Page 60 of The Money Man
He surprised her even more when he said, “My mother was a soft touch, so I often got recruited to help her catch strays. I learned how to do it right purely for self-preservation.”
She eyed him in his designer jeans with his perfectly styled hair and tried to picture him chasing down frightened cats and dogs. It wasn’t happening.
“Don’t look so skeptical,” he said, picking up both cat carriers.
“I can take one,” Alice offered.
He didn’t bother to answer, just nodded his head toward the stairs with that arrogant tilt she’d come to enjoy because she knew it was just him being him.
When they reached the foyer, Sara said, “Wait here, please. We’re going to swap the SUV out for the limo in the garage. The limo’s armored.”
“Good lord!” Alice muttered.
“Yes, it’s serious.” Derek sounded exasperated. “You don’t seem to grasp that.”
“I’m beginning to. Where did KRG get an armored limousine?”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he said, deadpan. Then he gave her a half smile. “Tully handles security for some high-powered CEOs, so he has his sources.”
“I’m pretty sure KRG is losing money on me,” Alice said. “All this for free.”
“The FBI is very grateful to KRG for the chance take down the BalanceTrakR conspiracy. We consider that kind of goodwill bankable.”
“So why isn’t the FBI here now instead of you guys?”
Derek seemed almost angry. “Do you really think I would entrust your safety to total strangers?”
She tried not to read too much into his question or into the anger hers had provoked, but a warm wave of hope rippled through her. “I, well, they’re trained professionals.”
“So are our people. Highly trained,” Derek said. “And I feel more secure because they have to answer to me.”
The warm feeling went hotter because she suddenly could see him in an embroidered waistcoat, lace foaming at his wrists and neck, his hair long and tied back with a black silk ribbon, directing his minions with ducal authority.
Pam walked back into the kitchen and beckoned to them. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Sylvester’s and Audley’s carriers were buckled into the backward-facing seat of the limo, while Alice and Derek slid onto the forward-facing one. A male driver and Pam sat in the front seat. Evidently, Sara was going to follow them in the SUV.
“I feel like the president,” Alice said as the cavalcade moved onto the street. Then she remembered the question that had gotten pushed to the back of her mind. “Where are we going?”
“To my place,” Derek said. “It’s on the top floor of a highly secure building, a much easier place to keep you from harm than out here. It won’t be for long. Just until the FBI circle in on Barsky, Peters, and whoever else is involved in the scam.”
Her breathing went shallow as her nerve endings lit up. She should show some self-respect and pretend to object but she decided it wasn’t worth wasting her breath on a lie.
“It’s very nice of you to take me and my cats in.”
“I’m not doing it to be nice,” he said. “I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“It’s still nice because although I’m not much trouble, my cats are kind of demanding.”
Derek uttered something between a groan and a laugh. “You are more trouble than I could have anticipated in a thousand years.”
That stung. “I’m sure I can find somewhere else to go if I’m that much of a problem.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
He hooked his arm around her waist and slid her up against his side from thigh to shoulder. She snuggled into him, relishing the feel of the soft knit of his shirt against her cheek, the hard muscle of his thigh under her palm, and the scent of warm, clean man. His breath ruffled her hair as he brushed a kiss on the top of her head, and she thought she would die a happy woman if John Peters shot her right now.
He exhaled. “You’ve surprised me, made me feel guilty, made me feel alive, and distracted me from concentrating on a very important client.”
