by C. D. Hersh
Rhys grinned. “Liar.”
“Normal people don’t punch the doorbell until the pictures on the wall dance.”
Rhys closed the door with his hip and threw the deadbolt with his free hand. “Who says I’m normal?”
He had a point. An ex-Army Ranger sniper who, to this day, carried a knife in his boot definitely wasn’t normal, but she wasn’t going to give him satisfaction by acknowledging that. “I could have shot you.”
“But you didn’t.” He headed toward the kitchen, and Alexi trailed after him. “Glad you’re taking your safety seriously.”
She took the other bag from him and began emptying the contents. Maybe I should have shot him. Blown out some of his irritating arrogance.
“Speaking of safety, I’m bunking with you.”
The take-out box dropped onto the counter. “You’re doing what?”
“You heard me.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Exactly what I’m trying to avoid. Don’t bother to argue, because you won’t win. I’m your partner. I plan to keep you safe.”
She pulled a second and third take-out box from the bag and slammed the last one on the counter. The lid popped open, spewing fried rice across the surface, a perfect underscore to her outburst. Rhys scooped the rice into his cupped hand and dumped it in the sink as if nothing had happened.
“Is this some macho thing? The big man has to keep the little woman safe? I’ve got a newsflash for you—I can take care of myself. I’ve helped you out of plenty of scrapes, mister,” she said, fumbling with the box lid.
Rhys laid his big hand over hers, stilling them.
“I need to pay you back,” he said, tracing the scar on her forearm where she’d blocked a knife meant for him. His voice gentled. “Macho has nothing to do with it, but caring for you does. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Lexi.”
Her anger melted. Maybe she wouldn’t shoot him. “I don’t want anything to happen to me either. If the intruder comes back, and you got hurt, I would never forgive myself.”
“Won’t happen.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. I’ll sleep in the guest room upstairs.”
“That would work.” Alexi clamped her mouth shut before a more damaging invitation spilled out. I can’t believe I just said that. Girl, you’ve got no willpower. If he’s upstairs, you might as well just open your bedroom door.
“On second thought, there’s a couch in Baron’s office.” That was far enough away from her bedroom that she wouldn’t accidentally run into him in her PJs, which he might take as an invitation.
“Perfect. I’m close to the front door in case an intruder breaks in.”
“Hey, you said you wanted to protect me.”
Rhys held his hands up, palms facing her. “I’m not complaining. Just thinking things through.”
“I’ll bring some linens down. You can use the downstairs guest bath.”
“Okay.” Rhys started to leave the kitchen.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my suitcase.”
“You packed already?”
“Eagle Scouts are always prepared.”
Could he read her so easily that he knew she’d give in?
“Besides, I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
For a minute, Alexi wondered if she’d spoken what she’d thought.
Rhys grinned at her. “I know you.” He kissed her on top of the head.
She was in deep trouble now.
She watched his sexy backside disappear through the kitchen doorway. This complicated things. How was she going to get away for her meeting with Sylvia without him tagging along? And how was she going to resist the man if she was with him twenty-four-seven?
Chapter 9
Shaw ran his hand over his chin one last time before ringing the bell to Lulu’s apartment. No beard. He hadn’t discovered what had made him change into Baron Jordan earlier. And he didn’t want a repeat performance in front of Lulu. Satisfied he had on his own face, he slicked his hair back and punched the doorbell.
“Danny,” Lula squealed as she opened the door. She hugged him and dragged him into the apartment. “I missed you.”
“Me, too, babe.” He slid his arm around her plump waist, but she forced him toward the kitchen before he could kiss her. Piles of wedding magazines lay on the table. Damn. She’s not going to let me fool around tonight. When Lulu was in wedding plan mode, nothing else happened.
Lula moved two kitchen chairs together and motioned for Shaw to sit next to her. “Guess what I want us to do at our wedding?”
“What?” How many jobs am I going to have to do now to pay for whatever this is?
“Dance.”
That’s unexpected. Dancing ranked right up there with the devil liquor, according to Lulu’s grandma. That Lulu considered going against Grandma’s wishes shocked the hell out of him.
When he didn’t answer right away, Lulu shoved a Today’s Bride magazine at him. “Everyone’s dancing at their weddings. It’s so chic—”
“What the hell does ‘shick’ mean?” All he could think of was the razor commercial. Lula punched his arm playfully. He cringed and tried to keep from flinching. It was sore from today’s Incredible Hulk experience.
“It means sophisticated, you silly goose. We’ll dance our first dance as a married couple to our song.”
Our first dance ever. Then the last two words registered. “We have a song?”
Lulu giggled. “Not yet. We have to pick one.”
“And what does Grandma say about this?”
“She’s not speaking to me right now. She thinks dancing at my wedding is silly and vain . . . and sinful.”
It is silly. But there was no way he would say that to Lulu. She’d been planning her wedding since she was a young girl, and she changed what she wanted as often as a mother changed a newborn.
“You don’t think I’m silly, do you?”
“No, babe. You should have whatever you want for your big day. If it makes you happy, it makes me happy.”
Lulu put her arms around him and planted a big, wet kiss on his mouth. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
He tried to get hold of her again, but she wiggled away. “Not now. We got to talk.” Her voice sounded serious. “Now that you agreed to the wedding dance, we got a little problem.”
Because I agreed, we got a problem? How the heck had it suddenly become his fault?
“The church won’t allow us to dance in the fellowship hall, so we have to find another place for the reception, and another place is going—”
“To cost more money.” Every conversation about the wedding cost him more money.
“I thought maybe you could get another part-time job.” Lulu put on her sad, puppy-dog face. “You done so well with your new one, I hoped you might be able to. . .”
He melted. When those big brown eyes focused on him he could never resist her. “Sure, babe. I guess I could ask for a few more hours.” Fence some more hot stuff. Mug a few more marks.
He thought about his last take, the murder, and the magic ring. Shit! He had a gold mine right on his finger. If he could figure out how to control changing into Jordan, he could mug and rob without getting caught. After all, how do you pin a rap on a dead guy? It was the perfect solution.
“Go ahead and book us a reception hall, babe. I got it covered.”
Lulu jumped off her chair onto his lap. “You’re the best fiancé a girl ever had, Danny. I love you so much!” She cradled his face in her hands and laid a big kiss on him.
Now that was more like it. Danny drew her closer into his arms. “I love you too, babe. Nothing’s too much for my Lulu.” He shoved all thoughts of what he’d have to do to keep Lulu happy out of his mind. All he wanted to think about now was his girl, in his arms, kissing him. Damn, I’m one lucky dick.
Chapter 10
It hadn’t been easy finding an excuse to get away from Rhys, but a lie about goin
g to the gynecologist did the trick. Rhys had first insisted on coming into the office, but when she mentioned Dr. Anthony LaSurla giving her a pap exam, he blushed a fine shade of red and decided to wait for her in the parking lot. She slipped out the back door and hailed a cab.
Did all men react that way when women said gynecologist? Or was he having problems thinking about another man checking her out? Just thinking about his jealous reaction kept a smile on her face.
The taxi drove into the Dew Drop Inn parking lot. Alexi paid the driver and got out. Cars filled the lot. Silently, she cursed her bad luck. All those auras intermingling would make it difficult to find Sylvia. Perhaps she should watch for an aura with a green cast to it. That’s what Baron’s and her auras looked like. Of course, if she could get close enough to Sylvia, she might be able to catch sight of her ring or sense her presence. Slinging her purse strap over her shoulder, Alexi headed for the entrance.
She stood inside the foyer letting her vision adjust to the dimly lit bar. As she scanned the room, she focused on the spaces around the people to see their auras more easily. The air shimmered with color, like prisms reflected through crystal. She saw some darkened colors, like the auras that surrounded the criminal element she came across in her job. Ignoring them, she moved deeper into the room scanning each woman’s aura. In the back corner, she saw a woman with a swirled red and green aura. Streaks of light and dark curled around the colors.
No one else displayed such intense red and green coloring. She’d found Sylvia. Casually, she glanced away, hoping she had shown no sign of recognition that might allow Sylvia to realize she was using her aura-reading power.
Walking close to each woman she passed, Alexi glanced at their hands as if admiring their jewelry. She’d pretend she found Sylvia by looking for the Turning Stone ring. The woman Alexi suspected to be Sylvia dropped her hands beneath the tabletop.
Moving toward her, Alexi held out her right hand, the one without the bloodstone ring. “You must be Sylvia. I’m Alexi Jordan.”
The woman ignored Alexi’s hand. “So you do have the power.”
She is trying to discover if I can see auras. Why would she want to know that? “Power?” Alexi asked innocently. “No. You dropped your hands under the table and I assumed, since no other woman wore the ring, that you were hiding something from me. The only power I used was deductive reasoning.” And I could sense you even better if you would touch me.
Sylvia laughed, that same soft, tinkling laugh Alexi had heard on the phone. I’ve found her. No doubt about it now.
“Sit,” Sylvia said as she waved at a waiter. “What will you have to drink? Martini? Beer?”
“It’s too early for me.”
Sylvia arched a perfect black brow at her. “I hope you don’t mind if I imbibe.”
“No problem.” Drink your raven-haired head off, for all I care. It might give me an advantage.
The waiter appeared. “Club soda on the rocks,” Sylvia said, smiling at the waiter. There was no doubt the dazzling smile was meant to charm. The waiter reacted appropriately, his chin nearly on the table, drooling, undoubtedly, at Sylvia’s dark, exotic, Oriental beauty.
Startled at his reaction, Alexi forced a smile, one not nearly as seductive as Sylvia’s. “I’ll take a diet,” she told the waiter.
“I’m sorry, miss. What did you say?” the waiter asked as he tore his gaze from Sylvia.
“Diet. Soda.” She carefully separated the words hoping they would get through to his fogged brain if she kept them curt.
When the waiter left, Sylvia handed a menu to Alexi. “Shall we order now?”
Alexi laid the menu on the table and then removed a small envelope out of her purse. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather get down to business.” She slid the envelope across the table. “Tell me about these.”
Sylvia opened the envelope and laid three photographs on the table. When she saw them, tears brimmed in her eyes. “He kept these?”
“After a fashion.”
Sylvia frowned, apparently not getting Alexi’s meaning.
“I found them in his safe. He’d removed them from the photo album and scratched out your name.”
Sylvia shrugged. “I expected worse. Just taking me out of your family’s life, but perhaps not out of his memory, is more than I hoped for. He could have burned them.”
Alexi wondered why he hadn’t. Something must have kept him from committing such a final act. “What happened between you two?”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“Baron was very secretive about his past. Now that he’s gone, I have a need to know everything about him.”
The waiter put her drink on the table. Alexi absently swirled the straw in the dark liquid, watching the ice circle in the glass.
“You cared a lot for him, didn’t you?”
Sylvia’s statement drew her attention back to the woman across the table. What a stupid question. Of course I cared for him. She tempered her verbal response. “He was my uncle. He practically raised me after . . .”
Sylvia nodded sympathetically. “I’m sorry about your parents and brother.”
“Did you know them? Were you and Baron together when it happened?”
“No. We’d broken up by then. Your parents were fine people and great assets to the Society, and your brother was becoming a very skilled shifter. He would have been a great benefit, too.”
Alexi propped her elbows on the table and inched forward, her suspicion of Sylvia lost in her desire for family. “Tell me everything you know about them. Please.”
“It could take a while.”
Alexi glanced at her watch. “I’ve got two hours.” If she didn’t come out of the medical building by the time she’d promised, Rhys would come searching for her at Dr. LaSurla’s office.
“If I tell you about them, will you tell me about Baron’s death?”
Alexi sat back in her chair. Could she strike a deal with someone she didn’t know? Someone Baron had crossed out of his life? She’d always trusted her uncle’s judgment. “Tell me why you and Baron broke off.”
“You aren’t a very trusting person, are you?”
“It’s the cop in me,” Alexi said with a shrug. “Besides, why should I trust you? You’ve told me nothing. All you’ve wanted to do is strike bargains.”
“So what do you want to know? I work for Homeland Security. I hold the highest security clearance this country gives. That trumps anything you’ve got.”
“So it’s a contest now?”
“That’s not what I meant. If the President of the United States trusts me explicitly, why can’t you?”
“Does he know you’re a member of a secret society? Or a shape shifter? That might put a different spin on things.”
“Does your boss, or your partner, know you can shift?” Sylvia shot back at her without missing a beat.
“Okay, so we’re even on the secrets-on-the-job level.”
“So what else do you want to know?”
“Why did you and Baron split?” If Sylvia couldn’t answer the most basic questions she couldn’t trust her.
“We wanted different things. Is that such a crime? Haven’t you ever been involved with someone who wanted what you didn’t?”
“All the time. But it’s different for me. I’m a shifter. I will never find someone who can go along with my lifestyle. You and Baron were alike. Why did you throw away an opportunity like that?”
Sylvia relaxed into the back of her chair and chuckled, her mouth drawn into arrogant smile. “Now I get it. This isn’t about Baron and me. It’s really about you and your missing love life.”
Alexi shoved her drink into the center of the table and snatched the photos. “This conversation is over. You don’t know anything about me, yet you have the gall to make suppositions about my life.”
“I’m a profiler. It’s my job to figure people out. I can read you so easily, so get over it.”
Alexi dropped the photos into her purse.
Her heartbeat echoed in her ears so loud it nearly drowned out the music in the bar. “I think I know why Baron broke up with you. You’re an obnoxious woman.” She stood to leave, and Sylvia seized her arm.
A shot of electricity bolted through Alexi and set her skin tingling. She glanced down at the hand gripping her arm. The colors in the stone of Sylvia’s magic ring swirled.
“Sit down, Alexi,” Sylvia said sharply.
When Alexi didn’t move, Sylvia tightened her grip. A distinct image of a wounded bird trapped by a cat flashed through Alexi’s mind. She shook off Sylvia’s hold.
Sylvia’s black eyes smoldered and her mouth drew into a straight line. “We’re not finished.” She slipped her wallet out of her purse, pulled a picture from it, and slapped it on the table. “This is why Baron and I broke up.”
Alexi picked up the picture. A young Sylvia, in a wedding dress, and Baron in a tuxedo stared back at her. Alexi flipped the photo over and discovered her mother’s neat handwriting on the back. “This is the missing picture. But if you were married, then why—”
“It was a secret marriage. I told you the Council disapproved. When they found out we were married, they insisted Baron get an annulment. They threatened to relieve him of his council duties. He didn’t want to lose his council seat or the respect that came with it. He chose the Society over me.”
Stunned, Alexi sat. That didn’t sound like the Baron she knew. He’d sacrificed everything to protect her life. Had he walked away from his marriage to Sylvia to protect her, too? Had she misunderstood his reason for leaving?
“I’m sorry,” Alexi said quietly. “That must have been very painful.”
“I hope now you can understand why I want to know how he died. Did he mention me?”
“I don’t know. He was murdered in what we believe to be a mugging.”
“And his ring?”
“Gone. I don’t know who has it.”
Sylvia leaned forward, her voice urgent. “It’s imperative you get that ring back, Alexi.”
“I know, but I don’t know where to start.”
