Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Declan Flynn slowly opened his eyes.
Marley Jones perched nervously on the edge of his bed. Biting her lip, she waited for him to take in his surroundings. The bright, white walls. The low hum of voices coming from outside. The antiseptic smell.
His gaze focused on her.
She tried to smile and actually felt like she was mostly successful. Sure, the smile wouldn’t reach her eyes. Her stomach was in too many knots for the smile to be real. But she didn’t want to panic the man so…
She ramped up her smile a little more. Added a bit more friendly voltage.
His dark brows pulled together as he glowered at her.
“Uh, hi.” Marley cleared her throat. “Do you remember me?”
He stared back at her with the most intense, most absolutely dangerous eyes that she’d ever seen in her life. It should be impossible for a pair of eyes to be described as dangerous, but his were. A swirling hazel that gazed at her with fierce intent. Not good intent. More like… he’s going to pounce on me at any moment.
Maybe she should move off his hospital bed. Yes, good plan. She hopped up and started to flee toward the relative safety of the nearby chair. Only she never made it to the chair because his hand flew out and clamped around her wrist. Her pulse immediately skyrocketed as the impact of his touch flooded through her system.
Why do I react this way to him? Even last night, in the middle of hell and chaos, her reaction to him had been way, way off the charts. She’d tried to dismiss the reaction as stemming from adrenaline and nerves but…
Nope. I’m still reacting to him the same way.
“I remember you.” Gruff. Deep. Rumbling. And no longer slurring. The calluses on the edges of his fingertips raked lightly across her skin.
His words had been running together last night. Probably due to the drugs that he’d been given. The docs at the hospital had watched him like a hawk because Declan had been dead to the world when he came in on the ambulance.
Her breath expelled in a rush of relief because he seemed to be awake and aware and finally back with her.
“You were with me in hell,” he added.
Her eyebrows shot up. Okay. So perhaps he wasn’t quite so aware.
“The basement,” he clarified. “Hell.”
Yes, granted, she could see where he’d describe the place that way. It certainly hadn’t been heaven for her.
“You came back for me.” His thumb brushed along her inner wrist.
His touch makes me feel so strange. Not bad. Not necessarily good, either. Too aware. Too sensitive.
Declan shook his dark head. “You shouldn’t have done that. Major mistake on your part.” He released her wrist.
But even though he was no longer holding her, she didn’t flee to the safety of the chair. Instead, Marley turned back so that she faced him fully. “I shouldn’t have come back to save you?” Had the man wanted her to abandon him to whatever twisted fate waited in that horrible basement?
His eyes—that hazel seemed to peer into her very soul. Without blinking, he stared straight at her and nodded.
Her shoulders stiffened. “I wasn’t in the mood to leave a man to die.” She would never be in that mood. There were enough monsters in the world without her becoming one, too.
“I would have gotten away.”
Her jaw dropped. He couldn’t be serious. “You couldn’t even walk !”
“I would have gotten away.” Utter certainty.
“I untied you.” Maybe he had forgotten some important bits from the previous night. A refresher was clearly needed so he could be appropriately grateful. “You were tied to a chair when I cut you loose. Then I found a way for us to get out of that cabin. I even drove the getaway car.” All without a thank you. Someone had clearly never been taught how to express gratitude. Not that she was looking for a shiny medal or anything…
But I did save the man’s life. A little gratitude would not be too much to ask.
“You don’t know what you’ve done.” He shook his head. “Like I said, major mistake.” He sat up in the bed. Winced.
Immediately, her hands flew out and curled around his shoulders. “You should take it easy. I heard one of the doctors say it looked like you had some crazy drug cocktail mix in your blood.” Maybe she should call a nurse for him?
His head turned so that he was staring at her hand as it gripped his right shoulder. Slowly, his gaze slid back to her face. “Why are you here?”
Again, no gratitude. “Because you couldn’t stay on your own! You were unconscious! Defenseless!” So many reasons. “What if your abductors had come after you again?”
“In a hospital? You thought they’d come at me in a hospital?”
He’d better not be making fun of her. She tightened her grip on what were some very strong shoulders. The thin hospital gown did little to hide the man’s power. He probably should have looked weak as he sat in the bed. He’d been unconscious for hours.
Only, he didn’t look weak. His dark hair was tousled, stubble covered his hard jaw, and his eyes glinted. He appeared…sexy. Strong. Dangerous.
In a hospital bed.
How on earth was he pulling that off? Meanwhile, she probably looked rumpled, wrinkled, disheveled, and generally like something a feral cat had hauled inside.
Declan Flynn was also just staring at her. Right. Because he’d asked a question, and she should respond and not simply gawk at him as she thought about feral cats. “You never know when your enemies might attack. The cops couldn’t find anyone at that cabin. I hate to be the one to tell you, but…the people who abducted you got away.” No softening that bombshell. It was what it was. “They are still out there somewhere, and they might come after you again.” Let go of his shoulders, woman. She let go. Cleared her throat. “I didn’t want you defenseless while you slept, so I stood guard.”
His gaze dipped slowly down her body. Down, then back up. And his lips twisted into what was almost a half-smile. “What are you?” he asked. “Five-foot-three? Four?”
“Six. I am five-foot- six. ” Important inches in her world. When you were surrounded by towering brothers, every inch counted.
“Uh, huh, and you look like if I breathe too hard, I’ll knock you down.”
Irritation buzzed through her blood. “I thought that perhaps you were still traumatized from the night before. Or that you were just not a morning person. But I have now reached a new conclusion.” Her spine could not get stiffer. “You’re an ungrateful ass.”
He blinked.
“ My five-foot- six self got you out of that cabin. I got you to my car. I got you to safety. And while I was dragging your nearly unconscious self, you didn’t knock me down. Not even once.” Though it had been a frantic struggle to reach her VW. Not something she’d mention at the moment. No need to give the man more fuel for his fire.
Her words made his smile stretch even more. Why? She hadn’t said anything even remotely humorous.
Her gaze lingered on his face. Such a handsome face. Strong. High forehead. Long blade of a nose. Sensual—if just the slightest bit cruel—lips and?—
“The scar’s a bitch, isn’t it?” Flat. Low. His hand lifted and scraped over the right side of his face.
She didn’t pretend not to see the scar. It was long, slashing as it cut down his cheek and dipping into the stubble that lined his jaw. Maybe other people pretended they didn’t see it. Maybe they politely averted their eyes. She wasn’t those people. “It’s stupid sexy.”
His mouth dropped open.
Whoops. That would be her tendency to be brutally honest…and say the wrong thing. Marley cleared her throat. “I’m sure it hurt horribly when you received it.”
His hand fell away from the scar. “Didn’t exactly feel good.”
“But it really goes with your whole drop-dead dangerous and lethal air. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to pull it off. But you do.” Her gaze returned to meet his.
He stared at her with shock clear to see in his eyes.
She shrugged. “I’m very sorry you were hurt so badly that you scarred.”
“You aren’t bothered by the scar, though, are you? Not even a little?”
No. Her tongue slid over her lower lip. “I’m more bothered that you haven’t thanked me yet. I expected an uber billionaire to have better manners.”
“Who the hell are you?”
Now this was embarrassing. “Ah, see, I worried you might not remember my name. That would be thanks to the drug cocktail in your system.” She rocked forward a bit. “I’m?—”
“Jasmine and amber.” His nostrils flared.
“Uh, no. That sort of sounds like a stripper name. I’m?—”
“You smell like jasmine and amber.”
That made sense. Probably hints of both in her perfume. “I’m Marley Jones, PI.” And this is the important part. “You clearly need my services, so you should hire me on the spot.” Hire me. Please hire me. It was hard not to sound as desperate as she felt.
Because she wasn’t ready to walk away from Declan Flynn just yet. He needed her.
She was fascinated by him.
“Why would I hire you?” The little line was back between his dark brows.
How many times would the man need to be reminded that she’d saved his life? But she could make her case. Again. “You probably have an army of security personnel.”
“Um.”
That wasn’t a yes or a no. “But I didn’t see that army last night. I just saw little old me.” Her palms were getting sweaty, so she casually wiped them on the front of her jeans. “I saw the men who took you. I saw their vehicle. And I will find them. I will track them down. I will hunt them. I will?—”
“ Marley. ”
Her head swung to the right. The hospital door had been slightly ajar—one the nurses had left it open earlier—and now she realized that someone had been eavesdropping on her conversation with Declan. Such an incredibly rude thing to do.
But then, she’d found that Detective Parker Ellis was often rude.
Parker glowered at her from his position in the doorway. He had not exactly been a fan of Marley’s since…well, probably since their one disastrous date ages ago.
“The police will find the people responsible for abducting Mr. Flynn. That’s certainly not the job for some wannabe PI.” Parker marched into the room with authority and arrogance oozing from his pores.
That was typically the way he did most things. Once upon a time, Parker had been the quarterback in high school. Then the jock of the moment at the University of Georgia. But an injury had taken him off the field, and these days, he spent his time throwing his weight around at the Augusta, Georgia, police department.
“Wannabe PI,” Declan seemed to taste those words.
Her eyes narrowed as her head swung right back to Declan. “There’s nothing wannabe about me. I have my license. I’m official. And I have a hundred percent case closure rate.” No need to mention that she’d only had three cases so far. Two had been wives who wanted their cheating husbands photographed in the act. The third…that had been a pro-bono case. Caterina Robbins had vanished. Marley had found Caterina in twenty-four hours. So what if Caterina happened to be a Cheshire cat? A successful closed case was a successful closed case.
And I saved Declan Flynn last night. The Declan Flynn. Tech billionaire. Supposed mob royalty. Too gorgeous to be real…Declan Flynn. She’d saved him from getting sliced into lots and lots of little pieces. Oh, but those torture instruments were going to haunt her for days.
“How long have you possessed your license?” Declan asked softly.
“I—”
“Barely a month,” Parker informed him with a bit too much satisfaction. “Our Marley tends to pick up and discard jobs pretty quickly. You have quite the resume don’t you, Marley? Kids’ party entertainer, pastry chef, real estate agent, bartender, and now…PI.” Parker shook his head. His dirty blond hair tumbled over his forehead, and his blue eyes gleamed. “And let’s not forget Ph.D. candidate. You do like to dabble, don’t you?”
“I’m not dabbling.” But you’re being a dick. So she had some failed jobs in her past. Didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to be a kickass PI. She’d worked her butt off to get her license. She’d trained in self-defense. She’d shadowed other PIs for months. And that Ph.D. candidacy that he just liked to toss out like it was nothing? She’d nearly gotten her Ph.D. in psychology. She knew how criminals worked. She knew all about the devious minds at play in the world.
A faint flicker of fear slithered down her spine as she remembered the incident that had ended her pursuit of her Ph.D. Don’t think about it right now. Focus on the moment. The present. The past can’t hurt you.
“How did I wind up in the hospital?”
Declan’s low voice jerked her attention back to him. And when she looked at him, Marley was surprised to find his eyes dead on her. Not on the detective.
“The police met us on the highway.” Did he recall that part? The shriek of sirens? The flash of blue lights?
Declan inclined his head.
“You were out cold in the passenger seat of Marley’s car.” Parker moved to her side. Got way too close, frankly. His shoulder brushed against hers.
Declan frowned.
Marley eased away from Parker.
Parker eased closer to her.
Declan’s frown grew darker.
“An ambulance was behind the cop cars,” Parker told him. His hands moved to his hips. His badge gleamed from a perch on his belt. “The EMTs ordered an immediate transport for you because you were unresponsive. Marley insisted on riding along with you.”
Declan was staring straight at her. He kept doing that. And she could have sworn she felt the weight of his gaze like a physical touch. Talk about intensity.
But in response to Parker’s words, Marley forced a shrug. She had insisted on being in the ambulance with Declan. “I rode along because I had to keep you safe.” Something she had already mentioned to the man a time or two.
Parker laughed. “Uh, yeah. He’s safe. You did your due diligence.” Then the detective laughed yet again. A deep, booming laugh that some people might like. Marley was not one of those individuals. “It was cute the way you suddenly swore that you were his fiancée and that you had to go with him. Is that how you got the nurses to allow you to keep staying with him overnight? By swearing you were involved with the vic?”
Marley felt the sting of heat in her cheeks. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” There was no way she’d planned to leave Declan alone.
Declan’s expression changed. He suddenly looked… intrigued.
A shiver slid down her spine. Sort of like when you get a hint that something really, really bad was about to happen to you.
“You told the EMTs that we were engaged?” Declan asked her. No emotion at all filled his deep, dark voice.
Marley bit her lower lip. “I sort of…implied that you would freak out if you woke up without your fiancée at your side.” That was not the same as saying she was his fiancée.
“Oh, she didn’t imply it.” Parker motioned toward. “She flat out said those exact words. I was here at the time. ‘ He will freak out if he wakes up and his fiancée isn’t at his side.’ ”
“I didn’t say that I was your fiancée!” Marley hurried to point out that important distinction to Declan. “Just that if you woke up and your fiancée wasn’t there— not that I am your fiancée— you would freak. Again, I didn’t say that I was your fiancée. People just drew that conclusion.”
“Because it was the conclusion you wanted them to draw,” Declan’s rumble cut through her words.
Her breath expelled. “I wanted you safe.” If that was a crime, call her guilty.
“And again…” From Parker. “He is safe. Your job is done. So, pretend fiancée, why don’t you head on out? I’ve already interviewed you.”
Yes, he had. During the night when Declan had slept.
“And, now,” Parker added as his voice flattened, “I need to ask Declan some questions about his?— “
“No.” Declan’s adamant voice came out as a crisp denial.
“No?” Parker’s brows rose. His arm brushed Marley’s again and?—
Declan shoved the hospital covers out of the way. He swung his legs to the side of the bed and surged upward. Marley immediately jumped forward and grabbed him, afraid that he might fall as he’d fallen the previous night when he first got out of the chair in that horrid basement.
But Declan didn’t seem to be in any danger of falling. He stood up, strong and powerful, and his head tilted as he stared down at her. His nostrils flared the tiniest bit, as if he were pulling in her scent again.
She realized that she was pressing her hands to his chest. Standing way too close. “I thought you needed me,” she whispered as heat stung her cheeks.
His head dipped toward her. “I do,” he whispered back.
Surprise rolled through Marley.
Parker reached out his hand and curled it around Marley’s shoulder. “You need to—” Parker began.
“You need to stop touching her,” Declan instructed, and there was a lethal note in his voice. “It’s quite irritating. Both to me and my…fiancée.”
“That’s bullshit,” Parker groused even as he dropped his hand. For an instant, he glared at Declan. Anger flashed hard in the detective’s eyes before he blinked, and it vanished.
Had she just imagined that emotion? Before she could decide for sure?—
“No, it’s actually the truth,” Declan announced. “Not bullshit. I find myself annoyed every single time you touch her. And Marley doesn’t like it, either, or else she wouldn’t keep moving away from you.”
True story, she didn’t like it. She was also still touching Declan, and he might not want her hands on him. She started to move back.
“Touch me anytime,” Declan invited her. “I like it when you do.”
A lick of heat unfurled within her. Not the time. But it was good to know that he felt that awareness—correction, attraction—too. And what are we going to do about that?
“I meant,” Parker cleared his throat, “her being your fiancée is bullshit. I know the real deal. She’s the PI who got lucky and saw your abduction. The two of you don’t know each other. You’re total strangers.”
“I’m the one who got lucky.” Declan smiled at her.
Such a killer smile. Her breath left her in a surprised rush. Declan was an attractive man, but when he smiled that particular way… wow. She felt that smile in every inch of her body.
“Though, for the record, I truly could have saved myself.”
Why was he still spinning that story? “Liar,” Marley accused, and for some reason, it almost felt like an endearment when she said the word.
Declan’s head moved in the smallest of nods.
I’m still touching him. And I still like it.
Another loud throat clearing came from Parker. “I have questions,” he groused. “I need to know who took you. I need to find the bastards because I don’t like people terrorizing others in my town.”
Marley finally pulled her hands away from Declan.
He turned more toward the cop. “I have no idea who took me. When I think of last night, I remember waking up, tied to a chair.” He glanced down at his body, and his face tightened in distaste. “This gown has got to go.”
She didn’t think he had on anything beneath the gown. So if that gown went anywhere, she and Parker would be getting quite the show.
“We’ve got our crime scene team scouring the basement where you were held. We found the discarded ropes. We found the torture instruments.” Parker whistled. “Someone was planning for one hell of a party with you.”
That wasn’t exactly Marley’s idea of a party. Her stomach twisted.
The detective pushed, “Who hates you so much that they’d want to do that to you?”
Declan rolled a shoulder.
Marley gaped at him. Was he seriously showing zero concern? When someone had abducted him and clearly planned to spend a large amount of time torturing the man? “You have no idea?”
Before Declan could respond to her, Parker noted, “I’ll need a list of your enemies. Both those in the business world and in your personal life.”
“That’s gonna be one hell of a long list,” Declan told him after the faintest of pauses. “I don’t play nicely in business…or in my personal life.”
Tech billionaire. Declan was supposed to be some sort of mega genius when it came to tech. He had all sorts of secretive contracts with the government, and he’d created software that would allow people to surf on the web and be completely untraceable and he’d?—
“Is this abduction related to the mob?” A stark question from Parker. “Because we need to cut through the BS and get to the truth. That setup at the cabin sure as hell looked like something mob organized to me.”
The temperature in that small hospital room seemed to drop. Marley shivered because the cold slithered in every direction. No, it seemed to come from Declan and slither out to fill up all the other space. His attention was suddenly focused one hundred percent on the detective. “You think I’m some sort of criminal?” Declan questioned in his emotionless voice.
“There have been rumors for?—”
“I work with the US government. I have dozens of contracts with them and with foreign entities. My companies provide satellite links, they provide security services, and they provide the needed tech to help keep this world moving.” A muscle flexed along his jaw. “You really believe government bureaucrats would approve my contracts if I was some kind of mob thug?”
Not a thug. “Royalty,” Marley murmured.
Declan’s head swung toward her.
She could have slapped a hand over her mouth. But, come on, why pretend the elephant wasn’t in the room? Especially considering what had happened the previous night. Parker wasn’t wrong. The abduction did feel like a mob job. A message had clearly been sent. “The gossip says you’re mob royalty. That your grandfather and father were involved—that they created a syndicate that took power in Chicago and throughout the northeast.”
“I am not my father.” Cold. No, chilling. “Never make that mistake. I’m not my father. Not my grandfather.”
She sucked in a breath.
He eased a bit closer toward her. And he’d already been very close. “My fiancée should know better.” A low rasp. “If the US government thought I was a criminal, they wouldn’t be in so many partnerships with me.”
“Not necessarily.” Marley just felt compelled to add, “Pretty sure they’ve been involved with criminals before.”
His eyes narrowed. That hazel…back to being so very dangerous.
“Not that I’m saying you’re a criminal,” she hastened to add. Do not call a potential client a criminal. That was probably rule one in the PI handbook. If it wasn’t, it should be. “I’m just saying…perhaps some of your father’s old associates didn’t get the memo about you not being involved in what he and your grandfather may have?—”
“Neither of them were ever tied to the mob. Those are bullshit stories. Myths to make the family seem more powerful and threatening.”
She wasn’t looking at a myth. His words sounded like truth, but they sure felt like a lie at the same time.
“You think I’m in the mob?” Declan caught her chin in his hand. “You think I’m some monster, yet you saved my ass anyway?”
There was so much gold in the center of his eyes. Her breath caught, then released in a soft exclamation. “You finally admit I saved your ass?”
“I—”
“ Declan!” A sharp exclamation that came from the—yep, still open—hospital door.
When Marley glanced that way instinctively, she found a nurse staring back at her. A pretty brunette with wide eyes. But the nurse wasn’t alone. A sharply dressed man in a too expensive suit with carefully styled, silver-streaked hair stood with the nurse. His eyes were on Declan. Surprise—and worry—filled his stare. “I saw the story on the news!” A sharp exclamation from the man as he bustled forward. “You’re on every channel. You and—” His gaze darted from Declan’s hand as it held Marley’s chin…to Marley. His suspicious stare locked on her face. “You and her,” the stranger finished as his gaze assessed her.
“Why is the patient out of the bed?” the nurse demanded.
“Because the patient fucking felt like getting out,” Declan threw back. “James,” he said, addressing the man who kept frowning at Marley. “I need clothes. Tell me that you brought my suit because I don’t know what the hell they did with my things.”
“They were taken into evidence,” Parker said. “Your abductors might have left trace materials behind.”
Declan was still holding her chin. Marley eased back. She didn’t like the way that the James guy was eyeing her.
“I need clothes, and then I need to get the hell out of here.” Curt words from Declan.
“The press is outside,” James warned him. “The feeding frenzy is in full effect. It’s not every day that Declan Flynn is abducted and then saved by—saved by?—”
“I’m a private investigator.” Marley straightened her shoulders. “I’m the woman who got Declan to safety.”
James opened his mouth. But no words came out.
“Oh, she’s not just a PI,” Declan drawled. “James Henry, meet my fiancée…Marley Jones.”