The Angel and the Outlaw

He snorted. “Nope. I trust them about as much as I trust Oliver.”

“And you made it clear you don’t have any affection for Adam, so you’re not doing this for his sake.”

“No, I’m doing this for me.”

“Why?”

“What difference does it make?”

He’d asked that before. She’d thought about her answer while he’d been gone. “Unless I get an answer I’m satisfied with,” she said, “I have no reason to believe that you’ll do as you say.”

He fisted his hand on the window frame. His rolled-up sleeve tightened across his biceps. “We don’t have time to go around with this again. We’ve got to get you out of here before Oliver decides to send some of his guys back to keep an eye on me. He doesn’t trust me yet, either.”

“Then you’d better answer my question, because I’m not leaving until you do.”

Swearing under his breath, he grasped the cord that hung beside the window and gave it a sharp tug. A Venetian blind clattered downward over the glass, the slats diffusing the sunshine. He moved to the other two windows and did the same, then leaned one shoulder against the frame of the center window. Shifting his weight to one foot, he propped the toe of his other boot against the floor. He studied her for a minute, as if deciding how much to reveal. “Ever hear of a man named Tony Monaco?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“His family used to run an organization that would make Oliver and his friends look like Boy Scouts.”

An organization, she thought, as in organized crime. And worse than Oliver? She swallowed. “Used to run?”

“Tony got out of the business ten years ago, but he’s still not a man you would want to mess with.” He paused. “To cut to the chase, Tony financed the Long Shot. Unless I bring Oliver Sproule to justice, he’s going to call in the loan and I’ll lose my bar.”

“I don’t see the connection. Did Oliver do something to this Tony Monaco? Is that why Tony wants you to go after him?”

“That’s beside the point. You said you were interested in my reasons, not Tony’s.”

“It sounds like a strange way to repay a loan.”

“Tony isn’t a banker. If he was, he wouldn’t have given me any money in the first place. Ex-cons aren’t real high on a banker’s preferred-client list.”

She couldn’t disagree. Anyone with a criminal background would be considered a bad credit risk. As unfair as it might be, there would be few, well, conventional financing options open to someone like Cooper. “It seems as if your business is doing well. Every time I’ve gone by, the parking lot is crowded.”

“It didn’t happen overnight. Tony gave me the loan when I got out of prison. I’ve spent every day of the four years since then building the Long Shot into what it is now. Going straight has been damn hard work.”

“Going straight?”

“Surprised, sweetheart?”

She realized she was. Not by his claim that he’d gone straight—although she was glad to hear him say it, all along her instincts had told her he wasn’t as bad as he seemed, despite his gruff manner. What surprised her was the flicker of hurt in his gaze at her thoughtless response.

But what did he expect? He’d been throwing his criminal past in her face since they had met, as if he were trying to shock her, as if he wanted her to assume the worst about him.

Then again, she had already decided he was full of contradictions. Like his primitively sexy yet ultra-sensitive kiss…

She jerked her thoughts back on track. “I’m sorry, Cooper. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s admirable that you, uh…”

“Don’t get carried away. I’m not due for a halo anytime soon. Keeping my nose clean was one of the conditions of Tony’s loan.”

There had to be more to the story, she decided. From the sound of this, Tony was a former mob boss. Why would he care whether or not Cooper went straight…unless he didn’t want Cooper’s activities to compromise his investment. Yes, that was probably it.

But as Cooper had already said, she should be concentrating on his reasons, not Tony’s. “Regardless of why, you should be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

He lifted his shoulders in a stiff shrug. “The funny thing about earning something honestly is you don’t want to lose it. The Long Shot is mine. I plan to do whatever it takes to keep it.”

“Including putting your life at risk to infiltrate the Sproule organization?”

“Whatever it takes,” he repeated. “Like I said, Tony Monaco isn’t a man you would want to mess with. I owe him. I intend to pay him back.” He pushed away from the window and folded his arms over his chest. “Satisfied now?”

“What?”

“I’ve answered your question. You know why I’m going after Oliver. Anything else you have to say, you can say it in the truck.” He nodded toward the door. “Let’s go.”

She had never met anyone as single-minded as Cooper. This man would be a formidable enemy. She had to convince him that he wasn’t hers. She crossed her arms, mirroring his posture, and stayed where she was. “You haven’t told me anything to change my mind. It still makes sense to team up.”

“Hayley, haven’t you listened to anything I’ve said?”

“No one has to know, Cooper. Now that you’ve explained why we can’t be seen together, we’ll both be careful not to let that happen. But that’s no reason why we can’t help each other.”

“How?”

“The evidence I told you about yesterday, the information in Adam’s notebook, is only part of what I have. I’ve been gathering material on Oliver and his business since last October. I’ll share it with you. It would give you an advantage before you go into the Sproule organization if you have a framework of knowledge to start from.”

His expression sharpened, his gaze suddenly alert.

Something clicked in Hayley’s mind. “That’s why you were at the Sproule estate last night.”

“What was?”

“You were planning on getting into the house to do some investigating of your own while everyone was distracted with Oliver’s party.”

He hesitated a beat. “Could be.”

“Of course! If you had been there to apply for a job, you wouldn’t have hidden your truck or climbed the fence, you would have used the front gate. You wouldn’t have worried about being caught there.”

“All right. So what?”

“Then that’s even more reason to take advantage of the help I’m offering. Your plans were interrupted because of me, so it’s only fair to let me make it up to you.”

He regarded her in silence for a while. He still wasn’t agreeing, but at least he wasn’t moving toward the door.

“Think about it, Cooper. You said you can go where I can’t. Well, that works both ways. I have connections, too. I can use them to check out whatever lead you discover.”

“If you mean your connections with the Latchford police,” he said, “then forget it. Oliver has to have people on the inside there.”

It pained her to admit it, but she was beginning to suspect that much herself. Her father had become so agitated at the idea the one time she’d mentioned it to him that she hadn’t brought it up again, yet she had to be realistic. Whatever the reason, the police hadn’t helped her so far. They would be even less likely to help her now that the trial was over.