Loving the Lone Wolf

“In this case, I’ll fix it so I would handle Volski’s shipment personally.”

“How?”

He didn’t reply until they had stepped into the stairwell and the door had swung shut behind them, muffling the noise of the plane. “By putting on a uniform, walking into the yard and driving out with a truck.”

She shook her head. “Stealing a truck would bring too much attention.”

“I didn’t say I would steal it.”

“Then how will you get it?”

The light over the stairs was bright enough to reveal a glimmer of humor in his expression. “Easy. I work here.”

Kelly stared. Was that a smile? It was only a shift of a few facial muscles, a soft crinkling of the skin at the corners of his eyes, a deepening of the lines beside his mouth, yet it hinted at a warmth she hadn’t seen before. It was so at odds with his warrior demeanor that she found herself intrigued. What would it be like to see him smile fully, or maybe to hear him laugh?

Wait. What was that he had said? “You work here?” she asked.

“You’re welcome to check that out, too. My name’s on the Pack Leader payroll as a relief driver. There isn’t a vehicle with wheels that I don’t know how to handle.”

Her mind clicked back on track as she evaluated the potential of his scheme.

One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.

This was exactly what she’d been looking for. She had enough information now to set the deal into motion.

She felt a stirring of regret over what would happen to this man when it was over, but she tried to ignore it. With Jamie’s future at stake, she couldn’t afford the luxury of a conscience.

She did her best to disregard the warmth she sensed in Nathan’s almost-smile, too. It made no difference. After tonight, they would never see each other again.

It looked as if she had found the perfect scapegoat.

Although it was 2:00 a.m., the chandelier that hung in the three-story foyer of Stephan Volski’s fortified mansion blazed with light. It was a monstrous piece, heavy with crystal and studded with gilded eagles that were ornate enough to belong in a czar’s ballroom, which was where Stephan claimed it had originally hung. It was one of his prize possessions.

Kelly shuddered as she passed beneath it, her footsteps echoing on the marble floor. She knew that Stephan regarded her and Jamie as possessions, too. Prizes to be polished and put on display like his gaudy chandelier. They were tributes to his ego.

Sometimes she couldn’t believe she had once been naive enough to think otherwise. Could she really have been that young? Had the innocent woman she remembered ever truly existed?

There was a metallic clunking noise from behind her, followed by a series of electronic beeps as the guard at the front door locked up and reset the alarm.

Kelly kept walking. She knew there was no point looking back. It hurt too much. The only way out of this was to go forward.

The door of Stephan’s office was open when she reached it. Her shoes made no noise here—the hand-knotted carpet that covered the floor was thick enough to muffle a scream—so she took a moment to observe him in silence.

Despite the late hour, Stephan Volski was dressed in a light gray suit, his only allowance to comfort a slight loosening in the knot of his tie. His fine blond hair was neatly combed—he had it trimmed weekly. His elegantly handsome features and slender build gave him an air of sophistication. He appeared as harmless as a scholar as he bent his head over the papers that were scattered across his massive walnut desk.

Four years ago she had been dazzled by his charm, flattered by his attention and so hungry for love she hadn’t wanted to see past it. He’d been her Prince Charming, riding to the rescue, sweeping her into a fairy-tale future. Their affair had lasted one month. By the time Kelly had realized that what she saw in Stephan was an illusion, a carefully cultivated veneer to hide the ugliness beneath, she was already carrying his child.

No, not his child, she thought, curling her nails into her palms. Jamie was hers. All hers. There was nothing of his father in him except for the pale blue eyes. Her son was kind and loving and sweet and innocent and…

Dear God, she had to get him away from here before that changed.

Stephan rubbed his eyes and lifted his head. He gave an involuntary start when he saw her. He scowled and pushed his chair back from his desk. “You’re late.”

When they were in private, Stephan made no pretense of affection toward her—he had moved on to other women well before his child had been born—yet it suited his pride to let people believe that Kelly was his.

It suited her, too, by providing her with protection. Because the men she had to deal with believed she was Stephan’s girlfriend, they knew they could look but not touch.

Her true relationship with Stephan was a combination standoff and balancing act. As long as he had Jamie, Kelly would stay with Stephan, and as long as she stayed with Stephan, he would demand that she earn her keep by singing in his club and occasionally helping him with his business.

It astounded her that she had once thought his accent was romantic and his brooding silences were sensitive. How could she have allowed him to touch her?

Yet Nathan Rand was a criminal, just like Stephan. How on earth could she have found Nathan attractive? Why hadn’t she found his touch repulsive?

Dammit, hadn’t she learned anything?

“The meeting with Rand took longer than I expected.” She walked past the fireplace with its carved marble mantel and gilded screen to the table that held an ornate silver samovar, another item that had supposedly belonged in an imperial palace. Moving mechanically, she drew a cup of steaming water and fixed herself some tea. Not that she had ever developed a taste for Russian tea, but she needed something to keep her hands busy. “I just got in.”

“Tell me what happened.”

She added some sugar to her cup and stirred while she gave Stephan a summary of what she had learned from Nathan. “I think we should look for someone else,” she finished.

“Why?”

“Rand wants a percentage of our profits. He says it’s insurance so he can trust us.” She kept her gaze on her swirling tea. Stephan’s only weaknesses were his pride and his paranoia, so the best way to get him to agree to something was to suggest the opposite. For the same reason, she didn’t want him to know that giving Rand a percentage was her idea. It was insurance for her—without money up front, Rand would be less likely to bail on the deal.

“That would work in our favor,” Stephan said. “I can delay paying him his share. What percentage does he want?”

“After I saw his setup, we settled on thirty-five.”

Stephan pursed his lips as he considered that for a moment. Kelly guessed he was probably thinking of ways to cheat on the percentage. “We won’t look for anyone else,” he said finally. “We’ll go with Rand.”

She concentrated on keeping the spoon from rattling against the cup despite the sudden jump of her pulse. That had seemed too easy. Now for the next gambit. “I’m not sure we should trust him. He’s very…contained.”

“Are you losing your touch, Kelly?” Stephan lowered his voice slyly. “Or do Rand’s preferences lie in another direction?”

The implication that Nathan wasn’t heterosexual was so absurd, Kelly almost lost her concentration. The man put out pheromones that would be unmistakable to any female who possessed a pulse. She set the spoon down on the silver tray beneath the samovar. “Neither. He doesn’t seem to want supervision.”

“It’s not his call. We have too many customers depending on this shipment. If Rand says he doesn’t want supervision, he might have something to hide. We’ll have to keep a close eye on him until my merchandise is delivered. I’ve decided to bring it in next Friday.”

Kelly caught her breath. Friday? That was only a week away. In seven days, the nightmare would be over. And the seed of suspicion was planted. This was what she wanted. The pieces were falling into place better than she could have imagined.

Because while Stephan worried about trusting Nathan, and Nathan worried about trusting Stephan, Kelly planned to betray them both and disappear with Jamie.

The sheer daring of her plan terrified her. She knew how ruthless Stephan could be. If she failed to get away this time, she was certain she wouldn’t get another opportunity. He tolerated her presence in Jamie’s life because of their child’s age, but if he suspected for an instant that she was planning to double-cross him, he had the wealth and connections to move Jamie someplace where she would never find him.

Her hands trembled at the thought. Tea slopped down the front of her pants and onto the carpet. She put down the cup and grasped her pant leg to hold the scalding liquid away from her skin.

Stephan rounded his desk and walked to her side. “Is something wrong, Kelly?” There was no concern in his voice, only irritation. “You seem on edge.”