Pushed to the Limit (Quid Pro Quo 1)

by Patricia Rosemoor

DAKOTA CALLED himself every kind of fool as the elevator touched down to the first floor and the building alarm went off. He'd been sickened by a clever woman – again – and he didn't like being played for a fool one bit.

  As the doors opened, he saw the night guard leaving his post, gun in hand.

  “Grady.”

  ”Not now, Mr. Raferty. Sorry, but I gotta check out the alarm.”

  Dakota could have told the guard that he was too late, that someone had been leaving the building rather than breaking in. Instead of taking the time to stop the guy and explain, however, he raced out the front exit, around the corner and toward the loading dock area. As he'd suspected, he didn't get a glimpse of Honor Bright, who was a better actress than he could have imagined.

  He'd actually believed her...

  Knowing he was being even more of a fool, he headed for his car and Pike Place Market.

  As he'd known it would be, the market was locked up but for the few restaurants with late hours. And he saw no sign of a stunning redhead. Furious that not only had she given him the slip but had lied about the drop-off location, as well, Dakota thought to call the police.

  But what if she'd been telling the truth about her daughter?

  He couldn't get the possibility out of his mind. No matter that he thought Honor should have gone to the police herself, he couldn't do it. When he found a telephone, he dialed the number his sister Sydney had given him a few days before. He couldn't believe she was spending her nights reading Tarot cards in a bar – though she insisted it was more of a coffee house. He didn't see the difference.

  “Benno's Place,” came a familiar voice raised over the sounds of laughter and music.

  “Syd?”

  “Dakota? How's it going?” Sydney asked, followed by an anxious, “Is anything wrong?”

  “No,” he hurried to assure her.

  He didn't want Sydney tied up in knots with his problems, not after what she'd been through. The victim of a con man out to even an old score, she'd been gas lighted by a supposedly new husband who had then supposedly died – neither case having been true – in addition to which she'd been suspected of murder and had almost perished in a fire. The past month had been a living hell for her.

  “So what's up?” Sydney asked.

  “I met your friend Honor Bright this evening.”

  “Aha.”

  “What's the 'aha' for?”

  “I'm not naive, brother dear. I know your taste in women. Your hormones are stirred up, and you're obsessed, right?”

  Not about to tell his sister what he really thought of the actress, though obsession might not be totally inaccurate, Dakota hedged. “That Honor is a real beauty, all right. Smart, too.”

  He couldn't believe how stupid he'd felt when he'd remembered the second exit out of the lounge. He'd stormed into the room only to find her gone.

  “And she's been divorced for more than a year.”

  He recognized Sydney's matchmaking tone and played on the fact to get the information he sought. “Must be tough, raising a kid all alone.”

  “I know for a fact that Honor considers raising Nora a joy rather than some tough duty divorce forced on her,” Sydney assured him.

  So Honor did have a daughter. At least that much hadn't been a lie.

  “She took the job in Seattle because of her daughter, you know,” his sister continued. “Honor wanted a quieter life for a while so she could spend more time with Nora and make a home where her little girl would have some stability for once. Traipsing around to various shooting locations can be pretty tough on a four year old.”

  So could kidnapping. Dakota suspected little Nora had that carefully manufactured security ripped away from her, just as her mother had claimed. Still nothing could excuse Honor's illegal actions. Even if he hesitated to bring in the police, he wasn't about to let her perfidy go as if it had never happened. Especially not when he was the target of the real criminals who might strike at his campaign in some other manner if they weren't satisfied with their end of the deal.

  Now all he had to do was find Honor with his unsuspecting sister's help. Help that Honor would no doubt be expecting.

  “Speaking of home... you wouldn't have Honor's telephone number and address, would you?”

  “What? You didn't get them?” Sydney laughed. “My big brother is slipping in his old age. I remember a time when a woman would force that information on you whether or not you wanted it.”

  “We didn't exactly have the opportunity,” Dakota said dryly. Not to mention the incentive. “Come on, Syd, stop ragging on me and find your address book.”

  “I don't have to. I know the address by heart. Got a pencil?”

  “And my trusty black book.”

  In which he scribbled the address Sydney gave him. “That's the Capitol Hill area.”

  “Across from Volunteer Park. Hey, want me to call Honor and put in the good word for you?”

  “No,” he said quickly. “Don't you dare try to help me. Besides, I think she got a definite first impression of me that she won't soon forget.”

  Sydney chuckled. “Big-headed as always. One of these days a woman is going to knock the stuffing out of you, Prince Charming.”

  “One already did.” He'd never forget his ex-fiancé Maureen O’NEILL, who had been as deceptive as they'd come. “I don't plan on letting it happen again.”

  “Love finds us whether or not we're ready for it,” Sydney warned him with a dreamy sigh.

  Knowing his sister thought she was in love with some character named Benno DeMartino just because the man saved her life, Dakota didn't argue. She couldn't have fallen for real, not so soon after the fiasco prompted by the late, shady Al Fox, a man she'd also thought she loved. The current romance would undoubtedly cool off as soon as Sydney came to her senses, but no reason to upset her with that projection.

  Bringing the conversation to a close with his promise to give their father Sydney's love, Dakota replaced the receiver and returned his notebook to his inside jacket pocket.

  Honor's address was burned into his memory anyway, Dakota thought as he returned to his car. He was going to find the place and sit on her doorstep until the actress returned from her rendezvous, even if it meant waiting all night.