Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (24 page)

Noah
almost laughed at the look of astonishment on Lulu’s face.

“Oh
my God,” Lulu said.

“You’re
kidding?” Wilder exclaimed.

“Until
about a year ago, I had the photographs to prove it.” Julia picked up her glass
and drank almost half the mimosa. “When he threatened to besmirch my character,
as though I hadn’t already done enough myself, I simply produced the
photographs and said they would make a tasty addition to the front page of the
National Enquirer. I told him I’d write him a check if he went away.”

“We
own a newspaper,” Wilder said. “Why give a scoop to a competitor?”

“I
wanted him to seem legitimately smarmy. The next day he dropped the suit,
cashed the check, and left for Thailand leaving you two and the company in my
hands. He spent the next five years in diapers on some distant estate in the
jungle never to be heard from again until his death. The price I had to pay to
clean up that house.” She rolled her eyes. “But it was worth every penny. I got
the two of you.”

“Aunt
Julia, how do I politely say, that you have balls of steel,” Lulu asked.

“Your
father and mother gave me custody because he knew I would rise to the
occasion,” Julia said with a satisfied smile. “The day your parents died was
the day I had to be a grown-up.”

“And
you did so with grace, style, and dramatic flair,” Wilder replied.

Julia
simply smiled. “Hiram really didn’t want you. I always suspected it was Marcia
who wanted control of you and your money. All your uncle wanted to do was sail
his yacht, drink champagne and wear diapers. He probably would have stuck the
two of you somewhere until his mother sucked the company dry.”

Noah
paged through his iPad until he found the data on Marcia Bennington. Her photo
showed her to be a proud looking woman with ice blue eyes and hair a carefully
cut bob that framed her almost unlined face. Whoever her plastic surgeon was,
he was good. None of that slant eyed look that shouted facelift. She barely looked
fifty, much less seventy-eight. “You don’t sound like you like her too much.”

Even
Lulu shuddered.

Julia
shrugged. “It’s really hard to love a block of ice. I should be more
sympathetic, poor Marcia was forced to marry beneath her.”

“I
beg your pardon,” Lulu said. “Forced to marry a Bennington?”

Noah
scanned his file on Marcia Dayton’s family. The Daytons were listed with the
robber barons back in the 1880s. They controlled the docks, and then expanded
into the railroad and trucking industry.

Julia
waved her hand. “No one speaks of it anymore, but the Dayton’s considered our
money to ne ‘new.’ That is until Marcia had to marry someone to keep the family
afloat. She had aspirations of becoming European nobility, but then her father
lost all the money in some ill-advised deal and she had to lower her expectations.
A feeling she never kept to herself. I was surprised the marriage lasted as
long as it did. The divorce must have devastated the entire family. My father
gave her twenty million dollars to get rid of her. Back then, that was the
mother lode, but she managed to squander most of it. I’m the first one to say I
live extravagantly, but I’ve never lived beyond my means.”

Noah
wasn’t quite sure what to say. He couldn’t even imagine having that much money,
much less blowing it. He did not get this world.

“Say
whatever you will about Marcia,” Julia said, “she still adored Hiram. Had he
ever had children, she would have been a doting grandmother.”

“You’re
being overly generous, Aunt Julia,” Wilder said.

“I
can afford to be. I don’t hate Marcia and I never hated Hiram.” Julia sipped her
mimosa. “Hiram loved the sea. He won several trophies for the United States yachting
team and was instrumental in keeping the U.S. as a power in the sport. People
in yachting circles still talk about him with reverence.”

Lulu
looked at her watch. “I would love to stay here and chat more, but I have a
photo shoot this evening and I need to get ready.” She stood and set her glass
on the sideboard.

“On
a Sunday!” Aunt Julia said.

“It
Salvatore Feria. This is the only time he could be in town and we could get
Times Square. I love working with him. He’s shooting me for the cover of the September
issue. I’ll look fabulous.”

Everyone
stood with Lulu preparing for their own departures back to the city.

“Mr.
Callahan,” Julia motioned him over. “May I speak with you for a moment?” She
patted the empty chair next to her.

Noah
eyed her suspiciously. From what he’d seen of her, Julia didn’t do anything
without a reason. He sat down cautiously.

“You
are an interesting looking man.” Julia gave him a sly smile.

Damn
he was in trouble. “I am?”

She
pursed her lips. “A little rough around the edges, but that works for you.”

“Thank
you,” Noah said.

“May
I call you Noah?”

“Of
course you can, Ms. Bennington.”

She
tsked at him. “Call me Julia. Everybody does.”

Noah
tried not to fidget. He forced himself to sit still and wait for whatever Julia
had on her mind.

She
fussed with the drape of her dress for a moment. She leaned toward him, her
voice just above a whisper. “How are things progressing between you and my
niece?”

Oh
hell no, he wasn’t going there. “We’ve been whittling down our suspects and
checking all the leads we have. We’re not making as much progress as I would
like.”

“I
can tell you are a man who gives your all for everything. I trust you are doing
everything you possibly can to protect Lulu.”

“Yes,
ma’am, er…Julia.”

She
nodded. “How are things on a personal level?”

A
couple of lip locks and everyone had them walking down the aisle toward happily
ever after. For one intriguing moment, he’d been unprofessional and was
determined not to lose control again.

“You’re
not her type,” Julia continued, riding right over his silence. “But I can see
why she is fascinated with you.” She put a hand on his knee.

Noah
stared down at her hand, forcing himself to remain perfectly still.

“I
know if you were a few years younger, I’d be giving my niece a run for her
money.”

He
had dealt with forward women in his life. He liked a woman who laid out all the
rules right up front, but this was just weird. Potentially, Julia was a mother
figure to Lulu and she was giving him permission to knock boots with her. Who
the hell was this woman?

“Thank
you. I enjoyed the weekend.” He stood and her hand dropped away. He tried to
walk nonchalantly to the door with all the dignity he could muster, but he
hurried the last few steps. Outside he almost barreled into Ian who was walking
toward the foyer with a suitcase in one hand and tan coat over his arm.

“I
just had the strangest conversation with Julia Bennington,” Noah said still
confused and wondering if he’d really heard her say what she’d said.

“About?”
Ian coaxed looking interested.

“She
just gave me permission to have my way with her niece.”

“Under
those circumstances, could you hurry it up? I have you down for Wednesday of
this week.”

“Wednesday
for what?”

“For
you and Lulu to have sex. I’m still smarting over the loss of all the money on
the first kiss, so could you oblige me?”

Noah
stared at Ian. “Are you all nuts?” His personal life was his personal life and
why the hell was he the center of some betting pool?

Ian
patted him on the shoulder and continued down the hall. Noah hurried up the
stairs to his bedroom, determined to finish his packing before someone else
asked him to sleep with Lulu so he could win the bet.

In
his bedroom, Noah lifted his suitcase onto the bed and then suddenly sat down
on the mattress and stared out the window at the gray, overcast day. His
bedroom overlooked a large greenhouse. Beyond the greenhouse a cluster of pine
trees huddled as the first vanguard of the surrounding forest.

The
bedroom Julia had assigned him was a simple room with large elegant, old world
furniture, a small sitting area flanking the window, and an attached bathroom
that was almost as large as his living room at his rent-controlled apartment in
the East Village. Hell, the bedroom itself was almost as large as his bedroom,
kitchen and dining room put together. The leather chairs, the massive dresser
and king sized bed were as simple as they were stylish.

He
thought about Lulu and the life she must have lived in this house. He imagined
her running loose in the forest, swimming on the private beach, yachting on the
bay. How different his life had been and yet how similar. They had both had
similar tragedies. Her parents’ deaths had affected her as much as his parents’
deaths had affected him.

Under
all the bravado, self-confidence, and moxie, he sensed she was still a lost
little girl. He had watched her face while Julia had talked about Hiram and his
mother. Especially when Julia had commented on how Hiram’s mother had adored
him. Lulu had looked sad. He’d wanted to comfort her, though he knew she’d just
shrug him off. To the world, she wanted to show how strong, confident and well-adjusted
she was. But inside, she was still lost, still hurting over the loss of her
parents. Lulu had a toughness about her that masked her softness. Noah wanted
to protect her. He wanted to wrap her up in cotton and keep her safe. Which was
why he couldn’t become involved with her. He couldn’t let the ugliness of his
life touch her. As much as he wanted her, he needed to keep his distance.

He
pushed himself to his feet. He could hear footsteps in the hall outside his
door. People were leaving and he needed to be ready for Lulu. The night photo
shoot was going to be a nightmare.

Times
Square was alight. Besides the production lights that illuminated the area
around Lulu, theater marquees added to the brightness. Aiden stood under a
heater, phone in hand watching Lulu as she pranced about in a beautiful winter
white coat that swirled around her long legs. She was showing off for Noah even
though Noah wasn’t looking at her, his eyes wandering over every building.

Mark
stood next to Aiden, a cup of coffee in hand, steam rising to warm his face.

“My
girl is putting on the sexy tonight,” Aiden said as he tweeted. His followers drooled
over every little tidbit he tweeted about Lulu. He snapped a photo and uploaded
it.

Lulu
posed several different ways. Wind ruffled her hair and flung it over her face.
She brushed it away as the photographer snapped photo after photo of her. He
called a halt and Lulu stopped posing.

“This
is really dull stuff,” Mark looked bored. He sipped his coffee..

“This
is dull stuff that’s going to make a lot of money.”

“I
don’t get the whole fashion thing. Yeah, she looks good, but it’s not as
exciting as adding new spyware to my computer.”

Aiden
studied Mark. “How un-gay of you?” Maybe he shouldn’t complain, they wouldn’t
be competing against each other. Aiden was going to be the pretty one in this
relationship.

Mark’s
eyes widened in amusement. “I’m gay enough to like you.”

“Okay,
I’ll give you that one,” Aiden said as he went back to tweeting.

Mark
finished his coffee and tossed the empty cup into a trash bin. He pulled his
iPad out of his messenger bag and leaned closer to the heater.

“What
are you doing?” Aiden asked.

“Jake
O’Malley has no alibi for the time of the near hit and run.” Mark said.

“What
did he say?”

“He
said he was home during the car incident,” Mark said.

Aiden
frowned. “That man is never home.”

“How
can you be sure?”

“Because
he’s always on the run from this premiere to another from Los Angeles to New
York. If he was home reading a book I’d eat my hat.”

“Then
let’s see if we can find him. He doesn’t look like the cash type.”

“How
are you going to find out where he really was?” Aiden asked looking over Mark’s
shoulder.

“Hack
into his financial records. That’s lo-jack for rich people.”

Aiden
thought for a second. “Isn’t that illegal?”

“Who
are you going to tell? Since I just told you what I’m doing, you’re now an
accessory.”

“Not
if I walk over to that policeman over there and tell him what you’re doing.”

“Are
you?” Mark challenged.

Aiden
shook his head. Mark thrilled him in a way other in his life had. He wouldn’t
rat out anything for Mark no matter how illegal. But he wasn’t going to tell
Mark that. “If you wanted to know what Jake O’Malley was doing, you should have
asked me. I could have asked his personal assistant. Terry and I are like
this,” Aiden held up two fingers close together.