Mistake Me Not Read online

  ‘You haven’t uncovered a deep seeded self-loathing. I don’t think I’m ugly, but I wouldn’t put myself anything above passable.’

  He scoffed a laugh, and the light in his eyes was unthreatening this time, not desire, but... some kind of disbelieving joy. ‘I almost crashed the truck back there because you smiled.’

  ‘Because I smiled?’

  ‘Yeah Dusty, the first time I see your smile, and I almost drove off the road. I’ve never crashed a vehicle in my life.’

  ‘I thought you had a tick.’

  ‘Not until I met you.’

  ‘Well,’ she said. ‘I’m not entirely sure what to say.’

  ‘Bruce never told you that you were beautiful?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ she said with honesty. ‘I can certainly say he did not.’

  To process this exchange she took her focus outward so she hadn’t anticipated his hand touching her face. He smoothed his thumb back and forth on her cheek to soothe her startled reaction to the contact but it left a fizzing trail in its wake. Only this time neither of them were surprised, this time she was ready for it. They both were.

  ‘Bruce is a lucky guy.’

  The bubbles in her gut turned to lead. Pushing away from him, she plastered herself against the passenger door. ‘Charming me won’t distress Sorcha. Men have tried it before.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She’s moved on Mr Sheppard, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Sheppard,’ he muttered. His hand fell away, and he his head the headrest with a thump.

  ‘I am sorry,’ she said.

  ‘Whatever,’ he said. ‘I’m going to take a look around. Wait here.’

  Shoving out of the car he slammed the door and the reverberation made her uneasy. Watching him stalk across the parking bays she felt the sting of pity. Sorcha intoxicated men, and Lacie had seen more than a few embarrass themselves when Sorcha ended their relationship. It was a shame for them, but it was a shame for Sorcha too. Suitors would line up around the block yet none of them measured up, and Lacie had to agree with Sorcha’s conclusions about potential futures with these men. Men wanted to parade her, they wanted to show her off, and eventually she would make someone the perfect trophy wife. Lacie didn’t envy her friend’s position.

  Except choice had been blown out of the water for her friend, and Lacie’s pity welled. Sorcha would end up with Bruce because Sorcha wouldn’t stand to disappoint or embarrass her parents. Lacie couldn’t imagine the burden. A lot had been expected of Lacie too but she could never have made a choice that her parents wouldn’t embrace even if they didn’t agree with her. Her parents had been mortified when she wanted to study in the US. Her uncle had married a woman from the States, and while Lacie hadn’t known them well she had met them. Lacie was sure to this day that the only reason her parents released her was because they knew Aunt Elise had agreed to look after her. Though her Uncle Wilbur had died only a year after she’d moved over here it had drawn her and Elise closer.

  Sorcha’s chance to choose her own suitor had been eliminated because of one careless choice. Sorcha could be reckless but to find yourself pregnant had to be the epitome of poor sense. How someone could be so overcome with passion was a complete mystery to Lacie. Either she’d been doing it wrong this whole time or she just wasn’t the type of woman that men lost their head over. She’d certainly never worried about being unprotected. In Lacie’s experience the very conversation about protection served as the sum total of foreplay.

  ‘Come on.’

  The driver’s door had opened startling her out of her reverie. ‘What?’ she asked.

  ‘I’ve got the apartment number. Come with me.’

  ‘You want me to come with you?’ she said.

  ‘How else do you plan to ID this guy?’

  ‘Oh, uh... I thought I could just look you know, from afar.’

  ‘You want to find this guy, but you don’t want to talk to him? What are you doing? Arranging a hit or something?’

  ‘No!’ she squealed. ‘Who knows what he’s doing in there? What if he’s with another woman?’

  ‘Then he’s in for a shock.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ she whispered releasing her seatbelt and slinking out of her door.

  Sorcha had assured her that she wouldn’t need to see Bruce. But Sheppard was right there was no good reason for her refusal without telling him the truth and she couldn’t do that to Sorcha; or to Sheppard. Clearly he was still hung up on Sorcha, Lacie couldn’t tell him that Sorcha was pregnant with another man’s child – or that she intended to marry him.

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he asked.

  He stood at the bottom of the stairs and she was still slinking across the parking lot. This was awful. Bruce would think that she was insane, and he would be right. Why would your ex’s friend hunt you out with a private detective that also happened to be another of Sorcha’s exes?

  ‘What number is it?’ she asked. ‘I’ll go up myself.’

  ‘Like you said this guy might not be happy to see you,’ he said taking her arm and practically dragging her up the stairs.

  ‘I’ll doubt he’ll be any happier that I’m showing up with another man.’

  ‘He doesn’t have to worry. If there was romance between us Dusty I wouldn’t be taking you anywhere near any of your exes. I’d be clearing up any mess for you while you were safe in my bed a dozen miles from here.’

  His frown hadn’t shifted and he focused straight ahead moving with a determined gait yet for some reason Lacie was touched by the sentiment. Though she knew it wasn’t specifically for her it was nice to know such fierce resolve to protect existed.

  She was still going when he stopped so she pinged back against him as though his gravity was a bungee rope connecting them. ‘Are you going to leave me here?’ she asked when he lifted his hand to knock – he stopped and looked down at her.

  ‘Do you want me to leave you here?’ he asked. She shook her head without thinking her reaction would probably encourage more questions than she could answer. ‘Are you sure your ex isn’t violent?’

  ‘We don’t even know if he’s here.’

  ‘That wasn’t the question I asked you,’ he said.

  That frown was still there and it read of a severe anger... and something else she couldn’t identify. Her hand ascended but she wasn’t sure where it was going, or what it was doing, and there wasn’t time to find out because the door he’d been about to knock on opened.

  The man there was in his late fifties and looked between the pair loitering outside his doorway.

  ‘Get away from my door if you want to get all gooey eyed over each other,’ he asserted. ‘I won’t have this in our building. This is a respectable building.’

  ‘Do you live here?’ Ryder asked.

  ‘No,’ the guy said. ‘I’m just here in my bathrobe at nine pm for kicks.’

  ‘The buzzer said Booth, and we—‘

  ‘That’s me,’ the man said. ‘What is it? What do you want?’

  ‘Sorry,’ Ryder said. ‘We’ve got the wrong place. Sorry for the intrusion.’

  He didn’t say anything else just grabbed hold of her arm again and pulled her all the way down the stairs, and into the truck, which he boosted her into brusquely.

  ‘Where next?’ she asked when he slammed into the driver’s seat.

  ‘Put your seatbelt on,’ he said screeching back out onto the road.

  This woman had been sent to him by Satan himself, she was a test, or a punishment for the wrongs he’d done in his life. Ryder couldn’t fathom any other explanation. She just sat there stinking out the place with that fruity scent she exuded from every pore. His dick was past the point of aching; the pain was sharp and worsened every time she wriggled in that seat.

  ‘Do you have any boiled sweets?’ she asked.

  ‘What?’ he asked.

  ‘I need something to suck on,’ she said.

  His knuckles cracked as he tightened his hold on the wheel and ea
sed off the gas. His frustration made him want to speed up, but this woman had a habit of catching him off guard with the simplest manoeuvre, and he doubted she’d want his suggestion of what she could wrap her mouth around.

  ‘Well?’ she said. ‘My mouth is dry. Do you have any—‘

  ‘Try the glove box,’ he said

  She reached forward with those dainty fingers and popped open the compartment. His mind was on the fall of her hair when she screamed and bounced up in her chair pulling her feet up under her.

  ‘Jesus!’ he hollered and swerved them to the next lane between a couple of screeching cars blaring their horns, and brought them to an abrupt halt on the shoulder.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said panting with her hand against her heart. ‘I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.’

  ‘What the hell’s the matter with you?’ he demanded. ‘You don’t scream like that when a guy is driving with the boner of the century! My mind ain’t on the ball! You get it! Don’t scream like that! What the hell happened?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said and though her hand remained over her heart her attention was firmly in his lap and he cursed his revelation.

  ‘What is it?’ he demanded watching how the pulse point in her throat hammered.

  ‘Nothing, I just—‘

  ‘What is there a snake in there or something?’ He reached over and lifted the driver’s manual to see the Beretta nestled in plain sight.

  ‘No, I—I’m British.’

  Such a simple explanation, his anger dissolved, and he found himself smiling at her. ‘You’ve never seen a weapon?’

  ‘Of course I have,’ she said. ‘I watch movies.’

  ‘You don’t have to worry. It’s perfectly safe.’

  ‘I wasn’t expecting it,’ she said. ‘I’m looking for a humbug and I come across that humdinger instead.’

  ‘It won’t hurt you. I can show you how to use it sometime if you like. A woman should know how to defend herself.’

  ‘I have a rape alarm,’ she said.

  ‘That’s a good start. But chances are if the guy is holding a gun you’re not going to get much of a chance to pull the pin.’

  ‘I love living in this country, there are so many ways in which your society is virtuous but...’

  ‘You’re not a fan of the second amendment.’

  ‘I believe in each to their own,’ she said

  Her feet slithered down from the seat, which meant her shin made contact with his forearm because he was still holding the compartment flap. It slid across her knee, and to her thigh, and though she wore skinny jeans, the contact wasn’t any less potent with the denim barrier. Or rather, he had to believe that it hadn’t been because the shock of awareness that bled to his every nerve had him sitting immediately upright again and easing his hips down to try and ease the pressure in his groin. He knew he groaned, and he knew that he’d closed his eyes to the agony because it was all he could do to try and relieve it... baseball, burnt toast, England.

  ‘Is that normal?’ she asked.

  When his eyes popped, he saw her looking at him with that tilted head innocence again.

  ‘The gun?’

  ‘Your discomfort,’ she said. ‘You don’t look happy.’

  ‘Let’s just get on the road,’ he said.

  ‘Can I help?’ she asked and he groaned again. ‘I mean... do you take medication or something?’

  ‘The kind of relief I need you don’t get on prescription.’ He put the truck back into gear and slammed the glove box as he merged back into traffic.

  ‘What were you looking for back there?’ she asked a few minutes later. ‘When you left me here.’

  ‘Back door,’ Ryder said.

  ‘What kind of back door?’

  ‘It’s always best to get the lay of the land when you don’t know what you’re walking into. If possible you should always have at least two exit scenarios. It’s a good idea to check for cover, which may also provide cover for others. It’s good to know what you’re walking into.’

  ‘Did you think he was going to hurt us?’

  ‘I would have no way of knowing that,’ he said. ‘But, it’s worth preparing for the worst. There is also the possibility that your boy might want to make his own sharp exit.’

  ‘You think he was going to run from me?’

  ‘I don’t know anything,’ Ryder said. ‘I usually make more of an effort to interrogate or manipulate my clients into giving me more specific information.’

  ‘But you just accepted my refusal to?’

  ‘You’re beautiful,’ he said. ‘Plus, I’d rather walk into the unknown than leave a woman such as yourself to walk in blind. If you’re squeamish at the sight of a gun I’d hate to think how you would react to someone attempting to physically hurt you.’

  ‘You did it again.’

  ‘Did what?’

  ‘You said it, “a woman such as yourself”, what do you mean when you say that? And it’s nothing to do with my looks because you just referred to that as a separate entity.’

  ‘You’re... do I have to answer that? Surely if I accept your refusal, you should accept mine.’

  Her laugh bred a smile and she nodded. ‘I suppose I should accept that as fair.’

  ‘Thank God for that,’ he said with his own smile.

  Stealing glances at her, he managed to stay in lane and get a look at her smile. Knowing he’d put that happiness on her face made a ball of warmth form around his heart. The satisfaction at something so simple wasn’t anything he’d experienced before.

  ‘You know you’re nothing like she said.’

  ‘Who?’ he asked.

  ‘Sorcha,’ she said extinguishing the heat in his chest. ‘When she told me about you I expected... something else.’

  ‘Every time we relax you bring up Sorcha,’ he said. ‘Maybe you and I should start afresh on our own... draw our own conclusions.’

  ‘Our business won’t take long,’ Lacie said. ‘And it’s nice to keep things in perspective.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘You’re Sorcha’s ex. I don’t want to forget that.’

  Great, so she didn’t know who he really was, and because of whom she thought he was she would never let herself relax in his company. He doubted she would be open to accepting him as any other man making a play because Sorcha had got there first – or so Lacie thought – and he could tell she was a woman of principle.

  ‘There’s something I should tell you,’ he said ready to bite the bullet. They were in a vehicle in the middle of nowhere, which reduced the chance she would run away from him on spec... Reduced it but didn’t eliminate it.

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked apparently not hearing him because she was pointing to the stilled red lights burning the night on the road ahead.

  ‘Traffic.’

  ‘It’s not going very fast,’ she said as they rolled to a stop behind the car in their lane.

  ‘It’s not going anywhere at all,’ he said pulling on the parking brake. ‘Wait here.’ Ready to leave the truck she stalled him with hands leaping to his forearm.

  ‘You can’t leave me here,’ she said.

  ‘You’ll be safe. If something scares you hit the horn and I’ll come right back,’ he said. ‘I won’t be long.’

  ‘What if the traffic moves?’

  ‘The keys are in the ignition.’

  ‘You want me to drive this?’ she asked looking around as though he’d just asked her to climb Everest.

  ‘It’s easy,’ he said. ‘Just like any other vehicle. I trust you... and it’s insured.’

  ‘I’m British,’ she said.

  ‘You do have your licence for here though, don’t you?’

  ‘Well, yeah but... we’re not used to... size.’

  The corner of his lips curled. ‘You hang around with me you better get used to it.’

  Maybe he was throwing her in at the deep end but he got out and walked away. When he was on the shoulder he glanced back to see
her clambering over the centre console, turning on the internal light by mistake then rubbing her head, and looking around at all the bells and whistles. She’d be fine.

  Lacie had begun to panic – he’d been gone for more than half an hour. All sorts of possibilities were going through her mind. A car could have hit him, maybe another driver’s road rage got him into a fight, or maybe he’d gone for something to eat and abandoned her. While she sat here in this motionless traffic she got more and more stuck because traffic piled up around her and packed them in from behind. She’d had to drive a small amount but it hadn’t meant more than a couple of feet at a time though it took a while to get comfortable with controlling this mammoth.

  The passenger door opened and he was sliding into the space she’d previously occupied. ‘See you’re a natural.’

  ‘You scared me,’ she said. ‘You’ve been gone for ages.’

  ‘It’ll take us a few minutes but if you can get onto the shoulder there’s an exit about a mile and half up—‘

  ‘The shoulder,’ she said. ‘We’ve moved about ten feet in half an hour.’

  ‘There’s a tanker spill,’ he said. ‘It’s about eight miles down but it doesn’t look like anyone will be going far for a while.’

  ‘You went eight miles in half an hour?’

  ‘Didn’t have to go that far,’ he said. ‘I met an official who gave me the information.’

  ‘Eight miles?’ she said.

  ‘I spoke to him a mile or so down the road.’

  ‘Is there another way?’ she asked. ‘If we take the exit?’

  ‘Might be,’ he said. ‘But I’m hungry. Are you hungry?’

  ‘I suppose,’ she said.

  ‘Let’s get off this road and regroup, there’s a steakhouse down there. What do you think?’

  ‘Ok,’ she said. ‘But you should drive.’

  ‘I don’t mind.’

  ‘I do,’ she said uncomfortable in the beast of a truck while its tamer sat there prone.

  ‘Ok,’ he said. ‘Stay there.’

  In a flash, he was out of the vehicle, around it, and then the door at her side opened. He didn’t give her the chance to exit instead he lifted her out of the seat and across the centre console into the seat he’d just vacated, and he’d done it as if she weighed the same as a bag of sugar.