Loving the Lone Wolf

Kelly Elizabeth Jennings had been born twenty-six years ago, the only child of James and Cynthia Jennings. She had no criminal record and had never been arrested. How did a small-town girl, whose father ran a grocery store and whose mother gave piano lessons, get mixed up with Stephan Volski?

On the other hand, where a person started in life didn’t guarantee where they would end up. Nathan was a living example of that.

The set ended to a round of applause. Kelly flashed a smile to the audience and left the stage.

Nathan pushed away from the wall and followed her through a swinging door at the rear of the club. Before he had taken three steps into the corridor, a pair of men converged on either side of him and grasped his arms.

He tensed, automatically assessing his chances. The men were probably armed like the muscle who patrolled the main room of Volski’s club, but the narrow corridor would work in his favor. Their bulk was a disadvantage in close quarters. Too bad he’d given up his habit of carrying a switchblade in his boot. That would have been the easiest way to get out of this.

Had Kelly set him up? She had asked him to meet her here. If Volski hadn’t agreed to their deal, he might have ordered Nathan eliminated as a security precaution.

Damn, he had no logical reason to trust Kelly, and he probably shouldn’t have. After her performance the night before, both onstage and off, the only thing he was sure of was that she wasn’t what she seemed. Yes, she was an enigma, an intriguing woman, but she was Volski’s woman and Nathan should be cautious around her. The stakes were too high to allow room for sentiment.

Had living as Beliveau for ten years made him lose his edge?

It might be time to remind himself—and Volski’s people—where he’d come from. He hadn’t survived this long by being soft. Nathan flexed his arms and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet just as Kelly glanced behind her.

She stopped where she was and scowled at the men who held him. “Let him go,” she said. “That’s Rand. I’m expecting him.”

The men were too slow to respond for Nathan’s liking. He took a step forward and twisted to jerk his arms free, then gave each man a sharp nudge in the solar plexus with his elbows to discourage them from grabbing him again. He dusted off his sleeves while the men regained their breath. “You heard the lady,” he said. “This dance is already taken.”

The man on his left retreated fast, but his companion stood his ground, muttering something to the effect that Kelly wasn’t a lady.

Nathan turned to look at him and lifted one eyebrow. Without moving another muscle, he let the silence build from uncomfortable to threatening—a trick that he’d learned in his youth. He was only one-eighth Lakota Sioux, but he knew full well how to use his inscrutable Indian-brave look. “Sorry,” he said finally. “I missed that. What did you say?”

The man’s gaze wavered. “I didn’t say nothin’.”

Nathan decided he’d made his point. Without another word, he continued down the corridor.

The room Kelly led him to was long and narrow, with stark white walls and a clean, white tile floor. A rack of colorful dresses, each encased in a clear plastic dry-cleaner’s bag, was set along one wall. Across from it, a table cluttered with various bottles and tubes sat beneath a mirror ringed with lights. Even without those clues, Nathan would have known this was Kelly’s dressing room, because as soon as he followed her over the threshold, he was enveloped by her scent.

She closed the door and brushed past him. She wore her hair swept up in a rhinestone-studded clasp tonight, leaving nothing to detract from the graceful line of her bare back. Nathan had to shove his hands into the pockets of his pants so he wouldn’t reach out for her.

What was it about this woman? His senses were threatening to short-circuit his brain.

“I apologize for the less than friendly reception you got back there,” she said. “One of the guards at the estate had an…accident, so Stephan had to make some personnel changes. No one had a chance to tell those two who you are.”

“Then I take it he wants to go forward with our deal?”

“Yes, he certainly does.” She picked up the gold dress she had worn the night before from the back of a chair and gestured for him to sit. “Stephan wants to bring the shipment into O’Hare next week. Friday, to be exact. Can you have the transportation arranged and the necessary paperwork prepared by then?”

Nathan crossed one ankle over the other and leaned his shoulders against the door. Finally! “No problem. I’ll have my end ready.”

“And to make sure you do, Stephan has asked me to be your liaison.”

“My liaison? What does that entail?”

“I’ll be overseeing your end.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the way Stephan wants it.”

“Why?” he repeated.

“To ensure our mutual interests.”

“In other words, your boyfriend expects you to stay chummy so you can spy on me, right?”

She draped the dress over her arm and brushed at the folds. “If I say yes, is that going to help our negotiations or hurt them?”

He smiled inwardly at her comeback. It was exactly what he had asked her the night before. He enjoyed the glimpses of Kelly’s intelligence even more than the glimpses of her body.

Still, having her around was a complication he didn’t need. He couldn’t afford to have anyone scrutinizing his actions, especially a woman he hadn’t yet figured out. Even under the best of circumstances, it wouldn’t be easy to set up the sting that would deliver the drugs and Volski’s gang to the feds. The clock was ticking on his debt.

Damn Tony and his bargain.

“And just how are you supposed to keep an eye on me, Kelly?” he asked. “I don’t have a Mrs. Rand who would object, but from what I’ve heard about your boyfriend, he wouldn’t look too kindly on either of us if you moved in with me. I’d prefer to keep all the body parts I was born with.”

Her fingers suddenly clenched, crumpling the fabric of the dress she held into a tight ball. “I’m not responsible for what Stephan does.”

Nathan straightened up from the door, surprised by the vehemence of her response.

“And from the way I saw you handle Stephan’s watchdogs just now,” she continued, “I believe you can take care of yourself, whatever happens.”

It almost sounded as if she were trying to warn him. “What does that mean?”

She flexed her fingers to release her hold on the dress and tossed it back on the chair where it had been. “Where did you learn to fight like that, Nathan?” As if it was an afterthought, she moved her lips into a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You moved so fast, I could hardly see it. I hope you’re not that fast with everything. There are some things that are best done…slowly.”

He regarded her curiously. She had gone into her sex-kitten mode in a bid to change the topic, but this time it wasn’t working. He was far more interested in what he’d seen before she’d put on that smile. He walked past the chair to stand in front of her. “I learned how to use the particular move you saw when I was eight.”

“You must have been very precocious.”

“No, just resourceful. My stepfather liked little boys. I didn’t let him like me.”

The smile disappeared like the illusion it had been. Her gaze clouded with horror. “My God,” she murmured. “Your stepfather?”

“Well, he wasn’t legally my stepfather. He never married my mother.”

She touched his arm. “Oh, Nathan. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s like you said. I learned to take care of myself.”

Her hand shook against his sleeve. “Didn’t your mother…” She swallowed. “She must have tried to leave, didn’t she? For your sake?”

“No, she never left. I did.” He covered her hand with his. “Why did you, Kelly?”

“What?”