by Jo Leigh
But she sucked it up, found her anger and let that fill the hole in her gut.
Then waited until she was reasonably sure her voice would hold up. “Neil?”
Logan stared back at her without speaking. Something dark and primal flickered in his eyes before he closed himself off to her.
“So, Neil called Sam, and Sam called you, and now you’ve decided to ride your white horse into my business. Well, you’re not welcome. Get out.”
“You’re right. That is how I found out about your plan. Or perhaps we should call it something else because a plan has a chance of succeeding.”
“Oh, get the hell out of my room.” She pulled the door open wider, as if that would make him budge. But he really needed to go. Despite her very real anger, the sadness and betrayal made her want to cry, and she wasn’t going to cry in front of him.
That it was Neil who’d betrayed her was almost inconceivable. She couldn’t blame Sam, although scratch that potential friendship. And of course, Logan. The way he was looking at her made everything a hundred times worse because she couldn’t read him.
From now on, she’d take her chances on being alone. She’d still work with Neil, but it would only be work.
And if Logan wasn’t out of there in the next minute, she was going to make sure he would walk out limping. “If I’m such a loser, what are you doing here?”
“You want to get rid of me? Call off this idiotic mission that could land you in jail. Or worse.”
“What do you care, anyway?”
“I don’t,” he said without as much as a blink. “But Sam does. And I care about her.”
Kensey’s chest ached, right where his verbal punch had landed. She kept her expression as impassive as his. “Nobody needs to worry about me. Now, go.”
“You don’t even know if he has the stolen masterpieces.”
“Logan, please. If you really do care about Sam, you have to leave me alone. It’s critical I stay focused. You understand that like no one else does.”
Concern briefly shadowed his face. “I’m going to wire you up so I’ll be able to hear what’s going on between you and Holstrom. I’ll be close enough to step in if things go FUBAR.”
“Wire me up? Are you crazy? The man must have metal detectors or whatever latest device there is to find out if he’s being bugged.”
“And we have Sam,” he said. “She’s come up with something that hasn’t reached the open market yet. The wire will be undetectable, and you’ll be able to use it for cause to get a warrant.”
Dammit, he had a point.
She had to get some air into her lungs. The way he spoke to her as if they’d never met, let alone made love was making her ill. Another deep breath and she said, “I don’t know if we’re going to his estate or somewhere else. He’s sending a car. If I am going to his home, it’s got to be guarded like Fort Knox. No way he’s not taking every precaution.”
“Thanks for the heads-up, but it’s not my first rodeo, and you don’t have the kind of time you need to run through every scenario you can think of. I’m ex-military special ops. When I say the wire isn’t a problem, it isn’t a problem.”
“Go to hell, you smug bastard.”
“Whether I’m smug or not, I’m still going to save your ass,” he said. “For Sam’s sake.”
“You’ve made that quite clear.” She looked down, hoping she hadn’t given anything away. Yes, she was hurt. But not over him. It was Neil’s betrayal that stung. “I appreciate your concern for Sam. I do. I like her, too. But I’ve got this.”
“Fine. Tell me your plan. If I can see its merits, I’ll stand down, no sweat.”
Tears threatened again, but she fought. Hard. “It isn’t a plan so much as a launching pad. I’ll go to his place, and I’ll play nice and ask him to show me his private collection. The way he wants into my pants? He’ll cooperate.”
“And...?”
“I’ll have to play it by ear.”
Logan’s head dropped back so he was looking up at the ceiling. The goddamn colors of the walls kept getting darker and darker and she wanted it all to just stop.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Logan said. “Play it by ear?”
“I’m not as naive as you think. And I know how to take care of myself. I’ve got two black belts. He tries anything, he’ll lose a hand. Or something else.”
“You still don’t get it. You are absolutely that naive. And by that I mean you are headed into a world of trouble, and you don’t even know it.”
“I know his ego is so large it barely fits through doors, and he wants to show off. Especially to someone like me who knows art. The one thing about having a secret collection is that you can’t brag about it.”
“He didn’t get to where he is by being an idiot.”
“No,” she said. “But he is a man. And he doesn’t suspect me to be anything but a gold digger with an advanced degree. He’ll want to share his secret with me, because I’m going to be sufficiently interesting to him.”
Kensey saw Logan’s jaw tighten.
“I’m not really going to sleep with him.”
Their eyes met dead on. She almost wished she couldn’t see the turmoil in his gaze. He’d been stone cold so far. What had changed? Why now? Maybe he did care a little about what happened to her. Despite being a stubborn ass, he was, in the end, a good man. One she might have had a chance with.
Just because that was water under the bridge, it didn’t mean she’d stopped caring about him.
“You do realize,” she said softly, the fire and indignation gone from her voice, “that if you’re implicated in any of this, you’ll be finished. Not just with Holstrom, either. You’re risking your reputation and your vets.”
His jaw flexed, but he didn’t respond.
“How did your meeting go?”
Anger blazed in his hazel eyes. Didn’t he understand she wasn’t taunting him? She only wanted him to see reason.
“Look,” she said. “The person I’m trying to help was framed, but he’s not an innocent man. Get it? He’s not someone you’d cross the street for. And if things do go badly with Holstrom, I should be the only person to suffer the consequences. Please, please just drop it. Walk away.”
A great huff of air widened his nostrils, but he didn’t crack. Or leave. Instead, he moved closer to her. “I’m going to tell you something...” He paused, clenched his jaw. “At the reception, after I saw you, Holstrom and his toady left the room. As he passed my table I overheard him say that he didn’t know what he was going to do with you yet, but he’d figure it out after he fucked you. Is that plain enough? Do you see what and who you’re facing?”
Her stomach roiled. She felt dizzy for a moment, and luckily, from where she was standing she was able to steady herself against the armoire.
Logan took another step toward her. And though his expression remained as tight as a waxworks doll, she could tell he’d been ready to catch her if she fell. More important, she knew what that one step meant.
“That’s...not surprising, really,” she said, firmly on her own two feet once more. “But thank you for telling me. I can handle him.”
He stared at her, his expression one of complete disbelief. “Do you honestly think I can ignore what that asshole said and leave you to play it by ear?”
“Logan, please,” she said, after what felt like a ten-minute pause. “I don’t want you involved. Maybe I was foolish for not asking for help sooner. Okay, not just maybe. I admit it... I was foolish. If I’d reached out, perhaps I’d have a better plan that wouldn’t have the potential to blow up in my face. That doesn’t mean you and your vets should get caught in the explosion.”
No response. Just hard eyes and tight mouth.
“For what it’s worth, if you won the contract, I wouldn’t blam
e you for being happy, even though it’s Holstrom’s money. You’ll do good things with it. That counts for a lot. That’s why I’m asking, begging you to walk away.”
Even that didn’t move him.
She just wished she didn’t still want him so much.
“Are you even listening?” she whispered, starting to feel unsure again. She understood the risk was huge and everything was stacked against her, but she’d never wanted anyone else to be dragged into this with her.
“You need to do the listening,” Logan said, all business. “This wire could save your life. It’s made with a material Sam created, that no software or hardware can detect. You’re the first person to use this outside of beta testers.”
Kensey blinked at the thing Logan was holding. It looked like a chewed piece of gum and about the same size, only it had a string attached.
“It comes with an earpiece that is very small, and very powerful. Nothing will be able to detect that, either. Secondly,” Logan said, as he reached into the paper bag, “you’re going to wear these bracelets.”
They were pretty. Very slim, silvery and slinky, and they would complement the outfit she’d selected, but why would Sam lend her jewelry?
“Only two matter, and for this demonstration, we’ll be looking at this one,” he said, showing her the bracelet that had a slim green thread snaking around it. The others also had threads like it, each a different color. “If you get inside the secret room, this will be your camera. All you have to do is drop it. Which is easy to do. The catch has a little bump where the others don’t.”
He put the bauble in her hand, and she was able to find the bump easily.
“Now put them all on. The green one last.”
She did. They looked perfectly natural on her arm.
“All right. Now press the bump.”
It took less than three seconds to find it and press. The bracelet somehow lost its gleam, and if she hadn’t been looking straight down at it, she’d never have seen it at all. It didn’t even make a sound on the hardwood floor.
“Watch, now. Pay close attention. It’s difficult to see this part.”
Following his lead, she crouched down, not blinking for fear of missing whatever she was supposed to see. There. It was flat, like a snake. Then the tiny front of what she would have sworn was liquid, rose a tiny bit. Maybe a sixteenth of an inch before it started turning. The whole thing. And with each turn, it moved forward. The head was always higher than the body, but nearly translucent.
“What’s it doing?”
“Taking pictures. Thousands of them, three hundred and sixty degrees, every surface in every light condition. If the room goes dark, the tech running the base unit, from miles away, will turn on infrared, which can be decoded on the base computer. That will be with me. It happens at lightning speed and it will only stop taking pictures when either the computer sends it a signal or it hits the farthest wall. That could be the end if the room is small, but if it’s large, the camera will continue in a different direction, like a Roomba vacuum, until everything’s mapped. It will also stop if it’s picked up. So be careful not to drop it too soon.”
She finally looked up. “This is magic. This is beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. How do the images look?”
“Sam’s example was Blue-ray is 1280x720. This baby is 15360x8640.”
“Oh, my God.”
Logan stood and so did she.
“Sam was going to debut this tech today. Instead she’s letting you use it.”
“Can’t she debut it, as well?” Kensey asked, and he shook his head. “I can’t take this. It’s too much.”
“She’ll insist. That’s who Sam is,” Logan said.
When Kensey tried to launch another protest, he held up his hand. “We can’t afford to waste any more time.”
She just nodded, humbled at Sam’s kindness. The device was a godsend. It would make Kensey’s job so much safer and simpler.
“Let’s talk about distress calls,” Logan said. “We have to decide on words or phrases you can use to let me know you need help. For example, if you were to say, ‘It’s gotten awfully warm in here,’ I would know it’s time for me to rush in.”
“No.” She stared at him. “You can’t ever do that. No matter what happens, Holstrom can’t know you’re involved.”
Logan sighed, giving her a look that indicated he thought she was being naive again.
“Promise me you won’t.”
He dismissed her with a cold, hard stare. “We’ll go with ‘It’s awfully warm in here,’” he said. “And if you just want to let me know that you have eyes on the paintings, then—”
She quit listening. All she needed to do was get the proof, and leave without ever tipping her hand. She’d be damned if she’d allow Logan to come running in to save her. He’d watched her yoga routine. But maybe he really didn’t get that she was very good at defending herself if the need arose.
“Now, take off the robe.”
She blinked at him. “What did you say?”
He was holding the wire again. “The robe,” he said, gesturing.
Even though he’d seen her naked, she was still uncomfortable taking the robe off. She had on a very small thong because of the pants, and a matching sexy bra, one that she’d bought for the purpose of seduction, just in case...
He touched her shoulder. She gasped as if he’d burned her, but he touched her again, this time on the side of her breast. The device itself was very slim. But it had to be pressed against her skin like a bandage. The place he chose was just below the cup of her skimpy bra.
He leaned in, and she smelled his favorite shampoo. The one that smelled like a forest. Her heartbeat accelerated and she knew he could feel the way her breath caught with every brush of his fingers. God, his breath across her skin gave her goose bumps.
Logan cleared his throat. A sign he wasn’t having an easy time of this, either?
She straightened her posture and fixed her gaze on the wall behind him. Then she began reciting multiplication tables in her head.
He froze, and lifted his head a few inches. Oh, God. She’d leaned into him. Without being aware. Her right hand was halfway to his chest.
Aflame with embarrassment, she pulled back. But when she looked down, she could see the bulge behind his fly.
It seemed so cruel to make them so attracted to each other when nothing could come of it. She wondered if it would matter that the other reason she didn’t want his help was because she might be falling in love with him.
17
GODDAMN HIS BODY. Traitorous thing, no morals whatsoever. All he was doing was affixing the wire to Kensey’s bra. He couldn’t help thinking about the perfect curves underneath, the softness of her skin and how he knew exactly how her nipple tasted.
In fact, he should be mulling over the excitement on Kensey’s face when she’d realized what the bracelet camera could do. She’d had no qualms about his involvement now that Sam had made her incredibly stupid plan incrementally less dangerous. But still stupid.
And he was halfway to a full erection.
He was thirty-three, not thirteen.
Maybe he was turned on by his confusion. One minute he was certain she was completely sincere about keeping him removed for the sake of his veterans. Trying to do the right thing. That she was in over her head and genuinely didn’t want to involve him.
The next minute, she didn’t seem to give a shit about anyone else. Including Sam, whose sacrifice was stunning, considering how many sales she could have made from debuting her camera to the security crowd.
The only thing pushing him toward the more favorable view was Sam’s conviction and her trust in Neil Patterson. Logan had a suspicion, though, that Sam would have gone to the mat for Kensey even if Neil hadn’t asked.
> He’d also seen the devastation on Kensey’s face when she realized the only person in the world whom she had trusted completely had gone behind her back. Her shock and loss hit Logan in a surprisingly visceral way. He should have been pleased that she’d experienced what it was like to have her own trust thrown in her face. But he wasn’t. Which wasn’t to say he’d forgiven her, or had come to trust her. But he also knew Neil had been completely justified in his concern that Kensey could be in serious trouble.
She’d headed toward this night with blinders on. His chest hurt when he thought about her walking into Holstrom’s lair without a plan. Going in his car. Jesus.
Logan had to stop trying to make sense of this woman. He wanted her. He liked her. He’d hoped to see her once they returned to New York. But she’d made that impossible. Which was all the more reason for him to stay away from her.
He reached the end of the small wire, but he was reluctant to move his hand from where it brushed against her breast. Was he nuts?
Wrenching himself away, he retrieved the incredibly tiny earpiece. Sam had assured him that all he needed to do was place it behind her ear, in the fold. It wouldn’t be noticed there and it wouldn’t fall off.
“Hold still,” he said, moving Kensey’s hair behind her shoulder. Her scent was stronger there. It was the mix of her shampoo, the one that smelled like the ocean, along with the too-well remembered smell of her skin. He’d liked kissing her where her shoulder met her neck, and it had never failed to make her tremble.
His eyes opened, and he hadn’t remembered closing them. Before he could make a horrible mistake, he pressed the tiny device exactly where Sam had said to, then stepped back, turning quickly. Kensey didn’t need to see him in this state. It would be completely misleading.
He wished he could just walk away now. But none of these high-tech gadgets meant Kensey would be safe if things got ugly. She thought she could take care of herself and Logan understood why. In most scenarios she could probably kick ass. But between Holstrom’s ego and power, if things went sideways, Kensey didn’t stand a chance.
