Noah's Nemesis Read online

  She smiled at him. “You can close your mouth now,” she said in a teasing voice.

  “You don’t look anything like the woman I spent all day with,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, it’s amazing what a little makeup can do.”

  He rolled his eyes at that. “If that’s what makeup does,” he said, “us poor guys haven’t got a chance.”

  She burst out laughing. “I do need to go downstairs soon,” she said apologetically. “I’m not trying to disturb your meeting or whatever, but I’ll have to greet some of the people who are coming in.”

  “That’s fine,” Noah said, hopping to his feet. “I can come down with you now.”

  “And what about Logan?” she said, turning to him.

  “I’m coming too,” he said. “Rory just pulled into the parking lot, so I’ll wait for him.”

  She frowned, nodded, and said, “I’m not quite ready, but I will be in a few minutes.” She walked back into her little corner to the bathroom.

  The two men looked at each other.

  Logan grinned. “She’s quite a looker.”

  “You’re not kidding,” Noah said. “I didn’t see her like that all day. She was sleeping at the pool earlier but curled away from me. I—She just kind of blindsided me.”

  “That was obvious, and I couldn’t be happier.”

  Noah snorted at that. “Just because a beautiful woman is our client, that doesn’t mean anything,” he said.

  “No, but also no reason why we can’t enjoy that our client is a beautiful woman.”

  “Sounds strange when you put it that way,” he said, “but I get what you mean.”

  “Good,” Logan said.

  “Besides, you’re taken. You’re one of those guys happily in a long-term relationship, aren’t you?”

  “Yep, absolutely,” he said, “and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

  Noah nodded and frowned. “I get that,” he said. “I really do. I’m just not sure how I feel about it though. It’s like Levi and Ice are running a matchmaking service.”

  “Depends on whether you’re part of the matchmaking world or not.”

  “Did they matchmake for you?”

  “Nope, but I was one of the first who settled into a more traditional domestic life,” he said. “At least by our standards anyway. I came to join them on a job,” he said, “and that’s where I found her, but, hey, I don’t care how it came about. It’s a good deal for me.”

  “Ah, but is it a good deal for her?” Di asked, as she came around the corner. This time she was ready. She had a small purse with her and her heels on. She looked at the two men. “It’s time for me to go.”

  Just then Logan’s phone went off. He checked it and smiled. “That’s Rory. He’s down in the lobby.”

  The three of them headed for the door, and, as the men walked to the stairs, she shook her head and said, “Oh, hell no, I’m not doing all those stairs in these heels.”

  Noah looked at her shoes, and he nodded. “Fine, I’ll go down in the elevator with you.” Logan stepped in with them.

  She looked at the two of them. “You can go anywhere you want, you know?”

  “We’re here to keep an eye on you,” Noah said. “So just deal with it and don’t be difficult.”

  She groaned. “There you go again.”

  “I’m not doing anything,” he said.

  “Neither am I,” she shot back in exasperation. “I was just trying to let you off the hook.”

  “Well, you can’t let us off the hook,” he said. “We’re on the hook until we transfer you back to Levi and Ice’s place.”

  “Right,” she said, stiffening her spine and glaring at him. “Fine, if you want to be that way.” In the background, Noah heard Logan snickering. She turned, looked at him, and asked, “What’s so funny?”

  “You two,” he said.

  “That’s not fair,” she said.

  “Why not?” he said. She glared at him too.

  Noah said, “See? There’s no winning with her.”

  “Don’t be difficult,” she admonished.

  He just looked at her, shook his head, and said, “You’re the one who’s being difficult.” Her eyes welled up with tears, and he immediately groaned. “Sorry.”

  “You should be,” she said, sniffling back her tears. But her back was ramrod stiff as they got off the elevator, and she headed for the conference rooms.

  He hadn’t even looked to see where they were. As he followed her, he wasn’t happy with the location. “I knew this place had a conference setting, but I didn’t realize that you wouldn’t be in the main conference hall.”

  “Tonight, it’s supposed to be in a smaller, more intimate setting,” she said. “At least at first. It opens to other attendees later.”

  He nodded. “Okay, I didn’t know we had a change of venue either.”

  “It’s always like this,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “Nothing’s changed.”

  “Maybe, but it wasn’t clearly laid out that this is where you would be.”

  She glared at him. “You’ll just have to deal with it.”

  He laughed. “I will,” he said, loving that she could throw his own words back at him. He looked over to see Logan and Rory following a little bit behind. As they went into the smaller room that she talked about, he noted it would still hold a good eighty-plus people. “Well, it’s hardly small,” he muttered.

  “Definitely smaller than where we’ll be tomorrow,” she said. As she walked in, she was greeted by several other people, who obviously knew her well. She was immediately engulfed in hugs. He was half engulfed himself, as everybody assumed that the two of them were together. He didn’t dissuade anybody of the idea and just kept her close.

  Finally she separated from him a little and said, “I need to go up there now.” He nodded, leaned over, and kissed her gently on the cheek.

  She looked at him. “What’s that for?”

  “Since everybody seems to assume that we’re together,” he said, “it seemed like the thing to do.”

  She flushed and walked away. But he was happy because it had brought a bright sparkle to her cheeks. She wasn’t quite aware of her surroundings, and he wanted to bring her back to a sense of where she was. He watched the room, even getting up to stand at the back to keep an eye on everybody and their reactions. He didn’t see anything that looked untoward. Nobody looked at Di like they were furious or panicking or even studying her too intently.

  They all appeared to be old friends. And that was even more disruptive because he couldn’t tell who was a problem and who was not. He knew he probably wouldn’t find any of the suspected guys in here, even the stalker from the parking garage, and that was fine and dandy, but that didn’t account for the possibility that Maxwell could be utilizing somebody else to cause Di harm. Or had hired somebody else to kidnap her for him.

  If it got too hot for Maxwell to be around personally, it only made sense that he might bring somebody else in on this. But then Noah was thinking like the same predators that he often hunted. And they weren’t always that complicated. Lots of times they were very simple. They wanted what they wanted and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  From there, it just got ugly, but it wasn’t that hard to figure out.

  Chapter 6

  It was nice to be back in her world and feeling like she was in control again. Dianne couldn’t explain how unsettled the day had been so far and how it felt to have her world tossed up in the air and dropped and how wrong it all seemed to be. She came to the States every year for this conference. She had one more ulterior motive this year because she was moving back, spending at least a year or two in the US as she planned to set up her new business, wondering about getting closer to Levi and Ice, especially since she had made no close friends in Australia.

  And now that the attack had happened in the very place where she was relocating, it gave her a very unsettled feeling. But here among her work friends and everybody in the in
dustry that she knew so well from all over the world, it was just a lot of fun. Also she was back in control and where she belonged.

  By the time the evening wound down, and they stood around, having drinks, and plates of hors d’oeuvres were handed out, she was accustomed to having Noah settled in beside her. If his hand wasn’t on her shoulder or her arm hooked into his, it was an odd moment. And it felt natural, like they were meant to be that way.

  Several people had expressed surprise at her partnership, but she had just introduced Noah naturally, with a smile. There had been no condemnation, but he was a hell of a specimen and in way better shape than she was, and yet she was in damn fine shape. Maybe not in the fighting kind of shape that he was in, but it would be hard to find anyone who would have argued with her physical condition.

  Although today’s traumas had really set her back. She didn’t want to let it, but it was hard. Still, by the time the evening wore down, she felt much more relaxed.

  He smiled at her and said, “You’re doing great.”

  She beamed and then confessed, “The wine is really helping too.”

  He chuckled at that. “We can have a bottle up in our room later, if you want.”

  “That’s tempting,” she said, “very tempting.”

  “We can do more than be tempted,” he said. “Anything that makes it work for you.”

  “That’s good to hear.” She smiled.

  Finally she said her goodbyes, and they walked out of the main room. “I didn’t see Rory or Logan anywhere,” she said.

  “They were there,” Noah said, “checking out the whole place, not just the room we were in.”

  “And you were in there, so they weren’t needed.” He just smiled at her and didn’t say anything. She shrugged. “I gather you all know what you’re doing, so it doesn’t matter.”

  “Exactly,” he said.

  “And are they still out there watching?”

  “They will be, until I let them off the hook, when we’re back in our room.”

  “And then what? We’re not expecting another attack on the room, right?”

  “No, I really don’t think so,” he said. “It would be too obvious and a little hard for him. By now he also knows I’m here full-time, so it’s not just a simple case of attacking a lone woman.”

  “No, but, if he comes with a weapon,” she said, “you can take a bullet just as easy as the next guy.”

  “Maybe,” he said, “but I hope not. I hope I’m not even close to being just as easy as the next guy.”

  “Ha, you know what I mean.”

  “I do, and I appreciate the concern, but it’s okay.”

  She frowned at him. “I’m not so sure that it’s okay, but I’m in a nice mellow haze from the wine, so I want to go to sleep and have a good night and forget about it.”

  “It’s a long day tomorrow, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, the first workshop starts at eight,” she said, “and we go until at least four tomorrow night.” He winced at that. “And, yes, you’ll be with me the whole time,” she said mockingly.

  “I was thinking about you actually,” he said. “That’s a long day.”

  “I’m used to it,” she murmured, “and it is what it is.”

  “Maybe, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” he said.

  She frowned, thinking about it, and nodded. “No, you’re right. It doesn’t, but it’s all good.”

  At their suite, he unlocked it, did a quick sweep, and then let her inside. He locked the door behind her and said, “Now get yourself to bed.”

  “And here I thought a bottle of wine was in it for me.”

  He laughed. “I did promise you wine, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, but maybe I’ve had enough,” she said.

  “You decide,” he said. “If you want a couple more glasses, we can have a carafe sent up. Or even a bottle.”

  “No.” She yawned and said, “I think I’ll probably sleep just fine now.”

  “Final answer?”

  “Sleep,” she said, heading toward the bathroom. When she came out, she looked even more tired. “Definitely sleep,” she said, yawning again. She walked to her bedroom, called out, Good night, then headed to her bed and crashed.

  *

  Noah woke up the next morning early, before 5:00 a.m. Something had woken him up, but he wasn’t exactly sure what, and then he heard somebody down the hallway. It’s weird how you heard just footsteps because it was right outside his bedroom. He hopped to his feet and, still wearing just his boxers, silently raced to the front door. The footsteps were stealthy as they approached the door. Even as he watched, the handle wiggled. He immediately jumped on the handle, popped it open, and found a teenager—or a young adult maybe—outside. Noah grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the wall.

  “What the hell are you doing coming into this room?” The kid choked and gasped and swung wildly at him. Noah let him down, so his feet touched the floor, long enough to catch his breath. “Now talk to me,” he said, “before I knock your lights out and be done with it.”

  The kid took several long slow deep breaths, but his eyes flickered wildly in fear.

  “I don’t give a shit either way,” Noah said. “Tell me, right now, and it better be the truth.”

  “I was paid,” he said, “to slip this under your door.”

  “But you weren’t going under the door,” he said. “You were trying the doorknob.”

  At that, the kid panicked, barely spluttering out, “He said, if I couldn’t get it under the door, to just open it.”

  “Hotel doors lock automatically, dumbass.” The kid likely didn’t know anything important and was just trying to make a break for it. “Who hired you?”

  “Just a guy from outside,” he said.

  “Meaning?”

  “Just a guy,” he said, stuttering, looking longingly at the hallway and his closest exit. “He gave me a hundred bucks. I need the money, man.”

  “I want a description.” Noah stared at the kid, as his mind seemingly went blank because he just looked at Noah with that oddly vacant look on his face.

  “I don’t know. He was just a guy.”

  “As tall as you?”

  “Taller.”

  “Dark hair, no hair?”

  “Dark, but not much of it. He was skinny. And he talked kind of weird.”

  “Like what? Weird how?”

  He shrugged. “Like he had marbles in his mouth.”

  “That is weird.”

  “Right? That’s what I thought.”

  “You still haven’t explained why you tried the door.”

  “He told me to try it, if I couldn’t get the thing under the door.”

  “You know it’ll be locked, so it doesn’t make any sense to try it.”

  “Maybe he was just checking or testing me. I don’t know,” he said. “I need to go now. I’ve got my hundred bucks, so I need to go.”

  “Not until I get a picture of who you are. And I want to confirm your ID.”

  “That’s not fair,” he said, “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Like hell you didn’t. You just tried to break in to a hotel room.”

  “No, no, I didn’t,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to break in at all. I just wanted to give you this.” He held out the envelope.

  “BS,” Noah said, grabbing the envelope. But then he quickly snagged the kid’s wallet—knowing he wouldn’t run without it—snapped a photo of his ID, along with one of the kid’s face, then Noah said, “Get lost. Next time don’t take any money from strangers for shit like that. It’ll only cause you trouble.”

  “I won’t. I won’t.” And the kid literally ran down the hallway.

  Noah stepped back into the hotel room and closed the door.

  “What was that all about?” Dianne asked, as she stepped out of her room.

  He turned. She wore a tiny nightie that stopped just at her hips, leaving long smooth legs exposed—gorgeous legs to go with a gorg
eous body. He swallowed hard and said, “Do you want to put on some clothes?”

  “Don’t you?” she said, with a nod toward him in his boxers. “I’m totally fine.” She gave him a wicked grin. “I’m comfortable,” she said in a smooth tone, as she walked over to the couch and flung herself down into the corner. “Now what the hell was going on out there?”

  “We had a visitor. Somebody tried the doorknob and supposedly was paid one hundred bucks to put this under the edge of the door.”

  “If he was supposed to put it under the door, why turn the handle?” she reasoned.

  “Exactly what I asked him,” he said, “and got the answer that he was supposed to try it.”

  She stared at him. “To make it look like you were getting a break-in?”

  He shrugged. “Just messing with us maybe,” he said.

  “Still sucks,” she murmured. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “What time is it?” she asked, stifling a yawn.

  “Not yet five.”

  She winced. “Ugh. A little too early to stay up and a little too late to crawl back into bed.”

  “You can go grab another hour, if you want.”

  “No,” she said, “I’m better off to just wake up and be awake for the rest of the day.”

  “The same for me,” he said. “Are you ready for coffee? I can order some up.”

  “Absolutely,” she said. “I’ll go get a quick shower.”

  He watched as she left and quickly phoned Levi, his sleepy voice on the other end confirming Noah had woken him too. He said, “We just had a visitor.”

  Levi came wide awake. “What kind of reception did he get?”

  “Pretty poor,” he said cheerfully. “He said he was supposed to put an envelope under the door.”

  “Well, that first envelope just had a message,” he said, “about watching our back. So no poison involved.”

  “Well, maybe this is something similar,” he said. “I just didn’t want to take a chance with it.”

  “No, we can’t take any chances. I’ll send somebody to collect it.”

  “Good enough,” he said. “We’ll stay up, now that we are. Talk to you later.”

  He hung up from Levi, phoned for coffee, and then sent Logan and Rory texts about their early guest. Then he pulled up his laptop and started searching the delivery guy. He found out that he was literally just a kid. He’d graduated high school a year ago and had been working at odd jobs ever since. One hundred bucks to him probably seemed like gold.