Page 60 of Dangerous Lover

Except Jack, of course.

Caroline stepped forward and put her arms around his lean waist and burrowed in. His arms went around her immediately. There was one thing to be said for dressing lightly, she could hear his heartbeat, strong and steady. Just like him.

She had a sudden panicky intuition that this weekend had been a mirage. Maybe she’d invented a Jack Prescott out of her loneliness and depression. He’d done nothing but give, filled her with warmth, shown her a sensuality she had no idea existed.

“I can’t tell you what this weekend has meant to me,” she whispered, holding him tightly. The happiness she’d felt seemed to her like smoke, already dissipating in the air. The more closely she tried to clutch it, the more quickly it vanished.

Walking outside her front door scared her, like leaving an enchanted castle to face lions and tigers.

She felt a kiss on the top of her head, and Jack stepped back. His eyes were like dark flames. “We either go now,” he said, “or we go back to bed. Your call.”

Put like that, well… Did she want to spend the day in the bookshop, with maybe three customers all morning if she was lucky, go over her accounts—which always made her wince—longing for the day to be finally over, or did she want to spend the day in bed with Jack, being pampered with fabulous sex?

Tough call.

But she was hard-wired for duty, and she had a lunch date with Jenna, so she sighed and said, “Go now.”

Jack opened the door and ushered her out with a hand to her back. “Spend the day thinking about what you’re going to cook for me for dinner.”

He laughed and evaded her elbow.

Jack was doingone of the hardest things he’d ever done in a lifetime of hard things. He didn’t dump a massive amount of money into Caroline’s bank account. Did not, did not, didnot. He had to grit his teeth to keep from doing it, but he managed.

He was at a Summerville bank. It didn’t matter which one—he’d chosen it because it was next door to a Starbucks, so he could go to the bank and get a cup of coffee at the same time. The important thing was that it wasn’t Caroline’s bank.

He knew which bank she kept an account in. He also knew how much money was in that account and he knew how big her debt was. She banked at the Central Savings & Loan, she had less than $1,000 in her checking account—almost $ 4,000 with his month’s rent and deposit—and she was $354,759 in the red.

Caroline was entirely too trusting. Her bank records were kept right out on her desk, for all the world to see.

Knowing she had essentially nothing except debts, he deliberately chose another bank, any other bank, because if he went to hers, the temptation would be overwhelming to simply shift money from his account to hers.

A million, two. Hell, even three, what did he care? He had more than enough for his needs for the rest of his life and itwould be worth every penny to see those slight frown lines caused by money worries disappear.

Well, all in due time. It would happen, just not today. Caroline was no dummy and it wouldn’t be hard for her to connect him appearing in her life together with a large sum of money showing up in her bank account.

His turn up at the window. There was a perky brunette who made no attempt to hide her interest.

“Yes, sir? May I help you?”

“Yes, I want to open a bank account and get a safe deposit box.”

The smile was frankly flirtatious now. “Yes, sir. Please fill out this form. We’ll need your address and telephone number. Will you be making a cash deposit or check?”

“Cashier’s check.”

Jack filled the form out quickly, putting Caroline’s address down. He slid it across the counter together with the cashier’s check for fifteen million dollars and change.

The teller turned it around, running a quick, experienced eye down the form, then glanced at the check and did a double take. A quick look at him, smile gone, and with a murmured, “I’ll be right back, sir,” she disappeared.

Jack was prepared to wait for as long as it took, but she came back immediately with a tall, balding man who was going to fat. Clearly the branch manager.

“If you’ll just step this way, sir,” the man said, pointing to a door. Jack entered first. It shouldn’t take long for the bankto check with his own bank in North Carolina. A couple of calls later, the money was deposited and Jack had put the diamonds in a safe deposit box.

Putting the cloth bag into the flat box gave him a huge sense of relief. Even through the cloth, they felt hard, even hostile, cold lumps of pure evil. He’d taken them from Deaver because he couldn’t stand even the thought of someone profiting from the massacre he’d been helpless to stop and because there’d been no one left alive in the village to give them to. And turning them over to the Sierra Leone authorities … Jack had rarely seen a more vile or corrupt group of men. No, they were going to stay in the safe deposit box until he could get them where they needed to go.

When he’d finished his bank business, he stood outside, the freezing wind whipping at his clothes. So this was a Summerville winter.

There was no going back. He’d liquidated the Colonel’s life savings and his own. He’d turned his back on everything he’d ever known or done in his life. For better or worse, this was his home now.

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