Fixing Justice

by Halliday, Suzanne

  Lacey Morrow had been quite the surprise when she’d turned up last autumn in Cam’s company. That the two ended up together hadn’t shocked anyone in the least, except Cam himself. Drae couldn’t help the half grin each time he thought about the unusual parade of events that brought his old friend to his knees where Lacey was concerned.

  Miraculously surviving the minefield of bullshit surrounding their relationship, once they became an official couple, his friend had become an A-1 besotted, romantic fool. Drae supposed it was probably just an over-reaction to the years of emotional isolation that had defined Cam’s life. Once the floodgates of hearts and flowers had been breached, though, the man had gone ape-shit with one over-the-top romantic gesture after another, culminating in the red and white wedding he insisted take place on the one day every year when true love was supposed to be celebrated.

  Ha! True love. What the fuck was that, anyway? Even so, he was happy for Cam. Truly. Knowing that one of them hadn’t been doomed to an eternity of solitude made the burdens each carried lighter. It sure as shit wasn’t easy dealing with what they’d done and witnessed during their time together in the puke-fest that was Afghanistan.

  Swinging absently, Drae tilted his head back and watched a million twinkling stars shining overhead. Stretching his arms wide on the back of the swing, he sat there in his perfectly tailored Tom Ford tuxedo and let his champagne-fueled mind wander.

  He’d gotten into Special Forces as an extra special fuck you to his parents. He could still remember the way his mother, with her tight-assed need to control him and his little sister, had gone ballistic at his announcement. She’d been apoplectic learning that he’d already enlisted by the time they found out what he’d done. Hidden in the dark memories that haunted him, he remembered the woman freaking out on her husband. “Fix this!” she had screamed. “Arthur, you fix this right away. He’s your son after all. Do something about his attitude before he ruins everything I’ve sacrificed for.”

  Ah. Yes. He’d been Arthur St. John’s son. Not hers. She’d made that abundantly clear. Understanding that he and his sister held no emotional importance in her world-view, beyond the parts they were expected to play, had been the final straw. Of course her fix him attitude had landed on his psyche and stuck to him like fucking fly paper.

  And his parents had tried to fix him to no avail. The military tried to fix his bad attitude too and while he’d certainly adjusted somewhat, he always managed to walk the fine line of insubordination. He didn’t need fixing, thank you very much. He was just fine as he was, calling the shots, and answering only to himself.

  He was also a card-carrying male chauvinist pig with a scornful arrogance about the travesty of marriage. Keeping clear of powerful women, because they all but ate their young and generally came with a shit-ton of issues, hadn’t been that difficult. He wasn’t the sort they’d be interested in anyway. That left the rest of the female population in the available category. Except for the innocent of course – they were out-of-bounds. He wanted no responsibility, ever, and virgins came with a truckload.

  Admitting that Cam was an exception to the rule, Drae wished his old friend nothing but happiness. Lacey was one in a million, and if the emotional wedding they just pulled off was any indication, they’d be wallowing in contentment for all time. He’d been honored to serve as best man and maid of honor while Alex had done his Big Daddy duty by walking the beautiful bride down the flower-strewn aisle. Standing as a second to the bride and groom had touched Drae’s heart; not that he was going to admit it anytime soon. He played his role as the sarcastic, conceited brother to perfection and kept the ribald comments flowing.

  He’d gotten a good laugh at the devious way Lacey’s mind worked when she chose an outrageous mermaid style gown that framed her ass because as she’d put it, ‘Cameron was a dog for her backside’. Drae fell over laughing at her choice of words, and the two had giggled like conspiratorial girlfriends plotting his lovesick friend’s downfall. Serves Cam right, he chuckled, because there was nothing guys enjoyed more than laughing at their buddies when a woman turned the tables.

  Well, the deed was done, and the Justice Family now included a wife. Wonders never ceased. Now that the happy couple had flown off via private jet to an extended honeymoon in Hawaii, some semblance of order and calm would return to the Villa. He hoped.

  During the month he’d been gone before the wedding, Alex had finally found an assistant to keep him organized, busy, and out of everyone else’s hair. Thank fucking God. Drae had been ready to strangle the man, even from a distance, because Alex without a rudder was like a never-ending shit-storm of angst. He’d gone for months without someone to trot along after him, cleaning up the crap he always seemed to leave in his wake. Luckily, Betty had finally returned, so the office continued to run once Lacey relinquished her temp duties to focus on the wedding.

  Making the decision to stay put in Arizona was easy once he started making secret plans to create an addition to the happy couple’s cabin as a wedding present. Cam’s passion for black and white movies and old-time Hollywood gave Drae the idea to create a home theater he knew the couple would enjoy. Starting the very next morning, once his hangover eased, work would begin straightaway as the clock was officially ticking.

  Enjoying the post-reception solitude and what was left of his Cristal buzz, Draegyn was startled when movement along the periphery of his vision had him shifting to high-alert. He wasn’t alone anymore although who or what was prowling in the shadows was a mystery since everyone else had long since staggered away to sleep off their over-partied aftermath of the day’s events.

  Tori had been quickly scurrying along the outskirts of the courtyard where a family wedding had taken place, on her way from seeing off the caterers to her tiny, functional studio apartment above an old barn that served as meeting space and offices for the Justice Agency.

  She was exhausted after a long day of holding down the fort so the entire kit and caboodle of interesting people who made up the Justice family of partners, workers, and friends could join in the wedding festivities.

  Having only been at the Villa for a few weeks, she’d been happy to pitch in wherever she could while also managing to stay invisible. She liked these folks, especially Alex, who she’d been hired to assist. With her personal life in shambles, she’d jumped at the job opportunity hidden away in the middle of a desert. Preferring to stay clear of social situations, she’d insisted on taking over on the day of the event so everyone else could enjoy it. Ever since the scandal that rocked her word exploded in the press, she’d been working overtime to stay off the radar.

  She hated being the center of attention. There was a reason her dad had lovingly referred to her as his little mouse. Lighting up around his only child, the two had shared a special father - daughter bond. Being something of a tomboy with a serious streak a mile-wide, the times they spent holed up at the library or exploring museums had helped her forget that she was a simple girl. No great beauty like her glamorous mother, as a child Tori had been every inch the quiet, bookish mouse her childhood nickname implied.

  When her father had passed away, she’d been too young to understand at the time what having cancer meant. After the shock of his death receded, her day-to-day reality became even more introverted. With a mop of bushy brown hair that never, ever did what she wanted it to and a slight frame with little in the way of feminine curves to grab a guy’s interest, Tori was content to disappear behind ugly eyeglasses a shade too big for her face and basically hide from the world. That didn’t however make her a pushover by any means. Schoolyard bullies had been the scourges of her childhood, and she’d learned early to stand up for herself. Along with a fierce determination to level the playing field by leaving her peers in the academic dust, she’d also mastered the art of the scathing verbal put down and never looked back.

  Possessing an astute mind and a brilliant reputation for anything having to do with numbers meant she’d been labeled a financial geni
us while still in grad school and ended up at a world-class investment firm based out of London. Europe had been an eye-opening experience for the plain twenty-four-year-old that included hobnobbing with royalty and an inside view of sophistication and power fueled by the sort of wealth that boggled the mind. That new life had offered exciting challenges and the opportunity to shed some of her natural reserve.

  When Tori and her remarkable skills had fallen under the attention of a senior partner who also happened to be an Earl, it seemed like angels had touched her as a fascinating new world opened up. Before too long, she was working side by side with the Earl, Wallace Evingham and enjoying one bold success after another.

  At his insistence she’d undergone a complete makeover at an exclusive Hyde Park spa and revamped her wardrobe. In the end she got what she deserved for being so naïve, she thought wryly. Wallace had been using her financial skills while distracting her with a rather public interest that led many, including herself, to believe he was grooming her to be his future Countess. God, she’d been such a twit.

  It all blew apart in spectacular fashion. Just when speculation had peaked that an engagement was only days away, she’d stumbled upon evidence that Wallace was up to no good. He’d been raking in tons of cash in schemes that, while not necessarily illegal, were certainly unethical. And she’d been unwittingly helping him by being so trusting and free with her business acumen. Oh yeah, and he had a string of mistresses to boot. Asshole.

  She hadn’t hesitated to alert the authorities. The blowback had been dreadful, and a major scandal ensued. Wallace was detained and their relationship paraded through the nightmarish British tabloids with headlines like ‘Billionaire Earl Tricks American Plain Jane’. A particularly vile tabloid reporter had referred to her as a spinster as if being twenty-six and unmarried qualified for such a loathed status. One minute she’d been the darling of the financial sector and the next a laughingstock.

  To make matters worse, it came out that the mistresses knew about each other and were all too happy to join together and cry foul at her betrayal of poor Wallace. The whole thing was embarrassing, sordid, and ugly. She’d been the injured party yet, as the American outsider, she was shunned and ridiculed by everyone. Within weeks, the firm had paid her off handsomely to just simply go the hell away. That was three months ago.

  And now here she was, tucked away in the Arizona desert with a bunch of ex-Special Forces men. Her mother had some connection to the Justice Agency and through that association had asked for a favor. Discovering that Alexander Marquez was in need of an assistant with experience in technology, it seemed a perfect fit. Tori needed to fly off the radar for a while and losing herself in the desert with some nerdy computer geek seemed like the perfect solution.

  When her new boss turned out to be more of a handful than the dweeb she’d imagined, Tori had welcomed the intense, thrown-in-the-deep-end quality of work she was confronted with. Alex was a brilliant man but something of a mess when it came to practicalities. She spent just as much time trailing behind him, and the loveable dog that followed him everywhere, keeping things organized and running smoothly as she did working with the mind-boggling array of technology and cutting edge electronics that the agency had.

  Right now, though, she was exhausted and feeling cranky. Knowing that Alex had been fully invested in making sure the intimate wedding event was something unique and special, she had been tap-dancing on the head of a pin all day, running from one challenge to the next. She was beyond tired but satisfied with how everything had turned out. Thank God she knew a bit of Spanish. Came in handy when she had to put out a particularly vexing fire between the obnoxious and uppity caterer and the troop of ladies from town who’d come out to work the reception.

  There was an intense camaraderie amongst the people at the Villa that she privately envied. The radiant bride and handsome groom had smiled and kissed to the satisfaction of one and all before going on their merry way to a honeymoon that was so perfect it sounded like a movie producer had planned it. Their guests had been partying hard most of the evening. The place was a mess now that the festivities had wrapped up. Tomorrow would be soon enough to set about putting everything back in order.

  She’d been stomping along, unconcerned that she looked like holy hell in a pair of sensible flats and a non-descript skirt outfit, when she came up short spying what had to be the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on. Holy shitballz, the guy looked like a movie star!

  About forty feet away and sitting on a swinging bench, he was staring at the sky. An empty champagne flute was on the seat next to him. She actually put her hand on her chest in both surprise and instantaneous attraction as she took in the whole of him with hungry eyes that missed nothing.

  Wearing the same style black tuxedo that Alex and the groom had worn, he had opened the collar button and left the formal bowtie hanging around his neck. Bright silver cuff links, sparkling at her under the twinkling lights, adorned the sleeves of his impossibly white shirt. From where she stood it was easy to see the exposed skin on his neck as his head lolled on the bench’s high back. The chin angled up at the stars suggested a take no prisoner’s attitude. Even without seeing his face, she knew he’d be gorgeous. And dangerous. Everything about him screamed of something wild and exciting.

  She must have made a sound because quite suddenly his head lifted and searched the shadows. Not having more than a second or two to school her expression into passivity, she found herself trapped in the laser-like beam of his stare when ice-cold blue eyes zeroed in on her. Uh oh.

  Draegyn hadn’t needed night vision goggles to find the movement in the darkness that interrupted his solitude. He’d found his quarry in less than a heartbeat, instantly intrigued by what he saw.

  It was a female. At least he thought it was. The small figure lurking along the pathway was covered up by a hideously bland outfit that was so awful it almost hurt his eyes, along with a pair of ugly shoes that were better suited for a nun. Hovering along a path lit by the moon and strands of twinkle lights, the creature locked in his stare had a fey quality that got his blood pumping.

  “Who’s there?” he barked in an authoritative tone he used to scare the shit out of the agency’s recruits. When no sound came, he moved into the shadows with a cat-like swiftness honed during his decades of training in the martial arts. It was unlikely that an unauthorized person had found their way past the Villa’s elaborate security system so Drae was more than curious as to who was prowling in the darkness.

  “Show yourself.”

  When he came upon her, the first thing he noticed was an enormous pair of oval shaped, chocolate brown eyes blinking up at him in the dim light. His initial reaction was that a man could easily become lost in their sweetness. What the fuck? When had he become a poet, waxing lyrically about some pretty brown eyes? Goddamn wedding must have addled his brain!

  She wasn’t very big at all – almost waif-like in stature. Her face had high cheekbones and a straight nose that drew his eyes to a mouth that could only be described as pouty. There was an ethereal quality about her made even more fascinating by the fact that she wasn’t wearing a lick of makeup. Most of the women he knew preferred a somewhat lacquered appearance. The fresh face before him had a pale coolness that shone in the moonlight.

  Even though he’d barked at her, she didn’t look frightened at all. Mostly she seemed stunned. And intrigued. They were sharing the same reaction. She wasn’t anyone he’d seen around the compound before. Drae was dying to know who she was.

  Tori was tongue-tied and frozen in place the moment that icy blue stare locked on her presence. Good grief! The man rose from the swing and stalked into the darkness was even more gorgeous up close than she imagined. He should definitely be declared illegal, because nobody so devastatingly handsome could possibly be good for her health.

  He wasn’t huge in that steroid-crazed way so many men had these days, but he had a menacing air about him that did more than hint at his domin
eering nature. The tuxedo told her he was the missing Justice Brother who had flown in at the last moment for Cameron and Lacey’s nuptials. So, this was the infamous Draegyn St. John. Didn’t take but a second for her to understand why everyone joked that he was the agency’s equivalent to James Bond’s 007.

  The man was exactly what you’d expect. God, she nearly laughed out loud at the notion that he was probably in his natural state, dressed in a designer tuxedo, sipping extremely expensive champagne. Tori had a hard time working up a vision of him in jeans and a t-shirt.

  Unlike Cam who was built like a movie star superhero or big, burly Alex, the fair-haired god invading her body space was lean and graceful with an underlying air of menace that tingled along Tori’s nerve-endings. Immaculately groomed hair the color of wheat framed a face showing the lines and crinkles of a very adult male. Besides the piercing blue-iced eyes, she saw a nose that had probably been broken once or twice and a short jagged scar barely visible between blond brows. With cheekbones that any male model worth his salt would die for, and a light smattering of pale body hair showing at the opening of his shirt, it was his mouth that had Tori’s eyebrows reaching for her hairline. She’d never seen a mouth quite so uncompromising or blatantly sensual as his. He was just so damn perfect. Everything about him seemed hard and unyielding. Even before he’d spoken, she knew he’d be an arrogant devil.

  Clearing her throat, hoping it would help get her wayward thoughts under heel, she tried to answer his question but found she forgot what he’d asked. Hot damn, the man actually scrambled her brain! She thought such things were the stuff of overactive imaginations. Apparently, she had a living, breathing fantasy right in front of her. Fan-fucking-tastic! Just what she didn’t need.