“I’m surprised at you, Ian.” She gave a mocking shake of her head. “Coffee shops are where all the young people go to see and be seen.”
“Yeah, well it’s been a hell of a long time since I was young. And I stopped giving a fuck what people thought about me long before that. A good old-fashioned bar will do just fine.” He took hold of her arm, looking for a break in the traffic before crossing to the pub on the other side of the road. His grip on her arm meant Evie went with him.
“What the hell is this?” Ian muttered disgustedly once the two of them were seated in one of the brightly colored booths inside.
“This is London,” Evie answered, their young waitress having already introduced herself before handing them menus and taking their drinks order. “There’s no such thing as an ‘old-fashioned bar’ here anymore.”
“Nachos with vegetable chili,” he read from the menu. “Pasta with zucchini. Vegetable curry. Broccoli quiche. Veggie burger. Where the hell is the rare steak or a thick, juicy beef burger?”
Evie was having trouble holding back her laughter at Ian’s expense. It would be hard to maintain a muscular body like his on vegetables alone. “It’s a vegetarian bar.”
His eyes narrowed. “You knew that when you let me walk in here.”
“Yes.” Considering how closely located to the library it was, of course she had known this place had a vegetarian menu. As she also knew Ian liked thick, rare steaks.
Ian looked at her appreciatively. “You’ve changed in three years, Evie.”
“You mean I’m no longer naïve and easily impressed by a handsome man?” she snapped.
Humor briefly lightened his eyes. “So you still think I’m handsome?”
“You were never handsome, Ian,” she scorned. “Arrogant and self-assured, with an overabundance of testosterone, but never handsome.”
He shrugged. “You once seemed to like me, and my overabundance of testosterone, well enough.”
Evie had more than liked him. She had fallen in love with him. For all the good it had done her. “And now I see you for exactly what you are.”
“Which is?” His voice was silky soft.
Dangerously so, telling Evie she had probably baited him enough for the moment. “Could we get this conversation over and done with? I have to get back to work soon.” She placed her own menu on the table unopened. She didn’t intend being here long enough to eat.
Ian relaxed against the back of the leather booth as he studied her through narrowed lids, his hands clenching on top of his thighs as he resisted the urge to loosen her hair from that unbecoming bun. Although maybe not, when it had the advantage of revealing the slender and vulnerable curve of her throat.
There was no doubting Evie was putting on a good act, but away from the dimmed lighting in the club last night, Ian was able to see how pale her face was, the anxiety darkening her eyes, and the lines of strain beneath them.
And Ian knew who was responsible for all of it.
Adam bloody Bishop.
He had met Evie’s brother once three years ago, knew the little shit had been in one lot of trouble following another after their father died. But this time, Adam had managed to piss off the wrong person. He also, as seemed to be his modus operandi, appeared to have passed the problem off to his sister. Ian would like to wring the little bastard’s neck.
He sat forward as he saw Evie’s agitation growing the longer he remained silent. “As I said, I’ve done some checking up since we parted last night. Your brother owes twenty thousand pounds to the Utopia casino.”
Evie could literally feel the last of the color draining from her cheeks.
Twenty thousand pounds!
Adam had told her he owed five thousand pounds, not twenty. She might have managed to take a loan out for five thousand pounds, but twenty thousand was a completely unimaginable sum of money when she had nothing to offer the bank as collateral.
“You didn’t know how much the debt was,” Ian guessed shrewdly.
No, of course Evie hadn’t known. She would have tried to put a stop to it if she had known Adam was so addicted to gambling he was risking money he didn’t have.
The weakness of obsession was in his nature, of course.
Their father turned to drink.
Adam gambled.
Evie—
She gave a self-conscious glance at the man seated opposite her. Ian had been her weakness, his lovemaking her addiction for those few short weeks they had spent together.
But when Ian walked away, it was a weakness Evie had been determined to put out of her life, along with the man who had caused it. Until she saw him again yesterday, she had thought she’d succeeded.
“Where’s Adam now?”
Evie’s gaze sharpened. “What do you mean?”
“He isn’t home, and he hasn’t been to work for the past three days.”
Adam wasn’t at his apartment and he hadn’t been to work either? Then where the hell was he? Evie had thought, when Adam didn’t answer or return her calls, that he was annoyed with her for not immediately offering to help him, as she usually did. She had never imagined… “How do you know all that?”
Ian shrugged broad shoulders. “I told you, I did some checking up after you left last night. Once I’d found all that I needed to know, I went to Adam’s apartment this morning. He wasn’t there, so I checked in with the company he works for. There were still some people in the office working, despite it being a Saturday. The guy I spoke to told me Adam hasn’t been in to work for the past three days. That he hasn’t called in sick either, and no one has seen or heard from him.”
“Except maybe your boss?” Evie accused.
Ian narrowed dark eyes. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Evie stood abruptly. “It means I want to speak to Gregori Markovic. I want to speak to him right now!”
Chapter 3
It took Ian a minute or so to catch up with Evie after she had walked out of the bar. He had to first pay for the drinks they hadn’t drunk before he could leave.
She was standing on the edge of the pavement outside, attempting to flag down one of the numerous black cabs driving by, but luckily hadn’t been able to find one unoccupied as yet.
Ian’s fingers tightened about her arm as she would have moved away from him. “Will you just calm the fuck down?” he bit out impatiently. “Why are you hailing a cab? I thought you were in a hurry to get back to work?” He glanced across the road toward the library.
“I’ll call in sick. This is far more important.” She renewed her effort to flag down an empty cab. “I’m going to Adam’s apartment. I have a key. If he isn’t there, I’ll make my own phone call to his workplace. If he’s at neither place, then I’m going to speak to your boss.”
“My cousin Gabriel is my boss, and he’s away on his honeymoon right now,” Ian dismissed. “Besides which, you don’t even know where Gregori is.”
“But you do,” she accused. “So you can take me there.”
“No.” Ian felt no hesitation in refusing her. “You’re emotional and volatile right now, and you really don’t want to accuse Gregori of something he either may not have done or you can’t prove he did.”
Evie glared. “Are you threatening me?”
He sighed. “No, of course I’m not threatening you. I’m trying to calm you down and make you see reason at the same time.”
“And you’re failing miserably at both,” she dismissed. “Once I’ve confirmed Adam isn’t at home or at work, you can either take me to see Gregori Markovic, or I can track him down on my own.”
Ian shook his head. “You wouldn’t get past the first bodyguard, let alone the second and third.”
Her nostrils flared. “What sort of man has three bodyguards? A Russian thug, that’s who.” She answered her own question disgustedly. “I swear to you, if Markovic has harmed my brother in any way, then I’ll make it my life’s ambition to make sure he wishes he had never heard the name Bishop.�
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Ian gave a slow shake of his head as he stared at Evie, not sure whether to admire her for her tenacity or pity her for her naiveté. “You really do live in your own little fantasy bubble shut away in that library, don’t you? Because you don’t threaten a man like Markovic and get away with it.” His voice had hardened. “Not if you want to carry on breathing.”
Evie stared at him, knowing by the steadiness of Ian’s gaze that he was perfectly serious in his warning.
All the fight drained out of her, and she felt the sting of tears in her eyes. “If he has Adam, if he’s hurt him or—or worse,” she choked. “Then I need to know. I have to tell Mr. Markovic I’ll find the money Adam owes somehow.”
“And exactly how will you do that, Evie?”
“I don’t know yet.” Her voice rose in her agitation. “But I will get it. I only need a little time. Could you tell him that?” She gave Ian a look of appeal. “Will you speak to Mr. Markovic on my behalf? Tell him I’ll get his money for him? Only please, please don’t do anything to hurt Adam.”
“What the hell!” Ian released her to take a step back. “Could you be any more fucking insulting?”
“What…?”
“I’m employed by a private security company, not the Russian bratva. Which means I don’t hurt people, for Gregori Markovic or anyone else.”
“You’re working for him right now.”
“Only until Volkov comes back,” he dismissed. “It certainly isn’t in the best interests of Knight Security for me to upset someone as important and powerful as Gregori Markovic.”
“You could at least try, damn you!” Her eyes glittered angrily, and her hands were clenched at her sides.
Ian didn’t like the way this conversation was going at all. Evie seemed to be implying that working for Markovic, even temporarily, automatically made him part of that organization. That he was maybe even one of the men who carried out the Russian’s dirty work for him. Like offing people who gambled money they didn’t have. “Gregori isn’t the only one your brother owes money to.”
“What?” The color completely drained from her face.
Ian knew how much Evie loved her twin, of the sacrifices she had already made for the ungrateful bastard. But the debts Bishop had now, and to all the wrong people, were way out of her league. She simply didn’t have the skill set to deal with this situation.
But I do.
Maybe he did, but he didn’t want to get any more involved in this, with Evie, than he already was. He had walked away from her once, for her own good, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to do it again if he became any more embroiled in her brother’s problems.
Aren’t I already involved just by being here with her now?
Maybe he was, but right here and right now, he could still walk away from her. It wouldn’t be easy, and he wouldn’t enjoy it, but he could do it if he had to. If he stayed around Evie for too long, he doubted that he would be able to walk away again.
“You’re way out of your league, Evie,” he mocked. “Gregori aside, you really don’t want to go anywhere near any of the other men Adam owes money to.” Ian didn’t want her going anywhere near those men either. It was the only reason he was here.
Liar.
Ian had to admit to becoming more than a little irritated with the voice that seemed to have taken up residence inside his head since Evie walked into Utopia last night. His conscience, maybe? Whatever it was, it could fuck off back to wherever it came from, because he was not, absolutely was not, going down that road with Evie again.
“Then help me.” Evie didn’t like having to appeal to Ian for help or sounding so needy, but he was right, she was out of her depth with this situation. “Tell me who these men are and help me to talk to them.”
Exactly what had her brother become involved in? And where was Adam now if he wasn’t at his apartment and hadn’t been going into work either? Could Gregori Markovic, or one of these other men Adam owed money to, have him hidden away somewhere, were maybe even torturing him right now, or already had him kill—
No, she couldn’t go there.
It wasn’t in any of those men’s best interest to kill Adam. That way, they would never get their money back.
Why, oh why had she decided that this was the time to leave Adam to stew on his own for a few days? That he needed to be taught a lesson?
“Stop beating yourself up.” Ian sighed his impatience. “Your brother is twenty-six years old, the same as you, and its past time he took responsibility for his own actions.”
“By being tortured or beaten up by some of the men he owes money to?”
“If that’s what it takes.” He nodded. “Adam is a selfish little shit, and you know it.”
“How dare you!” she gasped.
“I met him, remember?” he drawled. “He was a whiny brat three years ago, and his behavior now shows he hasn’t improved in the interim.”
“It was much harder for him to cope after our mother died,” she defended.
“And hasn’t he been playing on that fact for the past twenty years,” Ian muttered in disgust.
Evie’s feet were planted firmly on the pavement as she glared at him. “We can’t all be macho man Ian Knight, you know.”
“Look, luv, are ya gettin’ in the cab or ain’t cha?”
Color blazed in Evie’s cheeks as she realized that while she and Ian had been arguing back and forth, a black cab had actually stopped beside them, the window on the passenger side wound down so that the driver could talk to her. “Yes—”
“No,” Ian answered the man as Evie would have opened the back door ready to climb inside. “Thank you.”
Evie’s eyes glittered with temper as the cab driver instantly drove away. “If you aren’t going to help me, then the best thing you can do is to stay out of my way. And find me another cab,” she added impatiently.
“I have my car with me.”
Her brows rose. “Does that mean you’re going to drive me to Adam’s?”
Ian was asking himself the same question.
If I drive Evie to her brother’s apartment, then it means I’ll be sticking around for the duration. And if I do that, I’ll also be sharing her bed at some time in the not too distant future. That’s a given, because there is no way I can be around Evie for any length of time with this permanent hard-on and not take her to bed.
Saliva flooded Ian’s mouth merely thinking of tasting the lush juices between her thighs again. His cock also gave an eager lurch forward at the possibility of being buried in the tight heat of her pussy sometime soon.
“I’m driving you,” he confirmed grimly, knowing he was sealing his own fate. For the foreseeable future at least. “I only hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Evie gave Ian an uncertain glance, sensing there was more behind that statement than appeared on the surface.
Not that she could read anything from Ian’s brooding expression once they were seated in his low black sports car and he concentrated his attention on maneuvering the powerful vehicle through the London traffic.
The longer the silence lasted, the more Evie thought back over their previous conversation. She cringed as she recalled some of the things she had said, accused Ian of, in her worry over Adam. There was a possibility, more than a possibility, Ian was annoyed with her for some of her previous remarks. “I apologize.”
“What?” he prompted irritably as he gave her a brief glance.
She dipped her head. “I said some things earlier that could have been misconstrued.”
“Oh no, I think you made yourself perfectly clear.”
Yep, he was pissed. “I needed your help.”
“And you thought insulting me was the best way to go about achieving that?”
Seriously pissed. “No,” she conceded.
“Good, because helping you find your brother isn’t the reason I’m here.”
“It isn’t?” Evie eyed him warily.
“No,” Ian
confirmed grimly. “I’m here to make sure you don’t end up dead for insulting the wrong people. Gregori may be civilized and give you some leeway, but these other men aren’t. Also, some of Gregori’s men might take exception to you accusing him of anything. They’re old-school bratva, and no one insults The Markovic without being made an example of.”
That may be true, but there was no mistaking the warmth in Ian’s voice when he spoke of the Russian. “You like him.”
“I like the man I see when he’s with his wife and son, yes.” Ian nodded. “He also treats his men well.”
“It’s only his enemies that suffer, huh?”
Ian snorted his impatience. “I told you he’s mainly legit nowadays.”
“But not completely. How can you even work for a man like that, let alone like him?”
“Who gave you the right to be so judgmental of other people? Of me?” Ian challenged. “And for someone who started out apologizing for insulting me, you’re dangerously close to stepping over that line a second time.”
There was an underlying warning in his tone Evie couldn’t help but recognize. And take heed of. “I apologize again.”
Ian gave a hard grin. “It hurt that time, huh?”
“A little,” she admitted. “I don’t mean to insult you. I’m worried. Tense. And all I can think of is Adam being tortured or hurt in some way. He’s my baby brother, Ian.”
“He’s two minutes younger than you are, not twenty years,” he scorned. “He’s also an adult, even if he doesn’t behave like one. Damn it, he’s the man, he should be the one protecting you, not the other way round.”
She turned away to hide the tears burning her eyes. “I told you, you don’t understand.” Adam had the same coloring and similar facial features as their mother, and after she died, their father had been so broken, he couldn’t bear to have Adam anywhere near him as a reminder of what he had lost. Evie had become the buffer between the two males in her family, and that protectiveness had continued even after their father died.
Maybe Ian was right, and she should have stopped helping Adam out of the scrapes he managed to get himself into years ago. That was something she could address later. The only thing that mattered now was finding Adam.
Enticing Ian (Knight Security 5) Page 3