Hold Me (21 page)

“Luc—”

“I have to go. I can’t stay.” He walked to her and stopped close enough that she could feel his body heat, smell his sweat and the residue of their recent lovemaking.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he said.

“I know.” She gulped, trying not to cry. He studied her then scrubbed a hand through his hair.

“I’m no fucking hero, Katie.” His voice was weary and resigned. “Don’t forget that. Don’t make more of me than I am. Don’t think I’m something that I’m not. Don’t—”

He broke off when she moved closer and smoothed her fingers over his cheek. She felt him swallow, felt the bristles of his beard, traced his scar. He let her touch him for a second, then jerked away as if she had burned him.

“I have to go. Wait for Némes.” Then he was gone, slamming the door behind him, leaving her to stare at the blank wooden finish.

“You’re too late warning me off, bud,” she whispered. “Way, way too late.”

What had just happened? She’d never acted like that. Had never been like that with any other man.

Ignoring Spot, she walked into the bathroom and got cleaned up. She could still smell him on her skin. Taste him.

When she came back out into the bedroom, she stared again at the door he’d slammed shut behind him.

“Idiot. Stupid idiot. Moron. Jerk!” Her voice got louder with each word. “Asshole!” She shouted at the door. She didn’t know if she was yelling at him, or at herself. Didn’t know which one of them deserved the names more.

Spot whimpered and Katie stooped to comfort her, then sat on the floor next to the dog and wrapped her arms around her thick neck, burying her face in warm fur.

“I’m sorry we had sex in front of you, baby,” she said. “But you could have closed your eyes.” Spot grumbled and shoved her nose into Katie’s armpit. Katie hugged her tighter.

Luc was gone.

What she felt for him was so different than what she’d felt for Tom, or any other man. So much deeper that it was frightening. Tom didn’t mean anything to her anymore, nothing at all.

But, Katie thought with a sudden insight, maybe if Tom hadn’t been in her life, if she hadn’t spent that time with him, she wouldn’t have been able to recognize what she saw in Luc. Maybe she wouldn’t have been able to forgive him, wouldn’t have been able to see the goodness that lay at the heart of the man.

Tom, creep though he was, had helped her to grow up. Because now she knew what honor looked like.

Honor looked like Luc.

She smiled. Yes, she thought. The unknown Marie had been right. Lucas Vasco was infinitely worthy to be loved.

The knowledge hit her then and stopped her breath and her heart. Her stomach rolled and she grabbed it, hoping she wouldn’t throw up.

Oh, God. It was real. She knew that it was real. She was in love with Lucas Vasco. She was so incredibly in love with him, loved every contradictory, stubborn, idiotic inch of him. Even the parts that he hadn’t shown her yet.

The jerk wasn’t going to let her do anything about it, of course. After all of this was over, assuming he managed to live through it, he was going to walk away, still struggling to redeem a soul that had probably never been lost.

And even then, she’d still love him.

She could see now that she’d hurt him worse than she’d realized when she’d called him the wrong name in bed. Because he’d been right, and she’d been stupid. Luc was not Bruce. Luc had nothing to do with Bruce.

Luc was Luc.

And she loved him because he was.

For several more minutes nothing else penetrated as the knowledge that she loved Luc unfolded inside her, growing larger and larger until it filled her. Then she thought about what he had gone to do, how he was risking himself to try to save her mother. She thought about the very real possibility that she wouldn’t see either of them again.

“No.”

Luc was wrong. About this, he was wrong. He was trying to protect her, but he was wrong. She couldn’t sit in a hotel room alone with Spot while two of the people she loved were in danger. She had to go to Luc, had to try to help. She had to participate, even if there was a risk. It was the only way she could respect herself, and her self-respect had been reclaimed at far too high a price to just let it drift away now.

Luc was strong enough to push her away, to go do what needed to be done. But she was strong enough not to let him do it alone. Maybe she was strong enough to hold on no matter what he did.

“See, the fact of the matter is, I’ve always hated being told what to do,” she said to Spot, who lifted her head and listened attentively. It was nice to talk to a sensible female for a change. “But I’ve always been a good little girl. Didn’t want to rock the boat. Didn’t want everyone getting all upset. Where has it gotten me?”

Spot snorted.

“Right. Nowhere.”

Katie got to her feet. Even if she could have caught up with Luc, and she was pretty sure she couldn’t, she’d have to follow him without him knowing about it. Otherwise he’d just send her back here. He’d be angry when he realized what she’d done, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but getting to him and helping him rescue her mother. And keeping him alive so that even if he walked away from her later, he would still be breathing somewhere on this planet.

A little voice whispered that he had trusted her to stay at the hotel. That he would never have left her alone if he’d thought he couldn’t trust her. But Katie silenced the doubts and focused on the task at hand. Luc was alone, he was in trouble, and he needed her.

Frankie Silvano had told his men to take her mother to the Dream Net Casino, so that’s where Luc was going. Atlantic City.

“Yup,” she told Spot, “I’m thinking it’s time for the Hornet to leave the nest.”

Spot barked.

“Okay. You can be Underdog if you really want to be.” She smiled. “But neither one of us is going to be Sweet Polly Purebred. It’s about time someone helped save the hero for a change.”

Spot wagged her tail and stood.

Now that her decision was made, Katie was desperate to get moving. Justin Némes would be finished with his tax seminar soon, and she really didn’t want to be in the hotel room when he came to collect her. The chances that he would agree she should go to Atlantic City were between slim and none. She imagined he could throw up some pretty significant obstacles if he had a mind to. She didn’t have time to deal with him.

Moving quickly, she clipped the ridiculous purple leash back on Spot’s collar, then tucked the equally ridiculous purple bandana into her purse. It made her feel stupid, but she knew she was always going to treasure the thing just because Luc had given it to her.

She opened the hotel room door and looked cautiously up and down the corridor. There was no sign of a tall man with long black hair and ice-blue eyes. Maybe she’d actually be able to pull this off.

Tugging the leash, Katie urged Spot out of the room and into the elevator. When they emerged from the cab on the main level, she pulled the dog away from the lobby and out a side entrance, thereby minimizing the risk that they’d run into Justin Némes coming from his seminar. She hoped.

Luck, fate, God, whatever, was with them and, as they slipped through the door, Katie realized that not only were they in the parking lot, but she could actually see Kato parked under his tree not too far from where they stood. That was a good omen. With her sense of direction, she’d been kind of afraid that she’d wander around for hours looking for the car.

She tugged on Spot’s leash again. “Come on, girl.”

They made a break for it, Katie running and Spot ambling agreeably along beside her. They’d almost reached the Nova when a cool, masculine voice called out behind them.

“Going somewhere, Ms. McCabe?”

Katie skidded to a halt, spun around. Spot spun, too, barking at the new game. They watched as a tall shadow separated itself from the deeper shadows of some shrubbery and walked to them.

Justin Némes.

Crap.

Katie lifted her chin, trying to appear calm. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. Némes stopped and raised an eyebrow at her inquiringly.

“What am I doing here? I’m following you, of course. Here I was, innocently leaving my seminar room when I spotted you and your, um, companion, trying to appear inconspicuous and heading for a side door. Oh, and FYI? Nobody’s inconspicuous when dragging around a dog the size of a grizzly bear.”

“Well—”

“You’re supposed to be tucked safely away in a hotel room.” Némes moved closer until he was only a few feet from where she stood. “I shudder to think what Vasco would do to me if so much as a single hair on your head was harmed.” His eyes lingered on her wild corkscrew curls.

Katie put up a hand to smooth them before she realized what she was doing. He was making her feel like the entrée of a particularly tasty meal. Which had been his intention, of course.

Spot sat, shifted her bulk and lay down on the pavement next to her. Apparently Némes did not make her feel like a tasty meal.

“What’s going on, Ms. McCabe?” Némes purred. “Out for a stroll? Dog need a potty break? It can’t be that you were thinking of leaving. You can’t be that stupid.”

Katie’s temper flared. God damn it, she was sick and tired of not being taken seriously. Throwing back her shoulders, she met his gaze. “I’m going after Luc.”

“You are, are you?” He stood, hands in pockets, one hip cocked, looking dangerous and in control. No way in hell was he an accountant. “Know where he’s heading?”

“Yes.” She spat the word at him and had the satisfaction of seeing both surprise and annoyance flash across his face.

“And you’re going to him.”

“You can’t stop me.” As soon as she issued the challenge, it occurred to her it hadn’t been the brightest thing she’d ever done.

His eyes grew colder, if possible, and he glided a step closer.

“Are you sure?” His voice was as frigid as his gaze, but she refused to let herself be intimidated.

“Yes. Luc needs me and I’m going to help him.”

“Fearsome to contemplate. If he needed help, he would have asked me for it when we were talking.”

Katie snorted. “Luc? Please.”

Némes waved that off. “Ms. McCabe, I must tell you that, for reasons I won’t bore you with, I have promised to protect you. And you will be protected. You are certainly not going after Vasco.”

“I don’t—”

“If I have to, I can put you in storage so fast it will make your head spin. Trust me, it won’t be pleasant. Vasco told me to look after you, but he didn’t tell me how to do it.” He tilted his head. “Are we clear?”

Something in his face made her take and involuntary step back. Then, angry at herself, she stepped forward again.

“If you touch me,” she said, quietly and with great menace, “this dog here will rip your lungs out.”

Némes glanced down at Spot. Spot yawned.

“Uh huh.”

Katie had had enough. “I’m going,” she said. “Every minute I stand here arguing with you is a minute Luc could be getting killed in Atlantic City.”

Némes started to speak, then paused. She saw a flicker of surprise in his eyes. “Atlantic City?”

Crap. Luc hadn’t told Némes where he was going, and now she’d spilled the beans.

“Yes,” she angled her chin. “Atlantic City.”

“Where?” There was a hint of emotion in his voice that hadn’t been there before.

“Why should I tell you if Luc didn’t?”

“Tell me where.” He took another step forward.

She studied him. “You know something.”

“I know lots of things.”

“You know something about this that you’re not telling me, and I think it’s important.” In fact, she was sure of it.

Némes thought for a bit longer, then shrugged. “It’s nothing. It’s just that Liza said she was going to be in Atlantic City today.”

“Liza?” Katie stared at him blankly. “Liza, as in Luc’s Liza?”

Némes’s face hardened. “She’s not Luc’s Liza anymore.”

“No, but his former fiancée? That Liza?”

“Yes.” Némes snapped. “We keep in touch. She mentioned she was going to Atlantic City. It just seems odd, Vasco going there, that’s all. It’s nothing.”

“Liza,” Katie murmured and her head spun with all of the implications. “Liza.” Liza, who was David’s admin. Who in the role of assistant would be privy to all of the comings and goings of Luc’s squad. Who was in Atlantic City on the same day Katie’s mother was being taken there. On the same day Frankie Silvano would be there.

It could be a coincidence, of course it could. Probably was. Lots of people went to Atlantic City for lots of reasons. There were probably a lot of people there right now.

But still…

“Nobody ever notices the administrative assistant,” Katie murmured. “Believe me, I know. People treat us like we’re a part of the office furniture, but we see everything that goes on in a place.”

Némes looked at her as if she were nuts. “Good for you.”

She met his eyes, her feeling of urgency growing. Yes, there could be other explanations, but this felt right. This made sense. And if it was true, Luc would be walking right into a trap.

“It’s Liza,” she breathed. “Liza is the leak.”

“What?” Némes sounded thoroughly confused now. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I have to go.” She turned, tried to move to the car, but he grabbed her arm and jerked her back.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

“Listen to me.” She struggled to free herself. Spot had gotten to her feet, but she was just watching them and not doing anything useful like ripping Némes’s lungs out. “There’s a leak at the Bureau. I think it’s Liza.”

“What?” He shook his head and then he shook her arm. “No.”

“Yes!” She yanked and finally managed to break his grasp. “Why do you think I’m here and not in some safe house? Why do you think Liza went to Atlantic City right when something big is going down there? She knows. She’s always known. She’s the leak.”

“No,” Némes said again, but it lacked conviction. She saw the thoughtfulness in his eyes and hoped. Maybe she had a chance after all.

“I’m going, and I’m going now.”

“To help Luc.”

“Yes.”

“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

Katie threw up her hands in exasperation. “Well, freaking duh!”

He was silent for a full minute, then two, studying her. “Okay.” He nodded slowly. “Okay, okay, okay. But this is against my better judgment.”

A knot in Katie’s stomach loosened and she turned to the car. “I don’t care.”

“And I’m coming with you.”

She stilled, blinked at him. “What?”

“I’m coming with you. I’m sure as hell not going to let you wander around Atlantic City by yourself.”

Wary now, she took a step back. “I don’t think—”

“Listen up. We are only doing this if I go with you, and you agree to do everything I say.”

Katie considered that. Having Némes along could be useful. He seemed like he might know what he was doing, while Katie most assuredly did not. So maybe she shouldn’t argue too much about him tagging along. But doing everything he said? No. She’d have to keep him under control, and that wasn’t going to be easy.

“I think—”

“First, you wear a disguise. Sunglasses. And a wig.” He looked at her hair again. “Yeah. Definitely a wig.”

“But…” Katie frowned and touched her hair with one hand, not sure whether or not to be offended. Then she stiffened. He was doing it already. He was already trying to push her aside, to smother her. She tilted her chin and managed to look down her nose at him even though he towered over her.

“You can come with me, and I’ll wear a wig, but we’re using my car and I’m driving.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

She could actually see him make the decision to let the little woman have her way. That was okay. Time was ticking, and she was burning with the need to get on the road.

“Fine, fine,” he grumbled.

“Come on.” Trying to appear powerful and decisive, Katie turned and strode to Kato, Spot at her heels. Némes followed. But when he got a good look at the Nova, he stopped abruptly.

“Oh, hell no.”

“What?”

“Oh, hell no we are not leaving in this piece of shit. My car is—”

“We don’t have time for this.” Katie wrestled Spot into the back seat and slammed the door shut before turning to face him. “This is my car, and I’m driving it. Now, for God’s sake, get in and shut up.”

Hopped up on outrage and frustration and fear, Katie jerked opened the driver’s door and started to slide inside. That was when she remembered an important little detail she had until now forgotten. A minor inconvenience.

Keys. No freaking effing keys.

Taking a deep breath, she spun to Justin Némes again, since the idiot man was still hovering behind her. “You can hotwire a car, can’t you?” she demanded, her voice as cold as the North Pole. Never let them see you sweat.

“What?” Némes looked totally bewildered, but Katie didn’t have time to enjoy it.

She stepped aside and gestured imperiously. “Luc had to hotwire the car. I don’t have keys. Get it started. Now!”

Fortunately, and even rather miraculously, Némes obeyed, starting the car as easily as Luc had. As soon as the motor caught, Katie grabbed hold of his belt and pulled him out of the front seat, slipped behind the wheel and hesitated just long enough for him to scramble around the car and get in the passenger side. Then they were off, squealing down the access road and out onto the highway.

Once the conference center had disappeared from her rearview mirror, Katie glanced over at Némes. She stiffened when she saw he had a gun in his hand. He pulled a thingee out of the grip, checked it—presumably to make sure it was loaded—and slapped it back in.

“You’ve got a gun,” she said.

“I always have one.” He shifted around and the weapon disappeared again.

“So you could have shot me.”

“Tempting as the thought was, it wouldn’t have exactly been protecting you, now would it?”

“Right.” She stared out at the road and the traffic. They drove in silence for a few minutes. Spot was already snoring loudly in the backseat.

“So, why did Vasco go to Atlantic City?” Némes asked.

She pondered the question, trying to decide how much to tell him, then mentally shrugged. In for a penny…

“My mother was kidnapped because the bad guys thought she was me. He’s going to rescue her.”

“Of course he is.” Némes was watching the road too. “Take that tu—Okay, we’ll go another way.”

“Well, give me a freaking clue before I get to an exit, will you? Should I turn around?”

“No. There’s another ramp we can use in about three miles.” She felt his eyes on her face. “If you don’t even know where Atlantic City is, how in hell did you think you’d get there by yourself?”

“I’d have found it. Drive until you hit the ocean, then go up or down until you hit the city. Easy.”

“Easy,” he murmured.

“Besides, I wasn’t about to sit around with my thumbs up my butt while my mother and Luc are both in danger.”

“Right. No thumbs up your butt. Where are we going, anyway?”

“Um, Atlantic City,” she answered, confused.

“No.” Némes practically shouted the word, before he calmed himself. “I mean, where in the city are we going? Which casino? I’m assuming it’s a casino.”

Katie hesitated. “Why do you want to know?”

“Jesus Christ, woman!” She could almost hear him grinding his teeth. “Don’t you think I’m going to figure it out when we get there?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Katie took a deep breath. “The Dream Net Casino.”

For a moment, Némes made no response. “Really,” he finally said softly. Dangerously. She glanced at him.

“What?”

“That’s where Liza was going. She told me when I talked to her. Very, very interesting.” He glanced at her. “I can’t believe in this much coincidence. Maybe you’re right after all.”

Katie gripped the wheel tighter. Frankie Silvano. Liza. Her mother. Luc. Liza was working with Frankie. Had to be. She had to warn Luc. She had to help.

“Maybe I’m right,” she whispered.

The rest of the trip passed in relative silence, broken only by the occasional argument about which roads to take, and the sound of Spot’s snoring. Némes spent most of the time staring out the side window, his jaw hard and his features unyielding. Katie spent most of it worrying.