Courting Danger

by Kimberly Dean

  Yet he wasn’t swayed. ‘Those calls are coming in under her name. That’s not a coincidence. She’s in danger. She’s here all day where you can watch over her, but at night and on weekends, she’s alone.’

  And he was right, she’d dropped the ball on that. Nina’s headache squeezed. She’d have to fix it – put one of their Security men on her or hire full bodyguard support. ‘I’m not pairing her up with anybody. She’s not an escort!’

  He took a step forward that put them face to face. Despite the desk, only inches separated them. ‘Did she tell you who she suspects?’

  As hot as her anger was burning, Nina felt a chill go through her. Eddie Hamilton? No, she’d had the best cover Rielle’s tracks. It had been years now, and he hadn’t found her. He hadn’t even come looking – not that she knew. ‘It can’t be. I took measures.’

  ‘Well, you need to get your tape measure calibrated. I’ve learned to never underestimate a woman’s intuition.’

  Nina went still as he practically snarled in her face. The guy was pulling no punches. Then again, he wouldn’t.

  ‘What did he do to her before, Nina?’

  She paled. Hamilton had tried to take over Rielle’s life. He’d wanted her to check in at all times of the day to tell him what she was doing and whom she was with.

  ‘Make the contract,’ the dangerous man in front of her said. ‘Convince her to agree to it.’

  ‘No.’

  He glowered at her. ‘I can protect her better than you could, and you know it.’

  Nina’s chest ached, because she knew he was right. Morgan would find out who was behind this. She had no doubts about her persistent detective, but what if he was too late? She could hire the best bodyguards in town, but they didn’t have what this man apparently had in spades – motivation.

  But how could she put her best friend into such a treacherous man’s hands?

  Nina cleared her throat. ‘I don’t want her in jeopardy from anyone, including you.’

  ‘I won’t hurt her.’

  The look on his face was steady, but was the slight softening in his voice that made Nina believe at least that much. ‘Not intentionally, maybe.’

  She rubbed her hand across her brow. This was impossible. She made tough decisions every day, but she didn’t know what to do.

  ‘It’s going to take the two of us, working together,’ he said. ‘I can’t be with her twenty-four-seven. I have other…obligations. My time isn’t always my own. You can watch over her then.’

  ‘It’s up to her,’ Nina finally said. ‘I won’t lie to her, and I won’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do.’

  ‘But you can back me up on this. You know it’s for her own good.’

  ‘Is it?’ Nina cocked her head and eyed him up and down. His cheekbones were hard slashes across his face, his hands were clenched and he was breathing way too hard for a man who was in prime physical condition.

  She pierced him with a look. ‘Does she feel about you the way you feel about her?’

  Direct hit. He closed down fast, the emotion sliding off his face and his fingers flexing at his sides.

  Nina felt a surge go through her. Never in a million years would she have let tender, sweet Rielle within this man’s eyesight. Everything inside her told her to snatch her friend away and hide her. Again.

  But what if? Just what if?

  They both heard the lobby door. Nina’s gaze flashed down to the man’s hands. Clenched again.

  His tension somehow relaxed her – or at least made her a little more comfortable with an untenable situation. ‘Let’s find out,’ she said softly.

  She strode past him to the main lobby. She could still tell Rielle to leave, to run away as fast as she could.

  Yet when she saw the pretty office manager, none of those things came to mind. For once, Rielle looked relaxed and well-rested. The calls had been wearing on her. She’d been pale and jumpy.

  She’d shared her fears, but, instead of believing her, Nina had tried to placate her and soothe them away. On the other hand, the man in her office had keyed right into the danger.

  Probably because he knew it so well.

  And Rielle had confided in him…much more than she’d confided in her…

  Nina felt guilty about that, and suddenly resolved. ‘Good morning, Rielle. Could you come into my office with me?’

  ‘I’m sorry I’m late, Nina.’ Rielle swept her hair over her shoulder and smoothed it. She hadn’t taken the time to curl it, and it hung long and straight.

  ‘That’s not a problem. I need to talk to you about something.’

  ‘OK…’

  Nina took her hand. She could tell she was making her friend nervous, but she was nervous, too. They turned into her office, and Rielle flinched when she saw the big man waiting for them.

  Her gaze flashed back and forth between the two of them. ‘What is this?’

  ‘Rielle, you know Mr –’

  ‘Scott,’ he inserted swiftly. He walked forward, his eyes on one person only. ‘My name is Darien Scott.’

  Chapter Eight

  Rielle’s pulse took off. It was her mystery man – the stranger who’d made love to her just last night until her body was limp and her brain couldn’t function – and he had a name. A name that sounded real. Darien Scott.

  But why was he here? Why tell her now? Why tell Nina?

  ‘Would you join us, please?’ Nina’s voice sounded funny, almost strained.

  Rielle looked around in confusion. Join them? What was going on here? What were they talking about?

  She took the seat Nina had indicated and tucked her ankles together underneath the chair. Darien…Scott…She still didn’t know what to call him, but he took the seat next to her and stretched out his long legs. He looked comfortable, but she could feel the snap in the air.

  Why was he here, during office hours, no less? Had he been caught? Oh, God. He must have been. Detective Morgan was going to show up any time now. She tried to catch his eye. She needed a sign. What did he need her to do? Her first instinct was to cover for him, but then she looked at Nina. She couldn’t lie to her friend.

  Was that what this was about? Had Nina found out what the two of them had been doing? Was she confronting them?

  Nina fiddled with the blue dolphin on her desk. ‘Mr Scott is here to enquire about Luxxor’s services, but his request is rather unusual.’

  Services?

  Rielle stared at her boss blankly, not sure she’d heard correctly. He wanted to use their services? Relief flooded her. He wasn’t going to be charged with breaking and entering or tampering with their computer system. But…Her thoughts stumbled into one another as she tried to adjust. Services. OK, so did Nina need her to take notes? She didn’t usually take part in these meetings, but…that meant he was here to hire an escort…

  Rielle went still, and her chest squeezed. He was hiring an escort?

  Her eyes stung, and she blinked fast. She had no claim over him. She hadn’t even known his name until a few moments ago, but she’d thought…when they touched…

  ‘Rielle,’ he said sharply. He caught her hand, but she yanked it away.

  Why hurt her deliberately like this? If he wanted an escort, she didn’t need to be in the room. Why shove it in her face like this? Was he that irritated that she hadn’t asked him up last night?

  Oh, God. How did she manage to attract these types?

  Nina shook her head. ‘No, that’s it. I’m not even going to ask her.’

  Rielle swallowed past the lump in her throat. ‘Ask me what?’

  Was there an escort in particular he wanted to request? Did he need help setting up a special evening? Did he need a reservation at an impossible event? She pressed her lips together hard. Oh, no. He had access to those already, didn’t he? Through those mysterious connections of his.

  ‘Damn it, Rielle,’ he said gruffly. ‘Listen to her. I want you.’

  She blocked out the sound of his voice. What w
as wrong with her? This was the reason he’d come here in the first place, to hire an escort. She’d just gotten in the way.

  She should be happy about this. He’d talked her into too many things. He’d been following her all over town. She never should have let him close. She knew better.

  ‘I’ve agreed to nothing,’ Nina said. ‘I wanted to have this discussion with you, out in the open.’

  Rielle nodded in understanding. Wait. Her head spun towards him. ‘What?’

  ‘I want you to escort me.’

  ‘But…’ She couldn’t make her thoughts process correctly. ‘Where?’

  The corners of his lips twitched. ‘Everywhere.’

  ‘Rielle,’ Nina said patiently, ‘Mr Scott would like you to act as his escort.’

  Her thoughts finally snapped into alignment. Crystal-clear alignment. Rielle shot out of her chair and stared at them in disbelief. Anger flared up inside her, anger at both of them.

  ‘Why?’ she demanded of him. ‘Why would you come here, asking for this?’

  And Nina was actually considering it? ‘Why would you put me on the market like that?’

  Was the money that good? Did he have something on her boss?

  She wasn’t an escort, no matter how attractive she found the man. It didn’t matter that they’d already made love all over this very room.

  The sofa behind him suddenly seemed big. Rielle glared at Nina instead, but all she could see was the window behind her, the one with a piece of varnish peeled off where she’d clawed at the frame. Her face heated unbearably. She could practically hear the shower in the room behind her.

  ‘It’s not like that.’ Nina bowed her head and squeezed her temples with both hands. ‘It’s about the calls. Mr Scott thinks you need protection during off hours, and he’s made a good case. Good enough for me to consider it, but I want you to make the decision.’

  ‘Think of me as your own personal bodyguard,’ he said.

  His look was hot and unsettling. He knew all about her personal body. He’d muddled her thoughts last night so much so that she’d barely been able to make it to her apartment before she’d crashed. She’d managed to get her clothes off, but she didn’t think she’d so much as moved once she’d hit the mattress naked.

  She had to still be dreaming. That was the only explanation. Why else would Nina be treating him like any other client?

  Because she didn’t know who he was.

  The insight hit like a meteorite. Rielle knew him, because she’d been bumping into him everywhere she turned in the city, but Nina didn’t know that. She didn’t know what the two of them had done together. She didn’t know that he was the man she’d sicked her private security team after as Enemy Number 1. She hadn’t recognised him from the night when he’d brought Rielle back from the White House event. It was the only reason Rielle could think of why her boss didn’t have her stiletto at his throat.

  Rielle bit her tongue. Oh, God. And she hadn’t told her.

  ‘Nina,’ she said hoarsely. ‘This is the man who took me to the White House reception…as Mel Summers. He’s the one who got into our database.’

  Nina’s glare was icy as she turned it on their visitor. ‘I’m aware of that. One of my requirements before he leaves his room is that he’s going to tell me how he did that. Aren’t you, Mr Scott?’

  He eased back in his chair and his chin lifted, but he didn’t agree one way or the other.

  Rielle shifted uneasily. She’d already asked him to do that, and she suspected the glitch was already gone.

  Nina pressed her hands against her temples and closed her eyes. Rielle didn’t need to look to know that, beneath the desk, her boss’s stiletto was tapping furiously. She hesitantly sat back down on the edge of her chair.

  Nina finally took a deep breath, folded her hands together and lifted her chin. ‘Why didn’t you tell me how serious these calls were getting? You’ve received them on your own phone?’

  Rielle shot a look at Darien. ‘Fink.’

  He shrugged, and Nina blinked in surprise.

  Rielle ran a hand through her hair. She’d forgotten to tell Nina that. It had been one call, and Darien had been all over it.

  And all over her.

  ‘I got a new phone,’ she said weakly. ‘The caller shouldn’t be able to do that again.’

  Nina’s eyes flared. ‘Not good enough. Mr Scott thinks it’s time we take more drastic steps, and I tend to agree with him even more now that I’ve heard this. But it all comes down to what you want.’

  Rielle shook her head. She knew her brain was still sluggish, but she couldn’t believe that Nina was onboard with this plan. ‘You’d put me in the hands of someone you don’t even know?’

  Nina turned a ring on her pinky finger. ‘I got a referral last night.’ She glowered in Darien’s direction. ‘Late last night.’

  She watched him through narrowed eyes as she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. ‘If he is what I think he is, there’s nobody better to do the job.’

  ‘Back-handed, but I’ll take it,’ he muttered.

  Rielle wasn’t comfortable with the decisions that were hanging in the air. The phone calls terrified her, but this was a radical solution, and she felt like she was being swept along. ‘But…But…Detective Morgan could help.’

  Darien swung forward in his chair. ‘That man is not going to watch over you while you sleep at night.’

  And he was? Rielle flushed.

  ‘Speaking of dos and don’ts, before we go any further, I have a list – and Rielle can add whatever else she wants. All of this is moot if you can’t meet the requirements.’

  The man facing off against them was intractable. ‘Let’s hear them.’

  ‘Number one.’ Nina ticked it off with her index finger. ‘I’m to be kept in the loop. I need more information than I’ve been given up to this point. I don’t like being in the dark.’

  ‘I’ll tell you what I think you need to know,’ Scott said.

  Nina’s mouth pinched in frustration, but she flicked her second finger upwards. ‘Number two, this matter will be handled as swiftly as possible.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘And number three, our no-contact clause will be in full effect.’

  Rielle cringed back in her chair. Oh, that one might get a response out of him.

  Sure enough, Darien sat forward. ‘What does that mean?’

  Nina folded her arms over her chest. ‘No sex.’

  ‘Like hell.’ His response was immediate and explosive.

  The cool blonde only raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s a deal-breaker.’

  ‘Then you’ll have to make us stop first.’

  Ooh. Rielle bent her head and let her hair hide her. She knew how intimate some of these contracts got. They left nothing to the imagination. If he asked for an exclusive arrangement…

  Smoke virtually poured from Nina’s ears. ‘You took advantage of her when she’s at her most vulnerable?’

  Rielle squirmed. She hated being typed as vulnerable or weak or susceptible. Yet that’s exactly what she was to him, susceptible, so she kept quiet.

  ‘Vulnerable, my ass.’ He wasn’t going down without a fight. ‘She nearly put her elbow through my ribcage yesterday when that last call spooked her.’

  Nina looked at her, dumbfounded. ‘Who are you and what have you done with my quiet, sweet assistant?’

  Rielle couldn’t hold the gaze.

  Scott crossed his ankle over his other knee, and his foot bounced. He knew he had the upper hand. ‘This contract puts her in my bed – unless I do something that makes her kick me to the couch.’

  Rielle was never going to be able to show her face again. ‘I’m sitting right here.’

  ‘Come on, Beautiful,’ he said, his voice quiet. ‘What do you say? Enough of this. Take me on.’

  Oh, God. What they were asking of her!

  Rielle teetered on a precarious cliff. This was so outside her comfort zone. How had things come to this?
She’d had a fling with him – a wild, out-of-control fling – but she was not a professional.

  ‘I went out with him to save face for Luxxor,’ she said to Nina.

  ‘And you slept with me because you wanted to,’ he growled.

  Almost as if they’d summoned it, off in the distance came a familiar jangle. Rielle’s head whirled around so fast, her hair whipped her in the face. Her desk phone was ringing.

  Nina stiffened. ‘I’m sorry. I forgot to forward it this morning.’

  ‘Maybe it’s a normal business call,’ Darien said.

  ‘True.’ Nina pushed a button with her French-tipped fingernail to transfer the call, but she pulled her hand back sharply.

  Darien leaned over the desk, but Rielle already knew what the caller ID said.

  ‘Rielle Sands,’ he read aloud. ‘Shit.’

  ‘I’m disconnecting before it can go to voicemail,’ Nina promised.

  ‘No.’ He moved so fast, it was a blur. He caught Nina’s wrist and held her back. ‘I want to hear it. Put it on speaker.’

  Nina shot a look in Rielle’s direction.

  ‘She can take it,’ he said flatly. ‘She’s heard it before.’

  Nina licked her lips, and answered the call. ‘Hello?’

  Silence greeted them. Silence and soft breaths. Rielle’s skin crawled. She wanted to plug her ears, but this time she heard a rasp. Her chin came up. She leaned closer and heard it again.

  ‘Who is this?’ Darien demanded.

  The rasp cut off abruptly. They were met again with silence until a harsh voice asked, ‘Is that Mel?’

  Rielle shot out of her chair. The call disconnected from the other end, but she was already across the room. She pressed her shoulders against the wall and looked at Darien. He really wasn’t the caller. She’d known he wasn’t, but she’d hoped…

  He came at her hard. ‘How did he know that? How did he get that information?’

  ‘I asked once if it was you.’

  He jerked as if she’d hit him.

  ‘It was the first call.’ She put a hand on his chest. His lungs were working as hard as hers were. ‘It was before I figured out what was going on. I swear.’

  He hung his head and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Draw up the contract,’ he told Nina. ‘I want full access to her. No boundaries. Don’t handcuff me here.’