Mine To Hold (20 page)

Austin flinched.

“Are you as insane as your brother?”

“I’m
nothing
like Ethan.”

The two looked alike. The similarity was
clear as day. “You’re the older brother. So when you were growing
up, did you know what Ethan was? Did you see it?”

Austin walked toward the window on the right.
“I saw it. Ethan was always hurting those weaker than he was. I
told my father that he needed help, but that wasn’t the way my old
man worked. Harrisons don’t need help. We don’t need anything.” He
looked back at Noah. “I came here because I don’t want to die.”

Noah crossed his arms over his chest. “And
you thought you were next on Claire’s list?”

“It’s…because I didn’t do anything. I didn’t
help her. I didn’t stop him. Ethan talked about her. So much. About
how he couldn’t live without her. How he
wouldn’t
live
without her. How he’d do anything to prove his love to her.”

Noah held his body perfectly still. “Did you
know he was planning to kill her parents?”

Austin stared down at the floor. “No. Dear
God…
no.
He was bad before Claire, he hurt some other girls,
seemed to get off on the power rush, but with her, something broke
in him.” Then Austin squared his shoulders. His head lifted. His
eyes met Noah’s. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

Noah glanced around the room. “I just see you
and me.”

“In the hotel,” Austin snapped. “If you’re
here, then she has to be close. Look, the PI called me and
said—”

Noah jumped on that. “You mean Sloan
Hall?”

“Yes, Hall. He said you and Claire were
together. I’m not paying the guy anymore. That was my father’s
madness. Let Claire know that she’s free, okay?”

“Sloan Hall is dead.”

Austin’s eyes widened.

“He was shot in the head.”

A shudder slid over Austin’s body.

“So I don’t think you have to worry about
paying him,” Noah murmured. “I do think you may have to worry about
watching your ass.”

***

“Claire, I need a list of your enemies.”

She’d put a bit more distance between herself
and Drake.

“You moved around jobs quite a bit,” Drake
continued as he rubbed his chin. “So maybe you—”

“I didn’t exactly have an option on the job
front. Senator Harrison made sure my past had a way of being
brought to the attention of my bosses. If they didn’t fire me
immediately, he just exerted a little more…pressure on them.”

He seemed to absorb that. “Senator Harrison
was your enemy.”

Uh, yes. “Obviously.”

“Who else?”

“Ethan was locked away.” She shook her head.
“As far as I know, there isn’t anyone else.” No one who hated her
enough to kill.

He started to pace. He headed toward the door
that led out onto the balcony. For a moment, he gazed at the city,
then he tossed a hard glance back at her. “Come on, tell me the
truth. You’ve got lovers that were burned. Maybe one of them
is—”

“Noah.”

He frowned at her.

“Noah is my lover. There hasn’t been anyone
else. Just Noah…and Ethan.”

“I’m supposed to believe that? Come on, try
again.”

Claire heaved out a sigh. “It’s the truth.
Why would I take a lover when—”

“When you can’t even usually stand to be
touched.” He leaned back against the balcony door. “So why does
Noah get the free pass?”

“Excuse me?”
“What’s so different about him? Because, sweetheart—”

She tensed at that endearment. Ethan had
always called her that. She hated the word
sweetheart.

“—if you want to talk about a man having a
monster inside, Noah is your guy.”

Now he was trying to scare her away from
Noah? “I’m not afraid of him.”

Silence. Good. Maybe it would last until Noah
came—

“I am,” Drake said.

Her gaze flew to his face. He looked
completely serious.

“I know what it’s like when a man gets too
lost in a woman. When he loses his control.”

Drake was confused. “Noah isn’t…lost in
me.”

“Noah clings so tightly to his control for a
reason. If he breaks, I don’t want to see what happens.”

***

“I’d like to apologize to Claire.”

Noah didn’t plan to let this guy anywhere
near Claire. “I’ll be sure and pass that along to her.”

Austin’s jaw hardened. “I’m not like them. I
want to make this right.”

“Then walk away from her and never look
back.”

Austin blew out a hard breath. Then he turned
and stormed for the door. His hand curled around the knob. His
shoulders stiffened. “I think it’s my fault.”

Noah slowly uncrossed his arms. “What’s your
fault?”

Austin spun back toward him. “Before he died,
Ethan said…he told me that I was the one who saw her first. I’d
forgotten about that. It was so long ago. Another life.”

Noah advanced on him.

“I must’ve made some comment. Said I was
going to ask her out. Ethan was always so competitive with me. I
said I liked her, so
he
had to cut me out.
He went after
her first
.” He gave a miserable shake of his head. “I brought
Claire to his attention. He wanted to one up me, and he did
it—”

“By taking the girl you wanted.”

“Ethan hated me.” His hands were shaking. “I
realized just how much…at the end.”

“The dead can’t hate anymore. They can’t do
anything.”

Austin nodded but his shoulders slumped. “I
want to tell her myself. Just say how sorry I am.”

“No.”

“Look, I—”

“No one in the Harrison family ever needs to
see Claire Kramer again. You say you’re sorry? Then prove it. Stay
the hell out of her life. Claire doesn’t need you and she doesn’t
need your apologies.”

Austin’s lips pressed into a thin line.

Noah stood toe-to-toe with the man. “Claire
isn’t your concern anymore.”

“How do you fit into this?” Austin’s
shoulders straightened. “You and Claire are lovers, okay, fine
but—”

“Claire is mine.” That was all that needed to
be said. “Now, Harrison, seeing as how your business
isn’t
in New York, I’d advise you to get out of my town.”

Austin held his gaze.

Noah waited. This guy would be leaving town,
one way of another.

Then Austin sighed. “Right. No business in
New York, and no one left in Alabama. Maybe it’s time for me to try
something new.”

“Maybe.” Noah yanked open the door. “But stay
away from Claire.”

Austin stepped into the hallway. But he
lingered.
Lingered.
“I guess I had this wrong.”

He sure as fuck had.

“If…if someone is after you and Claire—you
protect her, got it?”

A warning, from that jerk?

“I figure she’s been through enough,” Austin
whispered, and then he finally walked away.

Noah stared after the guy.
Yes, she
has.
It was time for Claire to know more than just blood and
death.

***

Noah York would be a problem.

The man’s guard was up. It wouldn’t be so
easy to lure him into another attack.

And Noah would have men watching Claire.
Making sure she didn’t slip away.

He thinks Claire is his.

Noah was dead wrong.

An attack would come again. He just had to be
careful. Had to wait and plan. Had to draw out his enemy.

And I know just how to do it.

Noah had left loose ends in D.C. Those ends
would come back…and bite the guy in the ass.

Chapter Ten

“We’re going out tonight,” Noah said as he
strode into Claire’s office.

Claire smoothed her hand over the faint ridge
near her hair-line. The stitches had come out yesterday. The
doctors had given her the all-clear.

It had been eight days since the bombing.

Eight days during which Noah had treated her
as if she were going to shatter if he touched her too hard.

He made love to her each night. Slow, tender
sex. His control was always in place. He made sure she came, and
then, he found his pleasure.

He held her during the night.

And he had a giant wall between them during
the day.

Something had changed. Something was
off
between them. His stare was too guarded when he looked
at her. His voice was too careful.

His touch was too careful.

Is he already finished with me? And he
just doesn’t know how to tell me?
Maybe her time with him was
up.

“There’s a big party tonight in the hotel’s
main ballroom—”

“I know,” Claire told him, slightly annoyed.
“I’ve been working on details for it most of the week.” Only he
hadn’t exactly been around to see that. The guys from Weston
Securities weren’t camped out by Noah’s suite any longer, but
Claire still had a guard. Drake was the one who tailed her like a
shadow during the day. While Noah—she wasn’t sure where he
went.

Or what he had been doing.

The party that night was to celebrate the one
year anniversary of the opening of the New York branch of York
Towers. It was supposed to be an epic event, with all the local
power brokers in attendance. Claire had figured she’d be working
behind the scenes, and she already had a to-do list that stretched
a mile long for—

“You’ll be my date,” Noah said.

Her brows climbed. “Thanks for the
invitation.” Yes, her voice had bite.
Something is so wrong.
He was barely looking at her.

But at her snapped words, his gaze
did
shoot to her. “I’ll have a dress sent up for you.”

“You already did that, remember?” Claire
pushed to her feet. “The first day. You bought me a whole wardrobe.
I don’t need anything else.”

“You’ll need this.” He turned away. “Head
upstairs. It will be there within the hour.”

What? “Noah, stop.”

Surprisingly, he did. Noah glanced back at
her, and, of course, his gaze was guarded. No expression was on his
face. She felt like screaming. Instead, Claire managed to
semi-calmly ask, “What’s happening?”

“We’re getting ready for a party.”

Her teeth snapped together. “You know what I
mean. Things are different between us.” Was it because she’d pushed
him to reveal more of his past? Was he trying to shut her out
now?

“Nothing has changed.” He turned back for the
door.

Liar, liar.

“Are we finished?” The question slipped from
her. She’d more than passed his one night limit, so maybe it was
time for her to go and he just didn’t know how to tell her because
of the train wreck that was her life. But there’d been no more
attacks. No more—

“No, Claire,” the words were growled and Noah
didn’t look back at her, “we’re far from finished.”

***

When Noah entered his suite, he found Drake
lounging on the couch. Drake glanced over at him, brows raised.
“Don’t you look fancy?”

“Fuck off, Drake.” He was already wearing his
tux. He’d changed earlier, before Claire had made it up to the
suite. He’d slipped in long enough to see the dress that he’d
ordered for her. Then he’d headed back downstairs to make sure the
staff was set on security guidelines for the night. When he’d left
the suite, Drake hadn’t been there.

“In the last thirty minutes, you’re the
second person to tell me that I should fuck off.” Drake gestured
toward the closed bedroom door. “Claire told me the same thing when
I asked why she had tears in her eyes.”

Noah’s fingers tightened around the small,
discrete box in his hands. “Claire was crying?”

“No.” Drake rose, slowly unfurling from the
couch. “Claire doesn’t cry. She had tears in her eyes, but they
never fell.” He approached Noah and the guy’s face held a hard
flash of…anger? “But I think you probably know why they were
there.”

Are we finished?
He’d hated that
question. “Thanks for watching her this week. Trace went to D.C. to
chase down some leads, and—”

“Why were you trying so hard to stay away
from her?” Drake asked him.

He looked down at the box. “She was
hurt.”

“And you were busy hunting.”

Noah’s gaze rose once more.

Drake laughed softly. “That’s it, right? When
you ran off each day, you were looking for the jerk-off who set
that bomb. And you wanted me here because you knew I’d take a
bullet for your lady.”

“I haven’t found him.” He was turning up
jackshit everywhere he turned. “Sloan Hall’s crime scene was swept
clean. There wasn’t anything there. And at the Claymire Hotel bomb
scene—”

“Nothing was left but rubble,” Drake
finished.

Unfortunately. “This guy isn’t just going to
vanish. Another attack is coming, and I have to be ready.”

The bedroom door opened.

“Are you ready for her?” Drake whispered as
he backed away.

Noah’s gaze locked on Claire.
So
beautiful.

Her dress was the same blue shade as her
eyes. It hugged her breasts, revealing the sexy curves of her body
so perfectly. There was a long slit in the dress, one that flashed
her gorgeous legs as she walked.

She looked sophisticated. Sexy.

Mine.

She’d tied ribbon around her wrists again,
and, as he stared at her, Claire tucked her hands behind her back.
“The dress wasn’t necessary,” she said quietly. “I had plenty of
things to wear—”

“It was necessary for me.” Because tonight,
he had plans. Big plans.

I’m not going to wait for an attack. I
want the asshole to bring it on.
Noah had never been the type
to hide from a fight.

“I figure you got things now,” Drake murmured
as he gave Noah a little salute. “See you at the party.” He made
his way to the door.

When Drake was gone, Claire’s gaze dropped to
Noah’s hands. “What’s that?”

“A present.” He had to clear his throat
because the words came out too rough and hard. “For you.”

Her lips quirked a little at that. “Well, I
was hoping you hadn’t bought jewelry for yourself.” She walked
toward him. The slit in her dress parted, his cock jerked, and he
had to remember—