Читать книгу Striking Distance - Debra Webb - Страница 27

Chapter 18

Tasha lay in bed at midnight with no sign of sleep in sight. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Lucas had told her. The package had contained a small boy’s shoe. One of the shoes Victoria Colby’s child had been wearing eighteen years ago when he’d gone missing.

Victoria had been devastated then and today.

Tasha thought of the woman she’d met briefly when she delivered the package. Strong, steady, still very attractive at fifty or so. But that woman had been brought to her knees by a horrible reminder of the past.

Why would Seth do that? Tasha felt certain that he was following Leberman’s orders. Lucas had told her that they suspected this man named Leberman of having taken the child. Once he’d disposed of the body he’d obviously kept souvenirs for later.

Leberman wanted to make Victoria suffer before he ended her life. Lucas was sure he had more dirty tricks up his sleeve. Tasha also fully understood Lucas’s personal ties now. Victoria Colby.

Tasha’s thoughts turned to Seth then. Was it about the money? She’d turned the uniform and the bills he’d given her over to Maverick for fingerprinting in hopes of finding Leberman’s or anyone else’s who might be connected. She wondered how much a man like Leberman would pay to hire a man as skilled and ruthless as Seth to carry out this well-planned drama that was supposed to end in death.

She wondered at the brutalities Seth must have suffered to make him the kind of man he was. She flopped over onto her other side. Why the hell did she care? He was a killer. It didn’t matter what made him that way. Her only job was to stop him once they’d located Leberman.

Tasha pushed up from the bed and shuffled into the kitchen for a drink. Sleep wasn’t coming. She might as well give up and do something useful. Maybe some yoga. She could definitely handle some relaxation exercises.

The telephone rang, startling her.

She blew out a breath. Damn, she was going to have to get a grip here. She strode over to the table next to the sofa and picked up the receiver. It wouldn’t be Maverick, he’d knock on her door.

“Hello,” she said softly as if she’d been awakened, though she really didn’t expect to hear from Seth again this soon.

“There’s a cab waiting outside.”

Seth.

Anticipation seared through her. “A cab? Where am I going?” She glanced at the clock, 12:35 a.m.

“I think you know.”

An audible click told her he’d hung up.

She lowered the receiver and dropped it back into its cradle.

For a while Tasha simply stood there trying to decide if she could take this step or not.

She knew what he wanted.

Had felt the primal urgency in his kiss that afternoon. Had also felt his resistance. He didn’t want to want her.

She closed her eyes and ordered her heart rate to slow. Sleeping with him was supposed to be a last resort. But nothing was as it should be with him. She needed that closer connection with him. She needed him to need her. Seduction was her only option.

Rather than stand there rationalizing further, she did what she had to do.

She dressed for the occasion.

Short black skirt, matching thong, even shorter gold top, no bra, no hose. She slid her feet into strappy black sandals and looked herself over. The hesitation she saw in her own eyes was unlike her...she shouldn’t hesitate. This wasn’t personal. It was business—essential to the mission. She’d known going in that it might come to this. She shook her head and looked away from the lie in her eyes. Somehow, stupidly, she had waited for this moment. She hoped like hell her motivation was grounded in the mission. But she had a very bad feeling that it wasn’t.

Tossing her toothbrush and other essentials into a bag, she glanced at the gun she’d left lying on the toilet tank. But she couldn’t risk him finding it. She had mace. That would have to be sufficient. He was a lot bigger than her, but she could fight as well as any man. On second thought she removed the patch and tossed it into the trash. Maverick knew his location. She wasn’t going to risk having to explain the patch to Seth. Or worse, have him detect its signal if he chose to do a body sweep.

As he’d said, a cab waited at the curb. She climbed in, and the driver pulled out onto the street without asking for directions. Maverick would be furious, but it wasn’t like they didn’t know where Seth lived now. Her apartment was monitored, they would know she’d left.

She relaxed into the seat and cleared her mind. She wasn’t going to argue with herself anymore. Whatever happened happened. End of subject.

She knew what she had to do.

A few minutes later she leaned forward and surveyed the street signs.

“Why aren’t we headed for Oak Park?”

“That’s not the address I was given,” the cabbie offered with a shrug. He smiled then. “Maybe it’s a surprise.”

Uneasiness slid through Tasha. An all-too-familiar sensation these days. There were surprises and there were surprises. This was definitely one she hadn’t anticipated. Failure to anticipate her target’s moves was a dangerous weakness. He looked more and more as if he was a serious weakness.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, after traveling through several exclusive neighborhoods, the cab braked to a stop in front of a massive ornamental gate. She squinted to make out the house that lay beyond but couldn’t.

After a moment the gate opened and the cab rolled through and toward the house at the end of the drive. As they neared the structure she could make out the soaring, contemporary lines and angles. A high wall enclosed the property for as far as she could see, and if her sense of direction was on track they were near the lake. That would explain the elegant homes they’d passed.

“Here you are.” The cabbie glanced back at her and smiled with masculine approval. “The fare has already been taken care of.”

“Thanks.” Tasha stepped out of the cab and looked around for a bit before moving toward the house. The cab left through the gate, and she heard it close behind him. The house looked dark except for foundation lights that up lit from the well-landscaped shrubbery. But Seth liked the dark.

She moved toward the front entry, wondering where his SUV was parked. A side entry garage perhaps.

As she moved up the steps, the front door opened and he stood there waiting for her. He didn’t speak, just waited. Her pulse reacted and she chastised herself for the lack of control.

If Maverick had tried to follow her, he was nowhere to be seen. But then, that was her fault for removing the one link between her and her backup.

It was just him and her.

She was on her own.

When she’d stepped inside, he closed the door behind her and turned on the lights, the setting far dimmer than she would have preferred.

“Looks like you’ve moved up in the world,” she said to him when he remained silent. Even in the low light she could see that the house was elegantly decorated and expensively furnished.

“This way.”

She followed him up the grand staircase. Surely this wasn’t his home. Maybe Leberman’s? That didn’t make sense, either. Lucas and Victoria would certainly know if he were this close. This place didn’t exactly have a lived-in feel, but it didn’t have that closed-up smell or feel about it, either.

When he stopped again and turned on a light, they were in a generously sized bedroom with French doors that likely led out onto a balcony. She imagined there was a view of the lake. The furnishings were just as exquisite as the ones downstairs, including the massive king-size bed.

He took her purse, then leveled that piercing gaze on her. “Take off your clothes.”

She walked over to him and reached for the buttons of his shirt. “How about we take off yours first?”

Strong fingers encircled her wrists and pulled her hands away from his shirt. “Take them off.”

She backed up a step and considered her limited options. She could refuse and blow this now—maybe have to fight her way out of here—or...

He unzipped her purse then removed a thick fold of bills from his pocket and dropped them inside. When he’d tossed the bag aside he issued his order again. “Now, take off your clothes.”

Unbridled fury scorched through her. “You think I’m some kind of hooker?” She glanced at her bag for emphasis.

When he didn’t answer she huffed in disbelief. “Oh, man.” She stormed out, didn’t even bother with her purse. She wanted to make the right connection with the guy. Earn his trust. This kind of connection would get her nowhere fast.

By the time she reached the landing he was right behind her. She ignored him and kept moving. She was down the stairs and halfway across the entry hall when he stopped her. He whirled her around to face him, his hold on her arms brutal.

“No one walks away from me.”

“Let me go,” she warned.

Something changed in his expression. “I thought you needed a job,” he countered, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

She tried without success to jerk free of his savage hold. “I need a job not a john. Now let me go!”

He released her as suddenly as he’d grabbed her. He took a step back physically and emotionally. “Get your bag. I’ll take you back.”

Tasha couldn’t move for a moment, unable to look away from that fierce gaze just yet. When she could break free of the spell, she turned and hurried up the stairs. She cursed herself every step of the way for being the fool she was. She should be glad that he hadn’t out-and-out raped her. Instead, he’d turned off the desire she knew he had felt as easily as he turned off a light switch.

And, unbelievably, she was disappointed.