“Look through some shots, make up an identikit.”
“Okay.” The courier nodded then seemed to remember something. “Oh, another thing.”
Luke’s heart shifted up a gear.
“He carried a newspaper under one arm.”
Luke stared at the courier. “A tourist with a newspaper? You sure it wasn’t a travel brochure or a map?”
“No man, it was a regular newspaper, the Telegraph. I saw it because he had the envelope inside.”
The Scot seemed certain of his facts.
Luke covered his eyes with a pair of black aviator sunglasses and surveyed the plaza one more time. “McGregor, you spot this guy, don’t let him out of your sight. Stick with him and call me. I’ll make it worth your while.”
The Scotsman grinned for the first time. “In that case, I hope I see him again.”
Luke set off across the square, unease settling deeper in his gut as he rang Nat and relayed his findings. “Get McGregor in as soon as you can and forget ringing the courier companies, the two jobs were off the books. Walk the city and give his description to every bike courier you see.”
“I’ll get them working the grapevine.”
“And see if you can access the CCTV footage from the area around the Basement and court house.”
“Will do.”
“How’s Tom doing tracing that call?”
“No luck yet. And there’s only one regular call after seven at night, from Groves Hill Aged Care Facility.”
Luke sighed. Her mother.
He hung up, deciding to make for the area where the guy had pulled over McGregor. All he had was a middle aged Australian man potentially disguised as a tourist. He’d printed off two photographs, put them in old deed packets and carried them around concealed in a newspaper. He’d hailed a bicycle courier on the street. One delivered, as is, to her office, the other to the Court House. PAY ATTENTION…or kiss your career goodbye.
And a note, hand delivered to her apartment.
The prettiest people do the ugliest things. Pay attention…or else.
Medium height, medium build.
It matched Allegra’s description of the guy in the garage. The guy he’d captured on camera last night.
Luke’s unease turned to worry as he headed downhill towards Circular Quay, sifting through the facts in his mind.
Noble was dead.
A man unknown had possession of the photographs.
No demand for money.
A prowler at the apartment on three occasions.
One worrying phone call.
And nothing in McGregor’s description that led him to believe the sender was linked to a motorcycle gang.
Luke knew in that instant he was dealing with an unbalanced person. Someone obsessed with her. A man with unrealistic expectations; a man who thought he deserved a prize, a beautiful woman like Allegra.
Luke stopped across the road from the Basement nightclub. All around the plaza outdoor cafes overflowed with shoppers having their morning coffee, and office workers taking a break. If this was where the guy had hailed McGregor, one of the wait staff could have noticed.
And if this man didn’t win her?
The lights changed and Luke jogged across the street, fear building.
He tried to shove it aside, but the voice in his head wouldn’t let up. What if the guy got to her before he could intervene? Slightly built, she wouldn’t stand a chance against most men. And to think she’d been worried about him last night.
Luke opened his jacket and took out his phone. He was beginning to think Allegra was less perfumed steamroller and more soft-centred chocolate, firm and smooth on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside.
Christ man, get a grip.
He heard McGregor’s Scottish accent in his head. ‘He gave me the impression she was his girlfriend, or wife.’
Swearing softly, Luke caved in to his urge to check on her and punched in the number for Grace and Poole.
“Put him straight through, Josie.” Allegra lowered her dictation handset and pressed the flashing button. “Hello, Luke?”
“Hey.” His baritone voice came down the line. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine at this end. What about you?”
He didn’t answer right away, and she heard the airbrakes of a bus as it pulled into a curb somewhere close to him.
Background noise.
She waited for his response, conscious of the change in her breathing pattern.
“Making some progress,” he said finally, though he didn’t elaborate. “What are your movements tomorrow?”
Allegra sighed and clicked on her calendar. “I’m in the office all morning, and then I have that inauguration for the new judge tomorrow afternoon.”
“That’s it?”
“No. There’s a formal dinner in the evening and I can’t get out of it. I’m going with Simon Poole and his wife.”
“How do I score an invite?”
Allegra’s heart did a strange flip flop and a surge of excitement rushed through her body. “Oh, it’s plus one. I’ll make a call this afternoon. Do you have a dinner suit?”
She closed her eyes and imagined him in a tuxedo. Without a doubt, she’d have the hottest date in town.
She heard him laugh. “You make the call. Let me worry about the dinner suit. Remember, where you go, I go.”
Chapter Eight
In the early evening the weather turned wet and miserable.
Traffic crawled along Pitt Street as sheets of rain bounced off the bitumen and gutters barely coped with the runoff. On the footpath, shop vendors rolled down security grills at the end of another trading day.
The everyday man opened the door of the Internet Cafe and sidled up to the counter. A kid with a Mohawk looked up as he approached, spiked band encircling his right wrist. “You want Internet time?”
“Fifteen minutes.” With one swift glance he took in the clientele as he passed over the cash. He was new here and being among only a handful of people made him nervous.
The guy loaded time onto a key card and gave him change.
“Thanks.”
Careful to choose a computer halfway down the room, he inserted the flash drive into a USB port, staring at the screen as he waited for files to load.
Who was the leather-clad guy with the fair hair? The built one with the AMG?
Twice now she’d been with that prick.
It was a break from the norm.
He jabbed at the keyboard with trembling fingers. He’d give his right arm to be a fly on the wall at Grace and Poole tomorrow morning.
Anticipation made him salivate.
This would finish her career and then she’d need him. He ran a clammy hand down the leg of his jeans, anger burning in his belly.
She only had herself to blame.
And the new lover? How long would he stick around once he learned of the lewd photographs?
Jealousy twisted the knot in his stomach. He intended to punish her. She was meant for him and she refused to acknowledge it.
Breathing uneven, and jeans uncomfortably tight, he hit Send.
“You’ve got mail.”
***
“Bring your heel down hard on the bridge of my foot, and simultaneously drive your elbows into my ribs,” instructed Luke, his breath warm on her neck.
Allegra frowned. They were facing each other in the middle of the living room floor. After a dinner of Thai take-out, Luke was giving her a lesson in basic self-defence. And he was far from satisfied with her attempts.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
He chuckled as if she’d made a joke. “Trust me, you won’t.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around, then wrapped his arms tightly around her middle, his hard body pressed up behind her. Struggling to even breathe, Allegra could neither move nor concentrate on his instructions.
“Come on. Give it another go.”
Allegra gritted her te
eth and tried again, this time with more success. Even so, he barely uttered a grunt, merely flexing his abs as her elbows hit a solid wall of muscle. She managed to spin around when he loosened his grip, but failed to get her arm free.
“That’s better.”
He grabbed her upper arms and pushed her away, holding her at arm’s length with an ease that was terrifying. He’d changed into a pair of rugby shorts and a sleeveless muscle shirt. What the guy did to gym gear should be outlawed. He was all broad shoulders, muscle, and lightly tanned golden skin.
“An attack is over within seconds,” he said. “It’s panic, chaos and confusion. You have to grasp any chance to break free. So far, all you’ve made me do is loosen my grip. You’re still vulnerable.”
He yanked her close until she cannoned into him. The breath was knocked out of her as she slammed into the brick wall of his body.
“Come on, go for it,” he urged. “Drive the palm of your hand up under my chin and go for the eye gouge. And bring your knee up into my groin.”
Allegra went hot all over. “What if I make contact?”
He gave a derisive snort. “No chance.”
Flustered, she turned away and planted her feet shoulder width apart, bracing herself as he wrapped his arms around her in what she called a reverse bear hug, and he called a ‘wrestler’s waist lock’.
No chance? We’ll see about that!
Repeating the earlier moves she spun around when he loosened his grip, freeing her right arm. His stubble grazed her palm as she drove her hand upwards with every ounce of strength in her body.
No match for his lightning reflexes, he averted his face, and her palm ended up caressing his cheek.
He looked startled. She waited to see if he’d pull away, but he stayed motionless, his warm breath fanning her face.
Slowly, with the tip of her index finger, she traced the line of the scar.
He inhaled sharply, eyes narrowing to twin slashes of silver. “Forget the next move?”
She flashed him a look from beneath her lashes. “It’s a surprise tactic.”
A muscle flexed beneath her fingertips. “It’s a surprise to me.”
“Then it worked.” She grinned triumphantly. “While you were standing there Commander, I had time to take your eyes, and your balls.”
His head jerked back, and in the same instant he captured her wrist with one easy movement.
He leaned in close and spoke in a low growl, his eyes flashing with excitement. “Oh baby. You’re playing dirty.”
Shrieking with laughter, she tried breaking his handcuff grip. “Just levelling the playing field. You have a brawn advantage.”
Her nerve endings went electric as she tried to push him away, but he easily captured her other hand, pinning both behind her back. Immobilised, she was crushed against his chest, heat coursing through every capillary in her body. Any movement, any struggle, and her breasts would rub up against him.
And he knew it.
He shook his head from side to side and made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Rookie error. What happens when you play with fire?”
She shivered, nipples going hard inside her lacy bra.
Her silence had him leaning even closer, his mouth only inches from hers. “You get…?” he prompted.
She wanted to say ‘kissed’ but she didn’t dare. Anticipation had her parting her lips. “Burned?”
“Spanked.”
He released her wrists and clamped his hands around her waist, and in one swift manoeuvre hoisted her in the air and draped her over his shoulder
“Luke, put me down,” she shrieked, her body pulsing with a sexual excitement off the Richter scale. Upside down she had a great view of his firm buns. She bucked and kicked her legs, but it was futile against his ironclad hold. She pummelled his back as he stalked across the room and plonked down on the tub lounge, one quick twist sending her sprawling across his lap.
Beneath her, he was rock hard in his rugby shorts.
One glance over her shoulder had her breath backing up in her chest. His eyes glittered with lust, his expression hard with intent.
She tried to push away, but he prevented her moving with an ease that was terrifying, and more arousing than anything she’d ever known.
She stiffened as he rested one hand on her butt cheek, gasping as he spread his fingers wide and squeezed.
“You wouldn’t dare. Oww!”
The playful slap had her wriggling around to face him, struggling to sit up, indignation and need fighting for supremacy.
“You have a hell of a hide, Commander.”
His eyes swept her body. “Took the words right out of my mouth.”
They moved simultaneously. She reached for him as he pushed her down on the sofa, coming together with an intensity that sent blood rushing to her head. His arms came around her, this time in a lovers’ embrace, and he claimed her mouth with the skill of a man long practised in the art of seduction.
She parted her lips at his insistence, his tongue probing for entry. Moisture pooled between her thighs, his fierce dominance leaving her weak and trembling.
This was ravishment pure and simple.
Unable to think, or even breathe, she melted beneath the onslaught. As one large hand moved beneath her tee-shirt, she arched closer, willing his hand to massage the aching breast straining towards him. He gave her what she craved, and she moaned into his mouth, head spinning as his thumb flicked and teased her nipple through the lacy fabric of her bra.
All the while, the assault on her mouth never lessened.
Desperate to feel his skin, Allegra slid one hand beneath his shirt, her palm caressing furnace-hot muscle and sinew as she desperately sought to learn every crevasse of his battle-hardened body. Her other hand speared his hair, and like a starving person she gripped him tighter, revelling in his taste, the heated warmth of his skin, and the crush of his arms.
“Harder,” she gasped against his mouth, feeling his powerful frame shudder in her arms and his hand move to her other breast.
Luke lifted his head and gave her a wolfish smile. “Bossy! Now why doesn’t that surprise me?”
He ripped her tee-shirt up over her head and tossed it aside, the iron cross rippling with every flex of his powerful bicep. Then his hand fisted in her hair, and he tilted her head back, trailing his lips down the sensitive column of her throat.
Allegra’s breath came in pants. She loved the feel of him, the taste of him and the way his cologne and sweat sent her olfactory senses chaotic. He freed his hand from the tangle of her hair to pull down one cup of her bra. He dipped his head and sucked a nipple into his mouth, and it was all she could do not to moan out loud as he shifted his weight and settled his erection snugly in the apex of her thighs.
The warble of his mobile phone was like a douse of cold water.
Luke lifted his head, closed his eyes in disbelief.
“Ignore it,” Allegra whispered, pulling his head down and smoothing her hands across his back.
“I can’t.” With a frustrated groan he pushed away from her and levered himself off the sofa. “I need to get this.”
She watched him grab his phone off the coffee table and swipe his thumb across the screen. “Tom? Hang on, Allegra’s here.”
As Luke switched the phone onto loudspeaker, Allegra retrieved her shirt and pulled it over her head.
“Go ahead.”
“Our guy’s made a move.”
Her body pulsing with desire, Allegra wanted to cover her ears with her hands. She so didn’t want to hear this.
“I’ve just pulled three emails from Grace and Poole. One landed in Allegra’s Inbox, the other two were sent to the partners.”
“Another photograph?” Luke’s concerned eyes scanned her face.
Ice spread from the base of her spine to the top of her head, the sudden chill sucking the air from her lungs.
“Attached yeah, no content in the body of the email.”
“Can you trac
e the source?”
“Not worth the time, Luke. It’s a hotmail address, set up with fake info and used once.”
“Good work Tom. And thanks. Stay in there and stay alert.”
“Will do. Be in touch.”
Luke disconnected the call.
Fear and a sick sense of dismay welled in Allegra’s throat as she stared at him. “Tom hacked into my firm’s computer system?”
Luke’s eyes narrowed at her sharp tone. “On my instructions.”
She jumped to her feet, dismay and frustration turning to anger. “Well there goes my job. If the photographs don’t end my career the security breach will. And don’t even mention the invasion of client privacy.”
“Hey.” He grabbed her shoulders, quickening her pulse despite her anger. “We need to fight fire with fire. If we didn’t locate those emails you’d be out on your arse first thing tomorrow. You should be grateful Tom intercepted them. You get to work another day.”
She shook free of his grip. “Oh, excuse me for being a pawn in a sinister chess game.”
He sucked in a breath. “You’re not a pawn.”
“No? Then why do I feel like I’m waiting to get knocked off the board?”
She didn’t want to hear this. Not while her body still pulsated with desire. Not when her body still craved his touch. She wanted to turn the clock back five minutes.
Spinning on her heel, she made for the bedroom, needing to escape.
He grabbed her hand, pulling her back with a heavy sigh. “No-one at Grace and Poole will ever know Tom’s been in there, Ally,” he said, his voice softening. “He’s an expert. You have to trust me. This is what I do. This is what you’re paying me to do.”
“Am I paying you to kiss me too?” Furious he could turn off his emotions while her own body ached for him, the words slipped out before she could stop them.
She watched the colour drain from his face, but he held himself in check. “Let’s not confuse two very separate issues.”
Allegra closed her eyes. How could he compartmentalise his feelings like that?
His mobile rang again.
“Shit! Neilson?”
She watched him give his undivided attention to the person on the other end of the line. “How many Tom?”
Hot Lawyers: The Lee Christine Collection Page 9