by Lexi Blake
Ian pulled out his cell. “I can have someone there in a few hours. I’ll send in Alex and Eve. Adam will provide documentation that Eve is a relative. We’ll work the case from that side. I’ll also put out some feelers to my Agency contacts.”
“I’ll do the same here,” Damon agreed. “I’ve got some Interpol contacts as well. Nick, I hate to ask, but do you know of anything Des was involved in that might have this kind of a reaction? I know she was blackmailing certain powerful people, but that would have ended after her death. MI6 dealt with all her known extortion plots, but I don’t think they checked on a place in Tokyo. It might have gotten lost in the shuffle. They insisted on handling it in house, and sometimes things get prioritized improperly.”
“Blackmail?” Hayley shook her head. “I don’t understand. My cousin was a spy. She wasn’t a criminal.”
Ah, but sometimes there was a fine line between the two. “Des had many dealings in the information world. Don’t worry about it.”
“You mean she bought and sold intelligence, don’t you?” Hayley sniffled as though fortifying herself. “All right. The letter only said that if there was any trouble, I should go to Nick. She told me I shouldn’t hesitate to call him if I needed something. You can read it. And there was one for Nick, too. I didn’t say anything because…well, because I’m a selfish bitch. It seems to run in the family. They’re both here.” She reached into the bag she’d carried with her and drew out two letters, placing them on the conference table in front of Nick. “That’s everything I know, everything I have.”
“I’ll read them privately.” He leaned in so he could speak quietly to her. “No one else has to unless there’s something important. And I had nothing to do with Desiree’s business.”
She wouldn’t look at him. “I didn’t think you did.”
He slid a hand over her clasped ones. “Of course, you did. You probably still do and I don’t blame you. Talk to Damon. I’ll tell him to open my files for you. I don’t want you to be afraid of me. I cared about your cousin, but I didn’t agree with everything about her.”
“You would let me read your file?” She looked up at him, her eyes big and wide and trusting.
Fuck, he didn’t want to, but he couldn’t say no to her. Not after what she’d been through. “Yes, but you should know I’m not always the hero.”
She gave him the faintest smile and then turned to the front of the table. “I’ll help in any way I can. If I remember anything else, I’ll let you know. What more do you need from me?”
“I need you to stay inside the building,” Damon replied. “The city is full of CCTV cameras. I don’t want to risk your face showing up on one.”
“Have we considered the probability that it already has?” Charlotte asked. “Unless she was extremely careful, she would have shown up on the security cameras at Heathrow and in the train station. Did you take the Express?”
“Yes, but I tried to keep my head down as much as possible,” she replied. “One of the few things I bought was a cap. I put my hair up and wore sunglasses. I had a jacket that hid my body pretty much. I rode the Tube here, but again, I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me.”
“You thought this through pretty well for a civilian,” Brody pointed out.
“My dad was weird. He was paranoid, I guess. He played poker for a living so he was all about keeping as much information to himself as he could. Sometimes, though, I think he got in trouble with casinos and maybe even the mob because he definitely tried to keep a low profile,” Hayley explained. “When I was with him, he wanted me to do the same. That’s where I learned how to avoid security cameras. Still, I can’t promise one didn’t pick me up.”
“I’ll have some of the lads look through the feeds to see if they can find you,” Penny offered. “I’ll talk to Robert and put them on it. It’s good for them to have something to do.”
“And apparently they are very good at looking at my client.” He needed to make something plain. “Damon, if they start bothering her, we’re going to have a problem.”
Owen spoke up for the first time since the meeting had begun. Nick hadn’t realized it. It was a big change. Owen used to laugh and joke and generally annoy the hell out of Damon for the fun of it during meetings. Today, he’d been quiet and serious, taking notes as he read along in the reports. “They ain’t bothering her. They’re lonely and she’s unattached. It would be good for the lads if we had some subs they could play with, and by play with I mean fuck until their eyeballs don’t work anymore.”
That sounded like the old Owen.
Except he’d turned a lovely shade of red and turned to Hayley. “Not you, of course. They’ll be polite around you. Maybe you should come down and have dinner with us. Get to know us. You’re going to be here for a while.”
“Absolutely not. She’s staying away from that group. She’s off limits.”
“Off limits? What does that mean?” Hayley asked.
“It means you really need to use protection.” Ian sat back, as though ready for a show. “There’s something in the water, man. Unless Nick here got himself snipped.”
“I am not snipped,” he replied, aware that irritation was rising. It should be plain to everyone that he was in charge of Hayley and he would make the rules when it came to her safety. That certainly didn’t include putting her in a roomful of horny, memory-wiped men.
“Then condoms are your friend, buddy,” Ian continued.
He was going to have such a talk with Ian.
Damon held up a hand as if that alone could stave off the fight that might be coming. “Both of you stop. Nikolai has strong ideas about how to protect Hayley, but if she’s staying here for a while, I don’t see a reason why she should need to stay in your rooms twenty-four seven.”
“I’m not staying in my room all the time. I’m not a prisoner. Mr. Knight, I promise not to leave the grounds, but I can’t be stuck in a room and I don’t need someone watching me constantly. I understand that I could be here for a while and because of that, I would like to be given something to do,” she said. “I need a job.”
“You don’t need a job,” Nick insisted. “You have a job back in Seattle. I told you I would handle the fees if I need to. You don’t have to pay the firm back with manual labor.”
“I don’t think that’s what this is about, Nick.” Charlotte winked Hayley’s way. “She’s going to be bored and there are only so many super-hot romance novels I have with me to entertain her. She needs something to do so she doesn’t go insane, and that includes at night. She can’t hop out to the West End, so Penny and I decided that we want to sponsor her here at The Garden. It’s only Thursday through Saturday, but it’ll give her something to look forward to.”
He felt his blood pressure tick up. He actually felt it. That was probably a bad thing.
Penelope took up Charlotte’s line of thought. “And I can certainly find you things to do around here. Teresa can take you under her wing. We’ll treat you like any other submissive in training. Damon, she’ll need a contract and we’ll need to interview training Doms for her.”
“I think that sounds lovely. I woke up early this morning and read a few of the books Nick had on the subject. I found them fascinating.” Hayley was smiling as though they were discussing an outing for tea and not her joining a sex club. “And it might be fun to meet some new people.”
New men. She was talking about meeting Doms.
He took a deep breath and even as the words came out of his mouth he knew he would regret them. He also knew he wouldn’t take them back.
“I forbid it.”
* * * *
Five hours later, Hayley sat in the small window seat in Nick’s living room overlooking the street below. She’d been told the window was tinted so no one could see inside and the panes themselves were bulletproof. She stared down at the people walking and talking. A fine rain had started, but it didn’t seem to faze the Londoners. They went about their business, holding umbrellas or
newspapers over their heads or simply letting the rain fall.
It fit her mood.
The door opened and the reason for her grim state stepped inside. Nick shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on the coat rack next to the hoodie she’d worn every day since fleeing Seattle.
She was safe. She was warm and fed and that had to be enough. She managed a smile. “Hey.”
He set two bags on the table. His apartment was rather sparse, with few feminine touches. The dining room table was devoid of a centerpiece or tablecloth. The living room consisted of a single couch, a television that was absolutely the biggest thing in the room, a coffee table, and a media center with what looked like every game system known to man. She’d explored his apartment, trying to get some measure of who Nikolai Markovic was five years later, but all she could tell was that he liked vodka and video games and read mostly nonfiction.
“I bought everything on your list plus a change of clothes,” he replied, his deep voice rumbling. “I thought you might want to do the rest on the Internet. I can have someone pick up the parcels for you. You can use my laptop and charge to my credit card.”
She forced herself to move, swinging her legs around. It wasn’t like being mad at him would solve anything. He didn’t want her in that part of his life. He was either embarrassed by her or she’d read him wrong and he didn’t want her in a romantic or even plain sexual fashion. She’d made her play and lost.
It was going to be a long couple of weeks, but she was grateful for the help he was willing to give her and she didn’t intend to be a whiny houseguest.
In fact, she intended to be the thoughtful one who made life easier on him. While he’d been out, she’d been planning and plotting to take the tension away. He couldn’t possibly want to sleep on the floor in his office for weeks, and he’d made it plain that he wasn’t going to be sneaking into bed with her. That left a few options open.
She looked through the bags. He’d bought shampoo and conditioner and moisturizer. All the toiletries she would need including tampons, which she’d put on the list more out of spite since she was weeks away from needing them. He’d also bought jeans and two shirts, a six-pack of underwear, two bras, and a pair of pajamas. Staid, practical underwear and flannel PJs. She ran her hand over it.
It was not at all what he would have bought Des. She’d seen some of the gifts he’d bought her cousin. Des had shown her while Hayley sat in her bedroom. She’d shown her sexy lingerie and perfume. Des had wrinkled her nose at some of it, declaring it a bit gauche, but Hayley had thought the teddies and filmy nightgowns had been beautiful, the perfume exotic.
He’d bought her unscented deodorant.
He’d also completely forbidden her to walk into The Garden on play nights.
She needed to look to his actions to find the truth. It was right there in that plain white cotton bra.
She gave him what she hoped was a gracious smile as she placed the items back in the bags. “Thank you so much. I appreciate it and I promise I’ll keep the receipts so I can pay you back. I’ll look online tonight while you’re out and pick some clothes. Nothing expensive, I promise.”
She wouldn’t need pretty dresses to sit around the apartment and not be murdered.
“You don’t need to pay me back. It was nothing.” He rolled up his shirt sleeves, exposing muscled arms.
Hayley chose not to argue. She would simply keep costs down and pay him back one day. “Well, thank you anyway.”
“And I’m not going anywhere this evening.” Nick turned and hung his keys on a hook by the door. “I’m going to work here. I have a meeting with Walter in an hour or so, but otherwise, I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”
“Oh. I thought you would go to the club.”
“I will work on your case,” he promised. “I’m not going to leave you alone while I go out and play, if that’s what all that business this morning was about. You should have simply asked me before causing that scene. I told you I would protect you and I will.”
She sighed. “I wasn’t worried about being left alone, Nick. I thought it sounded like fun.”
His gaze came up to meet hers. “I find that interesting because only yesterday it was a perverted way to live. Only yesterday you were so offended you wouldn’t stay here.”
Was that why he’d forbidden it? She knew it was utterly ridiculous for a man to tell her he forbade anything, and her first instinct had been to tell him to go to hell. Unfortunately, Charlotte Taggart had gotten there first. And then Kay had started in on him. Even sweet Penny Knight had called Nick a barbarian and harangued him about joining the modern world.
She’d shut them all down because no matter how poorly he was behaving, she owed him for saving her, and she wasn’t going to let her boredom make him uncomfortable. Yes, she was curious, but mostly about him. He didn’t want her there and that meant she would honor his wishes.
“I explained that, Nick. I’m sorry I mentioned it at all.” She wasn’t going to start an argument with him. Especially not when he seemed to want one so badly. He seemed anxious, his eyes tight, his shoulders taut. There was something in the grim set of his eyes that let her know he was still feeling the effects of the drama from earlier in the day. Had he caught hell from the others even though she’d tried to shut it all down? “I won’t again. I’m not welcome there. Got it. But I do think we should talk about the living arrangements. Since I’m going to be here for a while, I don’t want to cramp your style. You should go to the club if you want. I understand you go there every night The Garden’s open. I think I should stay in one of the empty apartments.”
“There are no open flats,” he replied, his tone dark. “The Taggarts are in the guest suite and we have Robert’s men to deal with. There are already six men sharing three rooms on that floor. Unless you would rather they crowded in further so you’re comfortable.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Why wasn’t he listening to her?
“Excuse me, but it’s exactly what you said. You don’t like the accommodations I can provide you with so you seek to take someone else’s,” he shot back, that grim look turning dark. His hands found his hips and she had to wonder if this was what Nick looked like when he was interrogating a suspect. “I’m sorry, but this is all I have to offer you so you will have to make do.”
“Please, Nick, decide if I’m too stupid to know what I want or if I’m the evil queen of the world who demands everyone bow down to her.” She owed him but she wasn’t taking this. She hadn’t earned it. “I never said anything bad about your place. It’s fine, but I seem to make you uneasy. I can stay with Kay until the Taggarts leave. She offered earlier today. She’s got a pull-out bed. You can be comfortable and I can have a bed, too.”
“No.” He turned on her, walking back toward the bathroom.
She stopped, her whole body going rigid. Breathe. It’s all right. He’s had a bad day and he’s touchy.
Wait. She’d given in on everything and he was still being a jerk.
“What do you mean no?”
He stopped in the doorway but didn’t turn. “I meant no. It’s a word indicating the negative. You will not stay anywhere but here. You will not do anything without my permission. I’m your bodyguard.”
Oh, that so wasn’t how a bodyguard worked, and now she kind of knew how to talk to him. She’d woken early, jet lag doing its thing, and because she didn’t want to wake up Nick, she’d skimmed through a few of his books, including The Loving Dominant and Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns. They’d been painfully clear on who was truly in charge of the relationship. It wasn’t him.
Those books had spoken to her. Those words, the philosophy had meant something to her.
They’d made her question if she’d been going about her romantic life in the entirely wrong way. Now she was wondering if she was going about everything the wrong damn way.
They weren’t in a relationship like that, but she could translate the meaning into the relatio
nship they were in.
“I told you I won’t put myself in danger. That’s all you need to know. I’m taking my bags and staying with Kay. It will give us both the distance we need. You can be you and I can be me, and we don’t have to step on each other’s toes. I’ll see you in the morning. You know where to find me.” She wasn’t taking orders from him that she didn’t have to. She meant what she’d said. She wasn’t stupid. Kay would be an easier roommate, and she didn’t seem to mind the company. Nick obviously did.
He turned on her, moving far more quickly toward her than he had in retreat. “You will do as I say and that will be the end of it. You’re my responsibility.”
“Don’t you mean burden?” He was pushing her buttons, and her patience was starting to fray. “Would you treat me like this if I’d walked in as a paying customer? Do you routinely force your will on clients?”
“You are not merely a client and you know it. If you want a different guard, you should have gone someplace else,” he replied. “You should have gone to one of your friends, perhaps. Oh, you don’t have any who would save you. Maybe one of these lovers you speak of. They would not take you in?”
“Why are you being such an ass?”
He took a deep breath, as though attempting to bring himself under control. “I’m trying to be reasonable. I cannot have you running crazy through this place. You have no idea what can happen, who is waiting for you out there. I trust many of these men, but not the ones I do not know. Damn it. Not even the one I know best of all because he no longer knows himself. Do you understand what this lifestyle can do to you?”
Did he think she was some kind of moron? “Are we back to me going to the club? I understand that everyone here is freaking human and I need to be careful, but that doesn’t mean I hide myself away like a shrinking violet virgin.”
