Sweet Seduction Shield (23 page)

I'd chosen my
words with care, intending to send a strong message home to
Detective Stone, but realising in the process that I would hurt
Ryan. Make him think that my need of protection for my daughter was
the only reason I was entertaining anything more from him right
now. It wasn't, and I planned on explaining this to him when we
were alone. Insisting that if we pursued this attraction we shared,
it needed to be done in private. So potential thorns in our sides
like Harvey Stone could be neutralised, before they became a
problem for Ryan's career.

But of course
there was a risk he'd take my statements to heart. He'd believe
them as I was hoping Stone would believe them. And gaining his
trust again would be too hard.

I flicked a
quick gaze at Pierce, hoping he saw something of my intentions in
my eyes, but whether he did, I couldn't say. His jaw was set, his
lips were pressed in a thin, firm line, and his brow was furrowed
with either confusion or anger, I'm not sure.

I decided now
wasn't the time to placate him, I needed to concentrate on getting
Detective Stone on side.

"So, you see,
you have nothing to worry about," I concluded, holding Stone's
level gaze.

He was leaning
back in his chair, his hand up to his chin, elbow resting on a
crossed arm. Contemplating. Me. My sincerity. Whether he needed to
knock more sense into Pierce.

Part of me
expected Ryan to argue further and the fact he didn't left me with
a small measure of hope that he'd cottoned onto what I was
attempting to convey. Of course, it could have been pure masculine
pride. If she's not into you, you don't keep chasing. But at least
he wasn't naysaying every word out of my mouth and creating further
doubt.

I reached
forward and took a measured sip of my now cooler coffee, enjoying
the sharp, acrid taste on my tongue. The sugar providing the exact
amount of sweetness to counteract the full-bodied flavour of the
beans.

"Well," Stone
finally said, his hand at the chin moving when he crossed his arms
over his chest again, "it certainly didn't look like you had no
intention of doing anything to jeopardise Ryan's career."

"Caught up in
the moment," I said breezily, behind my cup. "Easy enough to do
under the pressurised circumstances. But I'll be more vigilant from
now on," I promised, returning my cup to the table with casual
ease, as though we were having a pleasant conversation about the
weather and not about such personal and emotional things, such as
Pierce's and my attraction for each other.

"And you
Ryan?" Stone asked. "A momentary lapse of judgement? Or something
more?"

The way he
looked at Pierce made me think he expected his answer to be
damning. As though he knew Pierce better than I had realised, and
was certain the man wouldn't hedge his attraction for a woman when
placed on the spot. I could understand that assessment. Pierce was,
like Abi had said, from the school of
see 'em, like 'em, want
'em, take 'em.
And I think this man sitting
opposite us was well aware of that fact.

I tried not to hold my breath. On the one hand, I
wanted
to hear his defiant possession. On
the other, we needed Stone to back the fuck off.

"Wouldn't you
have taken what was on offer? Even if it was only a little taste,"
he said slowly. Purposefully. Almost a challenge in itself.

Stone
chuckled. "Bad timing, my man. But if you can swear to me, on your
mother's grave, that this is a one time thing, I'll drop it."

On your
mother's grave
. They were words spoken enough
by people trying to get a promise backed by something close to the
promiser's heart. But the way Pierce jerked in his seat let me know
there was more to those four words than I was aware. And that Stone
knew exactly what mentioning them would mean to Pierce.

I was thinking
it was a low blow. And for a moment I just wanted to reach over and
grasp Ryan's hand reassuringly, while I hurled the last of my
coffee at Stone's face. The image was blazing in my mind, taunting
me, teasing me, begging me to reproduce it in reality. The gut
clenching desire to soothe the man next to me, mixed with the
acidic need to strike out at the man who had caused him to respond
with a shocked jerk of his frame.

I opened my
mouth to misdirect, to change the tangent this conversation had
taken, but Pierce beat me to it. A careful press of his hand on my
thigh, hidden from sight under the table, halting the words in my
throat.

"On my
mother's grave," Pierce said with a twist of his lips mimicking a
smile. "This was a one time thing."

Stone stared
at him for a long drawn out moment. I think he was shocked. I think
he expected a different answer. And for a moment he didn't quite
know how to respond.

And while he
blinked back at a blank faced Pierce, I picked up the pieces of my
bruised heart and told myself to harden the fuck up. I had to hope
Pierce was playing along, on the same page as me. But the intense
emotional reaction to hearing those words slip off his tongue made
me realise, that if Pierce was where I was at, in whatever
relationship we'd started, he would have definitely been hurt by my
previous misleading words too.

Unless he
could see through my shield, see the real me beneath the ice
princess, confident façade.

I flicked a
glance at him from the corner of my eye, but his attention was on
Stone. Waiting for his verdict. He'd also removed his hand from my
thigh when he'd answered the other detective, making the distance
it caused feel like a chasm once he'd finished what he had to
say.

"All right,
then," Stone finally announced. "Enough said."

Not nearly
enough as far as I was concerned, but I kept my mouth shut.

"We need to go
over some of the court evidence the Crown Prosecutor wants to
present," Stone said, his gaze on me but his words for Pierce.

"Can't it
wait?" Pierce asked.

"No," Stone
replied firmly. "I've done what I can in your absence, but this was
always your baby, Ryan. Not mine."

"Today's not a
good a day," Pierce argued, but didn't go into details about why,
which I was thinking was the planned retrieval of the ledger from
the courtyard at the Police bar.

It made me
realise, that Pierce hadn't told Stone what evidence I had. I
couldn't remember if Stone's was one of the faces and voices around
this table when Pierce told everyone I had
something on
McLaren
. If he was, he hadn't received the
update yet. He didn't know I had the means to destroy more than
McLaren's fucked-up little world. But to turn this 'case', as
Pierce had originally called it, into something much grander in
scale. Something encompassing more than just one drug lord's
syndicate, but maybe a good portion of New Zealand's drug supplying
ring.

It was a
goldmine, if it was still there. And I had no reason to doubt that
it wasn't. If an off duty cop had found the book at the Birdcage
while having a few post shift beers, then Pierce would have heard.
But the question remained, why hadn't Pierce told Detective Stone?
I was beginning to see they knew each other well, probably worked
together as partners. So, why not share the goldmine?

"Can't be
helped," Stone said, interrupting my thoughts. "I'm here to replace
you on guard, so you can get down to his offices and go through
some of the stacks of evidence your man collected for this
case."

Pierce let out
a long frustrated breath of air. "Now he decides to collate the
fucking evidence."

Stone
shrugged. "I thought you'd be pleased, progress is finally being
made. This thing might see a courtroom before the end of the year,
after all."

Pierce pushed
back from his chair and took his empty coffee mug to the sink.

"Well, that's one thing," he agreed, and I watched stunned as
Stone's shoulders relaxed. Just a smidgeon. I only noticed because
my eyes hadn't left the man once. But that simple, barely there
movement, let me know how much he needed a return to their previous
- I was guessing, easy-going - relationship. He was relieved to
have the Pierce he knew back.

In that moment
I realised this man cared for Pierce, and that was probably why his
reaction earlier was so over the top.

"But there's
no need for you to stick around," Ryan said, turning back to look
at Stone. "ASI's got Marie and her daughter covered for now."

"So you being
here was just a coincidence?" Stone asked, and although his tone
was light, it didn't hide the pertinence of his question.

Pierce let out
a huff of air; a semi-laugh. "Yeah, coincidence," he agreed.

Stone's gaze
shifted to my face and the jovial exterior of second's before
dropped. "Well, maybe a change of scene is called for, then. Too
many coincidences cannot be a good thing, I'm thinking."

He held my
gaze for a few moments and then stood from the table, leaving his
untouched coffee cup where I'd placed it.

"I'll catch
you at the station afterwards," he directed to Pierce.

"I may be tied
up with the Prosecutor for the rest of the day."

"Then I'll
catch you for a beer later," Stone persisted, and I got the
distinct impression the man was trying to make sure Pierce didn't
return here.

"Yeah, all
right," Pierce agreed, but I was thinking he only did it because
there was no arguing with Stone right now.

"Good," the
other detective said, walking to the back door. "Mrs Costello," he
added, nodding to me and then he was gone.

Both Pierce
and I waited for his car to start out in the driveway, and the roll
of the tyres to reach us, as he reversed down the side of the
house.

"Mrs
Costello," I said under my breath, once the vehicle was certain to
be gone. Detective Stone had not been won over at all.

"I'd better
let Nick know what's happening," Pierce said quietly, eyes on the
backyard, determinedly not looking in my direction.

I wanted to
ask if he was still with me, still on the same page. But his
refusal to meet my eyes made the words stick in my throat, swamp my
tongue. Until even breathing became a little difficult.

"There'll be
no retrieval of the ledger tonight," he added after a pause.

"OK," I said,
my eyes willing him to turn around and face me, face this cloud
that hung above us and threatened to darken whatever it had been
that we'd shared.

"OK," he
repeated back, but his tone meant something else entirely.

A second. Two.
Then he sucked in a deep breath and simply walked from the room.
Not even glancing in my direction once.

"Tequila,"
Kelly announced into the silence that had met my description of
Stone's, Pierce's and my kitchen showdown.

"That's your
answer to everything, "Abi offered.

"And a damn
fine one it is," Kelly shot back.

"I can't drink
tequila," Gen pointed out. "But I'd settle for a large tub of
chocolate chip ice-cream instead."

"Tequila and
chocolate chip ice-cream then," Kelly suggested. "Or better yet,
tequila flavoured ice-cream. Now there's a fan-fucking-tastic
idea!"

"Amen,
sister," Abi agreed, offering a hand up for Kelly to high five.

"I'd just
settle for this to all be over," I supplied, from my corner of the
room.

We were in the
lounge, spread out on every surface. Eva had left Daisy with Adam
in the garage, fixing up something of Ben's she'd said, and sat on
the armchair, cowgirl hat pushed back, eyes closed as she listened
in our conversation. Or maybe hummed a tune in her head. Abi and
Kelly sat on the two seater, side by side like terrible twins. And
Gen stretched out on the recliner, rubbing her slightly rounded
belly affectionately while everyone talked, or just gawked at me as
I relayed Stone's hard faced insinuations, my devious ploy to
misdirect, and Ryan's total shut-down in the end.

Yeah, over
would be a good thing. No more 'case'. No more tattooed freak
chasing us down. No more danger. Then maybe Pierce wouldn't feel
the need to run as soon as his co-worker butted his sandy blond
haired head into our business.

"I thought
he'd stand up to him," I admitted out of nowhere.

"But didn't
you want Ryan to play along?" Gen asked softly.

"He
was
following your lead,"
Abi offered, again gently, as though they all thought I was about
to self-combust.

"Yeah," I
agreed, but let out a sigh afterwards.

"Tequila's not
gonna cut it," Kelly declared.

"Neither will
chocolate chip ice-cream," Gen added, a little disappointedly.

"Chick flick
movie night?" Abi suggested, receiving a snort of disgust from
Eva.

"A round of
Guitar Hero on the X-Box then?" Kelly asked, wiggling her eyebrows
at the cowgirl.

"You guys have
no imagination at all, do you?" Eva announced in a slight twang,
sitting forward on her chair.

"We have
imagination," Abi defended immediately.

"I've got a
helluva lot of imagination, sister," Kelly argued. "Enough for all
of us, I guaran-damn-tee you."

"She's not
interested in your type of imagination, Kels," Gen said on a
delicate laugh, which soon became a snort.

"Actually, we
could throw a little of Kelly's imagination into the plan," Eva
declared and all the women, including me, stopped what we were
doing and stared.

"OK, I'm
interested," Kelly said, the first to blink back to life.

"You would
be," Abi remarked. "It's your imagination that's given Eva
ideas."

"Well, shall
we listen to what the good cowgirl has to say?" Kelly shot back.
"Or do you want to discuss how inspiring my imagination can
be?"