Trace of Fever. Lori Foster

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СКАЧАТЬ call me—at least, the people who know me well. But that’s not much better.” She rubbed at tired eyes. “It makes me sound stuck-up, like a straightlaced Goody Two-shoes. I thought finally, for once in my life, my name would be worthwhile.”

      “Because you wanted Murray to believe you’re some Little Ms. Innocent?”

      “Yeah.” She eyed him. “You don’t think he bought it?”

      Trace snorted. “He’s not a fool. I don’t think he’s completely onto you, but he’s definitely suspicious.”

      “But you are onto me?”

      “I know you’re a fraud, Priscilla. I know you have something planned, something that might get us both killed. And I know you’re out of your league.”

      She looked sleepy. “All that, huh?”

      While she was being marginally agreeable, Trace pushed his luck. “Is he really your father?”

      “What do you think?”

      “I think skewed personal vendettas are the most dangerous kind.” And somehow, this was personal for her. Because of her mother? Likely. Especially if she had no other family.

      “Personal vendettas are always a good reason to get involved.” She studied him. “So why are you here?”

      Trace kept his gaze on the road ahead. “It’s a job.”

      “Bull.” She laughed, and the sound was pleasant despite the strain. “Okay, so you’re good at deciphering situations. Me, too. Wanna know what I think?”

      Trace tipped his head toward a squat brick structure with a purple awning out front. “There’s the boutique where you’ll shop.”

      She didn’t pick up on the subject change. “I think you’re more than capable of killing, but not innocents. You kill people who deserve it. You’re good, so that means you’re a professional of some kind. Government operative maybe?”

      When he sat there, stony-faced, she shrugged.

      “Okay, maybe not. I suppose you could be an independent contractor. Actually, that’s a better fit because you seem like the independent sort, more so than a man who takes orders.”

      Good God. He didn’t look at her.

      She smiled. “The way I see it, everyone knows Murray is scum, but he has friends in high places. He does big-time contributions to political campaigns and that buys him enough immunity. For added insurance, he has a few senators neatly tucked into his pocket.”

      If that was all he had, the authorities could have eventually brought him down—and Trace wouldn’t be on the case right now.

      He pulled into a parking spot on the street across from the boutique. “We’re here.”

      Priscilla reached for his arm. “Extorting women from other countries is dangerous enough. But when you start tampering with legal citizens, someone is bound to get fired up. Whoever that someone is, he hired you to shut down Murray’s operation.”

      Interesting take. Except that no one had hired him. No one needed to. “That’s one hell of an imagination you have there, Priss.” Trace pulled free of her unnerving touch. She was good, he’d give her that. But she’d missed the motivation entirely.

      Human trafficking had hit him on a very personal level, so he’d made it his mission to demolish anyone and everyone involved, starting with the biggest, most obvious organizations. Thanks to his best friend, Dare Macintosh, they’d made great headway already.

      And now he wanted Murray Coburn.

      Trace left the car, put change in the meter, and went around to Priss’s door. She’d just stepped out when his phone rang. Again, not trusting her to be more than a foot away from him, Trace held her arm while he answered. “Miller.”

      “It just occurred to me,” Murray said. “I should know if she really is my daughter, right?”

      Trace saw how the sunlight shone on Priss’s hair—and yeah, the name Priss suited her, whether she realized it or not. The bright day amplified the red in her long ponytail, showing a dozen different shades of brown and auburn.

      She looked nothing like Murray. A good thing, that. “Up to you.”

      “I need to test her DNA. Discreetly. Helene said it’d be best to get some of her hair, but it has to have a root attached, so get a couple of good ones, pulled out, not cut. Got it?”

      Now that he had the opportunity to slant things however he wanted, Trace pondered the situation. Which would be more advantageous to his plan, if Priss was not Murray’s daughter, or if she was?

      He shrugged. At this point, it was all still up in the air, so he’d just have to play it by ear. “Not a problem.”

      Murray gave a few more instructions on the type of clothes he wanted to see her in. “Talk her up, see what you can find out, okay? But be discreet. I don’t want her to bolt. Not yet.”

      While Trace listened, Priss put up a hand to shield her eyes and looked around. Her nose scrunched up a little and her mouth pursed.

      And damn it, she stirred him.

      Without meaning to, he used his thumb to caress the soft skin of her arm right above her elbow.

      She gave him a quizzical look, then a more pointed look at his hand, her brows lifted.

      Trace released her. “I’ll check in later,” he told Murray, and then closed the phone and stowed it back in his pocket.

      When Priss started toward the designer store, he caught her arm and she went full circle until she faced the opposite way. Trace led her to the equally small phone store a block up.

      “What are we doing?”

      “Getting phones.” He had a hell of a lot of stuff to accomplish tonight. It cramped his brain, trying to ensure that he wouldn’t forget anything.

      “For me?”

      “For myself.”

      “But you have a phone,” she pointed out.

      “Be quiet.” He went in, towing her along, and bought two prepaid phones with a limited number of minutes on them. Since he changed them out often, it was always a good idea to grab them when he could. Of course he paid in cash. On the way out of the store, he asked, “Where are you really staying?”

      “You didn’t buy the hotel?”

      “No.” But luckily, it appeared that Murray had. “I’ll figure out how to keep the cover for you, but I’m glad you listened to me when I told you to keep as much private as you could.”

      “But not from you?”

      “Not from me,” he agreed. He stopped in front of the clothing store. “Murray more or less owns this place. Say nothing inside, got it?”

      “Nothing СКАЧАТЬ