Happy New Year--Baby!

“I’m afraid that there has been some mistake made, Mr.—”

If she was attempting to be defiant, it made less than no impression on him. “Standish.” The name rolled smoothly off his tongue. “Joseph Standish.”

The name meant nothing to her. The dislike Nicole felt was immediate and intense. If the man continued to look vaguely familiar, it was because Joseph Standish, if that was really his name and she doubted that it was, reminded Nicole of the type of people Craig had taken to hanging around with the year before he died. Dangerous people.

People she didn’t want anywhere near her or her unborn child.

“Mr. Standish,” she acknowledged coldly. “I’m afraid that I don’t have anything of yours.”

His lips parted slightly in what could have passed for a smile if it hadn’t been so mocking. His tone remained mild and all the more chilling for it.

“Oh, but I’m ‘afraid’ that you do, Mrs. Logan.” His eyes swept past her and the man behind her to look at the apartment. It had to be hidden here somewhere. “Mind if I take a look around?”

Nicole’s breath caught in her throat. He was going to push his way in. She didn’t want him touching her things. She squared her shoulders. “Yes, I do mind.”

Whether she minded or not didn’t matter to him. What was on that disk that Logan had managed to steal did.

Dennis took a step closer to Nicole, his eyes locking with Standish’s. They were as flat as the eight-by-ten photograph he’d been given at his initial briefing. Dennis had seen more warmth in a tray of ice cubes.

“Is there a problem here?”

Nicole was weary of fighting her own battles, but used to it. So much so that she automatically resented any interference. Still, she had to admit that a small part of her felt better having Dennis here beside her. It made her feel less vulnerable.

Standish assessed the man behind Logan’s widow with a speed that had become second nature to him. Tall, rangy, the man didn’t really appear as if he’d pose much of a threat, but then, you never knew.

“The only problem is you butting into a private conversation.”

His eyes flickered over Nicole. Even with that swollen belly, she was something to look at. Probably had been a hot little number in bed. Too bad Logan hadn’t spent more time at home in bed and less at the tables. This trip would have been unnecessary, then. Standish hated loose ends almost as much as he hated unpaid debts. He had thought that things had been all tied up with Logan’s death—until they couldn’t find the disk.

“My business is with Mrs. Logan.”

Since she didn’t know him, that meant whatever connection Standish had, had been with Craig. That was all behind her now. She didn’t want any part of it. Nicole looked at him coldly, even as her heart hammered.

“I don’t have any business with you.” Turning the doorknob, she started to close the door. “So if you’ll please leave—”

Standish’s hand shot out like a rattlesnake striking its prey. With his palm splayed against the door, he prevented her from closing it. He had no intention of leaving yet. He hadn’t gotten to where he was by allowing people to walk away from him when he wasn’t done with them. And this was far from finished.

His words were measured and sharp, like hail falling against a tin roof. “You’re right, you don’t have any business with me. Your husband did.” His eyes remained on Nicole, cutting the other man completely out of the picture. “Too bad he had to die so young. My condolences.”

Nicole felt as if she were looking into the eyes of Death. “Thank you.”

“A few weeks before he died, he took something from me. Something I’m very sentimental about.” He smiled, showing off two perfect rows of teeth. “I was hoping it was here.”

She hadn’t seen anything out of place amid the things Craig kept here and if Standish was sentimental, then she was a choirboy. “What was it?”

He had no intention of telling her. “I’ll know it if I see it. Don’t trouble yourself by looking, I’ll just—” He began to enter the apartment.

She didn’t want this man here. Like a militant soldier, she barred his way. “You’ll tell me what it is, or you’ll leave.”

She was going to be trouble, just like her husband, Standish thought. He hated using a gun. It was far too messy and personal, but he had no qualms about eliminating what was in his way.

“After I look around.”

Very gently, Dennis pushed Nicole to the background, his body a buffer between her and Standish. “The lady said to leave.”

She saw something that frightened her flicker in Standish’s eyes. Damn Craig and his stupidity. What had he gotten them into?

She placed her hand on Dennis’s arm, silently telling him that she could handle this. “Craig kept very little of his things here, Mr. Standish. He traveled a lot. Maybe whatever it is that you’re looking for was left behind in some hotel room.”

Rooms in seven different hotels had all been systematically torn apart. “I’ve already eliminated that possibility. He was here before his last race.”

For a total of about ten minutes, she thought. Bent on partying before the big race, Craig had left her behind like so much lead weight. Even so, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to go through Craig’s things yet. She’d meant to, but every time she started, the pain of memories prevented her.

Nicole sighed. “Leave your number and I’ll call you if I find anything, but I doubt—”

“Don’t doubt, Mrs. Logan. He had it. I know that for a fact. I suggest you find it, Mrs. Logan.” Each time he said her name, she felt as if he were laughing at her. “And quickly.” His glance lowered from her face to rest on her abdomen. “Unfortunate things have been known to happen, even to ladies in your delicate condition when they don’t cooperate.”

Numbed by the barely veiled threat, Nicole curved her hand protectively over her belly. Words failed her.

Dennis shook off her hand from his arm, pushing himself directly into Standish’s face. Though the same height, he guessed that the other man had about five years on him. And a few more pounds. The slight bulge under his coat was what he used to even things out. Dennis knew he could disable him before he ever reached for his weapon, but that wouldn’t be in keeping with the image he was trying to project for Nicole.

“She said to leave.” His voice was as low, as deliberate, as Standish’s. “I think she meant now.”

There was nothing to be gained by a physical confrontation, at least not one with a witness. Standish was accustomed to picking his places. There would always be time enough for that later, if necessary. Trask said to keep the body count down to a minimum after Logan. Trask was getting old and soft, but for now, he still ran the Syndicate and had to be obeyed.

Standish inclined his head, addressing himself to Nicole. “Fine. I realize that all this must have taken you by surprise, Mrs. Logan. I’m not an unreasonable man. But I do tend to grow impatient if I’m kept waiting too long. I’ll be back.”

He paused to consider a time frame. “Say in a week?” He had no intention of waiting that long. His eyes skimmed over her girth before he stepped away from the door. “In the meantime, if I were you, I would give very serious consideration to what I said.”

Hands shaking, Nicole slammed the door closed behind Standish. Only then did she give in to the fear that had taken hold of her.

“Oh, God,” she whispered.

She looked as if she were going to faint. Dennis quickly took her arm. Her skin had turned almost translucent and her hands were clammy. “Are you all right?”

Nicole passed her hand over her face. What could Craig have possibly taken from that man? It couldn’t have been money, Standish would have asked for that outright—wouldn’t he?

She didn’t look at Dennis as she replied. “Not really.”

Dennis guided her to the chair in the kitchen, then placed a hand on her shoulder, gently urging her into it. “Why don’t you sit down?” He studied her face, wondering how to handle this new turn of events. Either she really didn’t know the man who was just here or anything he was talking about, or she was one hell of an actress. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged helplessly. She could call the police, but what good would that do? There wasn’t really very much information she could give them. They usually responded after the fact, not before. “It was probably just an empty threat.”

Men like Standish didn’t make empty threats. It was bad for business. “It didn’t sound very empty from where I was standing.”

“No,” Nicole whispered, “it didn’t.” She looked up, suddenly realizing that she had said the words aloud. She tried to gloss over the situation. “Craig periodically got involved with people who wouldn’t have met with approval at a Daughters of the American Revolution meeting.”

Dennis nodded his head toward the door. “So then this is nothing new for you?”