The Hill

“This is Judd Brody.”

“Of course, Mr. Brody. Mrs. Harris left instructions.”

The gate eased open and Theodore drove the car around the short, circular drive in front of the Victorian mansion. Did London live in a place like this up here?

“I’ll be right back.” Judd swung open the door before Theodore could get out and open it for him. He strode up the front porch and rang the doorbell, which chimed somewhere deep in the house.

The door opened a crack and an eyeball assessed him. Then the crack widened and the pinched face of Bunny’s butler appeared.

Judd held out the pouch. “Mrs. Harris wants these to go right back in the safe.”

“Yes, of course.” The butler snatched the pouch with long, bony fingers and pressed it to his heart. “Thank you, Mr. Brody, for looking after Bunny’s treasures.”

“I think someone else is looking after her treasures now.”

He left the butler standing at the door with his mouth gaping open, launched off the porch and grabbed the handle of the car door.

He fell onto the seat and ran a hand through his hair. “On to Sneaky Pete’s.”

The car lurched forward and London fell against his shoulder. She took her time getting back into her own space. So she felt it, too?

He’d better maintain control. The drive to the Haight wasn’t that long—not nearly long enough for what he planned for London.

He cleared his throat. “Do you live in Pacific Heights?”

“No.” She shook her head and her hair shimmered. “I live on Nob Hill, but my father has a place here. I’m not moving.”

He shot a quick glance at her luscious lips, now pressed into a determined line. His simple question had changed the mood in the car.

London kept her hands in her lap and stared out the window. She seemed to have lost interest in their flirtation, so maybe he wouldn’t be getting lucky with an heiress tonight.

Theodore pulled the car to the curb, but this time Judd didn’t beat him to the door. Theodore opened London’s door with a wrinkled brow beneath his cap. “I don’t like this, Miss Breck.”

“It’s all good, Theodore. Do you want to join us for a drink?”

He crossed his arms, resting them on his big belly. “I don’t drink and drive. Never have, never will.”

Judd clambered from the car and eyed the seedy bar with the psychedelic mural on the outside wall and a flickering red neon sign. “I’ll take care of her, Theodore.”

“Thank you, sir.”

London heaved an exaggerated sigh, but she didn’t protest. “You can take the car home, Theodore. We can get a taxi later.”

“I have my own code. I take you somewhere, and I bring you back. Call when you’re ready.”

“If you insist.” She winked at Judd.

“Hold on.” Judd shed his dinner jacket, shrugged out of his cummerbund and pulled off his bow tie. He tossed them into the backseat of the car. “I don’t want to be overdressed.”

London tugged her motorcycle jacket closed over the sparkly material of her dress. “You have a point.”

Judd opened the door of the bar and ushered her through. The neon motif from outside carried forward to the interior. Standard-issue neon beer signs flashed on the walls, and a jukebox in the corner cranked out a hard-rock tune. If smoking in bars were allowed in this city, this would be a smoke-filled room.

Instead patrons cracked peanut shells and dropped them on the floor as they gathered around tables or hunched over the bar. A few couples danced on the wood floor of a small room off the main bar. Nobody looked at them twice.

Rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt, Judd led London to a table near the jukebox and slid onto the wood bench across from her. “Come here often?”

“Every once in a while.” Her gaze scanned the tattoos spilling down one of his arms, and she pointed to the long bar of scarred wood. “We can order at the bar. The waitresses here are few and far between.”

“I’m in no hurry, are you?” He caught the eye of a waitress in a pair of short shorts and a tie-dyed T-shirt tied under her breasts.

She scurried over, balancing a tray of drinks with one hand. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll have a beer, whatever you have on tap.”

“I’ll take the same.” London turned wide eyes on him. “How did you get her to come over here so fast?”

He shrugged. “I just made eye contact. It works better than yelling.”

Her gaze dropped from his face and meandered across his chest, where he’d undone the first few buttons of his shirt. His flesh warmed in the wake of her inventory.

“Yeah, whatever.” She folded her arms on the table. “So what do you normally do for a living when you’re not helping out friends guarding jewels for rich, frisky matrons?”

“Guard jewels for rich, frisky matrons.”

“Really?”

He stretched his legs out to the side of the table. “I’m a private investigator and bodyguard. Usually my assignments are more long-term than this one. I just got back from a job in Saudi Arabia.”

“I know a few people in that part of the world.” She flashed her teeth in more of a grimace than a smile and drummed her fingernails on the table. “Is it interesting work?”

“It can be. There’s a lot of travel involved, which I like.”

“I like to travel, too.” She stopped fidgeting and pressed her palms together. “Things will be a little different for me now, now that...”

“Your father died. Sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“He left you in charge?”

Her eyes narrowed and glittered. “You sound surprised.”

“You sound defensive.”

She puffed out a breath, blowing a strand of hair from her eyes. “Let’s just say I’m dealing with a lot right now. Lots of unhappy people never expected Dad to put the reins of Breck Global Enterprises in the hands of his flighty daughter.”

“You’re his only child?” He knew that, of course, even if he didn’t follow San Francisco society closely, except when he needed to for his clients. But he stubbornly wanted to pretend he knew nothing about her famous family.