Tease Me (23 page)

“She’s right, you know,” he said. “About instincts.” He tilted her head back until
she looked him in the eyes. “They’re not always infallible and neither are you. But
where we’re concerned, they haven’t steered you too far wrong, have they, Lainey?”

“Tucker, I—”

He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to her. It was a Fairmont Hotel business
card. “I had Damian contacted at the number we got from your aunt’s papers. We’re
setting up a meeting for tomorrow night at nine. We plan to meet in the suite across
the hall an hour before to set everything up. I’d like you to be there. The number
is on the back of the card.”

She stared at it, then looked at him and nodded. “There’s so much going on. You know
I appreciate this.” She nodded at the card. “But we have to talk. I need to explain—”

He cut her off with a kiss. It was hot, and it was over before she could beat herself
up for responding. “Follow your instincts, Lainey. I’m following mine.” He stepped
around her and was gone.

TWELVE

“So if you’re the, uh, how did you put it? Brains behind the brawn?” Damian jerked
his head toward the men beside Lillian. “Who are these guys?”

Lillian spared a glance at Sven and Stephan, who flanked the high-backed leather chair
she sat in. She pulled herself closer to her desk and waved the long mala-chite cigarette
holder she held gracefully between two sharply manicured red-clawed fingers. “Associates,
Mr. Winters.”

Damian looked skeptical. He nodded to Sven. “Have we met somewhere before?”

Lillian’s smile was polished and smooth but didn’t reach her eyes. “Do you follow
professional sports?”

“Not really.” He glanced back at Sven. “Did you play ball or something?”

“Or something,” Lillian answered for him. “Now why don’t we get to the business at
hand.” She took a long drag on her cigarette and leaned back in her chair.

Lainey groaned and rolled her eyes. “She’s gone from Alexis to Cruella.” She turned
to the ladies crowded
around the second television monitor. “Bernice, Betty Louise, Aunt Minerva, I’m so
sorry. I should never have—”

“Shh,” Tucker interrupted. “She’s doing great.” He turned to the women. “Don’t you
think so?”

Minerva, Bernice, and Betty Louise all nodded.

“She should have been in the theater,” Minerva said.

“A shame Bunny is the director of the local troupe down at the center,” put in Betty
Louise. “Lillian would be a shoo-in for the lead in our fall production of
Mame
.”

“Never could abide that MacAfee woman,” Bernice muttered. “Thinks she’s Barbra Streisand
or something.”

“Shh.” Tucker quieted them. “Listen. She’s going for the kill.”

All eyes turned avidly back to the screens. Lainey found hers lingering on Tucker.
Though she’d felt his gaze on her many times during the day, he’d been all business.
And with the surprise addition of Minerva, Bernice, and Betty Louise, Lainey hadn’t
had a chance to speak to him alone at all. Not that she was sure any longer what she
wanted to say to him.

She turned her attention to the ladies. They all had confidence in Tucker’s plan.
Even with their life’s savings at stake, Lainey knew their appreciation for the trouble
Lillian had undertaken to try to help them meant more than getting their money back.
Loyalty. True friendship. Tucker offered those most valuable gifts to her. She shifted
her gaze back to him and felt her heart thump a bit faster. She thought about what
he was doing for the woman he thought of as family. There was no doubt that this was
a man who’d do whatever it took, who would stand by those he loved no matter what.
He wasn’t Conrad;
he certainly wasn’t Charlie. And he valued the very traits in her that she herself
had been afraid to trust.

That’s what it all boiled down to: trusting herself.

Lillian’s voice jerked her attention back to the screen.

“I trust we’ve given you all the necessary information to make a decision,” Lillian
went on. “So, Mr. Winters, do we have a deal?”

Damian shifted in his seat and recrossed his legs. “Well, this is quite an offer you’re
making me. I have to admit that I’m flattered, but—”

“Nonsense, Mr. Winters. Flattery has nothing to do with it. I needed someone with
your, shall we say, excellent social skills. I did my research and you came up as
the best candidate. Now that I’ve had the chance to talk with you, I’ve made my decision.
I’ve made you a sound offer.”

“You never actually said how it was that you heard about me.”

“This is a smaller industry than you might think. My contacts are … extensive.” She
leaned forward. “I know what I want and how to go after it. You strike me as someone
who understands that philosophy.”

Damian smiled as he relaxed and leaned back in his chair. “That I do, Ms. Parks, that
I do. Allow me to look over these papers, and I’m sure we can come to some sort of—”

“I’m also someone who has no patience for indecisiveness,” she cut in ruthlessly.
“I need someone who can make snap judgments. That’s what got me here, Mr. Winters.
Making important decisions, then moving swiftly while others pondered their options.
The kill goes to the swiftest.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t you agree, gentlemen?”

Stephan and Sven both grunted, neither taking his gaze from Damian, who sat a bit
straighter.

Lillian’s smile was sharp enough to cut glass. “So, Mr. Winters, do we have a deal
or don’t we? I don’t make an offer twice.”

Lainey realized she was holding her breath.
Sign it
,
sign it
, she repeated silently. Until that moment she hadn’t let herself believe that this
might actually work. Minerva had taken her aside that morning and issued a tearful
thanks for Lainey’s perseverance. Lainey had been shocked at how suddenly old and
frail Minerva looked to her. She was also shamed by her aunt’s obvious relief. It
had been Tucker who had pushed and taken the leap of faith when it was necessary.
She felt as if she’d let Minerva down and had told her so.

Minerva had waved away the apology and made a point of telling Lainey that it was
what motivated decisions that mattered more than the decisions themselves. The important
thing was that her friends and family cared enough to want to help her. Damian would
be stopped before someone else was duped, and if they were lucky, they’d get their
money back as well.

Come on
,
Damian
, she urged silently. Lainey cut a glance toward Tucker, whose attention was riveted
to the screen. He was grinning as Lillian played Damian like a fiddle, but Lainey
didn’t miss the tension in his jaw or the way his hands gripped the arms of the chair.
There was no doubt how deeply he cared. For Lillian, Minerva, the ladies. For her.
Her own hands tightened their grip, but her anxiety had a different cause.

She turned her attention back to the monitor and watched as Damian eyed Lillian, Sven,
and Stephan, then
shifted his attention to the gulf, which spread out beyond the panoramic glass windows.

“Do it,” she murmured under her breath. “Sign the papers, you greedy little weasel.”
In the next instant a hand covered hers and squeezed. She turned to find Tucker staring
at her. His touch grounded her, centered her. No matter what happened, they were the
core of what was important in her life. She was surrounded by people she loved and
cared about and who felt the same about her. And that group included Tucker. It made
no difference if they took wrong turns or made a bad choice now and then, she loved
them no matter what. Just as they all loved her. She loved Tucker that way too.

The certainty of that knowledge filled her with a radiant joy. Yes, she loved this
man, and she wanted his special brand of love in return. With an almost fierce possessiveness,
she held his hand tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered, putting more into those words
than he could possibly understand.

There was a collective inhale from the ladies watching the other monitor. Lainey’s
attention darted back to the screen before Tucker had a chance to reply. Damian had
uncrossed his legs and was standing up. Tucker turned her hand over and wove his fingers
through hers.

“Okay,” Damian said. “You’ve got yourself a new associate.”

A whoop of joy went up in the room. They were in the suite of rooms across the hall
and likely couldn’t be heard, but there was no use taking chances. Grinning, Tucker
hushed the excited talk with a slashing motion across his neck. “Listen.” He pointed
to the monitor. “It’s not completely over yet.”

They watched Damian shake Lillian’s hand and sign
the bottom of several papers with a flourish. Lillian checked them over, then folded
and handed them to Sven, who tucked them in the breast pocket of his expertly tailored
suit. She turned a beaming smile to Damian. “Now there’s someone I’d like you to meet.
You two will be working closely together.”

Damian turned as a tall gentleman entered from another room in the suite.

“Mr. Winters, meet another friend of mine, Mr. Frank Halliday. Perhaps you’ve heard
of him. He’s the producer for that lovely television program,
Exposé
.”

Damian’s face went pale, then flushed as he spun around. “Just what in the hell are
you trying to pull here, lady?”

Everyone in the room across the hall tensed. This was the tricky part.

“Sit down, Mr. Winters,” Lillian said calmly. Sven and Stephan closed ranks beside
her as Damian continued to stand. She motioned Halliday closer. “Your first assignment
will be to retrieve from your former employer a specific sum of money and return it
to me.”

Confused but more belligerent than nervous, Damian scowled. “You’re crazy. I’m not
stealing from Mr. Fontana. Not for you or anyone.”

“While loyalty is an admirable quality, Mr. Winters, I think you’ll find that in this
case the trait won’t hold its usual priority.”

“I don’t give a rat’s behind about loyalty,” Damian said.

Lainey tensed as she heard the civilized veneer slip from Damian’s voice. This was
the man who’d threatened her on the street. Tucker had assured her that no one would
get hurt, but she’d had those fierce black eyes leveled
on hers, she’d seen the cold indifference change to heated rage.

“If I steal from Fontana, I’m dead. It’s that simple.”

“If you don’t obtain this money for me, then you will wish you were, Mr. Winters.”
Lillian puffed on her cigarette. “It’s that simple.”

Bernice gave a low whistle, and Betty Louise wrung another twist in her hanky.

“Go get ’em, Lil,” said Minerva.

“She is amazing,” Lainey murmured.

“That she is,” Tucker agreed. But his smile had a nervous edge. “Come on, Lillian,”
he urged the screen. “Finish it up.”

Damian apparently didn’t doubt Lillian’s threat. He raked his hand through his hair
and began to pace in front of her desk. “You didn’t hire me for my people skills,
you conned me into signing that contract because you want to bring down Fontana’s
organization. Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“You don’t need to know that,” Lillian said with the perfect amount of disinterest.
“What you do need to know is that if you don’t cooperate with Mr. Halliday and myself,
you will be facing a very certain and very long prison sentence. An attractive man
such as you might find that environment a bit, well … taxing.”

“What does the money have to do with it? If all you want is tabloid TV, then—”

“The money is personal. Let’s just say Fontana owes me. He stole from certain friends
of mine. I want that money back before I bring him down.”

“And what guarantee do I have that if I help you, I won’t go down, anyway?”

Lillian’s grin would have made Cruella herself envious. “You’ll have to trust me.”

Damian stopped short in front of Lillian’s desk. “The hell I will,” he said with a
growl. He slid his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a nice, neat black
revolver. “I’d rather trust this.”

The ladies gasped. Betty Louise stifled a shriek with her hanky, as Lillian’s eyes
widened in obvious surprise.

“Son of a bitch.” Tucker shot to his feet, but Lainey was faster.

“Don’t.” She blocked his path to the door.

Tucker stopped right in front of her, his eyes blazing. “In case you didn’t happen
to notice, your old college friend in there has a gun.”

“I see that, Tucker, and I’m as scared to death for Lillian as you are. I’ve looked
Damian in the eyes and I know he’s capable of seeming pretty cold-blooded.”

“Then why the hell won’t you move so I can do something?”

“I said ‘seeming.’ We all agreed that in looking at his history, he’s never been known
to be violent.”

“He’s never been nailed before, either. It can make a man do desperate things.”

“We all also agreed that he’s not stupid. Too greedy to always be smart, or he wouldn’t
have signed that contract, but he’s not stupid enough to shoot someone in cold blood,
Tucker. Much less four someones. He’s outnumbered!”