Unexpectedly, Lily felt the backs of her eyes prickle with sudden tears. Which would be the last straw. Crying in front of Quinn Redmond and his naked chest. She never cried. Never. Not when her father had gone to jail, not when Mason had struck her over the face, and not when she’d pulled that trigger and taken his life, either.
Cold and emotionless was easier. Cold and emotionless had always been easier.
But now, sitting opposite Quinn, she couldn’t find a trace of that cool armor. It had slipped away, leaving her with nothing but exhaustion and vulnerability, and the almost overwhelming need to have someone else deal with her problems.
Except that was not her. Not in any way, shape, or form. There was only one person in the world she trusted to keep her and Rose safe and that was herself.
She took a breath and blinked hard, forcing the tears back. If she was going to cry, Quinn Redmond was basically the last person on earth she wanted to do it in front of. Just like he was the person on earth she wanted to ask for help from. But there was no one else. Her own stubborn nature had gotten her into this mess and now she had to get herself out of it, and if that meant having to talk to Quinn then she’d have to.
“Okay,” she said, pleased that her voice was level at least. “So, I’ve been getting emails for the past few months. Emails from someone I don’t know. They’re…demands for money. Blackmail basically.”
Quinn said nothing, but the look he gave her was glass-sharp.
She didn’t want to go on, didn’t want to tell him about all the hours she’d spent trying to track down whoever was sending the emails, only to keep coming up against nothing but dead ends. Where she’d had to pay and pay again, because she’d had no choice.
She didn’t want to tell him that she hadn’t gone to the police for very good reasons, and that she couldn’t tell her colleagues at Duchess Bail Bonds, the company she’d built up with her own blood, sweat and tears, also for very good reasons.
You have to tell him.
Yes. She did. She had to tell her number one business rival her darkest secret, because weirdly, Quinn Redmond might be the biggest asshole on the face of the planet, but if there was one thing she’d learned about him in the past year or so they’d been in the same business, it was that he was a decent man.
And right now she needed a decent man.
Lily steeled herself and went on, “At first I thought it would be easy enough to track down where the emails were coming from. But it wasn’t. And then the demands got more insistent. Threats were issued.”
“What kind of demands?” Quinn’s dark, gritty voice had lost the lazy amusement he used when he was teasing her. It was hard now, the Navy SEAL in charge. “What kind of threats?”
“Whoever it is wants money. And they have…certain information that I don’t want made public.” She didn’t want to tell him anything more. The less he knew about that, the better.
“What kind of information?”
Dammit.
“That’s classified.” She kept her tone crisp. “Suffice to say that if it got out, I’d lose the business.” Not to mention everything else.
The blunt lines of Quinn’s starkly gorgeous face hardened, but all he said was, “Tell me the rest.”
She swallowed. Best to do it quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid. “At first I….paid them. I had no other choice. I’ve spent too long building up Duchess Bail Bonds and I can’t lose it. And I thought that if I paid without argument the first couple of times, it would give me time to hunt this bastard out. But I had no luck.” Tracking down emails would have meant enlisting Rose’s help since her sister was handy when it came to computer stuff, but Lily hadn’t wanted to involve her. Or anyone in her team.
Too late. Rose, at least, is involved.
Her jaw tightened, the fear of the past hour returning, threatening to choke her. She swallowed again, making herself say the words. “And then tonight, I got a phone call. From a man I didn’t know, the voice was disguised. But it was from the person who’s been sending the emails, because they told me that money I’d been paying them wasn’t enough any more. That the price had just gone up. And that if I didn’t make this payment, I wouldn’t just lose my business, I’d lose Rose as well.”
He went very, very still.
A dense, charged silence fell.
“Then he said that this was a warning and that West would be out again at some point,” Lily went on. “So I knew he must have been watching West’s place because West was in Arizona on a job tonight. Which means that Rose is all alone. So I…”
“So you came here,” Quinn finished, the words hard as steel.
Of course, she had. Fear for Rose had driven her right to his front door. Because she’d understood that she couldn’t deal with this on her own anymore and that left her with only one option: a man who wasn’t connected with her own business, whom she didn’t care about, and yet trusted enough to turn to for help.
“Yes.” She lifted her chin and met his gaze, holding it. “There are reasons I can’t go to the police, Quinn. Reasons I can’t tell anyone else, either. And most especially I can’t tell Rose.”
He stared at her from across the table like a surgeon staring at a patient and planning where to cut first.
She realized she was waiting for him to say something. To do something. Because God knew, she’d run out of ideas herself.
Which was not at all the Lily Hammond way and especially not with a man like Quinn Redmond. Strong. Powerful.
He was intimidating, no doubt about it. A hard jaw. A blade of a nose that had been broken at some point and healed a little crooked. Beneath straight black brows were deeply set eyes the intense green of jungles. Where predators lurked. Predators had that same stare, guarded and intense. Regarding everything as a potential threat.
Intimidating yes, but damn exciting, too. Hence the danger.
She didn’t know why she was drawn to him so intensely, not when everything about his take-charge, dominating presence should have left her absolutely cold. But one thing she did know: nothing would happen with him and never would. She was done with men and that was pretty much a permanent thing.
Handling this herself would have been preferable, since she always preferred to handle things herself, and the thought of owing him for it didn’t exactly thrill her. Because she would end up owing him, that was just how life worked. She’d learned that from her father and the shiftless, messy childhood that had come with being the daughter of a con-man. Nothing came for free.
When Quinn didn’t say anything, Lily reached for the towel, using the movement to cover the nervous tension that sat inside her. If he wasn’t going to break the silence then neither would she.
She used the towel to squeeze some moisture from her T-shirt, the fabric clinging and unpleasantly damp on her skin. Damn, she should have changed her clothes before haring off to Quinn’s, but she hadn’t. For the first time in years she’d let her fear get to her and had bolted straight to Lone Star Bounty.
Which says something about you, don’t you think?
Lily ignored the thought. It said nothing about her. Or if it did it was only that she’d run herself into the ground worrying about the whole blackmail situation and hadn’t thought things through properly.
“Why me?” Quinn asked at last. “If you didn’t want anyone else to know, I would have thought I’d be the last person you’d come to.”
She didn’t want to explain, because if there was one thing she hated it was looking like a damsel in distress, desperate for a big, strong knight to protect her. And though she might be in actual distress, she wasn’t a goddamn damsel and she didn’t need anyone to protect her. That was something she’d been doing since she was sixteen.
“Why do you think?” she said coolly. “I need someone to help me track down who’s sending me these emails and threatening Rose. And since I don’t want to bring my crew into it or go to the police, you’re it.”
His expression didn’t chang
e, though she swore she saw something flicker in the dense green of his eyes.
Another silence fell and again, she made no move to break it. Instead, she busied herself with her towel, drying herself off, and taking her time about it. Betraying none of her impatience whatsoever.
She’d become a master at hiding her emotions ever since her dad had drawn her into running cons with him, and now she was head of her own business in a male dominated industry, she’d become a master at being ice cold and in control. To behave any other way was a weakness she couldn’t afford and especially not in front of this man.
“Duchess,” Quinn said at last, leaning back in his seat and it wasn’t fair the way the light slid over his olive skin, highlighting all that hard, cut muscle and black ink. “If you want my help, you’re going to have to say so.”
Bastard. His rival, the one who’d been poaching his business for the past year, reduced to begging for his help…. Of course he’d relish this and she knew he would.
She looked away, drying her hair a little more thoroughly. “You’re a lot of things, Quinn Redmond, but one thing I didn’t think you were was petty.”
“Petty? Why? Because I want you to be clear on what you’re asking for?”
“Rose’s life has been threatened.” She struggled to keep her voice level, the anger that had been burning hot ever since she’d received that first letter, leaping higher. “And now you’re playing games with me?”
Too much. You’re giving away too much.
But she was tired, so very tired. She hadn’t slept well for months, too worried about the growing hole in her bank accounts and what exactly she was going to do when she ran out of money to pay whoever was blackmailing her. And she didn’t have the patience to deal with him being a dick right now.
Quinn’s gaze narrowed at her tone.
Damn. Yes, definitely she was giving away too much.
“I’m not playing games,” he said. “All you’ve told me is that you’ve been receiving threatening emails and that Rose’s life is in danger. You haven’t said one single damn thing about what you want from me.”
She gripped the towel hard, knowing what he was asking for and yet some deep part of her not wanting to ask it. “No. Because no doubt you’d hold it over my head at some point.”
He tilted his head, that relentless gaze sliding over her, seeing into her, ignoring her petulant dig. “Say it.”
Damn. She was making this into an issue and it shouldn’t be, not when Rose’s life was on the line.
“Fine.” She put down the towel and met his gaze, swallowed her pride, ignoring the painful catch as it went down. “I’m here because I need your help, Quinn.”
TWO
Duchess’s voice was very calm, very level. Asking for his help in the same cool way as if she’d ask if he wanted a cup of tea. Not that she’d ever offered him tea, but if she had, he imagined she’d ask just like that.
Still, it had cost her to say it out loud. And perhaps he’d been a dick to demand it from her, especially if the kinds of threats that she’d mentioned were true. But he’d wanted to see her reaction, because obviously something was very, very wrong in Lily Hammond’s world.
However, she was phenomenally good at hiding her feelings. In fact, it had only been as she’d started drying herself that he’d noticed how tightly her hands had gripped the towel and heard the suggestion of angry heat in her voice as she told him he was being petty.
That alone had told him a few things, mainly that this blackmail thing had seriously been messing with her. Then again, he already knew something was going on and had been for months, because he noticed everything about her.
He’d seen the dark circles etched into the pale skin beneath her eyes get darker. Had observed the lines of tension that pulled at the corners of her lovely mouth get tighter. He’d watched her become even more fragile-looking until finally, without asking himself why her wellbeing should matter to him so very much, he’d decided to start investigating what was going on himself.
Sadly, he hadn’t found a thing.
It had been as frustrating as hell.
Yet now here she was, looking even more fragile, offering him the information he’d been searching for and not only that, damn well asking for his help… It was enough to make a lesser man feel pretty goddamn smug.
Quinn, however, was not a lesser man, and he didn’t feel smug. He felt pissed off. Because this was obviously distressing her and if she’d known about this for months, then she should have come to him sooner and saved herself some fucking grief.
“You should have come to me earlier,” he said, because he didn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t. “I could have helped you out then.”
Her blue gaze took on a frosty glint. “I wanted to handle it myself.”
“Of course, you did. But you couldn’t and now there’s a threat to Rose.”
Color crept into her cheeks, highlighting the drawn look around her eyes.
Yeah, he was a prick for pointing that out when naturally she’d be beating herself up for it anyway. But shit, she had to understand the consequences of her actions. Being stubborn helped no one.
Then again, this had clearly been running her ragged. Yet, despite that exhaustion, her backbone of pure titanium kept on shining through. “You think I don’t know that?” Her voice could have cut glass. “I know when I’ve made a bad decision, Quinn, believe me. I know.”
He could see that. Christ, he really needed to get a handle on his own frustration, not let her get to him.
Like you haven’t been letting her get to you for months already?
Shit. That was, indeed, an issue.
He hadn’t wanted to be attracted to her — fuck, being attracted to the woman who’d single-handedly been running his business into the ground was the last thing on earth that he wanted. Then again, this wasn’t about attraction and even though rescuing people wasn’t his thing these days, refusing her would be shitty.
Time to put his anger away and deal with the problem.
“Okay,” he said. “Have you taken any steps yet? Like sending Rose out of town?”
“No. Pretty much the phone call tonight was the first I’d heard of a threat to her and I came straight here.”
“I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be. It’s all pure self-interest.”
Maybe it was. But she’d still come to him. Immediately.
He shouldn’t have liked that idea so much, so he ignored it and carried on, “West will need to know. He’ll be pissed if you keep it from him.”
West was one of Duchess’s employees, a former Marine and Rose’s new husband. He and Rose had gotten married in Vegas a few weeks back, much to everyone’s approval. However, Quinn knew that Lily herself had had a few issues with it. West was much older than Rose — hell he’d used to babysit her or something from the sounds of things. Then again, the two of them were revoltingly happy according to all reports.
“No.” Duchess’s tone was unequivocal. “I can’t risk it. I’ll send her out out on a job, if need be. Get her away from Austin—”
“On second thoughts, that’s not a good idea,” Quinn interrupted, plans ticking over in his head. “You send her away and you’re isolating her. Also, blackmailers do everything in the shadows and if you want to stop this motherfucker, you need to get him out in the open.”
She frowned. “So, what? Rose stays here?”
“West is with her. Marines are assholes, but he’s also one bad-ass bastard.”
“Yes, but then what?” She folded her arms across her chest and he didn’t miss the goosebumps on her fine-grained skin. She was cold. “I can’t stop West from going out on jobs, not without him getting suspicious. And besides, I don’t have the money this person wants, not even half of it. If I can’t protect Rose—”
“We’ll figure it out,” he interrupted again, but this time more gently. “First, you need a hot shower, dry clothes, and sleep.”
Duchess st
ared at him as if she’d never heard of anything so preposterous. “You want me to have a shower and sleep while my sister’s life is in danger?” With exaggerated care, she put the towel down on the table top, folding it neatly. “Thank you, but no. My plan is to get in my car and park outside her and West’s place.” She pushed herself to her feet, reaching for the Sig.
Hell, really? She looked like she could sleep for a week not sit in a car all night watching her sister’s apartment.
“Don’t be stupid.” He kept his voice businesslike. “You said the call was a warning. Which means whoever is doing this, they’re not going to try anything tonight. They’ll want the money first if they can get it. Anyway, aside from anything else, you’re in no state to be doing stakeouts. You look exhausted.”
Her smile was tight. “You really know how to chat a girl up.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Yes, well, thanks for your concern, not to mention your towel. But I’m fine.” She eased herself out of the booth seat, turning toward the entrance to the bar. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Stubborn woman.
Quinn got to his feet, too. “At least let me drive you to Rose’s.”
“No, thank you. You go back to your nice warm—” She broke off all of a sudden, her hand shooting out to brace herself on one of the tables as she wobbled on her feet.
Okay, now she really was being stupid.
He closed the distance between them, intending to argue with her, only to find himself catching her as she fainted dead away.
Holy shit, what kind of ragged had she been running?
“Silly girl,” he murmured, unfamiliar concern gathering inside him as he lifted her in his arms. “What the hell were you thinking?”
She was light, her body slender, her wet clothing icy against the bare skin of his chest. Her head had fallen back against his shoulder, damp, pale hair spilling everywhere. She looked so young and very vulnerable.
Hell, if she knew he’d seen her like this, she’d have a fit.
He stood there a moment with her in his arms, wondering what the fuck he was supposed to do now. It was after one thirty in the morning, she was in no condition to drive anywhere, the weather was shitty, and she needed sleep.
Black Sheep Bounty Hunter: A Texas Bounty Novel Page 2