little dig about charity work?”
She had. “Taking poor youngsters off the street? If I had a suspicious mind, that would sound to me like he meant getting rid of one particular person for good.”
“He was referring to his plan to retaliate for the shooting. Bastard. He’s so cocky he practically came right out and told us what he was going to do.”
“What’s he been waiting for? Is it taking Cantoney this long to get his hands on the weapon of choice?”
“Could be. Or maybe it’s taking him this long to come up with a way to shoot down a rival gang leader without landing himself back in prison.”
“We’ve been pretty visible,” Madeline agreed. “He’s got to know that we suspect what he’s planning. So we can figure that however he strikes back at the other gang, Dirk Cantoney will have an iron-tight alibi.”
As they walked from the building and toward the car, Cruz took the keys from his pocket and reached for the door handle of the driver’s side.
Madeline’s hand got there first. When their eyes met, she said, “Aren’t you forgetting something, Martinez?”
Her question hung in the air between them. “What?” he asked, stalling.
“This.” She snatched the keys away and pushed him lightly. “I’ll take it from here.”
At any other time, under any other circumstances, Cruz would be delighted by that wicked gleam in her eye. It would bring about all sorts of fascinating fantasies about just how wicked, given the right provocation, she could be. But right now it drove his heart right down to the level of his boots. “Ah, c’mon, Madeline. You wouldn’t do that to me, would you? After the disappointment we just had? I can’t tolerate any more stress today.”
His attempt to play on her pity didn’t sway her. “Move aside and I won’t have to give you any.”
“It doesn’t have to be right now, though, does it? You could drive the car some other time, I promise. Let’s just put this off for a while.”
Madeline opened the door while he pleaded, buckled herself in and adjusted the seat. “Are you walking or riding?” It wasn’t until she turned on the ignition that he hurried. He almost sprinted to the passenger door and got in.
“You are merciless, do you know that?”
She grinned. “And you’re a big baby.”
The tires shrieked lightly as she pulled away from the curb, causing him to wince. “Take it easy,” he muttered, as anxious as a new mother. “This is a valuable piece of machinery. It’s not a police car.”
“I can tell. It’s a lot cleaner.”
Casting a glance at him, she was amused to note that his face had turned two shades lighter than normal. He was grasping the dash with clenched knuckles. As she turned onto the freeway, he didn’t relax a bit. If anything, he got even more uptight.
“Careful there. Look out for that car. Are you watching that semi? Slow down, for Pete’s sake!”
“I’m barely driving the speed limit,” she protested. She almost felt sorry for him. He looked downright ashen, and his knuckles were white. But his annoying directives didn’t make her feel particularly patient. In fact, they made her want to do something cruel. And take the long way home doing it.
“How fast did you say this car could go?”
He actually shuddered at the question. “Forty-five. Fifty-five, tops. Definitely no faster than fifty-five.”
“You’re kidding!” she said in mock amazement. “I would have bet that it would go ninety, easy.”
“Don’t even think about it,” he said through clenched teeth.
Her foot pressed down more firmly on the accelerator and the powerful car responded immediately. A delighted grin spread across her face.
“You’re truly an evil woman, do you know that?”
A laugh was her only response, and he grasped the dash more tightly. Wouldn’t you just know it? The first time he got to see Madeline Casey as loosened up as he’d always fantasized, she was behind the wheel of his precious car, doing twenty over the speed limit, putting him in the throes of cardiac arrest.
Someone up there, he thought darkly, had a hell of a sense of humor.
Chapter 10
Madeline snuggled more deeply into the soft, comfortable bed, a slight smile tilting her lips. She was having a wonderful dream, one from which she had no desire to awaken. She was driving Cruz’s car again, doing one hundred miles an hour, and he was pleading with her to slow down. Getting the upper hand over Cruz had been delicious, and reliving it in her sleep was almost as good.
Her bed moved then, and she frowned a little, her eyes fluttering open. There was Cruz, next to her, just as in the dream. Her eyes drifted shut again. After a long moment they snapped open. She stared hard at the man beside her, and then past him. This didn’t look like the inside of his car, this looked like her bedroom. Her eyes opened wider. It was her bedroom!
She sat up straight in bed, pulling the sheet with her protectively. It would only reach halfway up her chest. The rest was snagged beneath his jean-clad hips.
“What are you doing in my bedroom?” she demanded incredulously. She was still reeling from how easily he’d moved from her dream to her side. “How did you get in here? What do you want? Get out!”
His firm mouth curved at the way the words tumbled from her mouth. “You’re grumpy in the morning,” he observed. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Not that it will be morning much longer. It’s almost noon. As to how I got in…”
“Ariel,” she finished with him simultaneously. Her hand went to her forehead. Somehow she’d known that allowing her friend to badger her into giving her a spare key would cause only grief. She’d agreed to do so to guard against an emergency. But what was the prospect of an emergency compared to the possibility that Ariel would let a man into Madeline’s apartment? Especially this man!
“Yeah, she heard me knocking and informed me that you
“I’ll bet,” Madeline muttered. She pulled ineffectually at the sheet again. “Would you please get up?”
Cruz rose to his feet and she snatched the sheet to her chin. “Now that I’ve got you moving, keep going until you’re out the door. And don’t come back.”
Now that she mentioned it, the idea of leaving her bedroom did have some merit. At least, if he wasn’t going to be involved in anything more than arguing with her. He’d watched her sleep for only a few moments, but the sight of her all soft and mussed and wearing a pale pink satiny thing was having a predictable effect on him. He knew that if he stayed one more instant his next move would be even more predictable. Right now she resembled the Maddy of his fantasies, and he knew he’d never think of her as Madeline again. Her scanty attire had his temperature rising, and rather than embarrass them both, he shrugged and said, “Okay, I guess you don’t want to hear about my idea.” He turned and walked out of the room.
Idea? She waited until he was out of sight of the bedroom door before bounding out of bed. Why did he always seem to get these leads for them to follow on the weekend? “Make some coffee.” She threw the order after his departing form and shut the door firmly. He wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything involving this investigation without her.
As she hurried through her shower and dressed, she mentally called him every rotten name she’d ever heard, and even strung a few together creatively. Applying her makeup in record time, she debated about what to do with her hair, and then left it down. She’d already spent twenty minutes, and she wasn’t certain how much time he’d allow before he left without her.
She smelled the coffee’s aroma as soon as she opened the door. Cruz was seated at the kitchen counter sipping a cup of the brew. He poured her a cup and pushed it toward her. He watched, amused, as her eyes closed in satisfaction at the first strong drink. His feeling of amusement quickly fled, however, when he noticed what she was wearing. The heat that mushroomed in his gut had nothing to do with the hot coffee. Black denim clung faithfully to her long slender legs, topped by a thigh length lightweight sweater. A pair of short leather black boots added a couple inches to her height. The leggings left little to the imagination about what lay under
