Risking It All: The Proposition / The Dare / The Favour / The P.I. / The Cop / The Defender

“Lea,” Rory said, “this is my sister, Detective Natalie Gibbs.”

As the two women nodded at each other, Rory continued, “Lea has been my boss and mentor at Celebs. She’s done a lot to help me there.”

“I pick my protégées very carefully,” Lea said to Natalie. Then she turned to Rory. The smile on her face didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day. When I missed you at the office, I went over to the hotel, but I was told that Jared Slade had already checked out. Tell me you got the picture.”

“Yes, but—” Rory began.

“Wonderful. Let me see.” Lea held out her hand, her fingers wiggling.

Rory felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I don’t have them with me. I—”

“You left them on my desk then.” Lea glanced at her watch. “I have time to—”

“No.” Rory swallowed. “By the time I got them developed, I knew it would be too late to give them to you at the office, so I left them at home. I’m sorry. I had no idea I would be running into you.”

Lea’s smile didn’t waver, but her eyes heated several degrees and her foot started to tap. “You’re sure you got a picture of Slade?”

“Absolutely.”

Lea hesitated, and Rory was sure she would have said more if Natalie hadn’t been present.

“I was counting on having them today. Please have them on my desk at eight-thirty tomorrow morning.”

“Sure.”

Lea gave a brief nod to Natalie. “Detective.” Then she whirled and strode away.

“She’s not a happy camper,” Natalie said.

“She’s been very good to me.”

“She reminds me of the villain in those 101 Dalmatians movies. All she’d need is a white streak in her hair.”

Rory grinned. “Cruella DeVil. They are a bit alike, I guess. Lea’s always on goal. She doesn’t let much stand in her way. I’ve learned a lot from her.”

Natalie studied her sister. “And you just lied through your teeth to her.”

Rory shrugged. “I couldn’t very well tell her that I’d given the pictures back. If I can still get that interview, she’ll be happy.”

“And if you don’t?”

Rory beamed a smile at her. “I have a sister with connections who’s about to tell me where I can find Jared Slade. How can I fail?”

Natalie was still studying her. “This is really important to you.”

“Yes,” Rory said. But even as she said it, she realized that her quest to interview Jared Slade wasn’t the only reason she wanted to track him down. Jared Slade was her ticket to seeing the Terminator again.

“Tracker McBride—that’s Sophie’s significant other—is spending the entire day on the Wainwright estate because some rich businessman who keeps a low profile with the press had an attempt made on his life today.”

“Interesting coincidence,” Rory commented.

“Tracker heads up security for Wainwright Enterprises. Chance and he go back to the days when they worked in a special-forces unit. I asked Sophie if she was talking about Jared Slade, the rich mystery tycoon, and she couldn’t confirm that because Tracker didn’t mention a name. He just said that this mystery man and Lucas had gone to college together. But how many rich, media-shy businessmen could there be visiting D.C. this week? I figured you might want to check it out.”

Rory’s mind was racing. A bomb had been delivered to Jared Slade’s suite. Why? By whom?

“I have to admit that I feel a lot better about you going after this interview now that I know Slade’s connection to the Wainwrights. They’re solid people.”

“If this person is Jared Slade. Did Sophie say how long this mystery man would be staying at the Wainwright estate?”

Natalie nodded. “At least until tomorrow. She doesn’t expect Tracker back until late tonight.”

“You don’t by any chance have directions to the estate?”

Nat grinned at her as she took a folded paper out of her purse. “Yeah. I figured you might want them. I went to a party there last winter. Good luck.”

Rory pressed a hand against the nerves jumping in her stomach. “Thanks.”

She had a hunch that she was really going to need her inner daredevil to come out now.

IT WAS MIDNIGHT when Lea’s cell phone woke her out of a half sleep.

“Well, is Jared Slade the man you knew as Hunter Marks?”

Lea resented the way the voice on the other end of the line could chill her. “I haven’t seen the photo yet. But I’ll have the pictures first thing in the morning. She definitely got one of Slade, but we kept missing each other all day long.”

“This is not going well.”

Tell me about it, Lea said to herself. She’d come within an inch of firing Rory in that bar. But that wouldn’t have gotten her what she wanted. She needed those photos first. What she said out loud was, “I talked to her and she definitely got the picture. We’ll both have what we want in the morning.”

“Where are the pictures right now?”

“She said she left them in her apartment. I’ll have them at eight-thirty.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

I sincerely hope not, Lea thought as she ended the call. Once she had the pictures, she wouldn’t have to have anything more to do with her anonymous informant.

RORY STIRRED, WHACKED HER ELBOW hard against something, and came abruptly awake. Before the bubble of panic could even fully form in her stomach at the bewildering surroundings, she remembered where she was—in her car a short distance from the Wainwright estate.

The streaks of pink in the east told her that it was close to sunrise. The moon had shone full and bright in the pitch-black sky when she’d parked her car at the side of the road shortly after one o’clock, and now, finally, she was going to make her move.

Leaning back in the seat, she crossed her fingers and prayed for all of her luck to be up and running. No more backsliding. She was not going to slip into the pattern of self-doubt the way she had when she’d been talking to Natalie in the Blue Pepper. Just as a little extra precaution, she’d put on the red bra and thong. Irene had told her that it would make her feel more confident about herself—and she was going to need every shred of confidence she had—or could borrow—to get the interview with Jared Slade.

She wasn’t even going to think about what she would do if she met the Terminator again, let alone what would happen if he kissed her again.

After stepping out of the car, she hurried across the road and used the grasses growing in the ditch for cover as she approached the drive that led to the Wainwright mansion.

As far as she could see there wasn’t a guard. Just a wide wrought-iron gate between two twelve-foot brick walls. Thanks to a full moon, she’d gotten a good view of the main house and grounds when she’d crested the last hill, and she’d noted that a brick wall bordered the rambling estate on all four sides. She’d counted two other buildings besides the house—a pool house and what she guessed to be a stable. Lucas Wainwright had some pretty nice digs.