Secrets and Satin: A MacKenzie Novel (Romantic Suspense) (MacKenzie Family) (13 page)

A Ka-B
ar lay in the dirt at his feet, and Max looked down at his arm, where a long slash oozed blood down his tricep. He hadn’t felt the sting with his adrenaline pumping so high, but he was sure he’d feel it soon. At least it wouldn’t need stitches.

“I guess you don’t get to go back to Mr. Vassin unharmed after all,” Max said coolly. Groans came from the men who littered the ground as two of them tried to make their way back to standing positions. Jimmy still lay unconscious. He’d probably be that way for a while.

“Tell Mr. Vassin I expect him to get in touch soon. I won’t make deals unless I meet face to face. And you can tell him my price has doubled.” Max headed back up the porch stairs while Jade kept her weapon trained on the men. “Now get off my lawn.”

The two who’d arrived in the helicopter limped their way back and took off for
destinations unknown. It took Tattoo a little longer to disappear because he had trouble getting Jimmy into the car with his knee not working properly, but he eventually managed it.

Max didn’t slump over and grab his head until they were both out of sight. It never paid for the enemy to see your weakness.

“Come on, tough guy,” Jade said, tugging his arm so it wrapped around her shoulder. “Let’s get you a couple of those magic pain pills.”

“I guess I should thank you for saving my ass.” His words slurred through the debilitating pain.

“It’s just another day at the office,” she said. “Besides, I’ve gotten pretty fond of your ass.”

It took less than twenty-four hours for Martin Vassin to make contact
and apologize for the “miscommunication” between Max and his men, and then invite Max to Las Vegas to be a guest in his hotel so they could meet face to face without the added hostility of other parties. Max had told him he’d need twenty-four hours to decide and had hung up the phone on a very surprised Martin Vassin.

In realit
y, he’d needed an extra twenty-four hours so Declan could start putting his backup plans in motion—because Declan always had backup plans—and so they could gather the necessary equipment and supplies for their trip. Max’s plane had to be flown in to Austin and refueled, and he and Jade had taken off and were almost to Las Vegas before Max called Vassin back and told him they’d be landing in the next ten minutes. He wanted Vassin scrambling and as flustered as he could get him. And Jade was going to help him do that.

“This dress is ridiculous,” she
said, smoothing down the short black linen dress she wore. “No bodyguard would wear something this stupid. And how am I supposed to run in these heels? I feel like a giant. We’re the same height.”

Max’s mouth quirked at the continued complaints, and
he put his hand possessively on her lower back as they left the plane and made their way to the waiting limo.

“And I’ve got no place to put my gun.”

“I’m sure you’ll find some place—creative,” he suggested and then helped her into the limo as she struggled to keep her skirt from riding above her waist.

D
amn
, he thought, his cock hardening in an instant. The long expanse of her legs and the valley between them enticed him like nothing else ever could as she maneuvered across the seat. Already ideas were forming in his head on how they should spend their drive to the hotel, and she gave him an arched look as her gaze landed below his waist.

The driver closed the door behind them and they were silent
while the luggage was loaded into the trunk. The vehicle finally started moving, and Max waited until they’d turned from the airport onto Wayne Newton Boulevard before he took a device out of his pocket to scan for bugs. He wasn’t surprised to find one under each of their seats.

Jade opened her handbag where he knew she’d stashed her weapon, and probably a few other goodies, and she came out with the small rectangular device that would emit the frequencies needed to make the bugs unusable.

“I guess ten minutes wasn’t enough time to take him off guard if he’s already got listening devices in his limo.”

“What do you want to bet they’re permanent?” Max said. “He’s the type of man who wouldn’t trust friends any more than enemies. But you’re probably right—I bet they’re scrambling to get our room outfitted as we speak.”

“What did Declan have to say? I was putting on this ridiculous getup while you were talking.”

It never ceased to amaze Max that the only time he ever saw Jade really uncomfortable was when she had to play a traditional feminine role. She was naturally one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen—her skin flawless and the bone structure of a queen—but she tried to downplay her looks. She never wore makeup and it was rare he saw her in something other than jeans and T-shirts.

“You’re beautiful.”

“What?” she asked, flustered by the compliment, and then she tried to joke her way around it. “Declan called to say I’m beautiful? That doesn’t sound like him.”

“I just wanted you to know that,” he said, ignoring her discomfort. A flush tinged her cheeks and she looked out the window at the passing traffic. “But I think you’re beautiful whether you wear something like this or that old ratty robe with the hole in the pocket. Though neither of those are my favorite thing for you to wear.”

“Let me guess,” she said. “Garter belts and black lace?”

“Not even close.”

His voice lowered so it was a seductive caress, whispering across her skin. He watched as her nipples hardened beneath the thin fabric of her dress. She shifted in her seat and crossed her legs and he couldn’t help but smile. He took her hand and kissed the tip of her finger before nipping it slightly and moving on to the next
, watching the green of her eyes darken as his tongue swirled around the tip.

“
No, my favorite thing for you to wear—” he whispered —“is me.”

He smiled with satisfaction as a small whimper escaped her lips and wished
he had time to lay her down on the leather seat and put words into action.

“And you need to learn to accept a compliment,” he said, settling back against the seat and adjusting his cock, though there was really no comfortable position other than balls deep inside of her. “Just because I tell you you’re beautiful doesn’t diminish how you do your job. There’s no one else I’d rather have at my back. Now say,
thank you, Max
.”

Her lips quirked in a half smile. “I don’t think so.
But if you play your cards right I’ll be thanking you profusely later. Now what did Dec say?”

“They’ve still got no leads on the girl. He’s gone ahead and activated Shane and the rest of the team because he doesn’t want to leave us without backup if we need it. We’ve got to keep things rolling with Vassin until they can at least get an idea of where she’s being held. Dec said Vassin hasn’t been in touch with Senator Henry in more than two weeks, and the Senator is frantic.”

Jade bit down on her bottom lip while she thought it out. “It’s not good for him to stop communication. It could mean Vassin has reached the end of his use for the Senator and his daughter.”

“That’s what Dec thought as well. We need to find her fast. Vassin has a home here in Las Vegas. We need to try and get an inv
itation. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

The limo turned onto Sands and then made the slow drive to the massive front entrance of
the hotel. It took up the entire block, and towers speared into the sky at each corner while huge angels that had been carved into the sides trumpeted over the street. There was nothing subtle about the elegant veneer—the electric excitement and the undercurrents of desperation could still be felt even in the finest establishments. Max glanced at Jade and caught her surprise as she saw where they were.

“I didn’t realize
Vassin had done so well for himself. I was expecting a dive off The Strip.”

“Illegal arms dealing is a profitable business. And
Vassin only owns about thirty percent of the hotel. But word is he’s got the capital to snap up more shares when they come available.”

He looked Jade over again slowly, and if he didn’t know exactly how dangerous she was, he wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at her now. She looked softer
, and the touch of makeup made her eyes bigger and more alluring. Most of Vassin’s men still wouldn’t believe she was capable of being a bodyguard, even though the four men who attacked them knew the truth. It wouldn’t be long before Vassin learned just how deadly she was.

***

Jade turned off the white noise device and put it back in her purse as the limo stopped in front of the hotel, and she pulled down her skirt and wondered how the hell she was supposed to get out gracefully. It was a hell of a lot easier in her opinion to run through the jungle in BDUs than to brave an hour of wearing high heels in polite society. She felt like a fraud any time she had to play the part of sophisticated lover. What the hell did she know? She was an orphan from Nowhere, Louisiana, though she’d worked damned hard over the years to get rid of any accent that might give her away.

The door opened and she waited until Max got out of the car before she scooted over, and she breathed a sigh of relief that he was thoughtful enough to block the
view as he held his hand out to help her.

He didn’t try to keep her hand as the
y followed the bellman into the lobby. Max knew her habits better than anyone, and he’d never tie up her hands in case she needed to get her weapon free. Just like she knew to always stay to his left in case he needed to get to his.

Max broke away as someone in an expensive charcoal suit and red tie met him with an outstretched hand, and she kept watch, looking for signs of Vassin or any of his men in the crowded lobby. The hotel was too big to see all of the possible hiding places, but she spotted two men in the
main lobby who had the look of professionals, though they were both dressed as tourists. She spotted another at the restaurant across the way, sitting at one of the outdoor café-style tables, eating lunch and drinking coffee. He was better at the façade than the others, but the way his eyes kept skimming across them gave him away. That and the bulge she spotted beneath his sport coat.

Jade
kept her eyes sharp as the man in the suit led them through a door marked
Private
and then to a wood-paneled elevator that opened with a key card. The suit handed Max an envelope with two identical cards and then they were all rising to the top fast enough to have the bottom drop out of her stomach.

“A lovely room,” she said
to fill the silence once they were left alone in the penthouse.

The main area was wall-to-
wall white carpet so thick the heels she wore sank deep into the pile. A long glass dining table that sat ten was on one side of the room and a cardinal red circular couch like none she’d never seen before sat on the other end. The entire back wall was nothing but glass and looked out over the Strip, but she could see for miles out into the desert beyond.

“I have to say
, I prefer the penthouse in my own hotel,” Max said, taking the bug sweeper from his pocket and moving from room to room. “This one seems a bit obvious for my tastes. Vassin seems like a man who would overcompensate for certain things in his decorating.” He let out a low whistle when he came out of the bedroom. “That bedroom is the perfect example. We’ll have fun in there later,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Jade stopped her task of gathering the two tiny listening devices she’d just found in the living area and looked up to see if Max was serious.

“I didn’t realize you had a hotel,” she said, taking the devices to the table to join the others they’d found.

“Of course I do, love.
Seven of them. What kind of self-respecting billionaire doesn’t have hotels to diversify his holdings?”

He looked completely serious, and it was sometimes hard to remember that behind the gutter fighter was an honest to God businessman. He’d never talked about it while they were at the DEA and most of the other agents they worked with had no idea about his background or that his family was one of the wealthiest in the world. He was just so normal and down to Earth, and she knew he’d be doing this same job whether or not the money was there.

But thoughts of what he’d told her earlier, about how he should always remember where he came from and what the Devlin name stood for, only cemented the idea that she and Max would never work out. She was so out of her league she could only shake her head at the absurdity of it all.

“In fact,” he said. “We should take a couple of weeks off and head to Australia. We just opened a new hot
el there and I need to check to make sure everything is running smoothly.”

Jade watched as Max shook his head at the collection of bugs they’d found throughout the penthouse. More than a dozen sat lined up on the little bar that divided the kitchen and dining room, and she took the neutralizer out of her purse and set it
next to them, wondering what to say. Max set the bugs on the floor and then systematically crushed each one beneath his heel before dumping them all in the garbage.