“Sorry to bother you, Sheriff, but you have a visitor.” Her tone was cautious.
Shit, he hoped it wasn’t the FBI again. They’d come sniffing around yesterday, asking him a few questions that made him wonder if they knew something.
“Who is it?” he wondered.
“Meghan Gardner.”
Larry stiffened in his chair. No shit! His little Meggie was here? Now that was a surprise. She’d boldly shown up at his office, knowing he couldn’t harm her with a building full of law enforcement officers, only some of which were on his secret payroll. She was smart, he had to give her that. If she’d confronted him anywhere else, he wouldn’t let her walk away. What could the little bitch want? Was she upset that he’d taken care of Ambrose? Probably.
His curiosity piqued, he said, “Send her in.”
A few moments later, Meg appeared. Larry didn’t rise from behind the desk. Instead, he remained seated, studying her coolly as she paused in the doorway. People brushed past her in the busy hallway, forcing her to step into the room.
His mouth watered. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. Breathtaking. He loved those huge turquoise eyes and those cute little freckles across her nose. Her face was not only pleasing to the eye but filled with a purity, an innocence that was rare. She’d been the only woman he’d wanted but couldn’t have. The only one who’d gotten away. He wanted her now. And he would have her. Larry always got what he wanted.
She’d changed her hair back to blonde, though it wasn’t quite its natural silvery-blonde. It was more of a strawberry blonde, and it was shorter than when he’d last seen it, dancing about her shoulders in sexy waves. He liked the new look. And her eyes…those stunning turquoise orbs eyed him with a mixture of determination and fear. She was a tough one, his little Meggie. She stood no taller than five foot two, but she’d always been a fiery little ball of dynamite. Though he was just three years shy of sixty, he wasn’t dead yet. He planned to spend the rest of his days with little Meggie. Enjoying her in any and every way he could. It was time to settle down and find a wife. It would look good in the voters’ eyes during the next election if he was married.
She closed the door and turned to face him.
He leaned back in his chair, letting his gaze peruse her body. She was dressed in a bluish-green summer dress that matched her eyes and flowed out around her hips and ended just above her knees, showing off her shapely calves. She held a large expanding file in her right arm. An ample amount of cleavage was on display as she came forward and leaned over his desk, peering into his eyes. Though he wouldn’t say the dress was revealing, it enhanced her generous curves and outlined her splendid breasts, emphasizing her femininity. His nostrils flared as her sweet scent floated across the desk and ensnared him. He longed to see more of her luscious curves, her flawless skin...
Larry blinked and tried to focus.
He wanted to touch those breasts. To touch all of her. Despite her belief that he wanted to kill her, Larry had no such plans. He wanted to make her his wife. With her at his side, he would command even more respect. No one would suspect him of criminal activities if he took a wife and paraded her around with him.
“Like what you see?” she hissed.
He pulled his gaze up to hers, slowly, deliberately lingering on her breasts for a long moment.
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t look away.
He chuckled. “Gorgeous as ever. I’ve missed you, Meggie girl. What took you so long to come see me?”
“I’ve come here to make a deal with you.”
Larry cocked a brow. “Really? What kind of deal?”
“I’ll give you all the intel I’ve gathered on you over the years if you promise to leave Curtis alone, if you promise to leave my neighbors alone.” She held up the large expanding file. “Everything in here is original and I haven’t made copies. You can have it. All of it. I’ll stop investigating you. If you leave Curtis, my neighbors, and me alone.”
Larry chuckled. “By ‘neighbors’, are you referring to the sheriff and his daughter?”
Meg stiffened. “How did you…” She broke off, lowering her gaze.
Larry lifted an arm, motioning for her to hand him the file. Reluctantly, she handed it over. Larry opened the file and perused a few documents.
“This is all you’ve got?” He snorted. “I can see you’ve been busy, my dear.” It wasn’t much, and certainly not enough to convict him, but he had to give her an “A” for effort. The file contained mostly notes from a private investigator about Larry’s late night comings and goings. So what if he went out late at night? That didn’t prove anything.
“You can have all of it,” she said quietly. “If you leave everyone alone. Please. Just leave us alone.”
Larry snickered. “I have to say I’m impressed with your efforts, but this is nothing.” He tossed the file onto his desk. “A little too late, don’t you think? I already took care of Ambrose. Don’t you think I can take care of Sullivan as well?”
She paled. “Please don’t hurt Zach. Leave him out of this.”
Larry contemplated her a moment. Did she have a thing for Sullivan? If so, he needed to nip it in the bud. He wasn’t about to share her with the war hero.
Larry had wanted to be alerted if anyone researched Meg on the law enforcement database, so he’d put out a flag. He’d received the notification yesterday that Sullivan had checked her out. Larry had immediately known Sullivan would be a problem. Now he wondered what was going on between Meg and the war hero. The guy obviously wasn’t after the bounty.
“I’ll tell you what. Next year is an election year. It’s time I settled down and took a wife. You want to make a deal with me? Here’s my deal: I’ll leave Sullivan and his daughter alone. I’ll even leave Curtis alone, if you agree to marry me.”
“What?” Her eyes went wide. “Are you insane? I’m not going to marry you!”
“You’d better think about it real hard,” he said softly. “You know I can extinguish them in a heartbeat.”
She glared at him. Then all the courage seemed to drain out of her and she dropped into one of the chairs before his desk, looking defeated. “Why? Why would you do this? I don’t want to marry you.”
“I’ll treat you good,” he whispered, growing hard with the thought of all the things he wanted to do to her. “You won’t have to work. I’ll parade you around like the queen you are and you’ll help me convince the world I deserve to be reelected.”
Her lovely breasts rose and fell against the thin blueish-green fabric as she breathed in and out rapidly, her face filling with horror. “I can’t marry you. I can’t.”
Larry shrugged. “Then Sullivan dies. And so does the girl. I can think of all sorts of ways I can torture Curtis for interfering like he did.”
Meg clutched the sides of the chair and bowed her head, her face pale, looking sick and miserable. Larry couldn’t suppress a twinge of pity that rushed through him. Such a pretty thing. Looking so unhappy. He could solve that.
“I don’t care about the intel in that file,” he whispered. “I don’t care that you tried to fuck with me. Not anymore. You’re the one I want. What I’ve always wanted.”
She lifted her gaze to his then, horror mixing with fear. “Why me? Why now?”
“Why you? Why now?” He chuckled. “You know, at first I figured you’d suffered enough when no one believed you fifteen years ago and you were ostracized by the community. I took pity on you and decided to let you be. But then you had to go sniffing around where you didn’t belong. I would have left you alone if you’d stayed out of it.” He shrugged. “Blame your tenacity. You’re special, Meggie girl. You’re everything a man could want and then some. And I want you.” He studied her a moment in silence.
“I had my spies keeping tabs on you, letting me know what you were up to.” His gaze roamed down her figure, then back up to her face. “I want you to come to me willingly, Meggie girl. You and I were meant to be together. It�
�s destiny. Drop this crazy obsession of trying to catch me doing something illegal. You’re wasting your time. You’ll never find any evidence. We can have a quiet marriage, then all you have to do is be at my beck and call, see to my needs, and I’ll treat you like a queen.”
She jumped up from the chair. “Never. You’re never having me. I will not marry you! I can’t!”
Larry chuckled. “If I’ll never have you, then why did you come dressed in that sexy summer dress? What were you hoping to bargain with? Your body?”
She flushed, lowering her gaze.
“You don’t have anything left to bargain with, Meggie. That file is useless and you know it. I’ll say it one last time, if you agree to marry me, come to me, willingly, I’ll let your neighbor and his daughter live. I’ll let Curtis live. But if you don’t, well, I’ll just have them all extinguished like I did Evan.”
She paled, her eyes growing large. “That’s not a fair deal!”
He grinned. “Just say yes, Meggie girl. Just say you’ll be my wife. I’ll tell you what. I’m feeling generous since you came to see me on your own. I’ll give you a couple of days to take care of things, say, until Friday? That should be enough time, don’t you think? Then I’ll be waiting for you. We can be good together, you and I. You know we can. We can rule the world.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Heartsick, Meg left Larry’s office and headed back to Sandpoint. She was a fool to think she could outsmart Larry. Going to see him had been a mistake. She’d been so sure he would take the file and agree to leave everyone alone. Meg groaned. She’d risked so much going there and it had cost her everything. Her biggest fear had come true: what Larry had wanted all along was her. Marry him? The thought of being that man’s wife repulsed her. No way in hell could she marry him!
He was only giving her until Friday to come to him. Willingly. He warned her that his men would be watching her and reporting back to him, so if she got any ideas about fleeing again, he’d know it. And he’d catch her. He told her he wouldn’t be so nice to her if she tried to flee.
Meg shuddered in revulsion. The thought of Larry’s disgusting hands on her made her blood run cold. But what choice did she have? If she didn’t agree to marry him, he’d kill Zach and Kristen. He’d hurt Curtis. If she tried to flee again, he’d just have his guys hunt her down and bring her in.
She could flee now and hope his goons didn’t follow her. But then how would she warn Zach and Kristen? Or Curtis? She had to tell Zach to take Kristen and go into hiding somewhere. Curtis was probably safe as long as he was in jail. Unless Larry sent one of his crooked cops in to snuff him out…
It was late-afternoon when Meg finally arrived home.
The horses whinnied and raced along the fence when they saw her, making Meg realize she hadn’t even fed them that morning before rushing off. Guilt slammed through her as she slid out of the Jeep and headed around back to feed them. She’d never forgotten to feed them before. Damn Larry anyway. She was done with him ruining her life. Somehow she’d find a way to end this before Friday.
Kicking off her teal-colored sandals, she bent and scooped them up in her good hand and strolled toward the corral in her bare feet, clutching the file on Larry against her side. Larry had shoved the file at her as she left, saying it was worthless. Perhaps it was time she took matters into her own hands and followed Larry herself, just like she and Evan had done fifteen years ago. That might be the only way to take him down, if she did it herself.
She needed to warn Zach about Larry. Needed to convince him to take Kristen and go someplace safe. She expected he would be home in a few more hours. Then she’d force herself to be brave and go over there and talk to him. She’d tell him about her meeting with Larry. He might know what to do. He might be able to help her. He’d probably be furious with her. He wouldn’t understand that she’d had to do this on her own. It was her battle, not his. But she still wanted to talk to him, which was strange for her. She’d never wanted to talk to a man before.
She tossed hay to the horses, then stood back for a moment and watched them eat. Finally, she turned and headed for the house, her shoes dangling from her hand, the file clutched to her side. She wondered now why she’d been so stupid to even go see Larry in the first place. She should have known she couldn’t reason with him. All she’d done was set a trap for herself.
Sighing, she rounded the corner of the yard. Her legs froze. She came to an abrupt halt.
Zach sat in her porch swing, looking pissed, his gaze steady on her.
She swallowed. Uh oh. The shoes slipped from her hand, landing in the grass with a soft thump. How long had he been watching her?
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been worried out of my mind!” He rose from the swing and bounded down the steps, advancing on her, his gaze sweeping her from head to foot. She backed away from him, afraid of what he thought about her hair, her sundress—he’d never seen her in a dress before—and what she’d gone to do. She’d hoped to get changed out of the dress and back into regular jeans and a T-shirt before she saw him. She’d hoped to plan what to say to him first. She sure as hell hadn’t expected him to be waiting on her back porch for her.
“You look like you just came from a summer beach party down at Lake Pend Oreille,” he said softly. “But something tells me you put that sexy little sundress on for Cummings.”
Heat washed into her face. She lowered her gaze. How had he known she’d gone to see Larry?
“It wasn’t like that.” I just wanted to distract him with my body so I could try to work out some kind of deal. She’d never intended to sleep with him. The thought made her shudder in revulsion. It had been a stupid thing to do. She’d foolishly believed Larry would be distracted by her body and agree to whatever she wanted. She was a stupid, naïve fool. She obviously didn’t know a thing about men.
He hissed out a breath. “It wasn’t? So you really went to a beach party? Or could you be wearing that sexy dress for me then?”
Her face grew even hotter, if that were possible. She didn’t really think the dress was that sexy, but apparently he did. She didn’t own anything sexy. Why would she?
She lifted her chin. “Why would I wear it for anyone but me?”
He cocked a brow. “That’s a good answer. Though I have to admit the thought of you wearing anything—or nothing at all—for me turns me on.”
Her throat shriveled up. She couldn’t find her voice, couldn’t breathe.
He scowled, staring at her hair. She self-consciously brushed a hand through her shorter, reddish-blonde locks.
“You changed your hair again,” he said bluntly. “What did you just do?”
“None of your damned business,” she whispered, going on the defensive.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t you know you can’t just take off like that and not let anyone know where you are? What the hell’s wrong with you, woman?”
Meg backed up a step, her own temper flaring. “I don’t have to answer to you. Where I go and what I do is my business.”
He took the last two strides to reach her, his gaze intense. “You made it my business when you came to my door last night, asking for my help. I swore an oath to protect and serve, and that’s what I’ll damn well do.”
Meg glared up at him, her hands on her hips. “I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not one of those helpless women who likes a macho man ordering me around. I’m sure you’re used to women flaunting themselves at you, just begging to be your slave…oh Zach, darling, whatever you want,” she mimicked in a simpering high-pitched voice, “but I’m not going to do that, you hear me? I happen to like being alone. I like making my own decisions. I’ve been taking care of myself since I was seventeen years old. I don’t need a man trying to control me or telling me what to do!”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Is that what you think?” he whispered, his face mere inches from hers, “that I want to control you?” His eyes went so dark they were almost black.
“Men like me?” Now he looked furious. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
Her heart skidded to a halt. Uh oh. He was pissed. She knew she was taking her frustration with Larry out on Zach, which she conceded wasn’t fair. Zach would never treat her that way. But she wasn’t backing down. She’d meant what she’d said. No man was going to control her. Including him.
“I had you pegged the night I met you: Mr. Arrogant, Alpha Male, Type A Personality, in control of everyone and everything around you.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. “Bet you thought you were going to control me, too, didn’t you? You figured you could saunter in with those big muscles and those brooding eyes and I’d just drop at your feet and do whatever you wanted, didn’t you? Bet you got a shock when I didn’t fawn over you like all the others.”
She stepped back, planted her hands on her hips, and glared up at him.
He just stood there and stared at her, his eyes narrowing to tiny slits, his mouth pinching tight.
Meg’s heart skipped a beat. Had she gone too far? He looked murderous. A tiny quiver of fear laced through her. She took a hesitant step back. Then another. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut?
“I didn’t mean that,” she said hastily, staring at his broad chest because she couldn’t quite meet his gaze. “But you made me defensive and I’m not your woman and you don’t have any right telling me what to do. I’m a big girl. My own person.” She tapped her chest, then expelled a breath.
Still he didn’t say anything. Meg chanced a quick glance up at his face.
“Jesus, Meghan,” he whispered. “You’re the one who’s been in control since the moment I met you. You control my thoughts, my body…fuck, do you know how hard it was to lay next to you on the couch last night and not touch you the way I’ve been dying to touch you?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head for days now. And you think I’m the one in control here? You’ve got it all wrong. You’re the one controlling me.”
Deceived (Unlikely Heroes Book 3) Page 25
