The Renegade Hunter (12 page)

He caught the startled way Jo glanced around and the suspicion that immediately lit her face when she saw where they were.

"How did you know where the clinic was?" she asked the moment he opened her door, and he noted the way her grip tightened on her dog when he reached for Charlie.

Nicholas raised one eyebrow and pointed out, "You said it was on this road."

"Yes, but-"

"And the big sign on the front lawn that says Hillsdale Veterinary Clinic was a help," he interrupted dryly. "I presume this is the right one and there isn't another clinic further up the road?"

"No," she admitted on a sigh and relaxed.

Nicholas leaned in to scoop up the dog and this time she let him. He then waited just long enough for her to slip out of the van and close the door before heading toward the clinic entrance. He walked at a good clip, just enough to keep her jogging to keep up with him so that she didn't have the time or breath to ask further questions. When he reached the door, he shifted the dog to open it himself and stepped inside, only to pause at the sight of the packed waiting room.

The cacophony of barking dogs, mewling cats, squawking birds, and yipping people that rolled over them as they entered seemed to put some life back in Charlie. He barked with excitement, body twisting and legs kicking in a demand to be set down, but Nicholas ignored him, ground his teeth, and walked straight up to the counter, his eyes zeroing in on the older of the two women behind it. By the time Jo caught up with him, the woman's face was blank and she was moving around the counter to meet them.

"What did you tell her?" Jo asked in an amazed whisper as they followed the woman to an examination room.

Nicholas caught the guilty look she was casting to those waiting with their pets, but wasn't sorry he'd taken control of the woman to speed the process along. They had a rogue and two enforcers after them, and the longer they were here, the more chance there was they'd be trailed and caught. He'd done what he had to do. Rather than answer her question, he set Charlie on the examination table, and then said, "I need to make a phone call," before slipping out of the room.

From the concern she'd shown over her pet, Nicholas had expected Jo would stay with the mutt. It would have been convenient. He had hoped to call the enforcer house and tell them to have Bricker and Anders pick her up here, and then watch the building from a safe distance to be sure Ernie didn't get to her first. Unfortunately, Jo was a smart cookie. She chased after him, catching him by the elbow at the exit.

"You're dumping us here," Jo said accusingly.

Nicholas avoided her gaze and lied, "No. Of course not. I told you, I need to make a phone call."

Her eyes narrowed, but she held out her hand. "Then give me the van keys."

"What?" he asked with amazement.

"If you're just making a call, you don't need the keys," Jo said with inarguable logic. "So give me the keys and go make your call or I start yelling rape and tell everyone here that you are the one who hurt Charlie, and while you're trying to fight off this animal-loving mob, I run out and slash your tires and neither of us goes anywhere."

"Jesus, woman," Nicholas muttered with amazement.

"I'll do it," she warned.

Nicholas opened his mouth, closed it, and then sighed and said, "Jo, I'm just calling Bricker and Anders to have them come get you. I wouldn't take off until I knew you were safe. You're better off with them. At the house Mortimer and the others can keep you safe."

"Oh yeah, because they've done such a bang-up job already, at the house last night and then just now at my apartment,"

she said dryly.

"That was..." Nicholas paused when she arched one eyebrow. Actually they hadn't done such a hot job of keeping her safe so far, he acknowledged. Still...

"I want answers, Argeneau," she said grimly. "I'm worried sick about what my sister has got herself into. My dog has been hurt, and some crazy guy is after me, and I want to know what the hell is going on."

"Mortimer-" he began.

"Mortimer and those guys won't give me answers," Jo snapped impatiently.

"From everything you've said they're more

likely to wipe my memories instead, and then-what? Keep me an unwilling

'guest' at the house until this-whatever this isall blows over?"

Nicholas grimaced guiltily; that was exactly what they would do. Sighing, he ran one hand through his hair agitatedly, and then asked, "What makes you think you'd get any answers from me?"

"Because I'm going to pester the hell out of you until I get them," she said bluntly. "Now, do I get the keys or should I start screaming my head off?"

Nicholas stared at her silently, a reluctant smile curving his lips. It was inconvenient as hell that he couldn't read or control her... but it certainly made life interesting, he decided. Pulling his keys from his pocket, he handed them over.

"There. Now get back to Charlie."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you going to do?"

"I told you, I have a phone call to make," he said solemnly. "If you're done before I come back in, I'll be in the parking lot."

Jo hesitated, obviously suspecting a trick, but then she apparently decided to trust him and turned to walk back into the examination room.

Nicholas watched her go with admiration. He didn't doubt for a minute that she would have started screaming if he'd tried to leave, but that wasn't why he'd given her his keys. He had done so because Josephine Willan was one interesting woman: plucky, caring, strong, determined, and sexy as hell. He didn't want to leave her there and couldn't resist the temptation of keeping her with him for at least a little longer.

It might just have been the stupidest decision he'd ever made in his life, of course. But then Nicholas had made a lot of those in his five hundred and sixty years, and if he'd learned anything in that time it was that regret was a waste of time... and he'd wasted fifty years on that emotion already.

The examination door closed, cutting off his view of Jo. Nicholas sighed and started to exit the building, but paused when one of the other examination room doors opened. An older gentleman appeared, his face not dissimilar to that of the bulldog he was leading on a leash. As the man led the dog to the counter, Nicholas quickly slid into the fellow's thoughts.

After finding out the man had a cell phone and where he was headed on leaving there, Nicholas went outside to wait for

him. He'd use the fellow's phone to call the enforcer house and find out if Ernie was caught without risking the call being traced or the phone being tracked to him.

Jo stepped out of the clinic and paused to quickly scan the parking lot. The van was still there of course, she had the keys. But she'd still worried that Nicholas would either hot-wire the van, had another set of keys, or would leave on foot.

That wasn't the case, however, the van was there, and so was Nicholas, just visible inside the van. The moment she spotted him, however, he was opening the door and slipping out to hurry toward them.

"If you tell me which vehicle it is, miss, I'll take Charlie to it."

"Oh, sorry." Jo turned to offer the vet's assistant an apologetic smile. He was struggling to hold Charlie. She hadn't wanted to walk the German shepherd through the waiting room without a leash. Fortunately, the vet hadn't liked the idea either and had sent for one of his assistants to carry him out for her. The German shepherd was heavy, though, and also wasn't happy being carried anymore. The moment the vet had shown up, Charlie had suddenly regained his spirit. All through the examination, he'd wagged his tail happily, barked, and tried to lick the doctor in hello, basically acting like there wasn't a thing wrong with him.

Jo hadn't been at all surprised when the vet finally announced that it was no doubt a mild concussion as she'd feared, but that Charlie should recover quickly and be fine. He said to keep an eye out, and if Charlie started to vomit or demonstrate any other unusual behavior, she was to bring him directly back in, but he could go home for now.

"You can put him down now, thanks," Jo said. "Charlie won't run. I just didn't want him to be loose in the waiting room with the other animals."

"Oh, that's all right, Miss Willan," the assistant said, smiling despite the squirming dog. "I'm happy to help. I'll carry him to your car for you. We wouldn't want one of the other owners coming out with an animal and-"

He broke off with surprise as Nicholas reached them and plucked Charlie from his arms.

Jo's eyebrows rose, not at the peremptory way he took her dog from the young man, but at the scowl he sent the

assistant as he growled, "She doesn't need your help. She has me."

The assistant swallowed. "Right. Well... I'll just..."

"Thank you," Jo called as the young man turned and hurried back into the building. The moment the door closed behind him, she turned a glare on Nicholas. "That was rude. He was just trying to help."

"You wouldn't think I was the rude one if you'd heard his lascivious thoughts," Nicholas said, striding toward the van.

"Lascivious?" Jo hurried after Nicholas. "What do you mean, if I'd heard his lascivious thoughts? You can't hear his thoughts... can you?"

"Open the door," Nicholas ordered rather than answer.

Jo frowned, but opened the back door he'd stopped beside.

"There's a blanket in that box there, on top. Spread it out for him."

Jo peered at the half a dozen boxes in the back of the van, spotting a plaid blanket on top of the nearest one. She grabbed it, surprised to find that it was incredibly soft rather than the prickly wool she'd expected. It felt nice, and she leaned into the van to lay it out for Charlie. The moment she finished and stepped aside, Nicholas leaned in and set Charlie on it. Jo then offered him the doggie bone the nurse had given her.

He accepted it and began to chew on it at

once.

"He's got an appetite, that's a good sign," Nicholas murmured, straightening.

"What did the vet say?"

"Mild concussion. Bring him back if he starts vomiting or anything," Jo admitted on a sigh. "Of course, Charlie was all perky and happy to see the vet the minute he entered the room. Dr. Hillsdale probably thought I was a panicky idiot."

"Or a caring pet owner," Nicholas said, sliding the door closed. He then opened the front passenger door for her before moving around to the driver's side.

Jo climbed in and pulled the door closed. She was doing her seat belt up when Nicholas climbed in on the other side and held out his hand. "Keys?"

She automatically reached for the keys, but then paused and peered at him.

"I want to know-"

"When we get somewhere safe," Nicholas interrupted firmly. "We can't stay here. It's too close to your apartment. They'll

be cruising the streets looking for us. We have to get out of this area altogether."

Jo sighed and gave up the keys. She then sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, a small cyclone of thoughts rolling through her head. Memories of last night and today were flowing together making the oddities of what had happened obvious... All of it was odd, of course. Her life had been relatively normal until that party at Sam and Mortimer's last night, and now her life appeared to have exploded. She'd been attacked twice, her dog had been injured, and she was surrounded by men who seemed just a little different from the average male.

Jo didn't think anyone else she knew could have leaped that balcony rail with the ease Nicholas, Bricker, Anders, and even Ernie had. And certainly Mortimer was the only person she knew who had a trio of prison cells in his garage, not to mention a refrigerator full of bagged blood.

And then there was the passion of Nicholas's kisses. Perhaps it was the long dry spell she'd had. Jo hadn't dated in a couple of months, but the man had curled her toes and set her hair on fire with his kisses. She didn't doubt for a minute that, if they hadn't been interrupted, she would have had sex with the man right there in the garage and would now have bar imprints on her back.

The sudden silence of the engine caught Jo's attention and she let her thoughts slip away to peer around. They were in a parking garage.

"Where are we?" she asked, glancing to Nicholas.

"A hotel," he said quietly, opening his door to get out. "We can talk here and I need some sleep."

Jo glanced to Charlie. The German shepherd had remained quiet and still during the ride, but now he stood up, tail wagging and eyes bright. Happy to see him looking so much better, Jo smiled and patted his head, glancing around when the back door opened. Nicholas was leaning in to get a duffel bag. She watched briefly, but then reached for her door handle and got out. Charlie immediately followed and Jo murmured, "Good dog" as she closed the door, but then frowned as she recalled Nicholas saying they were at a hotel.

"Do they take dogs here?" she asked, walking to the back of the van.

"They'll take Charlie," he assured her, straightening and slamming the back door closed. "Come on."

Nicholas took her arm to lead her across the garage toward the hotel entrance.

Jo patted her leg, a silent order for Charlie to follow, though she needn't have bothered. He never left her side when they were out of the apartment. He rarely left it in the apartment. Charlie was definitely a one-woman dog.

It was mid-afternoon and the hotel lobby was busy as they entered, but most of the people were coming and going.

There was only one person ahead of them at the checkin desk, a man in a business suit who finished his business and moved off as they approached.

"I'm Mr. Smith and we need a room," Nicholas announced, releasing her arm. "I'm paying cash."

"We need a credit card to secure a room, sir, and we don't allow dog-Very good, sir," the man interrupted himself to say suddenly, and Jo's eyes sharpened on the clerk. His voice had gone from polite disinterest to an empty wooden tone in a heartbeat, and his face was just as empty as he passed over a packet of card keys.

"Thank you." Nicholas took the cards, dropped several bills on the counter, and then urged Jo away.