Escaping Vegas (The Inheritance Book 1)

by Danielle Bourdon

  “Because then, everyone and their brother will be hunting these down, hoping to sell them for big profits,” Madalina said.

  “Yes.”

  “Like you.”

  “Yes. The knowledge of the dragons and their importance goes beyond China’s borders. There are a few specific collectors, extremely rich men—and women—who have sought the dragons for a long time. I work for one of them.”

  “So, you’re not a bodyguard at all,” she said with a scoff. “That was a lie, too.”

  He lowered his head.

  “Unbelievable.” Finally, Madalina turned away. She paced past the small kitchen table and into the living area, too agitated to sit down. Stuffing the Mace into her pocket, she considered everything he’d told her. It was surreal to know that he’d wanted the dragon as badly as the agents, just for different reasons.

  “What you don’t know is that I planned to meet you first, find out more about the dragon, and then offer to buy it from you. I had to know whether the dragon was real or not before I made any kind of payout, but the plans got interrupted when the agents showed up in Vegas. I didn’t help you just because I wanted the dragon, Madalina. I helped you in the beginning because I wouldn’t have just walked out on someone in such dire straits. It became more than that, more than wanting the artifact,” he said.

  At some point during the telling, Madalina had stopped pacing to listen. To stare across the small space between the living and dining room to gauge his expression. Trying to discern emotion from the neutral set of his features was impossible. She resisted the resonant lure of his voice, which might have otherwise mollified some of her anger. He’d admitted to knowing who she was and what she had well before their first “accidental” encounter, and hadn’t bothered to say anything during the entire trip from Nevada to Southern California. Despite her anger, she found her resolve weakening at the end, when he confessed that the ordeal had become more than wanting the dragon. Straightening her posture, she reminded herself that he’d taken her to bed knowing full well that he intended to steal the dragon before morning. She decided he needed to hear her concerns out loud.

  “Maybe it did—but you should have told me. You should have come out and simply stated your intentions, or at least what you originally wanted. Instead, you abused my trust and stole the dragon, and I’m guessing that you’re going to go ahead and sell it to your collector friend regardless of how much it’ll hurt me. You can go straight to hell, Cole West.” Voicing the circumstances brought the hurt and fury full circle.

  “Actually, Madalina, I’m going to give it back to the Chinese government. No, they’re not paying me. This situation needs to end right now, before you get seriously hurt. The agents won’t stop until they have what they want, and although we’ve been lucky so far, that luck won’t last. I’ve said that before, and I wholly believe it.”

  “And there isn’t anything about you making my decisions for me that smacks of conceit and a power grab? Let me also remind you that you knew from the start what the danger was and I didn’t. I’ve been flailing around, wondering if it was the dragon or if it was something else, so don’t stand there and insinuate that I should have given the dragon back at the beginning.” She was furious that he’d taken the choice out of her hands, yet understood that he thought he was doing it to save her. Madalina hadn’t felt this confused and conflicted in a long time. She tensed when he pushed away from the back door and slowly closed the distance between them. Remember what he did; don’t let the memories of last night get in the way. Madalina ceased her internal pep talk when Cole came to a halt less than a foot from where she was standing. A flush rose under the skin of her cheeks and lingered, thanks to his direct stare.

  “I’m not insinuating anything. I’m telling you what I intend to do. And I’m trying to tell you that something changed along the way. This started out as one thing and became another. I can’t put labels and terms on it; I only know that I don’t want to see you hurt. The only reason I took the dragon is because I knew damned well that you would balk and argue and fight me the whole way. You and Lianne both. This puts an end to the danger. In fact, I’ve already had someone make contact with the agents, letting them know that you don’t have possession of the dragon any longer. That means the agents shouldn’t be breathing down your back anymore, and once I make the exchange, that should be the end of it.”

  Madalina read sincerity in Cole’s eyes. The longer she stared, the more she believed him. Yet that didn’t mean she forgave him for taking such an upper-handed move, as if she was incapable of making her own decisions once she had all the correct information. She was still angry, still wary. A niggle of unease lingered, and she couldn’t at first figure out why.

  Then it hit her. She narrowed her eyes. “You’re good. I’ll give you that. I very nearly believed you. But my memory isn’t as faulty as all that, so you can start in with the questions about my grandfather anytime. That’s why you’re really here, isn’t it? You’d like to know if he hid away another dragon or left clues about the others.”

  Cole watched Madalina battle back tears, anger, and other, less-developed emotions. He didn’t blame her for the anger—he’d known that was part of the deal when he’d taken the dragon. The unpredictable aspect was not knowing what she would do with the anger. Now he had a better idea.

  She wasn’t just angry; she was hurt in all the places it mattered most. She cared, even though she didn’t want to admit it. Just like he cared about her. It had taken him a while to realize it, then do something about it.

  “I am curious what your grandfather knew, and yes, whether or not he’s got the other three dragons. But that’s not the reason I did what I did, and it’s not the reason I’m here now. You can get as mad as you want, Madalina, but I’ll wait you out. I’m not going anywhere. Eventually you’ll understand that I’m doing this on your behalf, because I care, not because I still have an ulterior motive. I’m not getting anything out of the exchange—except your safety. And that’s all I want,” he said. Surprised when she took a step closer, tilting her chin to maintain eye contact, Cole forced his hands to remain at his sides. He wanted to drag her firmly against him, feel the now-familiar contours of her body.

  When his phone vibrated to indicate an incoming message, he ignored it.

  “That’s noble of you, Cole. But if you care as much as you say you do, then what would your answer be if I asked for my dragon back? What if I said I’d like to give it back to the Chinese on my own terms, instead of yours?” She tipped her hand out, as if she expected him to produce the dragon.

  Glancing at her empty palm, realizing she still had the Mace on her somewhere, he grunted and said, “I can’t do that. Things are already in motion, and it’s safer for me to make the transaction than you. I’ve done this before; you haven’t. Besides, I don’t have the dragon on me.”

  Madalina raked her gaze up and down his body, as if considering whether or not he was telling the truth. All of a sudden, the devil took control of his tongue. “You’re welcome to frisk me.”

  The challenge was barely out of his mouth before Madalina dropped into an easy crouch. Dammit. Great. Fantastic, Cole.

  He braced himself for the onset of her intimately wandering hands.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  It wasn’t like she was eager to touch him, she argued with herself as she eased to a knee next to his right thigh, hyperaware of his cologne, his strength, his domineering demeanor. The way he tracked her with his eyes was nothing less than predatory, his lashes lowering when she crouched. She set her hands on his ankles over the pant legs, palms encountering the tough feel of snakeskin boots beneath. Her fingers felt around the lower, smaller pockets along his shin, until the top of the boot gave way to solid muscle. She remembered how strong his legs had been, trapping her thighs effortlessly to the bed.

  Stop thinking about being in bed with him. He lied to you. Remem
ber? You’re pissed off. And she was. Angrier than she could believe. It was a potent mixture in that moment, being so damnably attracted to him while wanting to punch him right in the nose for his duplicity. He was making it difficult to concentrate on the problem at hand with the things he was saying, things she wasn’t sure she should believe. Cole was a smooth talker, an accomplished liar, and almost too adept at deception. I’m doing this on your behalf, because I care, not because I still have an ulterior motive. She didn’t know whether or not to believe him. She waffled back and forth between wanting to forgive and anger at his betrayal. Frisking him was a cursory act, done not because she thought she would find the dragon, but because she absolutely could not resist the challenge.

  A bulge in the outer pocket on his thigh drew the attention of her questing fingers, and she eagerly examined the object through the material. It didn’t seem bulky enough, but these pants with their hidden layers could be deceiving.

  Sure enough, she only made out the shape of a small handgun. The muscles of his thigh flexed when her fingers slipped off the gun to his legs. Instead of retreat, she inched her touches higher, inspecting the top pocket. She felt the shape of his phone and a clip of cash. Reaching down, he curled his fingers around hers and gave a light squeeze. Looking up his body, she met his eyes. Then she continued to frisk the other leg, thinking she imagined the low rumble that followed. Cole had a tendency to make the most appealing noises in the midst of pleasure. Don’t think about it. Beneath her questing fingers, the muscles of his thighs flexed and twitched. She found nothing in his pockets except mundane necessities: keys, coins, a wallet.

  “Find what you were looking for?” he asked, sounding as if she’d searched more personal areas than his pockets.

  Madalina didn’t mistake the innuendo. The moment heated to unbearable levels; she had all sorts of carnal ideas running through her head, ideas that had nothing to do with the search. Still crouched, she leaned her body back several inches and, once more, met his gaze. It would have been so easy to get lost in the highly sexual glance he was sending her. Instead of devolving into innuendo with him, she said, “No. But then, I didn’t really expect to.”

  Rising to her feet, she took a much-needed step back, attempting to clear her head. The challenge had been a little more potent than she’d bargained for.

  Just then, his phone rang. Cole held her gaze while he fished the cell phone out of his pocket. Madalina refused to be the one who looked away first.

  “Yeah?” he said. His gaze dropped to her mouth, just for a moment.

  She forced herself to concentrate on the here and now, not the memories from last night. It was harder than she thought it would be.

  Cole frowned, losing the lustful expression he’d carried throughout the impromptu frisk. “Are you sure? All right. Thanks.”

  “Was that them? Are you going to make the trade right now?” she asked, feeling like she had the right to know what was going on.

  “No. Look—we’re not done here, Madalina. All right? I—”

  “That’s not for you to decide.” She let him know before he got any further that she would be the one deciding when, and if, they would see each other after this.

  He arched a brow and repeated, “We’re not done here. I’ll be back in an hour, maybe two. Then we’re going to sit down and really get into the semantics of it. You want to know about me? I’ll tell you.”

  “I—” Madalina huffed, exasperated, when he walked to the door and exited without another word.

  For the next hour, Madalina made repeated loops around the inside of Lianne’s house. Living room, kitchen, hallway, bedroom. She couldn’t stop moving, couldn’t stop thinking. Cole had laid it all on the line, held nothing back, and now that she wasn’t faced with his overwhelming presence, she considered the arguments in his favor. Knowing that he’d worked to secure her safety didn’t, couldn’t, completely erase his brazen move of taking the dragon without her consent. Admitting that he cared for her had taken her by surprise and, if she was totally honest with herself, had thrilled her. She’d known from the start that Cole wasn’t the type to commit, to get deep. In the beginning, she hadn’t cared, having come to the conclusion that if anything happened between them, it would be consensual fun and nothing more. A fling to end all flings, with no thoughts of a future or lingering attachments.

  Yet he seemed determined to make her listen, to find a way to forgive him. She suspected that Cole hadn’t even taken this small a step with any other woman, which meant something. It meant trying, taking a chance, giving the undeniable attraction room to grow. He wouldn’t have come back at all, she thought, or bothered to explain. To lay himself bare. He could have simply sold the dragon to the collector and been on his way. Instead, his priority was her. To end the chases, the danger, once and for all.

  Without warning, the lights went out. Pulled from her reverie, she glanced at the nearest lamp, expecting the lights to come right back on. The city had been dealing with the recent outage admirably, getting power to residents while attending to blinking stoplights at major intersections. Maybe there were still problems with the grid. Taking five steps to her right, she sidled up to the window and peered past the edge of the blinds.

  Across the street, lights shone from within other houses, proving that not everyone was affected by the outage. In fact, she noted, Lianne’s house appeared to be the only one. Unless it was just the homes on this side of the street. Making her way carefully through the darkness, muttering under her breath about flashlights and candles, she came up to the kitchen table, where her cell phone was charging on Lianne’s charger. The phone had a flashlight function built-in, but she sought her contact list instead, intending to call the electric company and find out if there were spotty outages on this side of town.

  A noise from the back of the house snapped her attention to the gloomy hallway. Frowning, she studied the shadows. Her fingers hovered over the glowing screen of the phone, as if some ancient wizard had brought the world to a halt, putting humans on pause.

  This was a bad time to freeze.

  The noise came again, louder this time. Madalina exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding when she recognized the sound for what it was: a tree branch scraping the roof. She was jumpier than she realized. Cole had just assured her that the agents knew she didn’t have the dragon any longer, which should have diverted their attention accordingly.

  Finding the right button, she made her call.

  Less than four minutes later, she learned that all the power had been restored from the storm—barring a few spots in random neighborhoods, and she could bet that the workers would have her house up and running in no time.

  Madalina pushed the phone into her front pocket and went to the kitchen, feeling her way along a counter with one hand. Somewhere Lianne had left an extra flashlight, just in case.

  What she needed was wine. A great big glass of Burgundy. As her hand made contact with the flashlight, something slithered across her face, her mouth, damp and soft and sweetly pungent. Before she could react, her vision faded to black.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Did you get the photos?” Cole asked. He was on Interstate 10, headed back to Whittier from Santa Monica.

  “Yes. I’m sending the pictures on to the agents. I didn’t expect them to ask for proof that we’ve got the dragon, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Thaddeus said.

  “I had to drive all the way back to Santa Monica, to the shop where the replica is being made, just to take the shots.”

  “You have a real camera, not just a camera phone, which takes better photos. Besides, I wanted you to meet up with your brother again and let him fill you in on the latest information. That’s what you get for ignoring my texts. You weren’t that far from Santa Monica, anyway,” Thaddeus said.

  “I was busy having an important conversation.” Cole hadn’t wan
ted to interrupt his talk with Madalina, except the repeated messages and phone call had finally forced him to answer. The news Brandon had to deliver only amounted to updates—important, but not critical. After a moment, he added, “I should have known you’d send Brandon. I told you not to.”

  “This frees you up to do what you need to do, instead of babysitting the dragon while a duplicate is made. Brandon can guard it for now, and he can be there for the exchange at the festival if you need him to. I highly suggest you take him with you.”

  “I know what you think, Thaddeus. Let me know if something else comes up before the meeting at the fair.” Cole signed off and set the phone in a holder on the dashboard. Earlier in the day, he’d driven the dragon to the contact in Santa Monica to have a replica made, where he’d also met up with his brother Brandon. Leaving Brandon behind to guard the relic, Cole had gone to the fairgrounds—which were already being assembled and set up—to scout the area near the funhouse. He wanted to know every entrance and exit and other avenues in and out of the area. It paid to know how to escape if he needed to.

  Then had come the conversation with Madalina, which had gone pretty much like he’d expected. She was angry, had a right to be angry, but he wasn’t done convincing her that he’d taken the dragon for the right reasons. It might take one more conversation, or a week’s worth, or maybe a month’s worth.

  It was worth it. She was worth it. He’d always felt like he would be losing something precious if he didn’t at least have a chance with her.

  That was all he wanted, a chance.

  Ahead, a sea of brightly glowing taillights alerted him to trouble. Cursing under his breath, he slowed the Jaguar to a crawl and flipped on the radio, only to hear what he didn’t want to hear: five-car pileup, expect up to an hour’s delay.