He shrugged. “What is it you Americans say? If the shoe fits…”
“Well, the shoe doesn’t fit this American. The reason I didn’t want to accept any more help from you is that I was afraid you’d think I was trying to take advantage of your good nature.”
“But you are doing legal work for me.”
She heaved a deep sigh. “It will probably take me an hour, no more. It hardly compares with a couple of weeks’ worth of chauffeuring me around.”
“But you went to university to learn exactly what to say in that hour. That is why you are entitled to the fees you charge. Since I have already taken up your time talking about Natasha, that makes two hours I owe you.”
“Have you forgotten I caused the accident that deprived you of your company car?” she exclaimed.
“Look. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. If you want to drive me, fine. I’ll be very grateful. Tomorrow I don’t need to leave for work until eight.”
“Then if I come at seven, we will eat breakfast together at the Jukebox Café first. It is on the way to your office.”
“I know where it is.” She shot him an amused glance. “You have a fascination for fifties music and waitresses who wear bobby socks and chew gum?”
He smiled back. “I have a fascination for everything American. You are the most American woman I have ever met.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You do everything. You have opinions on everything. You are afraid of nothing. You are never boring. You are more like a man.”
“That’s high praise, Anatoly.” She opened the door for him. “Good night.”
He put a hand to her flushed cheek one more time and felt her tremble. That was one response she couldn’t possibly fake. Either she wasn’t well or she was afraid. Whether of the situation or of him, he couldn’t tell yet. Considering she was mafia, her reaction was a revelation.
There was one infallible way to find out if her attraction to him was fake. But he needed answers to a whole host of other questions first and so was forced to slow down the pace of their relationship.
It had only been about thirty-five hours since they’d met, and already he had trouble controlling the trembling of his own body when he got within touching distance of her.
“You feel warm. Do you wish me to buy you something to relieve it?”
“I have medicine in the cabinet, but thank you.”
“You are welcome. Sleep well, Gabriella.”
He left her apartment, resisting the urge to brush his mouth against her lips. The door closed behind him. When he heard the click of the lock, he hurried out of the building and around the corner to the van.
As soon as he got in the driver’s seat, he put on the earphones. If there was nothing coming from her end, he’d phone the guy doing surveillance from the carpeting van parked around the corner. Max wanted to know the gist of her phone conversation earlier in the evening.
GABY SAT in the overstuffed chair, shaken by what could only be described as unassuaged desire. For one brief moment she’d thought Anatoly was going to kiss her. When he didn’t, she couldn’t believe how disappointed she was. The business about a widow being lonely and vulnerable wasn’t funny.
Before things went any further, she needed answers to a couple of burning questions. If Anatoly wasn’t who he said he was….
Grabbing her cell phone, she called her uncle in Atlantic City. For years he’d been a police detective who now worked for the criminal investigations department. He had excellent contacts.
She knew it was late, but he loved her like a daughter and would forgive her when he understood why she was calling.
“Yes?” He always sounded gruff when he’d been wakened from sleep.
“Uncle Frank? Forgive me for phoning you and Aunt Marion this late but—”
“Gabriella! You can call me anytime,” he said.
“What’s wrong?”
“This isn’t an emergency. I’m not dying or anything, but I do have to talk to you.”
“The family has been waiting for the latest update. You know the one I mean.”
“Yes.” She swallowed hard. “That’s why I’m calling.”
“Does this mean you followed my instructions?”
“Yes.” I took off the rings.
“And boom—you and this man you were told to watch for have collided on cue?”
Her eyes closed. Trust her uncle to refer to her meeting a man as a “collision.” In Anatoly’s case, it had been literal.
“Yes.” It wasn’t love of course. But her attraction to him was strong enough that she needed to do something about the situation.
“You’ve made progress. That’s terrific. Tell me. Have you informed the family? This is the news they’ve been waiting for.”
Her uncle understood how upset her parents had been over Paul’s death. For Gaby to find another wonderful man and marry again was everyone’s greatest wish.
“They’ll have to wait a little longer. Until I tell you otherwise, this must stay between you and me.”
“You know I won’t say anything until you give the word.”
“Thank you. Uncle Frank, you’ve always been the one who said that if something looked too good to be true, it probably was.”
“I’ve survived by following that motto.” After a little silence, “If your instincts are telling you something’s wrong, then trust them and get rid of him. Now.”
I wish it was that easy. “Before I do as you say, I need information only you can provide.” She gave him Anatoly’s name and asked him to find out if Anatoly was a wanted man back in Russia. Her uncle would phone his contacts at the CIA and Interpol. “Do you think you could get it for me by quarter to seven in the morning my time? He’s taking me to breakfast.”
But maybe Russia wasn’t even his real birthplace. Though she didn’t want to even entertain the thought, with his superior intelligence and grasp of English, Anatoly could be a ringleader in the Russian mafia, operating under several aliases.
Natasha might even be a relative of his with her own criminal record. It was possible that since Anatoly had found out Gaby was an immigration attorney, he’d decided to use her to get this other woman into the country under the noses of the port authorities.
Before she saw him again, she needed to find out whatever she could, be it good or bad. It was a case of self-preservation.
“Expect a call from me by 6:30 a.m. at the latest,” her uncle replied.
“Bless you, Uncle Frank.”
MAX PULLED behind Gideon’s unmarked car at the AmerOil truck stop in Balboa Park. No matter the time of night, the big round-the-clock gas station did a brisk business. It was a perfect rendezvous spot.
In a tank top and shorts, Gideon looked as if he’d just come from the beach. He’d already started to fill his car with gas. Max got out of the van and reached for a hose. They stood ten feet apart, never acknowledging each other.
“The phone call to her apartment came from Girls’ Village. It was one of the teens in the accident wanting to know more about a picnic they were going to have on Saturday.”
Armed with a squeegee, Max walked to the front of the van to clean the windshield. “I heard she made a phone call.”
“Yes. She was reporting to her uncle Frank in Atlantic City about your accident.”
Atlantic City.
He took a deep breath. So far his hunches where Gabriella was concerned had turned out to be correct.
“That’s not all. She smells a rat. Are you listening, Max? Her uncle apparently gives the orders. He told her to get rid of you, but she said she needed more information on you before she acts. Karl wants you off the case now. So do I.”
Max lifted the windshield wipers to clean under them. “They won’t find anything on me I don’t want them to find. I need more time to get closer to her.”
“Is that your brain or your libido talking?”
His friend knew him too well.
&nbs
p; “Probably both,” Max said. “But since she’s led us to her uncle, I’m wondering if her family set up Girls’ Village for a front. Maybe that’s her contact.
“At the accident she told the investigating officer she was a volunteer, but I find it odd she would receive a nighttime phone call at her apartment from one of the girls, even if the staff allows them phone privileges.”
Gideon tightened the cap on his gas tank and put the hose back. “So you think the teens are being used to make the call as some kind of signal for her to report in?”
“Possibly. If I could cultivate a friendship with a couple of the girls, they might say something that could help us blow this ring wide open.”
“Not if they do the same thing to you first.”
“According to that phone conversation, it won’t happen yet. She’s out to learn all she can first. I’m going to let her have her way and see where it leads. In the meantime I want you to find out what you can about her activities in Miami.”
Max proceeded to tell him about her law office, the degree from Rutger’s. “She said her husband died in a freak boating accident last year. It could be a lie, but check it out, anyway. She called him Paul. I don’t have a last name. Let’s find out how much of what she told me is legit.”
“I’ll get on it, but I still say you should pull out while you can. She’s not worth it, Max. Nothing’s worth ending up getting crushed inside a pile of twisted metal next time around.”
With that warning, Gideon walked off to pay for the gas. In case anyone was watching them, Max checked the air pressure in his tires, then put the hose back and headed for the cashier inside. They passed each other outside the door without changing their stride.
When Max got back in the van, Gideon had already disappeared in the opposite direction. His friend’s warning came from the gut, but Max couldn’t imagine calling it quits, not when this could be another way to get names of the ringleaders. Certainly not when the thought of seeing her first thing in the morning was consuming him.
Once back at his apartment, he spent a restless night. By 5:30 a.m., he’d showered, dressed and was on his way to her place. He parked around the corner as before, then made contact with the guy on surveillance in the truck parked across from her place.
“Calder here. What have you got for me?”
“Her uncle phoned her at 5:00 a.m. We’re doing a background check on him now. He told her his sources hadn’t found out anything that raised a red flag. But he trusted her instincts and warned her to lie low while he did some more digging. Then he’d get back to her.”
That meant she probably wouldn’t be at the apartment when he called for her. There would be a note stuck to the outside of her door with some excuse that she’d had to leave early.
“Just a minute ago she made a phone call to a Linda Early in Mira Mesa. Ms. Peris is going to buy a bicycle from her on her lunch hour today. That’s it.’
Max’s tactics were working. Already Gabriella was squirming because he was moving in too fast for her.
“Check the name of the person who pays the bills at that phone number. Get me anything and everything you can about the people at that address in case someone there is one of her contacts.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If Ms. Peris leaves her apartment before you see me go inside, let me know if she went on foot, rode the bus, took a taxi or was picked up.”
“Right.”
He thanked his informant, then became filled with fierce determination. If Mohammed wouldn’t come to the mountain…
CHAPTER FIVE
GABY QUICKLY PULLED on the jacket of her suit, hoping she would make it outside in time to catch the bus. Otherwise she’d have to spend a lot more money on a cab.
Hard as it would be to deprive herself of Anatoly’s company, she knew her uncle was right in warning her to stay away from him until there was definitive proof that he wasn’t involved in anything criminal.
On her lunch break she planned to buy the bicycle she’d seen advertised in the newspaper. She realized she’d wakened the girl with her morning call, but Linda Early, a college student, had been nice about it because she was desperate for the cash. Gaby had been to college and knew the feeling of being broke before the end of the month. Buying the girl’s bike would help out both of them.
With that done, Anatoly couldn’t use the excuse that she needed his services any longer.
After stuffing her briefcase with her sneakers rolled up in a pair of jeans, she hurried into the living room to grab the note she’d written to Anatoly explaining that she’d had to leave early.
“Oh!” she cried softly when she opened the door to find him blocking her path. In her confusion, the note dropped to the floor.
“Good morning, Gabriella.” In a deft movement, he picked up the piece of paper and handed it back to her without looking at it. The green of his eyes seemed darker in the dimly lit hallway. She could tell he’d just come from the shower. He smelled good.
“We are both early. I assume that means you are as excited about our date this morning as I am. I did not sleep well last night thinking about you.”
That makes two of us. She locked the door, all the while attempting to pull herself together.
“When I discovered that the Jukebox does not open as early as I had supposed, I bought breakfast for us and rushed over here. It is out in the van. I thought we could take advantage of the beautiful morning and drive down by the water to enjoy it.”
Her thoughts reeled. After the conversation with her uncle, she knew what she should say to Anatoly. But since he’d surprised her like this, it would be churlish to refuse him, especially when she’d already agreed to have breakfast with him. If he just hadn’t gone to the trouble to buy them anything….
But as she was coming to find out, it was typical of him to be thoughtful to a fault. In her heart of hearts she had to admit she liked that trait in him. Maybe too much.
If everything he’d told her was the truth and he’d spoiled his fiancée the same way, then Gaby could understand why the woman was so anxious to come to America and marry him.
He cocked his dark head. “You are quiet this morning. We do not have to go any particular place. If you would rather, I can bring the food from the van and we can eat here.”
Not a good idea. The living room was too small. The smell of the roses was still too strong. Everything felt too intimate when he came inside and shut out the world.
“Actually, I have a lot of work to do at my office this morning. Can we eat while you drive me?”
He stared at her through narrowed lids. “If that is what you wish. On the way, shall we stop and make arrangements to have your car towed to the shop I told you about?”
She shook her head. “That’s very kind of you, Anatoly, but no. I’m going to be using a bike to get to and from work from now on, so I’m not in such a big hurry for it.”
He followed her down the hall. “You mean a motorbike?”
“No. I plan to get around the old-fashioned way. I’m going to pedal.”
Though he moved behind her on the stairs, he managed to reach the front door of the building ahead of her and opened it. “Where do you keep it? I did not see it in your apartment or your office.”
“That’s because I’m buying it today.”
As before, he cupped her elbow to guide her around the corner. She wished he wouldn’t touch her. Every part of her came alive at the slightest contact.
“How much are you planning to spend?”
“There’s one advertised in the paper for two hundred twenty-five dollars.”
“You must not buy a used bike,” he said in an authoritative voice. “It will fall apart the first time you ride it. Let me take you to get a new one on your lunch hour. I can purchase it at fifty percent off.”
“You’re talking about the store where you have to have the club membership to get in.”
“Exactly. My friend sells everything there, all the major
brands.”
That was what worried her. A legitimate company couldn’t sell top-of-the-line merchandise at such a discount. No doubt it was full of a lot of hot property she didn’t want to know anything about. Like stolen cars, for instance.
Once they were ensconced in his van, he handed her a warm croissant and a cup of coffee still hot in its container. He’d brought fresh fruit and yogurt. All foods she loved.
Anatoly was like her own gorgeous-if-not-corrupt genie who appeared as if by magic. He had this uncanny ability to anticipate her needs. Nothing was beyond his ability to produce. It was just as she thought. He really was too good to be true, yet the more she was around him, the less she seemed to mind.
She was in trouble.
They pulled away from the curb to merge with the traffic.
“As much as I appreciate the offer, Anatoly, I would rather ride a used one. That way it won’t get stolen as fast.” She reached for some fat green seedless grapes that were so sweet they tasted like candy. Where did he find produce this fabulous?
Anatoly’s mouth lifted at the corners, making him too attractive for so early in the morning. “You are sounding very cynical for a beautiful woman who does not look anything like an attorney, Gabriella.”
“I’m afraid I became jaded after my apartment was cleaned out twice when I was living in Miami.”
He flicked her a penetrating glance. “While your husband was still alive?”
Why had she said anything? “Before, a-and after.”
“Now I understand why you keep your valuable things at your office.”
That wasn’t the reason, but she had no intention of telling him the truth. As it stood, he already knew more about her than she wanted him to know.
“This food is delicious. Thank you.”
“You are very welcome. We will have to go to the Jukebox on Saturday for lunch. That way you can sleep in as long as you want first.”
Accidentally Yours Page 7
