“There—right there—is why I used my own initiative as to what I do or don’t investigate and ‘pry into’ when it comes to your security,” Dair growled back. The two men had known each other all their lives, so he wasn’t the least concerned by Lucien’s anger. They had fought before, many times, and they were well matched, physically as well as verbally. “And as Nicky is the first woman you’ve ever been with for longer than a single night, she now comes very much under the heading of ‘needing further investigation’.”
Lucien’s hands were clenched. “You had no fucking right!” Whatever secrets Nicky had, he wanted her to tell him herself. This file, Dair’s knowledge of her, now made that impossible. Because there was no way Lucien was going to be able to stop himself from looking inside that file. If not now, then after Dair had gone.
“I like her too, Lucien,” Dair sighed, his voice losing some of its edge. “She’s beautiful and funny, and I have to say, she was pretty fucking fearless in the face of your legendary temper last night,” he recalled ruefully.
“She’s also mine,” Lucien warned icily.
The other man gave an impatient shake of his head. “You see, there again is another reason why I acted on my own initiative. Your judgment is off, Lucien. Or rather, your decisions, where she’s concerned, are currently being ruled by your dick rather than your head—”
“If I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it!” Lucien rose angrily to his feet, his body taut with tension as he began to pace the office.
Knowing his anger was all the deeper because he had thought—briefly—of having Dair investigate Nicky. Before deciding it was a violation of the fragile trust between them.
To now learn that Dair had carried out his own investigation, without his knowledge, still seemed like a betrayal of that trust. If Nicky ever found out she would—
“She’s dead, Lucien.”
—take him apart, piece by piece, with a blunt knife— “What?” Lucien stilled his restless pacing, his body having gone rigid with tension, eyes narrowed to green slits as his cousin’s words finally penetrated the buzzing inside his head.
Dair shrugged. “The Nicky McKenzie you know, the same Nicola McKenzie now on file as an employee of a subsidiary of Wynter enterprises, born in Edinburgh almost twenty-four years ago, also happens to have died when she was three years old.”
Lucien felt an icy chill settle in the center of his chest; because both he and Dair had every reason to know that taking the name of a dead person was the easiest way—or had been, not so much now with easy internet access—to assume an identity that wasn’t your own. “Are you sure about that?”
“Very,” Dair stated firmly.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit!
Lucien had known that Nicky was keeping secrets, but this, this was so much bigger than he had imagined those secrets to be.
Than he quite knew what to do with.
He was going to see Nicky, be with her again, in just a couple of hours. Did he now confront her with what he knew? Or did he remain silent, and still hope she would confide in him? If she ever did.
His eyes narrowed. “If she isn’t Nicky McKenzie, then who the hell is she?”
“I don’t have that information yet, Lucien,” his cousin murmured regretfully. “All I know for certain is that Nicky McKenzie and her brother Neil came into existence almost four years ago, when they both took up residence in London. I’m still investigating as to who she was and where she was living before that. Ordinarily I would have waited until I had more concrete information before coming to you with this, but...” Dair gave an uncomfortable shrug.
But...
But they both knew that neither of them could take a risk on Nicky’s fake identity being harmless. Lucien never took those sorts of risks. With anyone.
Nor did he have the right to continue being angry with Dair for investigating Nicky on his own initiative; in fact, Lucien should have known that his cousin would do exactly that.
He would have known if he hadn’t been so bloody obsessed with Nicky the woman, rather than anything else she might be.
Dair had acted because he knew Lucien’s behavior had been different with Nicky, that wanting her had consumed him utterly since she came back into his life.
Something that had never happened with any woman before her.
He also invariably lost control when he was with her.
Something else he never did.
Something he had decided ten days ago that he couldn’t afford to do—before going back for more of the same.
Jesus, even knowing what he did, he still wanted to go back for more.
Nicky drew him as no other woman ever had. Just as she had driven him to the brink of his control, and then over it, time and time again, until he wanted to possess every bit of her. Until he had possessed every single inch of her.
But none of that mattered a damn if the woman he knew as Nicky McKenzie was actually someone else. ‘Someone else’ who wanted something from him other than amazing sex?
“This may have nothing to do with you, Lucien.” Dair shrugged again. “She became Nicky McKenzie long before she met you. Lots of people choose to disappear every day, and weeks or months later appear somewhere else, as someone else.”
Lucien’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides. “What are Nicky’s options on the reason for this change in identity?”
“She’s some sort of hustler?” Dair shrugged. “There was a minor scandal a few months ago with Lionel Jenkins—you know the man, you bought out his company last month. There were rumors of her accusing him of sexual harassment, and him counter-accusing her of attempting to blackmail him—”
“You know about that?” Lucien eyed his cousin sharply.
Dair’s brows rose. “Obviously so do you...” he said slowly. “Shit, Lucien, is this the reason you bought out Jenkins, Simmons and Simmons in such a damned hurry? And the reason you’ve had us protecting her for the past few days?”
Lucien had a nasty taste in his mouth as he acknowledged that everything he had believed about Nicky—even her fucking name—could be a complete lie. Including her version of what had happened with Lionel Jenkins?
It was more than possible that she may have taken the job at Jenkins, Simmons and Simmons having already heard the rumors of the other man’s sexual harassment of female employees. That she had then attempted to blackmail Jenkins by outing him to his family and the press, and when he had turned the tables on her, decided to use that as a doorway back into Lucien’s life, when she came to see him with her sob story.
And when he had bought Jenkins out, she had deliberately lost a little weight for authenticity, and then come back to him looking for more help.
He, like the complete sap he had become where she was concerned, had believed every word she’d told him.
And for the first time in a very long time, Lucien had no idea what he was going to do next.
Dair shrugged at Lucien’s continued silence. “A couple of other scenarios are she’s working for one of your business competitors? Or maybe she intends blackmailing you in regard to your sex life?”
“I never discuss business with Nicky, nor do I ever intend to do so.” He frowned darkly. “And would you mind explaining what the hell you think there is for her to blackmail me about regarding my sex life?” Where Nicky was concerned, he knew he had been a demanding as well as relentless lover, more so than with any other woman, but he wasn’t into anyone but her, and he wasn’t married like Jenkins either.
He did, however, have an obsessive need to avoid being mentioned or photographed in newspapers. Something Nicky was well aware of.
A fact Dair was obviously also aware of. “She could earn big money selling the exclusive story to the tabloid newspapers, no doubt with the headline ‘My nights of wild and kinky sex with reclusive billionaire Lucien Wynter’.”
He gave a disgusted snort. “I’ll admit it was wild, but it certainly wasn’t kinky.”
“I don’t think the people who read the tabloids will care whether it’s actually true or not.”
Neither did Lucien.
“I know it looks bad, Lucien—”
“You think?”
Dair grimaced at the hardness of his tone. “Either of those things is better than the third alternative, Lucien.”
Yes, they were.
Because the third alternative would leave him and Dair completely vulnerable.
Lucien had known from that very first day that Nicky had debts, that she was seriously struggling financially. Which was the reason her friend had suggested she find herself a ‘rich old lover’ to help pay off those debts. Admittedly Nicky had dismissed the idea at the time, but this was almost nine months later, and those debts could only have grown, and so maybe her friend’s suggestion now seemed viable?
Not that Lucien believed for a moment that Nicky’s sexual responses to him had been false or faked; he would have known in an instant if that had been the case. But there was nothing to say that a blackmailer couldn’t enjoy themselves while they were setting up the blackmail!
Damn it, he had found it hard to concentrate all day, as he anticipated the evening and night ahead with Nicky, had even smiled to himself as he imagined how much he was going to enjoy eating the sliced fruit off Nicky’s naked body for dessert. Knowing exactly where it would lead. Where he wanted it to lead.
What the hell did he do now?
“Are you going to continue seeing her?” Dair obviously had the same concern.
Was he? Or did he cancel this evening, cut Nicky off completely, before this went any further, and leave Dair to finish his investigation?
Or did he continue to see her, enjoy her, and wait for the ‘other shoe to drop’?
What Lucien really wanted to do right now was strangle her with his bare hands.
But that was emotion talking, not logic, and it was time Lucien returned to thinking logically, and not, as Dair so succinctly put it, with his dick.
What he wanted to know specifically was why she had chosen to come back into his life two weeks ago. Whether this was a simple case of blackmail, or something that could have far deeper repercussions, not just for him, but for Dair too.
He drew in a deep, controlling breath. “Yes, I’m going to continue seeing her—Dair, we both need to know why she’s here and what she wants,” he rasped as his cousin looked less than happy with that decision.
“We can do that by my continuing my investigation.”
“How are you going to go about doing that?”
“I’ll start by going over all the reports from when my men started following her. Maybe there’s something in there, someone she met, or spoke to, that might give us a lead. There’s absolutely no reason for you to have to continue seeing her while I do that—” Dair broke off to give Lucien a searching glance. “Unless you want to see her again? Jesus, you do!” he groaned in realization.
“Keep your enemies closer, remember, Dair,” Lucien reminded harshly.
“That didn’t work out too well the last time.” His fingers moved instinctively to that livid scar on his temple.
“I hardly think that Nicky is going to try to shoot either one of us!”
“You can’t be sure of that.” Dair gave a shake of his head. “I think you should stop seeing her, at least until after I finish my investigation and we know exactly who she is and what she wants.”
Lucien’s jaw tightened. “I’m not ready to do that.”
Dair shook his head. “You want to carry on fucking her? Even knowing that she might be mentally storing up every dirty little detail, with the intention of splashing that, and any other crap she makes up, all over the front page of the tabloids?”
Lucien’s mouth tightened. “If that’s what she’s after, then I’ll just have to make sure that my performance tonight is even more memorable than last night!”
If that was possible...
Lucien had been sexually active for seventeen of his thirty-three years, and he had never spent a night with a woman like last night with Nicky. Never.
Dair scowled. “I’m really not fine with this, Lucien.”
“Duly noted.”
“And ignored?”
“Yes.” His jaw was tight with tension. “It might help with your investigation to know she’s a natural blonde, and that she may be wearing colored contact lenses.” Those golden red curls between Nicky’s thighs were indicative that her true coloring was more likely to be blond rather than that fiery red. The colored contact lenses were a guess on Lucien’s part, but maybe blue or hazel eyes would be more natural with that blond hair?
Lucien intended knowing the truth about Nicky McKenzie—or whoever she really was. And sooner rather than later.
“You’re very quiet this evening.” Nicky frowned as she looked at Lucien seated behind the wheel of the powerful sports car as he drove them both back to the Wynter Enterprises building.
She had half expected that Dair would be the one to collect her from her apartment this evening, and she had smiled her pleasure when she opened the door to the terse knock to find Lucien standing outside. Looking ruggedly casual, in a black T-shirt that revealed those intriguing tattoos, and a pair of faded jeans.
Her smile had quickly turned to puzzlement as he strode arrogantly past her into her apartment without saying a word, let alone kissing her hello. That unease had deepened as he had stood in the middle of her sitting room, a sneer on his lips as he looked coldly about the tiny space she called home.
She had half expected to receive a text message or email from Lucien today, canceling their date for this evening. Simply because it was a date. And from what she knew of him, Lucien didn’t ‘do’ dates anymore than he ‘did’ friends.
When she hadn’t heard from him by five o’clock, as she tidied her desk at the end of her working day, she had breathed a sigh of relief.
She had even hummed happily under her breath as she shopped for their dinner, a blush warming her cheeks as she picked out the ripest pieces of fruit for Lucien’s ‘dessert’.
Once home she had used some of her precious perfumed bubble-bath to soothe away the last of the aches from her body from their lovemaking last night, smiling to herself as she anticipated more of the same this evening.
Her hair was newly washed and dried to a wild tumble about her shoulders, and her red above-the-knee dress had been chosen with care.
And for all the notice Lucien had taken of her appearance, as he first gave that sneering look about her apartment before picking up the bags of food and waiting for her to precede him out of the apartment, she might just as well have been wearing a sack from head to toe.
He hadn’t touched her, not once, as he first nodded acknowledgement of Dair and another man seated in the black four-by-four parked behind the sports car, before opening the passenger door and waiting for Nicky to slowly get in. Nor had Lucien spoken a word since he’d climbed in beside her after depositing the food in the trunk of the car and begun the drive back to his apartment.
That silence, and the roil of emotion she could feel simmering beneath the surface of Lucien’s calm expression, had killed any pleasure she might have felt in seeing and being with him again.
She gave a weary sigh. “You could just have sent me an email or text today and told me you’d changed your mind about the two of us meeting this evening.”
“I haven’t,” he bit out curtly.
Nicky gave a shake of her head; Lucien must think she was stupid not to be totally aware of how cold he was being towards her this evening. Just as she had seen the way his hands had now tightened on the steering wheel.
She turned in her seat to look directly at him. “Have you just had a really bad day, or are we going to have to go through this for an hour or so every time we see each other?”
“This?”
“This,” she indicated the distance between them with a wave of her hand. “You cold and uncommunicative, me feeling as if
you resent my being here.”
“Don’t be bloody stupid,” he snapped his impatience. “I wouldn’t have bothered coming to collect you if I hadn’t wanted to see you again.”
Nicky sank down into her seat, too disappointed by the return of Lucien’s coldness to even bother arguing with him on the subject. She had so been looking forward to this evening, to being with him again... “Would you turn the car around, please, and take me home again?” God, please, please don’t let Lucien have heard that emotional wobble in her voice.
She had known from the beginning what type of man Lucien was: cold, arrogant, aloof.
But she’d had glimpses of another Lucien. The Lucien who had dealt so effectively with Lionel Jenkins. The Lucien who had waited for her outside her apartment. The Lucien last night who had been as wild with lust for her as she was for him. The same Lucien she had later sat and had dinner with in his kitchen, the two of them talking of everything and nothing.
That Lucien she had liked. Much more than liked. And she had hoped, really hoped, that the two of them might have a few days together just enjoying each other, making love, talking, even laughing on occasion.
Lucien’s behavior this evening was too stark a reminder that his mood could be mercurial, one time the cold-eyed stranger sitting beside her right now, the next the insatiable lover of last night.
The insatiable lover that she would happily spend more time with, that she was falling in love with. If she wasn’t in love with him already.
This cold and unreachable stranger made that love shrivel in on itself and retreat to a far corner of her soul.
“Lucien, I asked if you—”
“I heard you the first time,” he grated harshly.
“You’re just choosing to ignore me, as usual,” she guessed with a weary sigh.
He shrugged. “There seems little point in turning the car around when we’re almost at my apartment.”
“I really don’t want to be with you the way you are right now.” Nicky turned away so that Lucien couldn’t see the tears of disappointment she knew were glistening in her eyes.
Dark Alpha (ALPHA 2) Page 14
