Dane

by AC Arthur

Dane continued. “And what about Hiari? Does your investigation involve finding her and the other girls that were kidnapped?”

  Silence ensued and Zera sighed.

  She slipped her hand away from Dane’s and stood. Walking to the bar across the room, she set the glass on the bar top and stood with her back to everyone for a few seconds. She took deep steadying breaths and thought about her next words carefully before turning back to face them.

  Dane was staring at her with concern, a look she hadn’t seen on him before, but one that touched her heart with warm fingers that seemed to tighten their grip with each second that passed. Roark had relaxed his stance only slightly, but still looked at her with leery eyes. Suri and Necole sat quietly. Cade was waiting. He had already profiled her so it was a good possibility he knew exactly what she was getting ready to say.

  “The reason I left the FBI to come here alone and look for Hiari is because I knew that nobody else was going to do it. The years have passed and there have been more times than I can recall that I felt like I was wasting my time. Like I was never going to find her. But then there would be a clue. I’d overhear Emmet on the phone with an associate mentioning kidnappings in South Africa. Or I’d find notes in Emmet’s pockets with numbers about groups that were being taking out of the country and brought to the UK or other places to be put up for sale. Each time I thought it was time to stop, I received more signs that I needed to continue and so I did. Now you want me to walk away and let you handle it. But you haven’t given me any assurances that you will actually handle this situation,” Zera told them.

  “We do not operate in assurances, Zera. You already know that,” Necole said.

  “Then I don’t tell you a damn thing,” was Zera’s retort. “If you cannot assure me that real efforts will be taken to follow the leads I’ve uncovered on my own, then I will keep them to myself and find my cousin on my own.”

  She’d said on her own but Zera had immediately looked to Dane. To her surprise and utter joy, he nodded his agreement with what she’d said.

  “Then you have it,” Cade spoke up before Necole could. “Necole leads the case through Interpol, I’ll stay connected only through the Trudeau link. But that will just be how we document it on paper. You give us this information, Zera, and I guarantee you that I will do everything in my power to find out what happened to your cousin.”

  “So she tells you what she knows and then she gets gone,” Suri said. “That makes sense. And I know the perfect place she can go. To the Donovan country house in Le Boulay. It’s lovely there this time of year and my mother and Aunt Birdie are already there planning a family gathering to take place in a couple of days. It’s secluded and she’ll still remain close enough that if you need her for more information you can get to her more easily than if she returns to the U.S.”

  All eyes had turned to Suri while she spoke. Then, as if waiting with baited breath, they all shifted to Zera.

  She looked at Dane. Their gazes held while thoughts soared through her mind. Dane had assured her he would help and Zera was both touched and eager to get started. But maybe Aasir had been right in keeping Necole in the loop. The task force assigned to working on these cases would be the ideal place for this investigation to continue. And with Cade’s connections, things could get moving even faster than if they only worked with Dane’s resources. Because Dane wasn’t in the FBI.

  “I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ve probably already lost my job. And I will eventually get over my part in getting Ines shot. But what I absolutely cannot do is ever return to my home in Kenya if I do not find out what happened to Hiari.” Her voice cracked as she said her cousin’s name.

  Dane stood and walked to her. He took her hand and brought it up to his lips to kiss.

  “I promised you we would find out and that offer still stands. Whichever route you decide to take I’ll help you. But I do have to say that your safety is a priority. It has to be considered,” he told her.

  Zera agreed. Getting herself killed would not help Hiari or any of the other girls.

  “Your family has a country house in Le Boulay. I never thought about meeting your family,” she said.

  “Neither did I,” he replied.

  “They’re going to love both of you!” Suri exclaimed.

  Chapter 14

  Le Boulay, Centre, France

  Two days later, three black SUVs with bulletproof tinted glass windows and two Interpol agents in each drove away from the San Régis hotel. Each SUV went in different directions at the first intersection. A silver sedan trailed them. Police officers were in the sedans. Dane and Zera were in one of the SUVs. They’d once again used the back exit of the hotel leaving in the middle of the night. Security was a big issue when threats by the mafia were a real thing. That was exactly what Zera had to explain to Ines and her grandmother at the hospital yesterday.

  “The police have arrested Pierre. He’ll be charged with manufacturing and distributing drugs,” Zera said as she’d stood next to Ines’s bed.

  Frances Buling was seated in a cushioned chair on the other side of the bed, her weathered skin sagging a bit at the jaw, her piercing blue eyes intent on Zera.

  Ines’s right arm was in a sling so that she wouldn’t move it too much and irritate her shoulder wound. Her hair looked darker against the white pillowcase as it spread out around her face. The color in her cheeks was coming back. The night of the shooting she’d been so pale and unresponsive. Zera had been scared to death of losing her.

  “I can’t believe he was working with a real live mafia,” Ines said.

  “I’m so sorry I involved you,” Zera told her. “I should have taken you home instead of letting you go to the club with me.”

  “I wanted to go,” Ines said. “If I recall correctly, I insisted.”

  “But you shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have,” Zera told her. “Now, you’ll have to move.”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve been dying to move to the U.S.,” Ines said.

  “I have not,” was her grandmother’s retort.

  Zera felt like scum.

  “I am truly sorry, Ms. Buling. I did not intend for any of this to happen, but the police want to make sure that you and Ines are totally safe from any possible retaliation attempts,” Zera said.

  So, thanks to Cade pulling some strings with a friend of his at the U.S. Marshals Service, Ines and her grandmother would be temporarily treated as if they were part of the United States Federal Witness Protection Program. Zera hated that this would halt Ines’s career for the time being and she hated that now Ines was going to have a scar on her gorgeous body. This entire situation sucked and made Zera even more eager to get Luka and the Belyakovs.

  “She’ll be fine,” Ines said. “And once this is all over I’m going to New York to find an agent. I know you’re thinking that I will not be able to model, but I will. Just as you will find your cousin. Because bad things happen, Zera. We do not have power to stop them. We just have the power to go on.”

  Now, as Zera sat in the backseat of the SUV, Ines’s words echoed in her head. Bad things happen. Zera could relate to that and still be pissed off at the fact that bad things just kept happening around her.

  Dane reached out to take her hand. At first the touch startled her, but it didn’t take long for warmth and comfort to sink in. He had been holding her hand a lot in the past few days, and sticking much closer to her than Zera thought he ever would. She knew the reason why and had to wonder what would happen when this was all over.

  Even in the dark of night Zera could clearly see that Suri had made an understatement. The SUV came to a slow stop and waited while black iron gates opened slowly in front of them. The SUV moved forward and Zera’s breath caught. Perfectly manicured bushes more than six feet tall lined the cobblestone pathway to the house, or rather the chateau, before them. It was huge and stately. Zera couldn’t wait to see it in the light of day. Minutes later the SUV came to a stop. The agent sitting on the second row in f
ront of them, turned back to say, “I will check a few things out first. I’ll come back to get you.”

  He got out leaving the second agent and the driver in the front seats, with Dane and Zera on the third row.

  “I don’t like this,” she whispered to Dane.

  “You don’t like being chauffeured and staying in lavish French chateaus?” he asked.

  She looked over to him, the dark interior of the car casting his face in shadows. The joking tone in his voice was clear, but his outside appearance was just as serious as ever.

  “I would have preferred doing both those things without armed guards,” she replied. “Because then I could have rode you during the drive to the chateau.”

  The temperature in the SUV increased instantly and Dane’s fingers tightened around hers.

  “Don’t tempt me,” he said.

  “We’re not alone,” she reminded him.

  “We will be,” he replied.

  Before Zera could comment, there was a knock on the window. The agent in the front seat got out. There was a momentary pause before he stuck his head back into the SUV and gave them the okay to come out.

  They stepped out and were escorted up the stairs and to the double doors. It was opened immediately and a man dressed in black pants, white shirt and white jacket answered. His hair was snowy white, his skin an olive tone and his eyes a warm brown.

  “Good evening, Mr. Donovan. I am Carlisle. Your room is ready,” he said, his French accent heavy and romantic.

  Zera thought he looked like he could have been James Bond in a previous movie.

  The foyer was breathtaking. The French Victorian décor not overwhelming, but complimenting the space. Heavy drapes hung at the large windows along the wall going up the stairs. Light-colored hardwood floors with the planks laid in an intricate circular pattern glistened while the mural painted on the walls throughout the foyer boasted a lovely country theme that Zera was certain would resonate throughout the entire house.

  “We’ll stay until morning and then a new shift will arrive,” the agent told them. “You’ll have a team of four with you while you’re here until Agent LeAmbette advises us of a new plan. Nyle, the driver, will stay on once we leave. If you go anywhere, Nyle will take you.”

  “Thank you,” Dane said and shook both the agents’ hand.

  Zera did the same and watched as Carlisle directed the men to a door at the end of the foyer.

  Carlisle led Dane and Zera up the stairs and down a long hall where a gorgeous beige and dark green rug lined the floor. Their room was at the end. Carlisle opened the door and stood aside while they walked in.

  “I will bring your bags to you momentarily,” he stated.

  “Thank you, Carlisle,” Dane said.

  Zera found a light switch on the wall near the door. She gasped once the room was illuminated.

  “I feel like royalty,” she said as she looked around.

  Floor to ceiling windows, elegant drapes in a butter yellow and rich blue color. A plush blue rug covered most of the floor, matching blue arm chairs with an ivory colored table filled the center of the room. While a huge bed with a matching blue footboard dominated the space. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling while a small table and two chairs sat close to a set of French doors.

  “It is a stunning room,” Dane said.

  She turned to him. “Stunning good or stunning bad?”

  He came to her, lacing his arms around her waist and pulling her close. “As in I cannot wait to get you into that stunning bed.”

  Zera’s heart pounded and her center throbbed.

  Suddenly, being sent to a country chateau for protection didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

  Bridgette “Birdie” Donovan sat in a chair at the end of a twelve-foot long dining room table. Sunlight poured into the windows around her, casting the woman in an ethereal glow. She wore a light pink pantsuit with a cream-colored blouse, a single strand of iridescent pink pearls at her neck and pearl studs in her ears. There was a gaudy tiered diamond ring on her right ring finger and her hair was cut ruthlessly straight stopping just before her shoulders. But none of that seemed as striking to Dane as the color of Aunt Birdie’s hair. It started black at the roots, then gradually turned a lighter gray color, before the frosty white edges left him speechless. Dane was sure he’d never seen anything like it before.

  Birdie was the only girl and youngest child of Rowan and Adeline Donovan. She was ninety years old, had no children and had never married. She’d also never worked a day in her life. Thanks to her inheritance from her parents and the increasing worth of her shares in Donovan Oilwell, she never had to. She owned a house in her hometown of Beaumont, Texas but spent most of her time traveling or harassing the staff at the Donovan family-owned Camelot Resort on Sansonique, their private Caribbean island. In a family as big as the Donovans, Birdie had chosen to spend the majority of her days alone. Dane would soon learn the reason why a solitary life suited the silver-tongued heiress.

  “So you’re Bernard’s son,” she said in an accusatory tone.

  Dane was the only one in the room with her at the moment as Aunt Maxine had hurriedly whisked Zera off the second they stepped out of the bedroom this morning. If Dane didn’t know better he would swear the woman had been waiting for them. This was his first time meeting Maxine Donovan as well, but there was no time for real introductions. The short woman with the warm smile had greeted them and then offered to show Zera the gardens, right after she’d told Dane that Aunt Birdie was waiting for him in the formal dining room.

  “Yes ma’am,” Dane answered his aunt.

  Birdie continued as if he hadn’t responded. “And your mama was the one running around killing folk and causing all kinds of mayhem.”

  Aunt Birdie had stopped looking at him. She was now using a shiny silver knife to butter the smallest piece of croissant Dane had ever seen a person try to eat.

  She was his complexion, her skin a little leathery, and her lips were painted a pinkish-brown hue.

  Dane had taken a seat in a chair to Aunt Birdie’s right.

  “I guess people don’t much listen to the words in the Holy Bible anymore,” she said. “Thou shalt not kill is self-explanatory.”

  She opened her mouth and set the piece of croissant on her tongue as if it were a delicacy and began chewing slowly. Dane wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to her offensive diatribe, so he opted to pour himself a cup of coffee instead.

  “And you had a sister too, I heard. But she wasn’t Bernard’s child. He has two daughters by two other women. I always knew that boy was gonna cause trouble. I used to tell my brother, Ike, he needed to get those boys of his in line. Both Ike and Dot spoiled all six of those boys terribly. And now we have you.” She said the last with a tilt of her head in his direction.

  She acted as if she were having a conversation with herself and Dane was just there as some sort of prop. He didn’t really appreciate that.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Aunt Birdie. I understand you’ve just returned from a Mediterranean cruise,” Dane said after putting sugar in his coffee.

  “A cruise can be delightful without all those rude folk to go with it. They just let anybody on a ship these days. And don’t interrupt me, chile. Just like your daddy, I swear.”

  She shook her head and Dane drank from his cup. This was going to be a long morning.

  “Got yourself in some trouble with a woman. If you Donovan men could just keep it in your pants, things would be a lot simpler around here.”

  Aunt Birdie continued to talk and Dane continued to interject with his own comments. It was clear to him that his dear opinionated aunt loved to hear herself talk. As Dane currently had a lot of things on his mind, he was content to let her do just that.

  Later that evening, Aunt Birdie had a larger audience to spend her time insulting.

  There had been a flurry of activity going on throughout the seven bedroom, and five bathroom house. Caterers and florists move
d about while family members arrived. Apparently, this summer gathering was a big deal. Luckily for Dane and Zera, it was a casual big deal because neither of them had anything more formal than a sundress or a business suit to wear.

  “Maxine seems really nice,” Zera said.

  From the chair where he sat, Dane had been able to watch her standing in the mirror doing all the things that women do to get dressed. Tonight, she wore a long white dress in a big blue flower print. A thin gold belt wrapped around her waist and high-heeled natural-colored sandals were clasped at her ankles. If he’d seen the dress hanging in a store, he might have called it boring and dismissed it totally. But on Zera’s tall and slightly curvy frame, the wispy material seemed fluid and engaging. The fact that he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her basically proved that point.

  To be fair, Dane had also been mesmerized by the way her fingers moved masterfully to style her hair. She’d pulled it into a twisty bun angled more on the back right side of her head. She fastened big hoop earrings to her ears and pushed a half dozen gold bangles onto her arm. The make-up she wore was applied quickly. It was a lot less than Suri wore, but enhanced Zera’s beauty just as much.

  “Do you think the rest of them will like me?” she asked.

  “The rest of who?” Dane asked.

  She sighed as she turned to face him, one hand on her hip. “You weren’t listening to me were you? I guess it’s starting to happen already you not paying attention to me because we’ve been together all day every day for the past few days.”

  “I don’t think I could ever get tired of being with you,” Dane said.

  The words shocked him probably as much as the widening of her eyes said they surprised her.

  Zera cleared her throat as if she’d been the one to say something. “I asked if you thought the rest of your family was going to like me?”

  “Come here,” he said.

  For a second she looked as if she weren’t going to move, but then she walked toward him. A sexier sight Dane did not think he’d ever seen before. No parts of her body were bared to him but her arms and yet a punch of desire slammed into his gut and was now blossoming throughout his body.