Stedman Hyde-Pierson was considered exceptionally attractive for being in his mid-fifties. His hair was cut short, and the pale blond had long ago given way to gray. He had piercing blue eyes and an array of facial expressions that all seemed to minimize anyone within ten feet of him. He wore a custom-tailored suit that tried to make his shoulders look broader and his waist look trimmer. Ralston hid a smile at the notion that his father was going to fat. Perhaps that’s what happened when you sat around and came up with new ways to steal from pretty much everyone you came into contact with.
“Mother asked if I would stop by.” Ralston deliberately sounded bored. “I think she’s getting anxious for me to marry.”
Stedman snorted. “Your mother has her own agenda. Don’t ever forget that. You can’t trust that bitch as far as you can pick her up and throw her. I learned that the hard way.”
I cannot kill him. Ralston had to repeat that phrase a half dozen times before he could even meet his father’s gaze. He lifted his shoulder in a very blasé shrug. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have cheated on her. I feel like that might have had something to do with it.”
“She knew the score going into the marriage,” Stedman said carelessly. “I do what I want, when I want. No questions, no apologies, and certainly no feeling accountable to some woman who stayed home on her ass all day long.”
“While simultaneously providing you with most of the money you used to grow your company,” Ralston shot back. “Sometimes I forget how you have such a talent for changing history to suit your perceptions of any given situation. If you’ll excuse me? I think I’d rather spend time with the piranhas attending the party.”
Ralston left his father behind and went in search of something to remove the sour taste from his mouth. The man was insufferable. And with all of the negative information that Ralston had been gathering on Stedman Hyde-Pierson in the last few months, Ralston now knew that his father was fleecing just about every member of their family for some purpose Ralston had yet to fully understand.
The party had gotten louder while Ralston was gone. People laughed, a band played Sinatra tunes, dancers sashayed around the floor, and fortunes were discussed and probably spent. It was just another night on the town with the Boston elite.
Someone touched Ralston’s back. He froze. Then he caught just a hint of a familiar fragrance. Jasmine. He would have known that scent anywhere. “Look at me, smile, and laugh, and for fuck’s sake do not give me an excuse to break your nose.”
Ralston glanced down just as Analise Vega slipped around his right side and into full view. He was used to seeing her in cargo pants, a black T-shirt, and combat boots. The fitted black dress and heels were a nearly devastating change.
“You look incredible,” Ralston told her honestly.
Analise made a face. “I feel ridiculous, and I’m really pissed at you for making me dress up like this.”
“I didn’t make you,” he pointed out. “You could have stayed home.”
Analise’s dark gaze was never still. She was evaluating every single person and situation in the room for possible threats. “What kind of bodyguard sits at home while her client goes out to try and commit electronic theft all by his lonesome?”
“Try?” Ralston was insulted. “I’ll have you know that I don’t try without results.”
Analise reached up and patted his cheek. “Oh, honey, if that’s what you need to think in order to feel better about yourself, who am I to poke holes in your theory?”
He grinned. In fact, he could not understand how the woman could always make him smile in spite of the shitty circumstances they seemed to find themselves in. Speaking of shitty circumstances, Ralston saw Stedman reenter the room. “My father is here,” Ralston said in a low voice.
“I know.” Analise deliberately turned her back to Stedman. The movement perfectly showcased the elegant line of her bare neck. Her light brown hair was piled on top of her head, and several curling strands brushed her neckline. “I considered sticking a knife in his back and ending this whole debacle.”
“The idea has merit,” Ralston mused. “If we could only be certain that the death contracts against the rest of the family would die with him, I would say let’s do it now.”
“We’re working on it,” Analise muttered. “Can we go now? Seriously? You’ve been here long enough for looks, right? Your mother said a half hour. It’s been thirty-five minutes.”
“Counting the seconds, are we?” Ralston taunted. “What if I want to dance with that little social butterfly who keeps staring at me as if I were wearing my bank balance emblazoned across my forehead?”
“I guess my efforts to protect you would all be in vain then,” she said carelessly. “So dance at your own risk, then.”
Ralston snorted and offered her his arm. “Let’s go, then. We’ll get all the old hags talking when we leave together. My mother will just love that.”
Chapter Two
Analise Vega put her hand on Ralston’s forearm and let him escort her out of the Custom House. She had been working at Nash Security Solutions for nearly three years. In that time, she had met a lot of people and seen a lot of things. They had come and gone, and most of the time she couldn’t even remember their names.
There was no doubt in her mind that Ralston Hyde-Pierson was going to be a different kettle of fish. The guy was different. He wasn’t what he looked like. Most of the men in this place—in this social circle—were shallow and petty in a way that made them weak and kind of aggravating.
Although, as she gazed around at the men with their product-laden hair and designer suits, she realized that it was completely unfair to compare them to the marines she had served with for more than ten years. Marines were rough and ready men who followed orders and got the job done regardless of how much muck they had to shovel around to do it. Most of the males in this room had never seen muck, let alone knew what it was.
“Ah, here we are.” Ralston put his hand out and pushed the glass doors open so they could exit the building.
The sun had set, and the city lights were bright around them. A strange sense of vertigo left Analise feeling off balance. She had to remind herself that she was not this woman. She was a hired gun—a mercenary. She was not dating Ralston or coming to this social event because she was an invited guest. Had Ralston not entered with her on his arm to begin with, she would have never made it past the guys checking invitations at the door.
A black town car roared to a stop at the curb. Ralston strode over and opened the back door as though he were simply being a gentleman for his date. It felt all kinds of wrong for Analise to get inside the vehicle before Ralston did. It left him exposed and completely invalidated her job as a bodyguard, but they were trying to keep up appearances. It would have looked ten kinds of weird if he had gotten in first.
“All right, then.” Ralston sprawled across the backseat. “How you doing up there, Wrath?”
The burly marine with a penchant for getting himself shot and wrecking company cars turned in the driver’s seat and flashed them a smile. “I’m doing awesome!”
His enthusiasm was a little odd. Analise sat forward in her seat and poked him in the back of the head. “Why are you so happy?”
“Nash is all pissed off at Carson,” Wrath said, naming one of Nash’s other employees. “Did you know that he and Kayla got married last night? They just went down to the courthouse and got it done.”
Analise snorted. It didn’t actually surprise her at all. “I’m guessing they didn’t clear it with Nash before they commenced with the nuptials, huh?”
“Nope.” Wrath was practically bouncing in his seat. “That means I’m off the hook. I used to be the worst one, you know?”
Ralston growled. “Because you’re sleeping with my sister, you ass.”
“Yeah, but now Tegan and I are off the hook!” Wrath said with glee.
Analise shook her head. “Just drive and try not to total the car. All right? I don’t care to get int
o a wreck in this outfit. I have to return the dress in the morning, and the deposit was killer.”
“I told you I would buy you a dress,” Ralston murmured.
The way he was staring at her made her uncomfortable. Or at least she told herself that was why she was squirming. Somehow his gaze seemed like a physical caress. It was as if she could feel his hands traveling over her bare shoulders and down her sides toward her hips. For a fleeting moment, she wondered what it would feel like to have him remove the dress. Would he be rough? Or would he take his time? She had a feeling that Ralston Hyde-Pierson was as unhurried about making love as he was about just about everything else. And in her book, that was a definite bonus.
“We’ve got a tail,” Wrath announced. He was peering into the rearview mirror. “About three cars back, inside lane.”
“Let’s try to lose him,” Analise decided. There. Real life had intervened quite nicely to turn her attention away from those naughty thoughts she shouldn’t be having.
Wrath sped up. They whipped around a right-hand turn and then sped down an adjoining street. They were now heading in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to be going, which was fine. There was no need to take any unfriendlies to their base of operations.
“Still with us,” Wrath told Analise.
“Duck into this parking garage,” Analise instructed as she waved at a garage half a block away. Let’s head in, go up, and then go out on the same side. We’ll backtrack after that and hopefully lose the tail.”
Wrath muttered something about not being responsible for dents and scratches. Beside her, Analise could sense Ralston’s rising tension. She wished he would talk to her or at least explain why she sometimes got this vibe from him when there was absolutely no external sign of agitation. It was disconcerting as hell.
Wrath swung the car hard left into the parking garage. The ticket popped out, and Wrath snatched it out. The gate started to move at a laboriously slow pace, and Wrath finally cursed and squeaked by underneath it. Analise could not help but laugh.
“What?” Wrath snarled defensively. “Did you want to advertise where we were going? They’re already behind us. Can’t you see the lights?”
“I didn’t say a word!” Analise teased. “I was just trying to picture you explaining those scratches to Tegan. She’s the one who has to talk to the rental car company.”
“Fuck!” Wrath spun the wheel again as they roared up the tiny, twisting incline that would send them to the top. Behind them, Analise could hear the roar of the other vehicle’s engine inside the close space of the echoing garage.
“Someone’s not getting laid tonight!” Analise sang.
Ralston made a gagging noise. “Please. That’s my sister you’re joking about. Can we not talk about that?”
“Sorry,” Analise said flippantly.
“Ana, shut your mouth and hang onto your seat,” Wrath said enthusiastically. “We’re heading back down.”
The trip back down to ground level was a dizzying ride that made Analise’s stomach want to go in reverse. The path was so continuous it was like one of those children’s toys where the cars just spin down and down and around until it made her want to puke.
She sat back in her seat and put her hands over her face.
“It’s all right,” Ralston said in a low voice. He put his big hands on her back and gently rubbed between her shoulder blades. “We’re almost there.”
The car whipped around one last curve, and Analise was pretty sure what little dinner she’d eaten was coming back up. Then they abruptly leveled out, and Wrath floored it back to the entrance. Analise was flung to Ralston’s side of the backseat. She somehow wound up in his lap by the time they exited the garage and zoomed back down the street.
“This is nice,” Ralston commented with a grin. “Part of the security service menu?”
“Not on your life!” Analise said irritably. She pushed herself back into a sitting position but managed to put her hand right in Ralston’s lap as she did. He flinched, and she realized that she’d basically punched him in the groin. “Sorry! Sorry!” She felt like an idiot.
“It’s all right,” he told her flippantly. “I would say it happens all the time, but that would—I hope—be a lie.”
“I’m sure,” she said with a laugh. Then she turned back to Wrath. “Well? Did we lose them?”
Wrath slowed at a stop sign. He and Analise were so busy looking over their shoulders that they didn’t notice the threat until it was too late.
The back door on Ralston’s side was yanked open. Analise dove for her weapon but was too preoccupied grabbing onto Ralston to get a grip on her gun. She wrapped her arms around his waist as someone tried to pull him out of the car.
“Let go or I’ll blow your shit away!” Wrath had his gun out and was pointing, but there was no way to shoot the assailant without popping Ralston in the process.
Ralston was fighting hard, pushing the guy away with his muscular arms, but they had him around the neck. Then someone put a gun to Ralston’s head, and the whole scene came crashing to a halt.
“Give me the flash drive!” the man snarled.
Analise struggled to see who was making the demand, but there was too much going on. Ralston was in the way, and she couldn’t see anything but his broad chest and the gun. Then Ralston fumbled in his pocket, and Analise heard the plastic click of something hitting the sidewalk. The gunman dove away after his prize, and they were suddenly free.
“Drive!” Ralston shouted. “Drive. Drive. Drive!”
Wrath hit the gas, and Ralston managed to pull the door closed. The locks clicked, and Analise went almost completely limp there in the backseat. She moaned and started cursing in every language she could think of. Since she spoke four languages, there was plenty to choose from.
“What the fuck was that?” Wrath kept throwing glances over his shoulder. “The locks were down. I swear. How did the fucker get in? I know the car was locked!”
“It’s a rental,” Analise mused. “Do you think there’s another fob out there somewhere?”
“Seriously?” Wrath’s voice was about a million decibels and echoed around the inside of the vehicle like a sonic blast.
“Inside voice, Wrath,” Analise groaned. “I’m already feeling like shit.”
Ralston hadn’t said a word. Analise knew that the flash drive had been the purpose of tonight’s excursion. She could only assume that he had lost whatever it was that he’d intended to gain from the banker’s computer.
“I’m sorry, Ralston,” Analise said softly. “What would someone else want with that information?”
“I’m not sure,” Ralston mused. Then he started to laugh. The sound gradually grew until Analise was afraid he had come completely unhinged. He started wheezing some kind of epithet about how people were so stupid and they thought they knew what they were doing with a computer. Analise was pretty sure she was hearing some kind of IT guy rant.
“What?” she demanded. “If you’re going to act crazy, you at least have to share the joke.”
He snorted. “They stole a flash drive. It sort of suggests that they knew what I was doing tonight and that they believe I have the info that I nicked stored on that little piece of hardware.”
“Don’t you?” Wrath demanded.
Analise was actually a little glad that Wrath had been the one to say it so she didn’t have to sound so computer illiterate. She was actually pretty good with computers. It was just that Ralston Hyde-Pierson’s skills made her look like a kindergartener with one of those old IBM desktops.
“There is a virus on that flash drive that will activate as soon as someone inserts it into a computer,” Ralston said with obvious glee. “It basically eats a hard drive and sends the information back home to me. So, whoever stole it, we’ll know just as soon as they try to gain access to the information.”
Analise remembered Stedman’s appearance at the soiree. “You think your father staged this little bullshit event
?”
“If we’re lucky,” Ralston said grimly. “I’d love nothing better than to have a back door into his computer system.”
Every once in a while, Analise had a hard time remembering who was working for whom.
Chapter Three
Ralston opened the shower door and grabbed a towel. He closed his eyes and rubbed his blond hair dry. He felt sluggish and sore. It was a horrible side effect of spending far too much time hunched in front of a computer. What he needed was to work out. He gradually used the towel to dry off the other parts of his body.
The building where he had set up not only his home, but also his office, was located inside Boston’s city limits. He liked being close to the financial district. Not to mention it was far enough from his father’s Brookline estate to keep his father off of his back most of the time.
Ralston tied the towel around his waist and headed out of the bathroom and into the main part of his second story. The old office building had originally been comprised of a lot more floors and many more walls before Ralston had renovated. Now it was four stories of open space with room to park his cars down on the first floor.
“Um, hello, boundaries?”
Ralston stopped short at the sound of Analise’s voice. He had totally forgotten that she was still here. Of course, she had sort of informed him a few days ago that she would be camping out to “keep an eye on him.”
“You don’t like it?” Ralston told her curtly. “You know where the door is. I wanted a drink. I just got out of the shower. I’ll get dressed when I’m ready to.”
Analise was lounging on his leather sofa. She had changed out of her little black dress and heels. Ralston was pretty sure that the shorts and camisole she was currently wearing were actually more of a turn on than the dress. He refused to notice. She was a thorn in his side. The fact that he found her attractive should not have mattered. The woman had never figured out that you could catch a lot more bees with honey than with vinegar.
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