Sin and Scandal. Carol Storm

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СКАЧАТЬ any crimes, so if you'll drink up your coffee and pay your bill, my boss and I can get back to closing up for the night."

      "Sit down and take a look at this." Matt Gold tossed a photograph on the table.

      "Oh, my!" Crystal May forgot all about how angry she was. She sagged into the soft cushions and touched the photograph with her finger tips. "That poor man."

      "Is that the man you saw kissing Carla Brunelli the night she ran away?"

      The pretty blonde nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. "He was so good-looking."

      "He's not going to die. He has a black eye and a few cracked ribs, but those injuries will heal." Matt Gold studied the pale beauty sitting across from him in the cheap diner. "You really think Steve was in love with Carla? You think that's why he busted her out of Madame's place?"

      "I do," Crystal May said softly. "They were going to run away together and get married."

      "Well, they didn't make it. The night they ran off, Steve and Carla checked into a cheap motel. I don't know why, when his family is so loaded. I guess you could say they wanted to be alone. Anyway, it looks like somebody found out where they were. When they left the motel the next morning, Nevada Highway Patrol found Steve's green custom Corvette run off the road about two miles down the highway. Steve was lying in a ditch, and his face was worked over pretty good. But there was no sign of a passenger in the car. Looks like the sexy Italian girl vanished without a trace."

      "Carla's missing?" Alarm and panic instantly replaced the gentle sadness on the country girl's delicate features. "Agent Gold, we've got to find her!" Crystal May's long legs moved restlessly under the table. Her knees brushed Matt's, but she was too agitated to even notice.

      Matt relaxed in his seat, glad to see he'd gotten the her attention. "That's what I want to do," he said softly. "The problem is we don't have any leads. The major crime families in these parts have been at peace for years. And on top of that, Steve and his father aren't really speaking to each other on account of Steve going straight and becoming a lawyer. So if someone did this to send a message, it's not one of the old families. It's got to be outsiders, probably one of the new drug cartels. And if they took your friend Carla ..."

      "They want her for sex," Crystal May said bluntly, not caring how the words sounded. "You know more than you're letting on, Agent Gold. You've already got a line on what kind of sex fiends would want a girl like Carla, don't you?"

      "I know a couple of places," the dark, sexy FBI agent acknowledged, with a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. "Clubs that cater to a very special kind of clientele. Places that are just like Madame Madeline's, only not so clean, not so well run. Not so good to the girls."

      "Hmph." Crystal May stuck her nose in the air. "I imagine you've spent quite a lot of time in clubs like those. All in the line of duty, of course."

      Matt Gold grinned at her. "You've got to hand it to Madame Madeline. When you tilt your chin just so, and look down your nose at us lustful males, you really do look like a duchess."

      "It's obvious you don't have any moral standards of your own," Crystal May grumbled. "Naturally you imagine mine are just an act. But I knew right from wrong before I left the hills back home. Do you imagine my concern for Carla is an act as well?"

      "No," Matt said seriously. "I know how much you care about your friend. That's not an act. But the tea-party manners and the disdain for sex ... that's an act."

      "I don't have any disdain for sex," Crystal May said, blushing. "Just for you."

      "The hell you do." Matt Gold stared deep into her eyes, and to her dismay Crystal May realized that her flushed cheeks were really starting to burn, getting hotter and hotter.

      Just like her ass when he spanked her.

      "Why did you come here tonight?" she squeaked, making a mighty strong effort and pushing the disturbing image of Matt Gold spanking her fanny clean out of her thoughts. "Thanks to all your dirty research, you've got a good idea of where to look for Carla, and you've even got a witness who saw the kidnappers. Steve saw the guys who beat him up, right?"

      "Oh, yeah. The trick is to get him to believe that it's in his best interests to talk. He's not a big fan of cops, you understand. We have to convince him that this is more than just law enforcement as usual, that the Bureau cares about Carla and we're going to make every effort to find her."

      "Well, how are you going to convince him of that?" Crystal May asked.

      "I'm not," Matt Gold said quietly. "You are."

      "Oh." Crystal May felt downright sick. She hated being used. But Carla was a friend, a very special friend, and she was in big trouble. And when a friend was in trouble, there was no choice.

      It wasn't the usual kind of nightmare she had as a little girl, where she was lost in the woods at night being chased by a wolf or a bear. In this dream, Crystal May was back at Madame Madeline's house, sitting on the sofa in a sexy night gown. Matt Gold came in and wanted to know where Steve and Carla were hiding. Crystal May told him they were gone, long gone, even though they were hiding in the closet right behind her. The two of them were making love, and she could hear the noises right through the closet door. That would be funny if it were really happening, but it wasn't funny in the dream. Carla's stifled gasps and moans made it sound like she was being hurt, like she was being choked to death behind the door. And then the moans turned into screams ...

      "Wake up, beautiful. Wake up!"

      "Is this the place?" Crystal May blinked her eyes, astonished at the sheer size of the Carson City Medical Center. When Pa died in the mine cave-in she'd gone to the county hospital, but that little old place was a mud puddle compared to an ocean. The Carson City hospital was a city all by itself. The shining, silver buildings rose up almost as high as the mountains behind them.

      "This is the place." Matt Gold had been here plenty of times before. After pulling his car into the hospital lot, he killed the engine and turned to face his young companion. His dark brown eyes studied her closely. Crystal May was ghostly pale. "You need a few minutes to pull yourself together?"

      "No, I'm fine. Let's go!" After a dream like that, where she felt like crying out for help, Crystal May was anxious to prove she wasn't afraid. And she was mad at herself for falling asleep. Matt wasn't dragging his tail. The FBI agent had been up late last night just like her. But he didn't show it, not when he came to pick her up first thing in the morning. He was wide awake, bright-eyed and cheerful, while she could not stop yawning after a sleepless night worrying about Carla. Listening to country music in the morning usually woke her up, but in the car Matt switched to another station. It was a talk station, and the murmur of important-sounding male voices soon put her to sleep. The one thing she couldn't figure out was why her dream had gone from Carla making love and moaning with pleasure to Carla screaming for help. Was that what was in store for her too?

      "You know those lilies cost a fortune, darling," Matt said, in a loud and hearty voice, as they rode up on the crowded elevator together. Stopping for flowers at a fancy florist had been his idea. So was pretending to be man and wife just in case the drug cartel had spies watching the hospital.

      "Yes, well heaven knows you can afford it ... darling!" Crystal May was waking up now, and it felt mighty good to give Matt Gold a taste of his own medicine. He certainly was good at putting on an act, wrapping his arm around her good and tight when they stepped off the elevator. Crystal СКАЧАТЬ