The Angel and the Outlaw Read online

  Then again, she had already decided he was full of contradictions. Like his primitively sexy yet ultra-sensitive kiss…

  She jerked her thoughts back on track. “I’m sorry, Cooper. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s admirable that you, uh…”

  “Don’t get carried away. I’m not due for a halo anytime soon. Keeping my nose clean was one of the conditions of Tony’s loan.”

  There had to be more to the story, she decided. From the sound of this, Tony was a former mob boss. Why would he care whether or not Cooper went straight…unless he didn’t want Cooper’s activities to compromise his investment. Yes, that was probably it.

  But as Cooper had already said, she should be concentrating on his reasons, not Tony’s. “Regardless of why, you should be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

  He lifted his shoulders in a stiff shrug. “The funny thing about earning something honestly is you don’t want to lose it. The Long Shot is mine. I plan to do whatever it takes to keep it.”

  “Including putting your life at risk to infiltrate the Sproule organization?”

  “Whatever it takes,” he repeated. “Like I said, Tony Monaco isn’t a man you would want to mess with. I owe him. I intend to pay him back.” He pushed away from the window and folded his arms over his chest. “Satisfied now?”

  “What?”

  “I’ve answered your question. You know why I’m going after Oliver. Anything else you have to say, you can say it in the truck.” He nodded toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  She had never met anyone as single-minded as Cooper. This man would be a formidable enemy. She had to convince him that he wasn’t hers. She crossed her arms, mirroring his posture, and stayed where she was. “You haven’t told me anything to change my mind. It still makes sense to team up.”

  “Hayley, haven’t you listened to anything I’ve said?”

  “No one has to know, Cooper. Now that you’ve explained why we can’t be seen together, we’ll both be careful not to let that happen. But that’s no reason why we can’t help each other.”

  “How?”

  “The evidence I told you about yesterday, the information in Adam’s notebook, is only part of what I have. I’ve been gathering material on Oliver and his business since last October. I’ll share it with you. It would give you an advantage before you go into the Sproule organization if you have a framework of knowledge to start from.”

  His expression sharpened, his gaze suddenly alert.

  Something clicked in Hayley’s mind. “That’s why you were at the Sproule estate last night.”

  “What was?”

  “You were planning on getting into the house to do some investigating of your own while everyone was distracted with Oliver’s party.”

  He hesitated a beat. “Could be.”

  “Of course! If you had been there to apply for a job, you wouldn’t have hidden your truck or climbed the fence, you would have used the front gate. You wouldn’t have worried about being caught there.”

  “All right. So what?”

  “Then that’s even more reason to take advantage of the help I’m offering. Your plans were interrupted because of me, so it’s only fair to let me make it up to you.”

  He regarded her in silence for a while. He still wasn’t agreeing, but at least he wasn’t moving toward the door.

  “Think about it, Cooper. You said you can go where I can’t. Well, that works both ways. I have connections, too. I can use them to check out whatever lead you discover.”

  “If you mean your connections with the Latchford police,” he said, “then forget it. Oliver has to have people on the inside there.”

  It pained her to admit it, but she was beginning to suspect that much herself. Her father had become so agitated at the idea the one time she’d mentioned it to him that she hadn’t brought it up again, yet she had to be realistic. Whatever the reason, the police hadn’t helped her so far. They would be even less likely to help her now that the trial was over.

  She shook her head. “No, I meant the connections I have in the financial world. I worked as a forensic accountant in Chicago so I have a lot of experience following money trails. I can follow Oliver’s.”

  “What good would that do?”

  “We could get solid evidence of Oliver’s motive to kill Adam, which would prove my brother’s death wasn’t an accident. We might even be able to prove Oliver bribed his way to an acquittal.”

  He raked his fingers through his hair. “This is sounding complicated.”

  “It doesn’t have to be. Would Tony object if you worked with a partner?” she asked.

  “Tony Monaco’s never been real particular about methods. He’s more interested in results.”

  “Then there isn’t any good reason why we shouldn’t team up. You did say you would do whatever it takes to keep your bar.”

  He turned back to the window and lifted a blind slat to look outside. “Yeah, I did say that.”

  “Why can’t that include working with a Tavistock?”

  He shook his head, muttering something under his breath.

  “Well?”

  The silence lasted longer this time. Finally, he left the window and strode directly to where she stood. He took her by the shoulders. “If I agree to this, you’ll keep your distance from Sproule, right?”

  Her heart began to pound. She wanted to think it was from what he was saying, but she knew it was more from his touch. “I’ll stay away as long as you don’t shut me out of what you’re doing.”

  “Hayley—”

  “I mean it, Cooper. Don’t shut me out. I want you to keep me up to date on your progress.”

  He moved his palms along her shoulders to her neck. “I’ll do more than that. Once I bring you in with me, you’ll be all the way in.”

  “That’s how I want it.”

  “Don’t be so fast to agree, Hayley, seeing as how you cleaned up so good and all.” He touched his fingertip to the pulse at the base of her throat. “The kind of dirt you’ll be getting into now won’t be so easy to wash off.”

  Chapter 4

  Cooper heard the distinctive rumble of the split carburetor well before he saw the bike’s headlight sweep past the chain-link fence to the broken gate. Nathan Beliveau was right on time, which wasn’t surprising, considering his business—he was the president of the largest courier company in the midwest. He would know about keeping schedules. But his choice of transportation was…unexpected. Cooper leaned back against the front fender of his truck and waited as the Harley Davidson coasted down the ramp into the abandoned gravel pit and slowed to a stop beside him.

  The echoes of the bike’s engine faded gradually, replaced by the ticking of cooling metal. A cloud of dust tainted with exhaust floated through the headlight briefly before the beam was extinguished. The meeting place they’d agreed on was five miles out of Latchford and half a mile from the highway. The floodlight that had been mounted near the entrance when the pit had been in operation was long gone, but it was a clear night and the moon was almost full, so there was enough light to see what he needed to.

  The man astride the motorcycle stretched his long legs on either side to balance the machine but made no move to get off. He could probably afford to travel by chauffeured limo, but he appeared completely at ease on the powerful bike. “You’re Webb?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Cooper made no attempt to hide his scrutiny—it would be expected. “Nice hog, Beliveau.”

  “She’s a beauty, all right.” He slipped off his helmet and rested it on the gas tank in front of him. “It sure beats riding a desk.”

  Cooper shifted his scrutiny from the bike to the man on it. Moonlight gleamed from his straight black hair and the sharp ridges of his cheekbones, revealing the stamp of native heritage. He would probably look just as comfortable riding bareback on an Appaloosa.

  Wind rustled through the weeds that ringed the pit, muffling the distant whine of tires on the highway. Nathan lifted his face, as i
f testing the breeze. “Tony said you wanted televisions.”

  “Know of any?”

  “How about a trailer load of sixty-two-inch plasma screens?”

  Cooper whistled. “That’ll do.”

  “They’re at an electronics manufacturing company in Hammond where they’re scheduled for an overnight shipment to Kansas City. The pickup’s slated for ten-thirty tomorrow night. That means you should be out of there by ten.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Can you handle a big rig?”

  “No problem. Have you got one with a sleeper compartment?”

  “There’s one at the Chicago terminal. I’ll arrange to have it parked in a rest area off the Interstate. You’ll have until seven in the morning before I’ll have to report it missing.”

  Cooper calculated the time it would take him to get the truck to Hammond, do the pickup and drive back to Latchford. It would be cutting things close, especially since he would be taking detours onto secondary routes to get around the weigh stations. “I’ll have it back by then.”

  “Try to keep the damage to the rig to a minimum. My insurance rates are already killing me.”

  “Except for the wires, it won’t have a scratch.”

  Nathan turned his head toward Cooper. His eyes were too deep-set for the moonlight to touch, making his expression inscrutable. “You better be as good as Tony said you were. I heard it’s been a few years since you did a job like this.”

  “Some things you don’t forget.”

  Nathan studied him. “That’s right. Some things you don’t forget.”

  Cooper couldn’t help being curious about Nathan’s connection to Tony, but he knew better than to ask. The fact that he was here said enough. Nathan was indebted to Tony Monaco, just like Cooper, just like all the members of the Payback network.

  And he was probably as eager as Cooper was to settle his debt and get on with his life.

  Leather creaked as Nathan slipped his hand inside his riding jacket. He withdrew a folded sheet of paper and held it out to Cooper. “Here are the rest of the details about the load. It should be all the information you’ll need.”

  “Thanks.” Cooper pushed away from the fender of the truck, took the paper and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans. “If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”

  “Count on it.”

  “About those TVs…”

  “What about them?”

  “Who’s covering the loss?”

  “Nobody. The guy who runs the electronics company in Hammond owes Tony a favor.” Nathan switched on the ignition, gripped the throttle and kicked the bike back to life. “I heard he decided not to pay it back.”

  One hour later, concealed by the overhanging boughs of the maple at the back of the Tavistock yard, Cooper grasped two of the wrought-iron arrowheads that ran across the top of the fence and vaulted to the other side. He paused to look around, but there was little chance of his arrival being witnessed—the houses on this side of the street backed onto a park, which was not only picturesque, it could prove to be a useful setup. Hayley had probably cut through the park when she had carried the rifle to the Sproule estate.

  He turned his attention to the house. When he’d brought Hayley home last week, he’d noticed that the front of the house had a big veranda decorated with gingerbread trim. There was no porch in the back, nothing to use to climb to the second story, and the rear door was solid wood with a deadbolt. But the ground-floor windows were the sliding-sash kind and had conveniently wide ledges.

  No dog. No alarm. A yard with overgrown trees that blocked the view of the next-door neighbors. For a family of cops, they should have paid more attention to making their house secure. Cooper used the gas meter that stuck out from the wall for a foothold and hoisted himself onto the nearest window ledge. He scowled as he let himself in. He’d have to tell Hayley to get better locks.

  Right. Otherwise, someone like him might get inside.

  He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, then scanned the room he had entered. A long oval table sat in the center, surrounded by chairs with curving wooden backs. Teardrop prisms of a large chandelier glinted above the table and the flat glass front of a china cabinet gleamed next to the wall on his left. It looked like more than a cop, even a police commissioner, could have afforded, but Cooper had heard that Hayley’s mother had come from money.

  The archway across from him led to a center hall. It was dark, but a sliver of light showed beneath a door to his right. Keeping his weight on the balls of his feet to minimize the noise of his footsteps on the hardwood floor, he moved to the door and eased it open.

  The room was lined with bookshelves. The light came from a green-shaded banker’s lamp that rested on the top of an old fashioned roll-top desk. Hayley was sitting on a swivel chair in front of it, the kind with oak slats in the back and casters on the feet. She had her back to him, her fingers clicking at the keyboard of the laptop computer in the center of the desk. She lifted her hand to rub her eyes, then reached for a water glass that sat on a stack of file folders beside her elbow and downed the contents in one gulp.

  Cooper’s scowl deepened as he studied her. It was two in the morning, but she didn’t look as if she had been to bed. She was dressed in jeans and an oversize gray sweatshirt, her hair tied haphazardly at the nape of her neck with a scarf. Her feet were bare, her toes curled against the chair casters. She looked lonely, vulnerable and too damn approachable.

  So far, she had kept her word—in the four days since he’d agreed to her deal, she hadn’t gone near Oliver. Instead, she had spent most of her time at the nursing home with her father. Cooper had been pleased that she’d been smart enough to stay away from the Long Shot, yet it was as if she had been there anyway. Echoes of her presence lingered. He kept picturing her on the couch in his office, or curled into the chair in his loft.

  He kept remembering the taste of her mouth.

  But he was here because she could be useful to him, that’s all. She had been right—she had connections and skills that he didn’t. They could help each other. He couldn’t afford to let it get more complicated than that. She had been intruding into his thoughts too much as it was.

  She wasn’t his type, no matter how alluring she looked right now. One glance at the kind of place she lived in told him that. So did the room she was sitting in. Scattered among the books on those bookshelves there were framed photographs of men in uniform. Police uniforms. What looked like certificates hung on the wall behind the desk. Those were probably two generations worth of official commendations. He moved his gaze along the frames.

  Which one of them was the commendation Adam had received when he’d arrested Cooper?

  He gave the door a push to swing it the rest of the way open and stepped over the threshold. “Hello, Hayley.”

  She reacted instantly, her head snapping up. She spun the chair to face him. “Cooper! How did—”

  Her words cut off at the sound of a crash as the empty glass that had been beside her elbow shattered against the floor.

  “Aw, hell,” Cooper muttered, striding across the room.

  Hayley shoved herself out of the chair. It rolled sideways and thudded into the front of the desk.

  “Stay where you are!” he ordered.

  She glanced around quickly, her eyes wide. “What? Is something wrong?”

  “Don’t move or you’ll cut your feet.” He went past her and took the top file folder from the stack on the desk, then squatted down and used its edge to sweep the shards of glass into a pile.

  She pressed her hand to her chest and drew in a shaky breath. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I have boots, you don’t.”

  “You shouldn’t have startled me.”

  “Couldn’t be helped.” He checked the floor for the glint of stray pieces. When he was satisfied it was clear, he scooped the remnants of the glass onto the folder, then straightened up and looked around. There was a small wicke
r basket half filled with crumpled paper beside the desk. He dumped the glass into it. “I wanted to make sure you were alone.”

  “Of course, I’m alone. It’s the middle of the night.”

  He slapped the folder on his leg. The loose neckline of her sweatshirt had slid down when she’d jumped out of her chair, baring her shoulder. There was no sign of a bra strap. Cooper tried hard to keep his gaze on her face. “For a woman who kisses like you do, that’s not something I’d take for granted.”

  Color seeped into her cheeks. She grabbed the back of her chair. He wasn’t sure whether it was for balance, or to have something on hand to shove between them. “You could have called first.”

  “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t get to see that pulse in your neck. I like seeing you excited.”

  “Cooper—”

  “You need better locks on your back windows.”

  “Is that how you got in? Why didn’t you simply knock?”

  “Force of habit, I guess.”

  She paused. “I don’t believe that. You were deliberately trying to shock me.”

  “Maybe I wanted to see what you wear to bed.”

  “I don’t believe that, either. You didn’t risk coming here just so you could flirt with me.”

  Flirt? It sounded so innocent, the kind of stuff kids like Hayley would have done in high school. He smiled. “Are you naked under that sweatshirt?”

  The blush on her cheeks spread to her neck, to the place where a vein fluttered beneath her delicate skin. It was true, he did like seeing her excited. He enjoyed watching the spark in her eyes chase away the worry. Too bad she hadn’t been asleep when he’d gotten here. He would have liked to wake her up with a kiss the way he had the last time. He’d meant what he’d said—a woman who kissed the way she did shouldn’t be alone at night.

  But she wasn’t alone, was she? He was here.

  So what was he going to do about it?

  His smile fading, he lowered his gaze. The gray fleece that covered her breasts was thick, but not thick enough to hide the reaction of her body. He could clearly see the outline of her nipples. They were hard.