(Elemental Assassin 01) Spider's Bite (35 page)

I gave her a cold look. “Then I suggest you try harder, Haley. Or you’re the one who’s going to be feeling Mab Monroe’s wrath. I imagine she can torture you much longer than Alexis did the old man at the restaurant. Mab’s had a lot more practice at that sort of thing. She could probably keep you alive for
days
.”

Haley blanched, and her face took on a greenish hue, as though she wanted to vomit.

I plucked a business card out of my purse and held it out to her. The number for my cell phone was scribbled across it. “You have an hour to get Alexis on board, call me at this number, and agree to my demands. After that, well, who knows what will happen?”

Haley James snatched the card from my hand with trembling fingers and clutched it to her heaving chest. I gave her the hard stare another moment, then grabbed my cell phone, got to my feet, and strolled away. 

25

I moved through the high-class crowd with ease, slinking my way past one group after another, and held the cell phone up to my ear.

“Did you hear all that, detective?”

“Yeah,” Donovan Caine said in a grim tone. “I heard her.”

I hadn’t cut the connection with the detective because I’d wanted him to hear exactly what Haley James had to say for herself. That way, I couldn’t be accused of putting words in her mouth—or compounding her guilt. Haley had made it abundantly clear she was okay with whatever Alexis wanted to do, as long as she got to keep stealing from her own company. The only time she’d shown any emotion other than haughtiness was when I’d told her I had the flash drive and that I was thinking about giving it to Mab Monroe.

Then she’d panicked. Nobody wanted to face the Fire elemental’s wrath, not even someone as greedy as Haley James. She was probably running through the crowd right now, looking for Alexis, trying to think of some way to get her sister to meet my demands so she could save her own skin.

Haley wasn’t the only one scurrying through the ballroom. So was one of Mab Monroe’s guards.

Evidently I’d acted like too much of a loon before, and Mab wanted to know who I was—and why I’d been talking to Haley James. Her giant swept through the crowd after me like Sherman marching through Atlanta. I didn’t dare turn around, but I heard the mutters of the people he bowled out of his way. I picked up my pace, darting around groups of people and shimmying around the waiters. I was quick, but the giant was bigger. It was only a matter of time before he caught up with me. Before his beefy hand clamped on my shoulder and he escorted me outside the ballroom for a little private chat—maybe even with Mab herself. A complication I didn’t need right now.

“You’ve got a tail,” Donovan’s voice sounded in my ear.

“No shit,” I said. “Where are you?”

“Same place as before. Middle of the second floor, leaning over the railing.”

I glanced up. The detective was exactly where he’d said he was. He’d undone another button on his white dress shirt, and he looked sexy and rumpled in the afternoon light. Mmm. Too bad I didn’t have time to enjoy the view.

“I see you,” I said. “Find us someplace to hide from the giant. Empty room, supply closet, whatever. I’ll be up there in a minute.”

“Got it.”

Caine turned and moved away from the balcony. My eyes swept over the crowd, looking for something I could use to slow down the giant. The mutters behind me grew louder. A minute, maybe less, before he’d catch me. My gaze landed on a waiter not so steadily carrying a full tray of mint juleps. Perfect.

I slowed my steps to get my timing just right. The waiter brushed past me, and I kicked his ankle as hard as I could with the point of my stiletto. He shrieked at the unexpected pain. I kept right on going, but the waiter went down like a dead man. His tray tipped over, and alcohol showered on everyone within a three-foot radius. A few icy drops spattered against my back.

For a moment there was horrified silence. In the next second, a mob of angry people converged on the guy, screaming and berating the poor man for being so clumsy. The throng was so tight, even the giant couldn’t shoulder through it. While he tried to work his way around the tables and harridans shrieking about their alcohol-soaked dresses, I climbed up a set of stairs to the second floor and walked back the way I’d just come, weaving in and out of the clusters of people on this level. Below me, Mab Monroe looked at the crush of guests and frowned. She knew something had gone wrong. She just didn’t know what yet.

I lowered my head, moved away from the balcony, and kept walking, not so fast as to call attention to myself, but not dawdling either. I held the phone back up to my ear. “Where are you?”

“Supply closet. Hang a left at the end of the hallway. Second door on your right.”

I made the appropriate turn. This hallway was deserted, so I opened the door, stepped inside, and shut it behind me. Caine waited inside, leaning on a metal rack full of toilet paper. I leaned against the wood and let out a long breath.

“That was close.”

“Too close,” Caine agreed.

“What about Haley?” I asked the detective. “What did she do after I confronted her?”

“Nothing much,” Caine said. “She sat there for a moment, looking at your back; then she got up and scurried off into the crowd.”

Going to find Alexis, just like I’d thought she would.

“Now what?” Caine asked.

“Now we stay in here until Mab and her guard lose interest in me and Haley James calls,” I said. “Neither one should take too long.”

I moved past the detective. Besides the metal rack he leaned against, there wasn’t much in the closet. A mop and a bucket. Several boxes of plastic gloves. A ratty love seat that had been salvaged from one of the club’s salons. I dialed Finn on my cell phone. He answered on the second ring.

“You really should have stuck around,” he said. “That waiter you tripped is still getting screamed at. Sounds like a flock of crows cawing to each other.”

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Still at the bar,” Finn replied. “Talking to Grace.”

Finn must have winked at her, because through the phone, I heard a woman laugh. The sort of high, squawking sound the wicked witch always made in fairy-tale movies. Must be the old, wizened dwarf I’d seen him with before.

“Grace says hello,” Finn replied.

“Good for Grace,” I snapped. “Want to tell me what’s going on down there?”

Finn sighed. “Can’t you ever just relax and enjoy the show?”

“No. Now tell me what happened after I left Haley. The detective said she got up and ran off into the crowd.”

“Straight to Alexis,” Finn said. “Haley pulled her sister outside onto the patio. The two of them are talking right now. Alexis does not look pleased. Stephenson’s with them too. Poor bastard looks faint. Keeps mopping his forehead with his handkerchief.”

I smiled. Good. About time the bitch realized who she was dealing with. “Keep an eye on them, but don’t let them see you. If they start to leave, call me. Don’t follow them.”

“Yes, master,” Finn sniped. “And don’t worry. Grace will keep me company.”

Finn hung up, and I did the same. I set my cell phone on the metal rack, right next to the toilet paper. Then I went over to the love seat and plopped down on it. The cushions squawked under my weight, and a loose spring poked me in the ass. I shifted, but I couldn’t get away from the offensive metal.

Donovan Caine pushed away from the rack and paced back and forth, taking five quick steps from one side of the closet to the other. His shoes squeaked on the floor, and I felt the beginnings of a headache stir behind my eyes.

“Are you going to pace for the next hour?” I said. “Because it’s already gotten on my last nerve.”

The detective didn’t say anything; he just kept pacing. His quick, controlled movements caught my gaze, and my eyes traced over his shoulders. His clean, soapy scent filled the closet, overpowering the burning smell of disinfectant. I remembered the last time we’d been in such close proximity—last night at Northern Aggression. How hard Donovan Caine had felt against me. How much I’d wanted to finish what we started. And there was the promise I’d made to myself. To take what I could today before the detective and I said good-bye tomorrow.

I checked the watch on my wrist. Fifty minutes. Plenty of time. Finn was downstairs keeping watch and schmoozing the elderly dwarf, and we were safe enough up here. Haley and Alexis James should be scrambling, trying to figure out what to do, how to answer my demands. That had been the whole point of blindsiding them in public. They weren’t a threat to us right now. As for the giant, it would take him hours to search the country club, if he even bothered. Mab Monroe had probably called him back to her side already, considering the mess I’d made getting away from him.

Donovan Caine and I had fifty long minutes all to ourselves. My eyes slid down the detective’s body. I couldn’t think of a more pleasurable way to pass the time.

I cleared my throat. Donovan stopped his pacing to look at me.

“You know if the James sisters agree to our demands, this is over. Tomorrow, we’ll all go back to our regularly scheduled lives,” I said. “Finn. You. Me.”

Donovan nodded. “I know.”

He stared at me, emotions sliding over his face. Desire. Want. Need. Guilt. His hazel eyes devoured me, moving from my lips to my breasts and legs and back up again. But he made no move to come toward me. No move to take what he so clearly wanted. Up to me, then.

I got to my feet and slowly approached him. My stilettos clacked on the floor. Donovan flinched at the sound, but he didn’t look away from me. He couldn’t, any more than I could stop coming at him.

I stopped about a foot in front of the detective. My gray gaze drifted over his body, as his had done to mine a moment before. Lean shoulders, solid chest, coiled strength. I liked what I saw.

“You’re an attractive man, detective,” I said. “I’m an attractive woman. And here we are, all alone. Together.”

He didn’t say anything. Didn’t take the opening. So I continued.

“Yesterday, when we were at the nightclub, when I was sitting on your lap, I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to tear your jeans off, wanted to feel you inside me, going deeper and deeper until we were both screaming. Didn’t you?”

A muscle in his cheek twitched. Still, Donovan didn’t move.

“Despite our differences, I’m attracted to you, detective. Something about you fascinates me. I want you like I haven’t wanted anybody in a long time. I think you feel the same way about me.”

For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t answer. But he did.

“I do want you.”

His voice was low, tight, strained. The confession cost him. It was all he could do to keep from reaching for me. Good thing I had no qualms about making the first move.

I stepped into his arms and put my hands on his shoulders. Then I raised my head and gazed into his hazel eyes. “So, why don’t we do something about it?” 

26