Rules In Blackmail. Nichole Severn

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СКАЧАТЬ for the woman he’d blamed for his brother’s suicide this past year. Black maybe, something to match her soul.

      But Jane had saved his life out there. Even if she was only using him to track down her stalker, that counted for something in his world. Her reputation said she was the JAG Corps prosecutor willing to do anything and everything to convict the men and women who interrupted her crusade for justice. He scanned over his clothing hanging from the rafters. The Full Metal Bitch had only kept him alive to fix her stalker problem. Nothing more.

      There was a lot he didn’t know about her, even more he couldn’t trust. One thing he did know? He would’ve died out there today if it hadn’t been for Jane. So, for now, he would choose to see a woman in danger, a woman who’d lost her grip on everything she thought she could control. Not someone who could turn on him at any moment.

      She smiled over her shoulder at him as she pulled her clothing from the makeshift laundry lines.

      Pulling a pillow from the couch across his hips, Sullivan cleared his throat. “Thank you for saving my life out there. Can’t imagine what it took to get me through that door. Couldn’t have been easy.”

      “Guess that makes us even, doesn’t it?” Her hair flipped around her head as she headed straight for the single bathroom on the other side of the cabin and shut the door tight. The sound of the lock clicking into place shut down any hint of something between them.

      It wasn’t going to happen. Not now. Not ever. She might’ve saved his life out there a few hours ago, but Jane had a lifetime of steel running through her veins, steel that’d gotten his brother killed. She was the reason he didn’t have any family left in this world. Besides, she was a client, and Blackhawk Security operatives were never to get involved with their clients. No exceptions.

      Which reminded him—he had to fill his team in on their new case. Because even without blackmail hanging over his head, the bastard terrorizing Jane owed Sullivan a new SUV.

      He tossed the pillow back onto the couch and dressed in a hurry. She’d hung his clothes up by the fire to dry them out, and the warm fabric chased away the chill of Jane leaving his side. How could he have been so stupid out there? Rule number one when in below-freezing temperatures: stay dry, stay warm. He usually had enough sense to slow down and ensure he wasn’t sweating. What had changed?

      The bathroom door clicked open and his attention slid toward Jane as she stepped back into the main room. He pulled his shoulders back. There stood his answer. He hadn’t exactly been in the right frame of mind after nearly getting run down by a tow truck. He’d wanted to get Jane to safety as fast as possible. Stupid. She’d proved she could take care of herself, had even saved his life in the process. Aside from a few bumps and bruises, she was no worse for wear.

      “This is a nice place.” She scanned over the small cabin, fingers stuffed into her jacket as he opened one drawer of his massive desk. “Not great security, though. A key taped to a bush? Thought you security consultants were better than that.”

      “Sometimes there’s beauty in simplicity. Anybody breaking in here would expect some kind of elaborate security system, all the while wasting time looking for it. Gives me time to counter.” Another one of those debilitating smiles overwhelmed her features, and he couldn’t help but smile back. Sullivan flipped one of the many burner cell phones he’d unearthed from the desk over in his hand. The sensation of lightness disappeared, however, the longer he studied her. Eyes narrowing, he tried justifying the last few hours since she’d broken into his office. Why him? Why now? “What are you doing here, Jane?”

      A small burst of laughter escaped from between those rosy lips. She motioned toward the front door. “Well, I couldn’t very well leave you here alone after—”

      “No.” Sullivan closed in on her, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. “I mean why did you break into my office tonight? You had other options. Any number of bodyguards or private investigators in Anchorage would’ve jumped to help you for the right price. After all, you were ready to offer me anything.” He halted no more than a foot from her, reading those deep hazel eyes for any sign of hesitation. “Why come to me?”

      “Isn’t it obvious?” She tried backing away but hit the wall beside the front door. “I had dirt on you and your family, and I knew I could use it to force you to help me. Saved myself a hell of a lot of money in the process.”

      Heat prickled under Sullivan’s skin, crawling up his neck and warming his face. Only Jane crossed her arms across her chest and the strong pulse at the base of her neck beat unevenly. She didn’t believe a word she was saying. And, thinking about it now, she’d only pulled the blackmail card when he’d refused to help her the first two times she’d asked. “You’re lying.”

      Color left her features, a telling reaction he’d noted back in his office. Jane curled her fingers into the palms of her hands, stance wide as though she intended to run straight out the front door. Nervousness? Embarrassment? Difficult to tell when she wiped any kind of emotion from her features so fast.

      “What do you want from me?” He stalked toward her. No. She wasn’t going to hide behind that hardened exterior this time.

      “I guess after what happened on the road, you deserve the truth. It seems stupid now, but I didn’t have anyone else I could trust.” She licked her bottom lip, but Sullivan refused to let the motion distract him this time. Answers. That was all he wanted. He’d risked his life—twice—for her. Now he needed to know why she’d pulled him into this mess. She cocked her head to the side. “I came to you because I saw how protective and dedicated you were to Marrok during his trial. And after I uncovered that photo in my phone yesterday, I needed a little bit of that in my life.” Raising that beautiful gaze to his, she let her shoulders deflate and she exhaled hard. “I needed you.”

      * * *

      “I NEED TO brief my team.” His gravelly voice played havoc with her insides, but Sullivan turned away from her, phone in hand. Refused to even look at her.

      Every nerve in Jane’s body caught fire. That was all he had to say? Watching him, she noted the strain around his eyes, the slightly haggard expression on his features as he spoke into the phone in whispered, clipped responses. She was used to it. In their line of work, she’d learned anybody could be listening in. Phone taps, parabolic mics. Without an idea of who her stalker was, why they’d come after her or what resources they had access to, she and Sullivan couldn’t afford to be careless.

      She headed into the kitchen. When had she eaten last? Her stomach rumbled. Too long ago. Sullivan turned toward her at the sound. The weight of his gaze slid across her sternum. Head down, she focused on her hunt for anything edible in this place. No luck. He obviously didn’t stay here often. The walls were bare, the counters covered in dust. She ran her fingers over the cream granite, but ripped her hand away at the low temperature.

      “I sent my forensic investigator, Vincent, to your place with some backup.” Sullivan tossed the cell phone he’d been using onto the granite. Exhaustion played across his features, darkening the circles under his eyes. He hadn’t gotten much sleep after nearly dying. Neither of them had, but Jane was too wound up and too anxious to figure this mess out. “If your stalker has been there, Vincent will find the evidence and call me back. Could be an hour, could be tomorrow. Just depends.”

      “Okay. What do we do until then?” She couldn’t sit around waiting for some maniac to make the next move. There had to be something in her case files, something in her work for the army that could point them in the right direction to an ID of who’d T-boned them back at the bridge.

      “We СКАЧАТЬ