“And if that threatens Natches?” she asked softly.
“Then now’s the time to warn him.” He rose from his seat and watched her with that fatherly look that demanded action. The right action. “Let him help you, Miss Dane. You’d be amazed how easy he can be to get along with then.”
And he was right. She couldn’t tell them the truth, because even she didn’t know the whole truth. But she could tell them enough to perhaps get them to back down. Because they had to back down, just for a little while longer.
He stared at the caller ID on the phone before answering it, his jaw clenching in anger.
“Yes?”
“They were here.” Nadine’s voice was shaking with fury. “We have to do something now.”
His lips thinned. “Settle down. Now’s not the time to do anything, peanut. We sit back and let her ask her questions. She can’t hurt us.”
“She knows something,” Nadine hissed. “I could tell. And she’ll get what she needs. If she finds out, she’ll fry us.”
“If you don’t calm down, you’ll fry us. You don’t know anything, remember that. Johnny was a good boy and you’re his mother. Period.”
“They recorded Johnny bragging about belonging to Chandler. They did DNA tests. That bastard Dawg gave them blood and they matched it. They know it’s the truth. If they keep digging, they’ll find the connection.”
Now that piece of information was worrisome. He hadn’t expected that. He’d managed to keep that information buried for too many years, he didn’t like it coming out now. Didn’t it just figure that Johnny had to brag? As though it were something to brag over.
“The connection is hidden, peanut. Take one of your pills and calm down. As soon as I can I’ll be there and we’ll talk. We’ll figure this out. Until then, remember, they can’t get anything unless you tell them.” He hoped.
“Do something,” she whispered. “You have to do something before they question anyone else. They’ve already been to Wenden’s and Ray’s. If they keep digging, they could dig up something else.”
If Johnny had revealed the truth about Chandler, God only knew what else he had let out. He grimaced at the thought of that. Hell, he had thought Johnny was smarter than that. He hated being wrong.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he promised her again. “If they show up again, don’t answer the door. Pretend you aren’t home. I’ll check into things and I’ll have something when I get there.”
He heard her breathing, heard the little sigh of relief.
“Will you stay the night this time?” she asked then, that little whisper of hope bringing a smile to his lips.
“I’ll try to arrange it. I’ll call you when I’m coming. Promise you’ll stay calm, peanut.”
“I promise. Until you get here.”
“Until I get there.”
He disconnected the phone, tapped his finger against it thoughtfully and began to make plans. It was sooner than he liked, but it was time to start cleaning things up.
TEN
Natches caught her as she came out of the marina office. His fingers latched around her arm and before she could do more than breathe a protest he began dragging her toward the Nauti Dreams.
He had no idea what the hell was going on here, but he was getting ready to find out. She wanted to question the rest of the damned town, that was fine and dandy by him, but when she started questioning family, then he expected answers.
And when she started dealing with that rattler Nadine, then he sure as hell expected those answers to be forthcoming.
“I don’t like being dragged around like a child, Natches,” she told him as he pulled her onto the deck of the boat and unlocked the door.
He pulled her into the houseboat, slammed the sliding door closed behind him, then stalked to the kitchen for a beer.
All shit aside, he’d seen a new side of Chaya today. For the first time, this morning, he’d seen the agent. Steel eyed, her demeanor cold, she refused to back down. And rather than turning him off as it should have, it had made him hard. Because he knew the woman underneath, liquid hot and burning for him alone. Dawg called her plain, and he’d wanted to smash his cousin’s face in for the comment despite the fact that he knew, had seen, the metamorphosis she somehow managed to undergo.
The agent, with her hair slicked back into a ponytail, her eyes cold and hard, her expression emotionless, blended into the background for most people. Not plain, but easily passed by for some reason. Natches had always seen the woman beneath that look though, because he knew her, in all her expressions, in many of her moods, and he knew there was nothing plain about her.
She was complex, complicated, and sometimes too damned sharp to suit him. And she was good at hiding. Hiding herself as well as her secrets.
He turned back to her after downing half the bottle of beer he’d pulled from the refrigerator, remaining silent as he watched her.
Dressed in jeans because she knew they made folks more comfortable and a light sweater beneath a dark blazer. And those boots. Those boots made her legs look longer, made them sexier. The gray sweater brought the soft golden highlights in her eyes free, and softened her delicate face.
And when she crossed her arms over her br**sts and glared back at him, his c**k throbbed in anticipation.
“The Mackays are going to have to keep their noses out of this,” she snapped. “You and Dawg following me around town all day, then showing up here. What the hell did you think I was going to do anyway? For God’s sake, Natches, you know how an investigation works. There are questions afterward, loose ends to tie up and, considering there’s a million dollars missing and possible co-conspirators, facts to find. You don’t just drop a case like this.”
He didn’t say anything. He finished the beer, tossed it in the trash and narrowed his eyes on her once again.
And it infuriated her. He could see the mad rising in her eyes. The distant expression he referred to as her “agent face” began to peel away. A light flush worked over her cheeks, her lips lost that thin, cool little line and the lower curve became almost lush, definitely sensual.
Here came his Chaya, the woman.
“Timothy’s playing a very neat little game,” he said then. “I can see it in every move you’re making and I know you can, too. He gave you orders I’m not to accompany you on these interviews? Have you asked yourself why?”