Tease Me Read online

  “Nonsense. I set up a meeting with Damian. I plan to get him to agree to come to work for me, doing the same thing he’s doing now, which is admitting he’s a crook.” She pounded the table, making both Tucker and Lainey flinch. “Then we’ve got him!”

  “You’re bringing the police into this? Roscoe? Isn’t this entrapment or something?”

  “No Roscoe,” Lillian answered before Tucker could respond. “And only law enforcers can entrap someone.”

  “No police? I assumed you were trying to get him arrested.”

  Tucker spoke up. “Arrested doesn’t get Minerva’s money back.”

  “Extortion does,” Lillian added, her eyes gleaming.

  Lainey looked at both of them as if they’d lost their minds. “You’re going to blackmail him?”

  “Yup. Then, when he brings the money back, we’ll arrest him.”

  Lainey slumped back in her seat. “I can’t believe I’m listening to this.” She took a deep breath, then sat up straight and braced her hands on the table. “I can’t let you do this. It’s too dangerous. Too irresponsible.”

  “And we wouldn’t want that, would we, Lainey.”

  She shot a look at Tucker. His gaze was hooded and unreadable. She was aware of Lillian’s avid attention and knew that now was not the time to get into the issue. She sent him a look that told him they weren’t done and looked back at Lillian.

  “Listen, I think it’s wonderful that you want to help. But this is much too extreme a measure to take.”

  “Tucker said most of Minerva’s life’s savings were at stake. That’s a pretty extreme problem and it calls for pretty extreme measures, don’t you think? And what have we got to lose by trying?”

  Valuable time, Lainey thought.

  “Do you have any better ideas, Lainey?” Tucker asked laconically. “Logical, rational, or otherwise?”

  Lillian’s sharp, disapproving inhale grabbed their attention. “I don’t know what is going on between you two, although I have a pretty good idea. Whatever the problem, I think we need to concentrate on Minerva right now. You can hash this out afterward.” Lillian turned and nailed Lainey with a gaze as sharp as her red razor nails. “And when we do take care of this matter—and we will—I expect the two of you to sit down and talk this thing out until you’re blue in the face, if that’s what it takes.” She shot a hard look at Tucker. “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll loan you those videos again. Use them this time.”

  Lainey was only saved from complete humiliation by the fact that Tucker’s face looked as bright red as hers felt.

  “Now scoot on out of here.” Lillian motioned to Lainey. “I’d better skedaddle before Minerva gets back from her visit to the home. You two better scoot as well.”

  Lillian snapped her turban back into place and stepped toward the door. As she passed Lainey, she placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “I wish we had the time to do something a bit more foolproof. We’d all like to have that luxury. But sometimes you just have to go with what you’ve got. God gave us instincts for a reason.”

  She was gone before Lainey could reply. Lainey was still staring at the aluminum blinds clinking against the door when she felt Tucker behind her. “You told her, didn’t you.”

  He didn’t pretend not to understand. “About us? No. Maybe Minerva has talked about you, or maybe she figured it out on her own by looking at us. There was a bit of tension in the air.”

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. She felt a ripple of pleasure shudder through her at his warm touch. She wanted to beg him to never let her go.

  “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!”

  “His bullets even things up. I can’t take that chance, Lainey.” He tried to push past her.

  “What will rushing in there do?” Lainey grabbed his arm. She motioned to the monitor. “Look. Lillian is calm, she’s talking to him. He’s listening.”

  “He’s still pointing a gun at her.” Tucker’s jaw was clenched so tightly, it made the vein in his temple jump.

  “Exactly. And any kind of sudden move could make him panic. There are four people in there, Tucker. He’s not going to go from being a two-bit crook to a multiple murderer. I know he won’t shoot. I know it.”

  Tucker speared her with a hard look. “How can you be so damn sure?”

  She held his gaze. “Instincts.”

  Tucker choked on a half laugh. “You pick now to put them to a test?”

  She ignored that deserved barb. He was scared and angry, at Damian and at himself. “Trust your instincts, too, Tucker. You believed she could do this or you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. Give the four people in that room a chance to work this out.”

  “Come here, come here,” Minerva said excitedly. “Mr. Halliday is talking to him now!”

  Tucker stared at the door, then back at Lainey. She tensed. The stakes were the highest they’d ever been in her life. She didn’t back down. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” she queried softly. “For me to trust myself? I trust you, Tucker. It’s why I’m here. I believe you trusted me too. Have I made another bad decision in believing in you?”