gold digger. She was the perfect sub, sweet and soft. Yet there was a core of strength to her. The people around her took advantage of her kind nature, her desire to please others. She, no doubt, had a hard time saying no. She needed a strong Dominant partner to lift her up and lend his strength.
But it wouldn’t be him. He just had to make sure Dominic didn’t tear her up while he sought his pound of flesh.
“You were very sweet,” he said.
“You asked me to marry you,” Riley said with the hint of a grin.
Her shoulders squared again. “Well, that was obviously the drugs talking. When I wasn’t on a cocktail of god knows what, I showed you how I really felt. I bit you. And I’ll do it again if you try to touch me.”
Law had half the buttons undone, but now he saw another problem. She was wearing a delicate, lacy white garment with metal boning. Corset. She was corseted and she was lovely. Fuck, she would look so gorgeous walking around his club wearing nothing but that corset, a tiny white thong, and stilettos. And his collar, of course. But he would never leave her in a corset for this long. Never. “Can you even breathe?”
“Is that a corset I see?” Riley loved them on a woman, and he sounded choked that Kinley might be wearing one.
Her skin flushed everywhere. She wouldn’t be able to lie effectively. The pink of her skin would always give her away. Law counted that as a plus.
“It was the only way I could fit in the dress. I think I need to sit down. I’m very dizzy.” She fell back into his arms, her whole body going limp.
Damn it. She’d starved herself trying to get into that dress, then they had fed her sedatives and failed to remove a device that restricted her breathing. Fucking brilliant. “Give me a knife. I’m getting her out of this thing.”
“Here.” Riley was at his side, handing him his pocketknife and finally looking like he gave a damn. “Should I get her some water?”
Her eyes fluttered back open. “Did I pass out? Was I dreaming? Please let me be back in New York. I’ll click my heels three times and everything.”
“I’m sorry, baby. This isn’t a dream, and you aren’t in New York. There’s no help for the dress. You need to breathe.” He sliced through the buttons and then made short work of the lacy ties of the corset.
She breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Oh, my god, that feels so good.”
The corset had lef
t deep grooves in her skin, a map of where it had held her in. He touched one, unable to stop himself, and felt her shiver.
With distaste? With desire?
It didn’t matter because they were no longer alone. Dominic stormed into the room.
“Do you have any idea what you two have done?” He was in full-on angry commander mode and the soldier who had never quite left Law responded.
“Sir, no, sir.”
Kinley held the front of her dress to her chest and tried to scramble away, but she was caught in her skirts. She blinked up, her eyes wide and focused on Dominic.
“What the fuck is going on in here? Why isn’t she dressed and ready to talk? Law, I swear to god, if you fucked her, I’m going to beat the shit out of you. She is the hostage, not your girlfriend.”
“I’m no one’s hostage. Let me go!” Kinley demanded, obviously realizing that Dominic held some power over that situation.
Dominic scowled. “No. You’re going to be our guest here until we get the information we need. That was the plan, but now we have to step it up because of something your careless suitor did.”
“Me?” Law’s head shook. “Crap. The cameras in the hallway of the hotel?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Get the man a prize.” Dominic flicked on the television and quickly found one of the national cable news shows. Within five seconds, Law felt his eyes widen as a clip of grainy CCTV footage came over the television.
“Heiress Kinley Kohl was kidnapped yesterday afternoon from her hotel room in New York City. She was preparing for her four o’clock wedding to controversial tycoon, Greg Jansen…”
The news anchor went on, but Law barely heard her because he was far too busy watching the scene play out.
“That’s me,” Kinley said, watching the screen intently. “Oh, I look horrible. Is that when I asked you to marry me? No wonder you said no.”
Riley snorted. “Actually, I had a moment of insanity and said yes. Oh, here it comes.” On the screen, Law turned his face up and was captured right there for everyone in the world to see. “That’s the twenty-five-to-life shot, big brother.”
Fuck, how had he done something that sloppy? He hadn’t been thinking at all. He’d been worried about Kinley and forgotten about the cameras. Now he’d screwed everything up. “We’re on a clock.”
It could have taken the police days to realize Kinley Kohl wasn’t a runaway bride. He, Dom, and Riley should have had up to a week to really talk to her, to bring her to their side and win her help. With that one image, they were out of time.
Dominic kept his eyes on the screen. “Yep, and it started the minute you looked up at that camera. So we’re not going to play games anymore.” He turned to Kinley. “You will get up. You will dress yourself or I will do it for you. And you won’t like what I pick out for you. Are we clear?”
She moved to Law, reaching for him. “I want to go home.”
He let her take his hand. Just because he’d screwed up didn’t mean Dominic should take it out on her. “It’s going to be okay, Kinley. He’s not going to hurt you, either. Can you trust me?”
“I shouldn’t.”
“I promise you, I’ll keep you safe, baby. Just go get dressed. Then we’ll sit down and eat and have a perfectly nice talk. I know I look scary, but I won’t hurt you. Ever.”
She stepped back, and he felt the loss of her warmth. Just for a moment, she’d been looking up at him with softness in those eyes. “A-all right. Please excuse me. And you don’t look scary. You’re quite handsome, but I suspect you know that.”
Dominic stepped up, towering over Kinley. “Don’t try to run. The whole place is secure and you’ll only get hurt if you run.”
Her chin came up in a stubborn pout. “I think you would be surprised what I can do. Where are we? Upstate New York? We can’t have traveled too far. Somehow I think I could find my way to a road, Mr. Whatever your name is.”
“It’s Dominic Anthony, and this isn’t New York, honey. Welcome to Alaska.”
For the second time that morning, Kinley fainted, dropping into Law’s arms. He hoisted her up and held her to his chest before turning to Dominic. “I hope you’re fucking happy. She was starting to trust me. You just ruined all of that. I’m going to make sure she gets something to eat. She can’t give you information if she’s passed out or dead.”
Law carried her out, wondering why he’d ever agreed to this scheme in the first place.
* * * *
Dominic walked into the kitchen, well aware that he was completely unwanted there. Law had taken his damn time. An hour had passed since he’d carried her out like a fainting Southern belle’s gallant beau.
“Wow, he’s serious,” Riley had said, then gone thoughtfully silent as they both waited.
Well, Dominic was serious, too, and it was long past time that he got Law firmly on the same page as him and Riley.
He stopped as he caught sight of her. She was sitting in front of the big bay windows, staring out at the expanse of trees and grass and mountains in the distance.
“That’s a whole lot of nature. Like way too much nature.” She shook her head. “Do you think there are animals out there?”
Law laughed, the sound of a deeply amused man. “Absolutely. You wouldn’t believe how many, baby.”
He needed to rein this thing in. She was beautiful and seemed fragile, but he knew something Law didn’t. “Tell him about your charity, Kinley. Tell him about the checks you’ve been writing.”
She turned, a startled expression settling on her face. “What? You can’t have abducted me to talk about Hope House.”
Luckily, he had everything laid out. He opened the folder in his hand and set the documents Riley had dug up on the table in front of her. “Is that your handwriting?”
She set her coffee mug down, then picked up one of the copies of the checks. Her face flushed. “Yes. That looks like my signature. But why is it made out to ‘Cash’? I never need cash for the charity. Everything comes through vendors and we use our Tax ID to get exemption. These are the private checks, but they’re just for backup. I’ve never used one.”
So she was going to play dumb. “Over the last six weeks, you’ve drained almost fifty thousand dollars out of that charity.”
She put her hand to her mouth. “No, I haven’t. You’re lying!”
And now Riley came in handy. He had his laptop open and ready. “This is your bank account for the charity. As you can see, over the last six weeks, there have been five checks written for cash, each for nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. One penny more and you would have been required to fill out forms. Someone knows their banking regulations. You’re down to almost nothing in that account.”
He saw Law’s face fall as he looked down at the evidence in front of him. Damn, Dominic knew he was to blame for this mistake. He’d allowed Law to focus fully on surveillance and hadn’t brought him into the loop during the investigative portion. All Law needed was firm proof that his honey was involved in Jansen’s organization, and he would stop thinking with his dick and be ready to roll on the mission again.
Law took a step back from Kinley. “When did the money start disappearing? What date? What time was the check cashed?”
Riley ran his hands across the computer screen. “The first date was May tenth and the time stamp on the check is two thirty-five pm.”
Law held up a hand. “Give me a minute.”
Kinley sank into her chair. “I don’t understand. I knew the balance was bad, but I had no idea the account was so close to empty. Greg promised he would write a check for a hundred thousand as a wedding present to me.”
“As a wedding present or to cover your tracks?” Dominic paced as he talked.
“What? No! It wasn’t to cover up anything. It was the first part of the fifty million he promised to endow the charity with.”
“All right. Did he ask you to take out the funds?”
There was a time and a place to
be the good cop. He’d be the best cop ever if she could help him pin illegal activities on Jansen.
“Greg never mentioned anything about it. I know this looks bad.”
“This looks criminal,” Riley pointed out.
“But I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
Was she telling the truth? Dominic sat across from her. Sometimes he thought he’d become far too cynical because he saw lies everywhere. Still, he had those checks. She’d signed them. She’d taken the money. Maybe she’d had virtuous reasons. Maybe not.
Dominic felt a little wave of peace flow over him. He was in control again. This was right where he needed to be. She didn’t know it yet, but he was her best bet to avoid both jail time and her own murder. “Then don’t make me use this. Work with me. Let’s talk about your fiancé.”
“I already tried, man,” Riley said.
He ignored his friend. “The feds haven’t been able to catch your fiancé, but I’m going to.”
Her eyes came up, narrowing as she looked him over. “What did you say your name was?”
“I’m Dominic Anthony.” There was no reason to lie to her. At the end of the day, she would be grateful he’d helped her. And if her gratitude didn’t keep them out of the pen, then he would blackmail her with the information she was looking at.
“Are you any relation to Carrie Anthony?”
His gut turned a little. Had that fucker been talking about her? “Yes. She was my younger sister.”
Those brown eyes turned sympathetic. “I’m so sorry about her death. She was far too young to go.”
“Yes, she was.” He let a moment of silence pass. “Especially since Greg killed her.”
She should fully understand why he had chosen this path.
“Is that what this is all about?” She stared at him. “Mr. Anthony, I am truly sorry about your sister. Greg says she was a wonderful woman. He has a portrait of her that he keeps in the house. She was so beautiful.”
Rage threatened to choke him at the thought of Jansen staring at a picture of his sister and remembering how easy it had been to take her money and her life.
Their Virgin Hostage, Masters of Ménage, Book 5 Page 7