Читать книгу Loving the Lone Wolf - Ingrid Weaver - Страница 10

Kelly was good, Nathan thought, but tonight she wasn’t great. Tension stiffened her shoulders and clouded her face. It was as if a curtain had come down, or a light had dimmed inside her. Although her voice was on key and her timing was perfect, she was keeping her emotions under tight control. The passion that had suffused her performance the night before was missing.

Oh, she was still sexy as hell. She couldn’t help that. Just the sight of her standing in the spotlight, her eyes half-closed and her fingers wrapped around the shaft of the microphone was making Nathan’s palms sweat. The dress she wore tonight was black and covered her in front to the base of her throat, but in the back it plunged enticingly to the gentle rise of her buttocks.

It was all part of the act, he suspected. This was what Volski and the customers at his club would expect to see. Her appearance would please the crowd just as her voice would entertain them without making them uncomfortable. She packaged sex with class.

She sure had come a long way from singing in her church choir in Maple Ridge, Ohio.

He folded his arms over his chest, leaning one shoulder against the wall as he paused near the bar to watch her. He’d asked his personnel department to make some discreet inquiries into her background when he’d gone into the office this morning. What he’d learned had answered some questions, but had led to dozens more.

Kelly Elizabeth Jennings had been born twenty-six years ago, the only child of James and Cynthia Jennings. She had no criminal record and had never been arrested. How did a small-town girl, whose father ran a grocery store and whose mother gave piano lessons, get mixed up with Stephan Volski?

On the other hand, where a person started in life didn’t guarantee where they would end up. Nathan was a living example of that.

The set ended to a round of applause. Kelly flashed a smile to the audience and left the stage.

Nathan pushed away from the wall and followed her through a swinging door at the rear of the club. Before he had taken three steps into the corridor, a pair of men converged on either side of him and grasped his arms.

He tensed, automatically assessing his chances. The men were probably armed like the muscle who patrolled the main room of Volski’s club, but the narrow corridor would work in his favor. Their bulk was a disadvantage in close quarters. Too bad he’d given up his habit of carrying a switchblade in his boot. That would have been the easiest way to get out of this.

Had Kelly set him up? She had asked him to meet her here. If Volski hadn’t agreed to their deal, he might have ordered Nathan eliminated as a security precaution.

Damn, he had no logical reason to trust Kelly, and he probably shouldn’t have. After her performance the night before, both onstage and off, the only thing he was sure of was that she wasn’t what she seemed. Yes, she was an enigma, an intriguing woman, but she was Volski’s woman and Nathan should be cautious around her. The stakes were too high to allow room for sentiment.

Had living as Beliveau for ten years made him lose his edge?

It might be time to remind himself—and Volski’s people—where he’d come from. He hadn’t survived this long by being soft. Nathan flexed his arms and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet just as Kelly glanced behind her.

She stopped where she was and scowled at the men who held him. “Let him go,” she said. “That’s Rand. I’m expecting him.”

The men were too slow to respond for Nathan’s liking. He took a step forward and twisted to jerk his arms free, then gave each man a sharp nudge in the solar plexus with his elbows to discourage them from grabbing him again. He dusted off his sleeves while the men regained their breath. “You heard the lady,” he said. “This dance is already taken.”

The man on his left retreated fast, but his companion stood his ground, muttering something to the effect that Kelly wasn’t a lady.

Nathan turned to look at him and lifted one eyebrow. Without moving another muscle, he let the silence build from uncomfortable to threatening—a trick that he’d learned in his youth. He was only one-eighth Lakota Sioux, but he knew full well how to use his inscrutable Indian-brave look. “Sorry,” he said finally. “I missed that. What did you say?”

The man’s gaze wavered. “I didn’t say nothin’.”

Nathan decided he’d made his point. Without another word, he continued down the corridor.

The room Kelly led him to was long and narrow, with stark white walls and a clean, white tile floor. A rack of colorful dresses, each encased in a clear plastic dry-cleaner’s bag, was set along one wall. Across from it, a table cluttered with various bottles and tubes sat beneath a mirror ringed with lights. Even without those clues, Nathan would have known this was Kelly’s dressing room, because as soon as he followed her over the threshold, he was enveloped by her scent.

She closed the door and brushed past him. She wore her hair swept up in a rhinestone-studded clasp tonight, leaving nothing to detract from the graceful line of her bare back. Nathan had to shove his hands into the pockets of his pants so he wouldn’t reach out for her.

What was it about this woman? His senses were threatening to short-circuit his brain.

“I apologize for the less than friendly reception you got back there,” she said. “One of the guards at the estate had an…accident, so Stephan had to make some personnel changes. No one had a chance to tell those two who you are.”

“Then I take it he wants to go forward with our deal?”

“Yes, he certainly does.” She picked up the gold dress she had worn the night before from the back of a chair and gestured for him to sit. “Stephan wants to bring the shipment into O’Hare next week. Friday, to be exact. Can you have the transportation arranged and the necessary paperwork prepared by then?”

Nathan crossed one ankle over the other and leaned his shoulders against the door. Finally! “No problem. I’ll have my end ready.”

“And to make sure you do, Stephan has asked me to be your liaison.”

“My liaison? What does that entail?”

“I’ll be overseeing your end.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the way Stephan wants it.”

“Why?” he repeated.

“To ensure our mutual interests.”

“In other words, your boyfriend expects you to stay chummy so you can spy on me, right?”

She draped the dress over her arm and brushed at the folds. “If I say yes, is that going to help our negotiations or hurt them?”

He smiled inwardly at her comeback. It was exactly what he had asked her the night before. He enjoyed the glimpses of Kelly’s intelligence even more than the glimpses of her body.

Still, having her around was a complication he didn’t need. He couldn’t afford to have anyone scrutinizing his actions, especially a woman he hadn’t yet figured out. Even under the best of circumstances, it wouldn’t be easy to set up the sting that would deliver the drugs and Volski’s gang to the feds. The clock was ticking on his debt.

Damn Tony and his bargain.

“And just how are you supposed to keep an eye on me, Kelly?” he asked. “I don’t have a Mrs. Rand who would object, but from what I’ve heard about your boyfriend, he wouldn’t look too kindly on either of us if you moved in with me. I’d prefer to keep all the body parts I was born with.”

Her fingers suddenly clenched, crumpling the fabric of the dress she held into a tight ball. “I’m not responsible for what Stephan does.”

Nathan straightened up from the door, surprised by the vehemence of her response.

“And from the way I saw you handle Stephan’s watchdogs just now,” she continued, “I believe you can take care of yourself, whatever happens.”

It almost sounded as if she were trying to warn him. “What does that mean?”

She flexed her fingers to release her hold on the dress and tossed it back on the chair where it had been. “Where did you learn to fight like that, Nathan?” As if it was an afterthought, she moved her lips into a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You moved so fast, I could hardly see it. I hope you’re not that fast with everything. There are some things that are best done…slowly.”

He regarded her curiously. She had gone into her sex-kitten mode in a bid to change the topic, but this time it wasn’t working. He was far more interested in what he’d seen before she’d put on that smile. He walked past the chair to stand in front of her. “I learned how to use the particular move you saw when I was eight.”

“You must have been very precocious.”

“No, just resourceful. My stepfather liked little boys. I didn’t let him like me.”

The smile disappeared like the illusion it had been. Her gaze clouded with horror. “My God,” she murmured. “Your stepfather?”

“Well, he wasn’t legally my stepfather. He never married my mother.”

She touched his arm. “Oh, Nathan. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s like you said. I learned to take care of myself.”

Her hand shook against his sleeve. “Didn’t your mother…” She swallowed. “She must have tried to leave, didn’t she? For your sake?”

“No, she never left. I did.” He covered her hand with his. “Why did you, Kelly?”

“What?”

“Why did you leave home? What made you trade the church choir in Maple Ridge for Volski’s nightclub in Chicago?”

She stared at him, her lips parted in shock, then she pulled her hand away from his so fast she stumbled backward. She came up against the table beneath the mirror, knocking over several small bottles.

Nathan caught her by the shoulders to steady her, careful to keep his grip gentle. He’d wanted to take her off guard with the question—that’s why he’d led up to it by giving her a piece of his past—but he hadn’t anticipated this strong a reaction.

Could his gut be right? Was it possible that beneath the act she put on she was innocent?

He had to find out before she got swept up in the same net that would catch her boyfriend. He leaned down to bring his face level with hers. “Were you running from abuse the way I was, Kelly? Is that why you ended up with Volski?”

“No. My parents are wonderful. They—” She shook her head. A lock of hair slipped loose from the rhinestone clasp and uncoiled at the nape of her neck. “How did you know about me?”

“I have connections. I asked around.”

“My life is none of your business.”

“I disagree. If we’re going to work together, everything about you is my business.”

She was struggling to draw in her emotions, but she wasn’t succeeding. “You’ve got the wrong idea. Our relationship isn’t personal, Nathan. It doesn’t give you the right to ask questions like this. I realize it might have seemed as if I was leading you on last night, but—”

“No, Kelly, I knew what you were doing. It’s why you’re doing it that bothers me.” He felt her tremble under his palms. He stroked his thumbs along her shoulders. “What’s really going on? I could tell by your singing that something was troubling you tonight.”

She made an odd sound in her throat. “What could possibly be troubling me?”

“If it’s something to do with this heroin deal, I need to know before next week. I’m not going to work with you if you’re not a hundred percent on board. Tell me now, are you a willing participant?”

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Why won’t you answer?”

“Moving that heroin shipment is important to all of us, Nathan. Stephan knows he can count on me, and I intend to do everything I can to make sure it goes off precisely as planned.”

Had she answered his question? He wasn’t sure. “How did you get from a small town in Ohio to here?”

“I took a Greyhound.”

“Were you running?”

“Yes. From boredom. If you’d been to Maple Ridge you would understand.”

He touched the back of his hand to her cheek. She would have been easier to believe if he hadn’t heard the note of yearning in her voice. “How did you meet Volski?”

“It’s no secret.” She tipped her head away from his touch. “I waited tables by day to pay my rent and sang for tips at a piano bar by night until Stephan offered me a job at this club. I took it.”

“And you stay because…?”

“Because he pays me well and dresses me fabulously. It’s as simple as that.”

He was certain she was lying. There was far more to her story than this. He laced his fingers through the lock of hair that had come loose and cupped her nape. His gaze dropped to her mouth.

Never had he wanted to kiss a woman more than he did now. He couldn’t explain it. The urge was deeper than sex and too primitive for logic. He wanted to fit his lips to hers and taste whatever truth she kept hidden, and it had nothing to do with Volski or the drugs or the debt he had to pay.

His grip tightened. He lifted his gaze to hers and saw that her eyes had darkened, the pupils expanding against a rim of vibrant green. He saw confusion…and a reflection of his own desire.

The moment stretched. It was madness to think about giving in to this attraction. He knew it, and he was sure that she did, too. Yet he leaned closer, his gaze blurring, his senses filling with her nearness, until the soft exhalation of her breath warmed his lips.

“Don’t,” she whispered.

He felt the word more than he heard it. “Kelly…”

She slipped her hand between them, steepled her fingers on his chest and pushed him back.

He let her do it, knowing he should be thankful, hating the fact that he wasn’t.

“You still have the wrong idea,” she said. “All I’m interested in from you is business, that’s it. As I told you before, this isn’t personal.”

“If you’re going to spend the next week spying on me, it’s going to get damn personal.”

“It doesn’t have to.” She slipped sideways along the dressing table until she could step clear of him. “Stephan’s estate has eighty-seven acres. The main house has fifty-five rooms and there is enough guest accommodation on the property to house a small army. Unless we have business to do or you need to leave the estate, we probably won’t even see each other.”

“Whoa, what’s this about the estate?”

“I’m not going to be moving in with you, Nathan. It’s the other way around. Until the deal is done, Stephan wants you to stay with us.”

The rhythm of the words was soothing, as familiar and well-worn as the rabbit Jamie clutched. Kelly pitched her voice low, savoring the peaceful hush of the evening routine. She had chosen Robert Munsch’s Love You Forever tonight. She remembered her own mother reading it to her. They would snuggle together on the bed, just as she was doing with Jamie, only that bed had been crammed under the eaves of a bedroom a quarter the size of this one.

Kelly had liked the way the ceiling had sloped over her head. It hadn’t felt cramped, it had felt cozy. In the summer, the breeze through her window had brought the sound of rustling leaves from the big maple in the front yard and the train whistle from the crossing at the bend of the highway. In the winter, she would curl up under the same quilt that her mother had used as a child, the one her grandmother had embroidered with nursery rhyme characters.

“‘I’ll love you forever,’” Kelly read. “‘I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.’”

The words were a chorus that was repeated throughout the story, a song from a mother to her child. Kelly carried them in her heart. Whenever she needed to hear them, she could call up the memory of that bedroom in the house in Maple Ridge and it all came back. Not just the sounds and the images, but the feelings: safety, comfort, belonging and, above all, the persistence of love.

She brushed a kiss on the top of her son’s curls before she turned the page. When she had been a child, she had listened to her mother’s voice more than to the words. She hadn’t understood the emotion she’d heard—it wasn’t until she’d had a baby of her own that she did—yet she hadn’t been too young to understand the power of a voice.

That was when Kelly had first dreamed of being a singer.

Would her mother still love her if she knew what Kelly had become?

She blinked hard to stop the rush of tears. Damn that Nathan Rand for stirring up the past with his questions yesterday. Sometimes she could go for days without thinking about it, but the home and the family she’d left behind were too much a part of her to forget for long.

She could never go back. Let her parents believe she was still chasing her dream. They didn’t know it had become a nightmare.

Yet it wasn’t all a nightmare. She looked down at Jamie. Despite how he’d come into the world, she could never regret having this child. He was a gift. He was her reason for drawing breath. “‘As long as I’m living,’” she whispered, “‘My baby you’ll be.’”

She sighed as she felt her eyes fill once more. She loved this story, but it always made her cry.

She closed the book and reached behind her to set it on the shelf above the headboard. Jamie’s eyelids fluttered. He pulled his rabbit against his cheek, his lips working sleepily as his thumb inched toward his mouth. He had started dozing off a while ago, and now his body was completely lax as he lay curled on her lap, his head on her chest. He had wanted to wear his racing-car pajamas tonight, so red Ferraris decorated the flannel that covered his feet. She wrapped her hand around his toes, marveling at the miracle he was.

It was times like these that she lived for. With her child safe in her arms, the world contracted to just the two of them. He would always have her love, but there was so much more that she wanted to give him. While Stephan spent extravagantly on Jamie’s material needs, there were things money couldn’t buy. Jamie needed to play with children his own age. He needed a normal environment, good influences and positive role models. He deserved a future free from the taint of crime.

And in five more days…

She blotted her eyes on her sleeve and moved her gaze to the window. Through the dusk that shadowed the grounds, she could see a light in the apartment over the garage where Nathan was staying. He had surprised her. She had assumed he would offer some resistance to living at the estate as Stephan had suggested. Nathan seemed astute enough to realize that Stephan’s hospitality was a ploy to intimidate him, yet first thing this morning, she had heard the rumble of his motorcycle as he’d driven through the gates.

At the sound, she hadn’t been able to stop the crazy leap of her pulse.

He was a criminal, she kept reminding herself. He was like Stephan. He had no qualms about bringing two tons of misery into the country.

Yes, she knew all that, yet she couldn’t help feeling there was more to him.

He’d been matter-of-fact when he’d told her about that horror from his childhood. There had been no condemnation in his voice when he’d mentioned his mother, either. From the sound of it, he’d learned to take care of himself early on. He had intelligence, drive, and an impressive insight into people. How different might his life have been if he’d been given a better start?

And what would Stephan do to him when the heroin he was moving went missing?

I’d prefer to keep all the body parts I was born with.

Like a cold draft on the back of her neck, the words Nathan had spoken yesterday returned. The comment had been half in jest, but given Stephan’s track record, Nathan had been closer to the truth than he’d realized.

Why couldn’t he have been crass and rude? If he had ogled her rather than looking her in the eye, if he had come right out and propositioned her, wouldn’t he be easier to dismiss from her conscience?

Instead, for the past day she’d found herself haunted by the image of an eight-year-old Nathan forced to defend himself, just as she continued to be haunted by his almost-smile and that almost…kiss.

Kelly returned her gaze to Jamie. This child was her priority. For his sake, she couldn’t let her resolve weaken. She would do anything for her baby.

Wouldn’t she?

Nathan checked the luminous dial on his watch as he jogged past the tennis courts, careful to keep his pace steady. He was estimating the distances to various points in the estate by keeping track of how long it took him to jog it. He was also scouting out possible escape routes, but he had yet to find any way in or out other than the main gate.

For someone who was as paranoid as Volski was turning out to be, it was a good setup. The heavily wooded acreage was extremely private and enclosed by a twelve-foot-high, well-lit, electrified fence. Not only was the perimeter of the grounds patrolled by guards, the men who worked here also lived here. When they weren’t on duty watching for trespassers, they kept an eye on each other. Even though the sun had set thirty minutes ago, Nathan had passed—and had been noticed by—more than half a dozen men.

The estate would be as tough to break out of as it would be to break into.

Nathan detoured around a series of terraced gardens that bordered the swimming pool and chose a path that led around the house. It was a long run, since the yellow-brick three-story building sprawled outward in two angled wings. And despite the security provided by the guards and the perimeter fence, the area between the wings was hidden behind a high stone wall covered with ivy. What was in there? A courtyard? More gardens?

Nathan reached the front of the house and noticed that the upper floors were dark, except for the glow from a large bay window near the far end. Kelly had mentioned there were fifty-five rooms. Which one did she sleep in? Was she already in bed?

Was Volski there with her?

Something ugly and violent went through him at the thought.

I look forward to a long and profitable association with you, Mr. Rand. That’s what Volski had said when he’d met him this afternoon. Although Nathan had photos of the Russian in the files he had gathered, that had been the first time he’d been face-to-face with the man he had to bring down.

Volski had been precisely what Nathan had expected. Arrogant, pretentious and coldly calculating. He’d furnished his house like a palace and had dressed himself like nobility. The thugs he’d surrounded himself with called him “sir.”

Kelly had sat on the edge of Volski’s desk throughout the meeting, looking beautiful and composed as she sipped tea from a gold-rimmed china cup, the perfect accessory to complete her boyfriend’s image.

Nathan had been pursuing this man for more than a month. There should have been nothing in his head except the task in front of him.

Instead, his mind had been filled with Kelly.

From what he’d observed since he’d arrived here, she was Volski’s girlfriend and willing partner, but Nathan couldn’t picture those two together. He didn’t want to picture those two together. When he did, it stirred feelings that were as primitive as the desire to kiss her that he felt every time he looked at her mouth.

His knuckles twinged. He glanced down and saw that he’d tightened his hands into fists. Forcing them open, he turned his back on the house and ran down the driveway. He checked his watch one last time, then slowed to a walk as he approached the long yellow-brick building that housed Stephan’s fleet of cars.

The guest apartment Volski had assigned to him had been built into the space under the peak of the garage roof and as a result it was enormous, extending the full length of the building. Volski had claimed it would provide Nathan with privacy, but in reality, it did the opposite. The only way to reach the apartment was by an outside staircase, and since the staircase was in full view of the adjacent carriage house where several of the guards lived, all of Nathan’s comings and goings would be observed and reported on more easily than if he’d been staying at the main house.

Nathan closed the door behind him and peeled off his T-shirt as he headed down the hall to the main bathroom. The place was decorated with overblown opulence. The floors were green marble, the picture frames were gilded with gold and the furniture was heavy and dark, with carved wooden legs and red velvet upholstery.

Nathan missed the clean, airy lines of his downtown penthouse. The furniture there was low and sleek, with nothing to detract from his view of the lake and the paintings on his walls. Yet as long as he was posing as Rand, it would be safer not to return there, anyway. Not only did staying here simplify his cover, it would allow him to gather more information aboutVolski’s operation.

Was Volski doing the same with him? Nathan didn’t think the man’s paranoia extended to electronic eavesdropping—from what Nathan had observed, Volski’s methods weren’t that subtle—but just in case it did, he reasoned a bathroom would be the least likely room to be bugged. With the water of the shower running, he slipped his cell phone out of the Velcro-sealed pocket of his running shorts and thumbed in the number of Tony Monaco.

As usual, the ringing was interrupted by a series of clicks as the call was rerouted. Tony had four houses on this continent that Nathan knew of, not counting the island in the Caribbean. It was anyone’s guess which place he would be using on a given day.

There was a second set of clicks before the call was finally picked up. An odd hissing noise swelled in the background. The distinctive deep voice that came through the receiver was like granite wrapped in velvet. “Talk.”

He pressed the phone tighter to his ear and blocked his other ear with the heel of his hand. “Tony, it’s Nathan.”

“Where are you?”

“Volski’s estate.”

The background hissing faded. There was a muted scraping sound, like cast iron sliding across metal—a pan being taken off a stove?—then the clink of cutlery against china. “I’m assuming that is by choice,” Tony said.

“More or less. He doesn’t entirely trust me.”

“That was to be expected.” He paused briefly. When he spoke again, it sounded as if he were chewing. “You’ve had more than a month, Nathan.”

The reminder had been spoken mildly, but that didn’t diminish its impact. Tony Monaco wasn’t the kind of man who needed to raise his voice to get his point across. His actions and his reputation did that for him. At one time, he had been the heir to a criminal empire that would have made Volski’s operation look like a mom-and-pop corner store. Although Tony directed his energy toward other pursuits now, he hadn’t come that far from his roots.

Nathan’s pulse, still elevated from his run, took an extra leap. “I will pay you back, Tony.”

“I hope you do. You were one of the first to join the organization, and I’ve enjoyed watching your success over the years. You’ve invested the profits from your business wisely. What are you worth now? Seventy million? Seventy-five?”

At current market value, his stock portfolio and real estate amounted to closer to eighty, not counting his art collection, but Nathan knew the exact figure was irrelevant. It wasn’t money that Tony wanted.

“You’ve been an asset to Payback,” Tony continued, “but I can’t make any exceptions, even for you.”

“I knew the rules going in,” Nathan said. “I’m not asking for exceptions. The deal’s set for this Friday.”

Liquid splashed into a glass. “All right,” Tony said. “What do you need?”

“A name. A contact in the FBI I can trust to bring in for the end game.”

“I’ll have someone get back to you on that. Which number are you using?”

Nathan recited the number for the direct line to his office at Pack Leader. He wouldn’t be going back there as Beliveau until this deal was finished—he’d tied up as many loose ends as he could and had told his staff he was taking a vacation before he’d come to the estate this morning. Still, it would be safer to retrieve the message from his office voice mail there than to risk getting a call from the FBI on this phone.

But if Friday didn’t go as planned, he wouldn’t have an office or voice mail. He wouldn’t have Pack Leader Express.

Nathan ended the call, stripped off the rest of his clothes and stepped into the shower, hoping the hot water would ease some of the knots from his muscles.

It was no use. The tension he felt was too deep for a run or a shower to loosen. In fact, it had been building for ten years, ever since the day he had joined Payback.

Payback. It was an organization as well as a philosophy. A decade ago, Tony had provided Nathan the new identity and the financial backing that had enabled him to turn his life around. Because of Tony, Nathan had given up crime. In return, Nathan had to pay back the favor by bringing another criminal to justice.

Tony had waited ten years before calling in the debt. Then two months ago, he had chosen Stephan Volski as Nathan’s target. Once Volski and his heroin-smuggling ring were behind bars, Nathan’s debt would be paid in full.

But if he failed to pay his debt to Tony, Nathan would lose everything that Tony’s help had allowed him to build: his wealth, his company and his respectable new life.

He wouldn’t just be playing Nathan Rand anymore, he would be him.

He would do anything to keep that from happening.

Even if it meant seeing Kelly Jennings arrested?

Nathan gritted his teeth, twisted the faucet to cold and ducked his head under the stream.