by Jenny Penn
Knowing she had both Tony’s and Amanda’s shocked attention, Kathy just shrugged. “I just figured. I mean, Will can’t steal over twenty million dollars on his own. Shit, even if it was all in hundreds, that much money would still weigh over five hundred pounds. No way could Will lift that.
“He had an accomplice.” Kathy came to the logical conclusion, watching as Amanda’s eyes slowly widened with confusion while Tony’s narrowed with a dangerous level of annoyance. “No offense, Tony, but knowing what dipshits most cops are, somebody might be inclined to conclude that accomplice was Amanda given Will hardly knew anybody else.”
“Nobody thinks that.” Tony ground out the words, keeping his tone low despite the veins bulging under the heat of the flush running up his neck.
“None of your guys, but I’m sure this goes beyond your jurisdiction.”
“What is she talking about, Tony?”
“Don’t get upset, Amanda. I told you, she’s crazy.” Tony’s assurances lacked any comfort, given his hard tone, but that sharpness did help his accusations when he turned them on Kathy. “Look what you’re doing. Are you happy with yourself?”
“So he had an accomplice.” Amanda drew Tony’s attention back to her before Kathy could defend herself. No longer sounding tired or weak, Amanda glared at Tony. “Did you really think I hadn’t figured that one out on my own? Please. I was never that stupid.”
“Now, Amanda—”
“Don’t ‘now, Amanda’ me. I’ve been stuck in this house for too many damn weeks to be tolerant or patient. I want to know why the hell you haven’t found this damn accomplice yet.”
“Especially because it can’t be that hard.” Kathy rallied with Amanda, egging on her friend’s annoyance. “There can only be so many suspects.”
“I’m—”
“Oh, no.” Amanda cut Tony off again, but this time she directed her comments toward Kathy. “There could be more than you think because ol’ Tony and his buddies in blue think Will was whoring around.”
“Amanda!”
“You mean pimping?” Kathy asked over Tony’s outraged roar, completely confused. “Or in that he got around?”
“Don’t answer that.” This time Tony cut off Amanda, his tone hard enough to force obedience. “That is confidential information regarding an open case, and you’re about to give it to junior detective over here and get her into more trouble than she already is in.”
“I’m not in any trouble.” Kathy felt a need to point that out, even if it was probably a lie. Right about then, Kathy figured Jack was plotting his revenge.
“And it’s going to stay that way,” Tony snapped at her. Shoving out of his seat, he brought the conversation to a close. “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I have work to do. I’ll talk to you later.”
“You’re going to get it.” Amanda snickered as Tony sauntered off.
“I’m going to talk to you later, too,” Tony shouted out before the door banged closed behind him. The second Kathy heard the front latch click, she lost her smile and jumped on Amanda.
“Are you really going to trust him to get you out of this mess?”
“Of course,” Amanda grumbled, shooting Kathy a dirty look. “Tony’s like a brother to me and to you.”
“And when he’s Tony, I trust him,” Kathy agreed. “But when it comes to Sheriff Black, he’s a cop, and you know what they’re good for.”
“Lots of things,” Amanda retorted. “Maybe you ought to remember that on more than one occasion they’ve saved your sorry ass.”
“Yeah, normally right before they put me in jail, and that includes Sheriff Black.”
“But you kind of like jail, don’t you?”
“Yeah, well, you know the baloney-and-mayonnaise sandwiches keep me coming back.” Kathy couldn’t help but smile despite her determination to present an indignant front.
“I know that you didn’t read about the missing twenty million anywhere.”
“You don’t know—”
“I’ve read every single article on Will and the missing money. Trust me,” Amanda assured her, “it’s become like a personal obsession. There isn’t anything that I haven’t read, and not a single thing has mentioned the amount of money. Yet you know. Got to figure that’s what Tony’s going to grill you on later.”
Kathy snorted and rolled her eyes. “And here everybody calls me paranoid. Just because you think you’ve read everything doesn’t mean you have. How else would I know it was more than twenty million?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Amanda shrugged. “Maybe Jack Daniels likes to talk in bed. Didn’t think I knew about that, did you?”
“If I said I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Kathy asked hopefully, not really wanting to have this conversation where Jack could hear.
“I’d tell you I might be stuck in this house, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get a daily dose of gossip, and your name is on everybody’s lips. Of course, I figure that was the point, because God knows why else you’d pick up that man.”
That’s why she didn’t want to talk about Jack while he eavesdropped. She couldn’t very well go on about how hot the man was. That would only feed his ego, but if she told Amanda the truth, that she’d gone after him to pump him for information, Jack would probably rush right into the kitchen and start World War III with her. That left Kathy with nothing but an old, tired defense.
“It was the rum.” Kathy shrugged. “You know almost anybody looks good when you’re drunk.”
“You weren’t drunk.” Amanda shot that down with the confidence of somebody who had actually been present at the time. “I know you, Kathy. You picked him up because every woman has been panting after him and you like showing them all how it’s done.”
“Okay.” That sounded good and neutral to her. “You got me. I’m actually trying to become the whore everybody says I am. Speaking of, nobody told me that Will was in the club.”
“Oh please.” Amanda dismissed that accusation with a huff. “The evidence was so clearly planted.”
“There was evidence?” Kathy had only been teasing, assuming Amanda hadn’t been serious. Apparently, she had been.
“A journal or log or ledger says so.” Try as she might to make that sound irrelevant, Amanda’s words carried shocking weight. “I don’t know what it is because they won’t show me, but clearly it has to be fake. I mean, seriously, Will couldn’t give it away.”
“Maybe,” Kathy agreed, thought part of her did wonder. She hesitated to make that opinion known, though, afraid it would trigger Amanda’s temper. That didn’t need any help right then.
“I mean, hell—” Warming to her argument, Amanda’s voice rose as she lifted out of her chair. “I was impressed if Will remembered to bathe every other day, and you’d think a prostitute would have to at least be clean.”
Kathy choked on her coffee, not sure how to point out the stupidity of that statement. Not that she’d ever actually met a hooker, but Kathy had watched enough true-crime television to know that when it came to sex, a person got what they paid for. Some people were cheap, and they kept the drug-addicted streetwalkers in business. Kathy kind of figured Will fell into that class.
“And he never went anywhere,” Amanda pointed out. Jerking a box of cookies out of the cupboards, she used it to emphasize her next point. “A prostitute has to go out and find customers. I doubt Will would have even known where to go.”
Kathy did, too. Considering all the points Amanda made, she had to agree that her friend’s logic made sense. It also made it more obvious that Will would have needed an accomplice. An accomplice solved a lot of problems. Kathy had to figure that Amanda knew that, too.
“The only thing that makes sense is that somebody is framing Will.” Chunking the cookies onto the table, Amanda’s expression lightened as she paused. “You good with coffee or you want something else?”
“Coffee’s fine.”
Kathy’s assurance had Amanda refilling both mugs before she settl
ed down. “It’s kind of like a forbidden treat for me. I have to sneak my coffee in ever since the brothers found out it wasn’t the best thing for pregnant women to drink.”
Kathy froze, her mind latching onto that last revelation. Turning it over and over didn’t clear any of her confusion, though Amanda seemed oblivious to Kathy’s shock. She just kept rambling on as she dumped one spoonful of sugar after another into her mug.
“And do you know how hard it is to wake up in the morning without any caffeine? I’m living in hell here.”
“You’re pregnant?”
“Huh?” Amanda blinked before scowling at her. “Oh, I figured Cindy’s definition of she wouldn’t tell anybody would include telling everybody. I guess she actually kept her mouth shut on this one and I was only joking.”
“Cindy knows?” The sharp indignation that flared with that revealing comment had Kathy stiffening up. “Does that mean Rosy knows, too? Am I the only one who doesn’t? Why am I always last to know things?”
“Please, you’re almost never last.” Amanda snorted. “And if Rosy knew, she’d have told the whole town already.”
“Well, this…this changes everything.” She’d been about to say how great the news was when it dawned on her that the timing couldn’t be worse.
“Oh, no. You’re breaking up with me.” Amanda flattened her hands on her chest in a melodramatic gesture she ruined seconds later by cramming a cookie into her mouth and talking around it. “Don’t worry, Kathy. I’ll always remember you fondly.”
“Don’t be more of a smartass than you have to, Mandy,” Kathy shot back, reaching for the cookies herself. “You know that’s not what I meant. I was talking about you being locked up in here. You’re pregnant, for God’s sake. You’re supposed to be shopping and picking out baby names, not worrying about whether or not you’ll be shot before you give birth!”
Kathy’s words agitated her more than Amanda, who blinked and shrugged. “Actually hadn’t been worried about that, but thanks.”
“Don’t play me, Amanda. I know you. You’re worried or you wouldn’t be letting Jack keep you locked up in this house.”
“It’s Jack now, is it?” Amanda lifted a brow at that. “Or did he make you call him daddy last night?”
“Amanda—”
“He looks like the type to call himself daddy, which is just so creepy on every level.”
“You can’t live—”
“I bet he likes to do it doggie style, rubbing your ass while he pants, ‘Oh yeah, baby. Give it to daddy.’”
“Amanda, enough! I’m trying to have a serious conversation here.”
“No, you’re not.” Amanda shook her head at Kathy as she shot to the edge of her seat. “You’re about to try and convince me that something has to be done, but, of course, because men don’t listen and cops are always stupid, it has to be you who handles it.”
“That shows how much you know,” Kathy shot back. “I was going to say it had to be me because nobody talks to cops…and men are stupid.”
“Tony told you to stay the hell out of it, and now I’m telling you. Stay out of it.”
“It won’t do no good.” Jack grunted from the back door, startling both women with his sudden interruption. “It’s clear the woman doesn’t listen worth a damn.”
Chapter 8
Jack forced the air filling his lungs to escape at a slow and steady pace. The fingers that itched to curl into tight fists stayed relaxed and at his side as he studied the two shocked expressions in front of him. It wasn’t enough. Hell, it wasn’t even close to being enough considering what he’d had to endure for the past half hour.
This had to be one of the worst days on record, and Jack knew who to thank for that. Sitting not fifteen feet from him, Kathy didn’t look the least bit concerned with her impending fate. If only she could have read the thoughts floating through his mind, then Jack would get to enjoy watching her squirm. Soon, very, very soon, she’d learn.
“Well, if it isn’t Captain Crankyass.” Amanda drew his attention as she straightened up in her seat to shoot him an obnoxious salute. “What’s wrong? The ship going down?”
“Mine isn’t.” Jack stepped out of the way to let Cody Reese in through the door. “But yours might be.”
“Hey, honey—is that coffee?”
Jack enjoyed watching Amanda’s smug expression drain along with all the color in her cheeks. The best part, though, came when Cody lit into her, distracting both of them with their long-running argument over just what she could and couldn’t do in her “delicate” state.
Not only did Jack manage to get his revenge on Amanda, but as a consolation prize, he got Kathy all to himself. She didn’t appear too concerned about that fact, but met his glare with amused anticipation twinkling in her eyes. Damnit, that should be him. He was the puppet master, or at least, he should be, but from the very beginning he’d been falling for every one of Kathy’s traps.
She’d baited him good by calling Amanda to tell her how she needed to talk to her today and then letting it spill that she knew how much money was missing. It was very little consolation that both the sheriff and Amanda came down on Jack’s side given he knew Kathy wouldn’t listen to any of them.
The woman was bound and determined to get into as much trouble as possible. Well, now she’d done it. Jack could tell the woman had never planned to blab his secrets. Kathy had been testing him, measuring his response, and now the little vixen knew how desperate he was to keep his secrets hidden.
Worse, she knew his secrets. That fact alone had Jack nervous and itchy, an unfamiliar condition that left him uncertain of what to do. Tying her up and tucking her away someplace safe came to mind, and Jack considered it. Then he could relax. Hell, then he could have his fun, take his time and enjoy teaching her who really had all the authority. He could see her already, bent over, her ass stretched wide over a plug while he paddled it until the pleasure blew out her resistance and left her putty in his hands.
“Well, Miss Coben?” Realizing he’d been staring again, Jack jerked forward with a sudden rush to cover his lapse. “Did you get what you came for?”
“Not yet.” Kathy’s lips curved up in a knowing smirk.
The satisfied smile had him stumbling over his feet as one of the foggy fragments filling his head sharpened into a clear memory. She’d looked up at him just like that as she knelt between his legs. Then those full lips had parted over the head of his erection and sucked him into the best damn orgasm.
Kathy’s smile widened at the misstep, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips in a gesture so provocative she had Jack stumbling right into the edge of the counter. Sharp pain lanced up his side as the hard stone cut into his waist. His knee cracked so hard against the edge of the cabinet that the sound had Cody and Amanda breaking off their argument. Despite the throbbing that immediately pulsed up his leg, Jack was more sickened by the concerned looks everybody shot him.
“You all right, man?” Cody stepped over as if to offer assistance, but Jack’s snarl stopped him.
“I’m fine.”
Or he would be once he managed to get Kathy alone long enough to work out the real pain bothering him. Forcing himself to face the agony of straightening up when his hard cock had outgrown his pants, Jack tried to pretend like the boner denting his jeans wasn’t obvious to everybody in the room. In an attempt to hide his predicament, he tried to force everybody’s attention onto Kathy.
“But this one’s been here too long.”
“And that’s a problem?” Cody fell for Jack’s misdirection and glanced at Kathy in confusion.
“Close friends have a lot to talk about. That takes more time, and anybody watching the ranch will figure that out,” Jack explained as if he weren’t making it up as he went along. “You don’t want anybody watching to take much notice of Amanda’s friend and decide she might make good leverage.”
“No, we wouldn’t want that,” Amanda answered just as Kathy snorted.
“What a crock of shit.” Shooting Amanda a dirty look for agreeing with Jack, Kathy put her right on the spot with her next question. “Please tell me you don’t actually believe Captain Crankyass’s crap?”
“Captain…Amanda, we talked about that.” Cody turned on Amanda, clearly worn out of patience. “You promised not to make fun of the men in the security detail.”
“To their faces,” Amanda finished for him. “And I didn’t call him that. I referred to him as it.”
“This sounds like it should be a private discussion,” Jack commented as he stepped around Cody to latch onto Kathy’s arm. “How about I just take Amanda’s little friend here home?”
Before anybody could object or try to stop him, Jack yanked Kathy out of her chair and all but dragged her out of the kitchen. He had her halfway to the front door before she managed to latch onto the couch and swing him around to a stop.
“There’s no need to go to all that trouble.” Kathy’s voice showed the same strain as her features as she struggled against his superior strength. “I already have a ride coming.”
“Then call and tell them not to bother.”
Jack relaxed his grip long enough to throw her off guard and then jerked hard, making her stumble forward and right into his chest. For one searing moment, all of her lush curves flattened against his body in a sensual rub that ended too soon.
“You don’t have to bother, Jack.” Cody appeared in the kitchen doorway. “I can have one of the hands drive her.”
“They won’t know how to make sure she’s not followed.” Jack shot Cody a tight smile along with an excuse sure to guarantee Cody didn’t get in his way. Kathy on the other hand wasn’t so easily manageable.
Straightening up and shoving back, Kathy glared up at him. “I’m sure the captain has some dill-hole of a mate he can send instead. After all, I wouldn’t want to distract him from making sure Amanda and her baby are safe.”
“Trust me”—Jack tightened his grip in silent warning—“you’re the one in more danger right now. Amanda’s got a five-guard detail at all times, and you don’t have nobody but me.”