Nightfire. Barbara McCauley

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СКАЧАТЬ be pocket change to you could look like a life’s fortune to one of these guys.” Kane picked up a Waterford paperweight on the desk and examined it. “They’ll look for an easy mark. The simple fact that you don’t think it could happen to you makes you that easy mark. In case you weren’t aware of it, kidnapping has become quite fashionable.”

      Allison bristled at Kane’s patronizing tone, but she couldn’t argue with the truth of his words. Last year one of her father’s business associates had barely escaped an attempt and then six months ago the newspapers had been filled with the story of the cable-television CEO abducted at gunpoint from his car. His wife had paid the ransom and he was found the next day. Dead.

      “What makes you so sure it’s a kidnapping threat?” she asked. “What about extortion, or someone’s twisted attempt at blackmail or even just some crazy that likes to take pictures?”

      Impatience shifted Kane’s shoulders. “Not too many photographers steal cars to take pictures. There’s nothing incriminating about the photographs to suggest blackmail, and there’s been no contact for extortion money. If you’re betting with your lives, always take the safe bet. If there’s no kidnapping attempt, the only thing you’ve lost is money.”

      She narrowed a cool gaze at him. “And that’s easily replaceable, right?”

      “A hell of a lot more replaceable than that pretty little head of yours.”

      A sharp response was on the tip of Allison’s tongue, but her father cut her off.

      “Allison.” Oliver folded his hands in what Allison knew to be his authoritative pose. “I’m going to be away for the next few days. Kane has ordered extra security at the house and I want you to move in there until we catch this guy.”

      She started to protest, but realized her father’s request was not unreasonable. Besides, she slept there quite often, anyway, and she still had her bedroom upstairs. She let out a long sigh, then nodded. “All right, Dad. If it makes you feel better.”

      She saw the relief in her father’s eyes that she’d agreed, then the hesitation. “And one more thing—” he paused briefly and cleared his throat “—I’m going to have to ask you to take off a few days from the center.”

      Take off a few days? Stunned, Allison stared at her father. He knew how much the center meant to her. The kids there were her life. She couldn’t give that up, not even for a few days. Not for some creep with a camera. Not for anyone.

      Shaking her head, she stood and moved behind her chair. “I can’t do that, Dad. They’re shorthanded right now and one of the boys, Billy, just came back from the hospital today following ear surgery. I promised him I’d be there in the morning to check up on him.”

      “Allison, please,” Oliver said with such quiet desperation that she felt her determination slip. Her father always demanded or he asked, but he never pleaded.

      “I’ve taken a lot of chances in my life,” he continued, “and if it were just myself I wouldn’t give this more than a second thought. But you’re in those pictures, too. You’re the one thing in my life I would never take chances with. Every time you go out in public you’ll be exposing yourself to danger. Kane and I have already agreed that the best thing is for you to stay in the house—”

      “Kane and you agreed?” Anger warmed the chill in the pit of her stomach, anger not only at the intrusion in her life, but that this man Kane, a man she’d never met, was already making decisions for her. Jaw tight, eyes narrowed, she turned to him.

      “That’s another thing I don’t understand,” she said stiffly, holding Kane’s aloof gaze. “My father employs a reputable security company here at the pavilion, but I’ve never seen you before. Just exactly who are you?”

      He stood slowly and moved toward her, stopping only inches away from her. He leaned close, close enough she could smell the masculine scent of his skin and see the subtle variations of deep blue in his eyes. A circle of tension surrounded her, then closed in, tighter and tighter, until she felt as if she could barely breathe. He gazed down intently.

      “I’m the best, that’s who.”

      He spoke with such conviction that only a fool would argue the point. His words were quiet, but he was a man who did not need to raise his voice to get attention, he simply needed to walk into a room.

      And he definitely had her attention.

      A knock at the office door sounded and Mrs. Harwood stuck her head in. “May I see you for a moment, Mr. Westcott?”

      Nodding, Oliver stood. His concerned gaze held Allison. “I know this is a lot coming at you at once, Allison, but there’s no other way to handle this.”

      “Dad—”

      “Please, baby,” Oliver said, brushing the hair back from her face, “just cooperate with Kane. I know he has some questions for you. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

      With a sigh, Allison folded her arms tightly and walked to the window. Cooperate with Kane. Cooperate wasn’t the exact meaning here. More like obey. Frustrated, she drew in a slow, fortifying breath and watched a jagged bolt of lightning burst from the clouds.

      “You okay?” Kane asked as he moved beside her.

      She wasn’t okay. But she sure wasn’t going to let him know that. “My father said you have some questions.”

      He leaned against the windowsill, facing her. “Have you noticed anything unusual these last few days? Anything out of the ordinary?”

      “No.”

      “Someone’s following you and your father, Allison,” Kane said sharply. “If you want me to find them before they find either one of you, then I need your help. I need you to think and think carefully. Have you seen anyone with a camera? The same car more than once? Has anyone stared at you, then quickly looked away?”

      Kane watched Allison’s brow furrow as she considered his question. He realized his last question was a stupid one. What man wouldn’t stare at this woman? Or want to take her picture, for that matter? She was a photographer’s dream: a long, sensuous neck, high cheekbones, thick, dark lashes surrounding expressive wide-set eyes. Eyes a man could drown in, if he wasn’t careful. But Kane, of course, was always careful.

      He stared at Allison’s reflection in the window, watching her closely as she looked down at the streets below. There was something extraordinary about her, something fragile yet strong at the same time. He knew that she’d studied and taught ballet until she was twenty-four, and had danced professionally until she’d hurt her knee two years ago. She had the lean, slender body of a dancer, small, delicately rounded breasts and legs that would stop traffic.

      Under different circumstances he would have pursued this woman with the same diligence he pursued everything in life. But the circumstances wouldn’t allow it. He never became involved with clients, not even for a weekend, which was what he would have had in mind with Allison. He allowed himself one brief image of her stretched out naked beneath him, then quickly banished the thought before his body could react.

      Damn. He nearly sighed out loud. It would have been a hell of a weekend.

      She continued to stare out the window and her voice was distant when she spoke. “I’ve been spending a lot of extra time at СКАЧАТЬ