Carla Neggers - Tempting Fate

He grinned. “Who’s going to make me?”

He sounded like a fourth-grader, only deadlier. The bastard had just tried to kill Ira or at least put him out of commission for a long time. Dani made a quick assessment. The attacker was bigger, stronger and obviously more accustomed to beating up on people in the woods than she was. But if he had a weapon, at least it wasn’t pointed at her.

If she was lucky, she’d have one good chance with her rock. Then that would be that.

Not very promising.

“If you leave now,” she said, “you’ll be long gone by the time I tend to Ira and have a chance to call the police.”

He laughed. “Do I look worried?”

That he didn’t.

But he added, by way of explanation, “I don’t react well to people sneaking up on me.”

He blew her a kiss-insultingly, cockily-and trotted off into the woods, not making a sound.

Dani ran to Ira, on his hands and knees, vomiting. “Ira, are you all right? Should I get an ambulance?”

He turned his pale, purplish face toward her. “I’m moving back to Istanbul.”

Sinking back against the tree, he coughed and rubbed his neck where there were red fingerprints and broken blood vessels. He winced in pain, growing even paler.

“Ira, I’m getting help.”

He held up a hand. “Wait.”

“You’re hurt-”

“I’ll be okay.” His voice was raspy, and he was clearly hurting, but he was dead serious. “The Pembroke doesn’t need any more bad PR right now.”

“I don’t care. We can ride this out and-”

“Dani, listen to me. A reporter found out Zeke’s been staying at the Pembroke. Figures something’s afoot and wants to talk to you.”

Dani knelt beside him as his words sank in. Everything was coming apart so fast. She was falling in love with the wrong man, her father was in the hospital, she’d been abrupt with Mattie and Nick, rumors were flying about her and her companies and Ira had just been attacked on his way to find her.

“Did you recognize that thug?” she asked.

Ira shook his head. “You?”

“No. Ira, we can talk about this later. You need to take it easy.”

“Dani, one more thing. Mattie called. She and Nick are on their way-they want you to pick them up at the train station.”

Just what she needed. Her famous grandparents wouldn’t exactly slip into town unnoticed. First, it wasn’t in their natures. Second, it was impossible. Somebody would recognize them. “I’ll take care of it. Right now I just want to get you out of here.”

There was a crunching sound behind them in the woods. Dani whirled around with her rock, which Zeke quickly snatched from her hand, ever the professional. “Good thing your pal didn’t test your arm,” he said mildly.

Dani felt relief at his presence even as she digested his words. “You saw him?”

“Watched from behind that pine back there. I got here too late to keep him from nailing Ira. You already had the situation in hand.” Despite his sardonic tone, his eyes were flat and dark, without humor. He squatted and quickly examined Ira’s bruised neck. “Ribs okay?”

“Sore, but I don’t think he broke any.”

“Throat, neck?”

“They hurt.”

His eyes narrowed, Zeke lightly touched the red fingerprints and nodded, as if reassured Ira’s injuries weren’t more serious. “If it’s any consolation, he wasn’t trying to kill you. You’d have been dead before Dani or I could have done a thing.”

Ira licked his lips. “I suppose I had to know that.”

“More to the point,” Zeke said, rising, “Dani had to know.”

She felt her stomach twist.

“You don’t go after a man like that with a rock.”

Zeke spoke without apology or arrogance. They were on his turf now, and he knew it.

“Well, if I’d had a gun, I’d have gone after him with that, but I didn’t and I wasn’t going to run while Ira-” She stopped midsentence, seeing the gun tucked into a small holster on Zeke’s waist.

He followed her gaze. “Just a precaution.”

For the first time she thought she really understood what he did for a living. How little she knew about this man who just hours ago had been so gentle and loving and passionate in bed with her.

“Why didn’t you follow him?” she asked hollowly.

“I tried. Got as far as the pavilion. A few of your people were out there on break. I decided not to push it and came back here.”

And she hadn’t heard a thing. Not a breaking of a twig-until he’d wanted her to hear him. His tone was mild and objective, but Dani felt a chill go through her. Was her situation putting Ira and her people at Pembroke Springs in danger?

Ira, his color returning, pulled himself to his feet. “I’d never make it in the cloak-and-dagger business. Excuse my saying so, Dani dear, but you and our friend Cutler deserve each other. A pity you didn’t meet under normal circumstances.”

But despite his wry humor, Dani could see he’d had a bad scare. She started toward him but felt Zeke’s gaze on her. He hadn’t moved. “Zeke?”

“I know who he is, Dani,” he said in a low voice. “And I know where to find him.”

Ira groaned. “That’s enough for me. I’m out of here.”

“I’ll help you get back to the inn,” Dani offered.

“Thanks, but I believe I’m safer on my own, less likely to stumble on big mean guys spying on my boss. I’ll have someone at the bottling plant run me back.”

Threatening again to return to Istanbul, he staggered off toward the path.

Zeke touched Dani’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure he gets there safely.”

But she insisted on going with them. It wasn’t far to the pine-shaded grounds of the bottling plant, where one of the office workers was on break at the pavilion and volunteered to drive Ira back. He assured Dani and Zeke he’d be fine. “I’ll get a full explanation another time.”

When he’d gone, Dani sank onto a stone bench inside the pavilion, leaving the gate open. Across the shaded lawn she could see the evergreen-colored clapboards of the Pembroke Springs bottling plant, its old-fashioned look belying the state-of-the-art equipment inside.

“Better crank yourself down a few notches, Dani,” Zeke said, sitting beside her. He looked hot and unbearably masculine, as if he came upon people being attacked in the woods all the time. Maybe he did. “If you don’t, soon you won’t need a balloon to get you off the ground.”

She could feel the rising level of oxygen in her blood. All she needed now was to hyperventilate. She’d collapse, and Zeke would scoop her up and carry her off to safety. With his arms secure around her, she’d just give up. She’d let him find the answers to all her questions, she’d let him solve all her problems. She’d just snuggle up under a soft, warm quilt and lose herself, her independence, her defiant nature.

“I’m not going to turn my problems over to you to solve for me,” she told him quietly.

“Didn’t ask you to.”

“And I want to know where you got that blackmail note.”

“Naomi gave it to me,” he said simply. “Joe sent it to her in a separate, sealed envelope. She didn’t open it until she saw you wearing the gold key in the paper.”

“So you only just saw it yourself?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t look at him but could sense his presence beside her. She couldn’t deny the current of excitement running through her. He was, at the very least, a difficult man with whom to remain neutral.

“And that man who attacked Ira?” she asked.

“Quint Skinner.”

She swung around on the cool marble bench even as the shock sliced through her. “What?”

“Quint’s been in Saratoga at least as long as I have. I don’t know what he’s after, if anything.”