by Desiree Holt
He pressed the center button, obviously switching back to a second call. “I’m back. Thanks for waiting. Listen. Just keep it under the radar and consider this a personal favor, okay?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I have what you might call a non-professional interest in this.” He laughed. “Yeah, that’s marginally different than personal. What? And to you, too. Anyway, I wouldn’t ask this if it wasn’t important. You know that. Okay. Thanks.”
He snapped the cell phone shut. “Okay, I’ve got my feelers out.”
“Who was that you were talking to?”
“A reporter who owes me a lot and a detective at SAPD headquarters I did a major favor for.” He picked up his coffee and motioned for Zoe to follow him. “Let’s go into the family room. The lab tech’s on his way, and I want to check the twenty-four hours news channels.”
He took her elbow and led her to a big easy chair. She had to grit her teeth against the zing that shot through her at even his lightest touch. Did he feel it, too, even after so much time had passed? This was neither the time nor place to think about that, not when she was in the worst trouble of her life.
“Would they have picked up anything about this already?” She eased into the soft leather. “It’s a little soon, isn’t it? And pretty local to get that kind of coverage.”
“Nate Dunning is international news. You can bet some enterprising reporter caught it on a police scanner and called his news director, who got a direct link to one of the big networks. It’s all about the scoop.”
She felt his eyes on her as she carefully curled her legs under her, balancing her coffee mug.
“I won’t pass out,” she assured him. “I promise. I’m getting my shit together, and I promise not to pass out. At least I don’t think I will. Apparently, I’ve already done that once tonight. I hope that’s my limit. What did your partner say about this?” Zoe looked up at him eager for any information. “Everything okay there?”
“No problem. He said to do whatever I need to.”
“Even though he doesn’t even know me? Or what I might have done?”
“He knows me. That’s enough for him. He was glad I’d gotten the lab tech over right away. Let’s see if this has hit the news yet.”
Zak punched the buttons on the television remote, and the flat screen came to life. On the screen, a male reporter was doing a standup in front of Nate Dunning’s enormous McMansion in the city’s northwest area.
“We’re standing in front of the magnificent home of international businessman and multi-millionaire Nathaniel Dunning,” the reporter droned. “Sources tell us he was hosting one of his famous cocktail parties tonight for a large group of people. But only an hour ago, police responded to an anonymous phone call and discovered Dunning’s body in his den, dead from a gunshot wound.”
“You’re right,” Zoe said. “Someone jumped on this right away.
“Shh.” Zak held up a hand. “Let’s hear what else he has to say.”
“There’s much speculation about what happened here tonight,” the reporter continued. “No one we’ve spoken to knows exactly when the party ended. However, at approximately twelve forty-five this morning, someone made a 911 call. Police arriving at the scene discovered Dunning’s body on the floor of his den. None of the party guests were still there. In fact, there was no one else in the house, and from what we’ve been able to discover, none of the help lived in. That leaves us to wonder who made the call to the police.”
A voice in the background asked, “Any leads on that so-called anonymous tip?”
“No, not yet,” the reporter answered. “The police are making no speculations at this time, either. However, I understand they’re trying to contact Dunning’s attorneys and his business partners. Of which, as you know, there are several.”
“Do they think this was business-related or personal?” the off-camera voice asked.
“No one’s saying anything,” the reporter answered. “The detective in charge of the scene said they’ll be questioning a lot of people.”
“So nothing definitive?” the voice persisted.
“Not at this time.” The reporter looked straight into the camera. “That wraps it up for right now. We’ll be waiting for further information…”
Zak muted the volume and turned to Zoe. “Someone wanted to make damn sure you were found with that gun. How unfortunate for them you woke up when you did.” He raked his fingers through his hair and began pacing again. “All right. At least we know there was definitely a party there tonight, even if you can’t remember it. That accounts for the fancy dress you’re wearing.”
Zoe squeezed her eyes. “I can’t believe I’ve lost an entire night of my life, or at least a good part of it. How? Why?”
“I told you what I think about the how,” Zak answered. “We just have to figure out the why. It would help if we could nudge your memory. Any tiny scrap of information, no matter how small, would be a help. Especially stuff about the people who attended the party, and if you’d met them before. Do you recall if Nate argued with anyone? If you heard them?”
“I told you.” She bit down on her frustration. “Nothing, Zak. I mean, not a thing after I drank that last glass of wine. I swear to you. It’s as if the rest of the night never existed.” Zoe started to shake her head, then thought better of it as the movement hit her with another wave of dizziness.
“You know I wouldn’t badger you if it wasn’t important.” He stopped pacing and crouched in front of her, taking one of her hands in his. “You said you drove to Nate’s house. If you did, your car is probably around there somewhere, left for the cops to find.”
She snapped her fingers. “There was a valet parking service. Does that help?”
“Only if they remember you. Otherwise the cops will say you moved it away from the house so you could leave quickly without going through the valet parking service. If that happens, it’s another knot in the noose around your neck.”
She pulled her hand away from his. “I don’t—”
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
“Hold tight.” He rose to his feet. “I’ll be right back.”
He headed to the foyer. When he walked back into the room, he was accompanied by a lean, muscular man, close to Zak’s height, which made him at least six-four. A head of thick, black hair framed a ruggedly masculine face, and his dark eyes looked as if they could ferret out the deepest secrets. But what really struck Zoe was the aura of power he radiated. It almost vibrated in the air.
“Zoe, this is Reno Sullivan, the senior partner at Guardian Security.” He turned to Reno. “Meet Zoraya Lombardo.”
“Zoe,” she corrected, standing to shake his hand. “I use Zoe.”
Reno smiled, transforming his face into a warm expression as he held out his hand. “I’m very happy to meet you, although I’m sure we both wish it could have been under different circumstances.”
“Thank you.” Zoe shook his hand and looked at Zak, eyebrows raised.
“When Zak says something’s important,” Reno said, interpreting her look, “it’s important. I wanted to come here myself and see what I could do to help. And forget about that senior partner crap. We’re equal partners at Guardian.”
“Well, then.” She wet her lips. “Thank you again for coming. I think I’ve dragged Zak—and I guess Guardian—into a terrible mess. When I called him, I didn’t stop to think—”
Reno shook his head. “Forget that. Someone needs help, we help.”
She gave him a rueful smile. “Even if they turn out to be guilty?”
He squeezed her hand before releasing it. “None of our clients are ever guilty. I can assure you of that. Now then. I’m glad we got the lab work taken care of right away. If someone did put something in your drink, we need to test for it before it dissipates completely, which a lot of these substances do.”
“Oh. Okay.” Once again, the thought that someone had drugged her hit hard and terrified her. Who could possibly hate her so mu
ch they would do this to her? And to Nate?
Reno gave her a reassuring nod. “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he promised. “Zak will have all the resources of Guardian Security at his disposal. And our other partner, Nick Vanetta, will be back day after tomorrow if we need his input.”
“I don’t know how to thank you—”
“No thanks necessary. It’s what we do for each other.”
He left a short time later, and Zak went back to monitoring the news.
She tucked the wet strands of her hair behind her ears self-consciously and nervously rubbed her hands on her shorts. “Zak?”
He looked up at her. “Would you like some more coffee? Or anything else?”
She shook her head. “No, thanks. Not right now.” She paused. “Thank you very much. For picking me up. For bringing me here. For agreeing to help me. For your partner. For…everything.”
“Hey,” he said in a soft voice. “Didn’t we agree it was enough with the thank yous?” Then his face sobered. “I could never turn my back on you, Zoe. No matter what happened between us.”
God, what a fool she’d been, letting her temper get the best of her. When she looked at him now, it was hard to ignore the attraction still there, at least on her part. Her sex throbbed with the remembered feel of his hard cock, and her breasts ached for the touch of his hands, her nipples for his mouth.
Did he feel the same way? Was he hard for her, the way he used to be? Did he want to strip both of them naked, plunge himself into her, and fuck her with the heat and passion they’d once shared?
She took in a deep breath. “Yes. About that.”
When he looked at her again, heat blazed in his eyes and a muscle twitched in his cheek. She did her best to keep her gaze from dropping to his fly to see if his shaft was hard and pushing to be released. But he shook his head at her words.
“Not now. We have business to take care of first. Reno and I think it’s obvious someone planned for you to be the fall guy. Knocking you out and erasing part of your memory was the best way to do it. Hell, whoever it was could have killed Nate in front of you while you were passed out on the couch. They could even have pressed your fingers around the gun and pulled the trigger.”
“Oh, my god.” Zoe dropped into the big chair. “Someone’s really out to dump this on me. Why?”
“Best guess? You’re an easy target as CEO of Lombardo Simulations, and they want you out of the way. You’re apparently too smart for them, and they don’t want you to find out what they’re doing. Whoever they are and whatever it is they’re doing.” He rubbed his forehead. “And I’m still worried about where your car is. We discussed all the ramifications of the cops finding it.”
“My car?”
“Right now, unless you left something behind in the den—which I don’t believe you did—the police can’t connect you to what happened.”
“What if they find my fingerprints in the den?”
He shrugged. “No big deal. The two of you were business partners. I’m sure you met there many times. Besides, you would have been at the party and could have had a perfectly logical reason for being in that room. No, fingerprints won’t amount to squat.”
“I still don’t understand why the car is so important.”
“If they find it obviously parked away from the house, not left with the valet parking service, it will look suspicious. They’ll start trying to connect the dots.”
He rubbed his jaw, the familiar dark shadow indicating the need for a shave. Zak had always shaved twice a day when they were together, even though she kept telling him how sexy the scruff was. She’d been after him to just trim it with clippers and not shave it off, loving the sexy feel of its roughness. Just remembering it made her wet, the pulse still thrumming in her sex and her nipples hardening to the point of aching.
Oh God. Why did I have to think of that at this particular moment?
With a major effort, she pulled in a deep breath and let it out. She refused to fall apart. She couldn’t afford to fall apart.
“Normally, if I have a client that gets involved in something,” Zak went on, “I have a friend at the San Antonio Police Department I can call and pump for information. Of course, my clients are usually surrounded by a football team of high priced lawyers and I’m the security guy trying to get information.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed. “You have clients involved in murder?”
His grin was humorless. “Not usually, thank god. Anyway, this is a little different. I had to be very careful with my contact, make him understand no one can connect me to what’s going on. If they do, this is the first place they’ll come looking for you. And I’ll have more cops hanging around my neck than I’ll know what to do with. I won’t be able to move.”
She swallowed back the panic that threatened to resurface. She had to keep it all together. “So what do I do?”
“We have to make a plan to get more information. That means digging into everything about your relationship with Nate and his partnership with you. Everything about Lombardo Simulations that might mean something.” He stood up. “We have a lot of work to do. Let me get some more coffee, and then I have a bunch more questions.”
Zoe accepted the fresh mug of hot liquid gratefully. She sat on the edge of the chair, knees together, back stiff, sipping at the dark brew. “What do you want to know?”
“Start with some background information that may jar loose what we need to know. Have you and Prince Charming been getting along or has there been trouble in paradise?”
She looked away, trying to figure out how to answer. As much as he tried to hide it, she was well aware that Zak was still nursing the hurt she’d inflicted on him, and she didn’t want it to get in the way of him helping her. He’d been right all along. He hadn’t trusted Nate Dunning, which made him a lot smarter than she was.
And seeing Zak now, she wondered how she could ever have been so stupid as to walk out on him. But that was for another time, after all this was over.
She sipped her coffee, then cleared her throat. “We’ve been having…some…problems, Nate and I.” She nibbled on her bottom lip.
He made his face expressionless. “Tell me about the problems with Nate. Business or personal?”
Zoe stared into her coffee mug. “Not personal. And just so you know, there was never anything personal between us, despite what you assumed. Not ever. But that’s another story.”
“All right, then. Business things. What business things?”
“Just…little stuff. It started a few months ago, so tiny I almost didn’t notice it at first. But when I began to study the monthly reports, I had questions about some of our suppliers. Some of our customers. The accounting procedures.”
“What about them?”
She nibbled on her lip again, tension coiling in her body as snippets of things came back to her. “When we signed the partnership papers,” she explained, “Nate invested more than two million dollars in Lombardo Simulations. You knew I wanted to expand, hire more engineers, grow our overseas markets. With that kind of money, I could easily do that.”
“Who drew up the partnership papers?”
“Uncle Ivan did.” She shrugged. “Who else would I ask? After all, he’s family and also Nate’s attorney. And he’s the one who introduced us.”
“Oh, yes. Good old Uncle Ivan.” A flash of something crossed Zak’s face, gone almost as soon as it showed up.
“Zak, he’s my mother’s brother,” she reminded him, “and he was wonderful to us after my father died. He’s as good as they come. You know he’s considered a leader in the San Antonio community. He would never, ever have anything to do with scum. He’s the one who saw a great opportunity for me and advised me to take it.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll send him a medal. Who was in charge of all of that new growth? How did the responsibilities break down? Was it spelled out in the partnership agreement?”
“Yes.” She forced herself to look directly at Zak. �
��I handled the design and development of the software. That’s what I’d been doing before and where I felt the most comfortable. Nate took care of the international markets, overseeing the financial aspects and supervising the distribution.” She took another swallow of her coffee, letting the hot liquid course through her veins.
“So how did that work out?”
“Really well, as a matter of fact, at least in the beginning. We were developing some innovative simulations for clients, then adjusted them to turn them into games. The orders were pouring in from everywhere. In fact, the business grew so much that Nate brought in a new accounting firm to handle it. One Caz recommended.” She looked at Zak. “Do you know him?”
Zak’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I know Caz Morgan. Nate’s advisor, whatever the hell that means.”
“I don’t know what it means, either, but he’s always—was always—hanging around Nate and whispering in his ear.”
Do I sound as stupid to Zak as I do to myself? I can’t believe I was such a naïve idiot, ignoring what was obviously going on right under my nose. I deserve to be in trouble.
“So let me guess.” Zak took a sip of his coffee, then set the mug down on the coffee table in front of him. “That’s when the problems started. With the new accountants.”
Zoe dropped her gaze and ran her finger around the rim of her mug. “Yes. That’s when it all began.”
“Explain.” He was all Zak Delaney, security specialist, now. “Give me details. Everything you remember.”
“It had been months since I’d seen anything except a one-page financial summary. That’s my fault, and I admit it. But I was so happy to have the time to do the things I enjoyed and not have to worry about the bank account.” She twisted her lips. “I was deliriously happy in my fool’s paradise.”
“So what was the trigger that made you ask questions? I’m guessing that’s what brought things to a head.”
She nodded. “Nate didn’t really have an office at Lombardo. He worked out of Dunning International, and I usually went there a couple of times a week to meet with him. Sometimes Max Detwiler, his partner in DI, would sit in with us to catch up on what was happening with Lombardo.”
