Too Much: A Loveswept Contemporary Erotic Romance (All or Nothing) (21 page)

It wasn’t possible. Toby had told her the drug dealer had been killed by his own people. Was the man in the picture the drug dealer? Her memory of the media accounts was vague. Had he lied to her? Had Jeremiah lied to Toby? What the hell was going on?

Fear wound through her gut, shaking her foundations and rocking her world. If there was one thing Jeremiah had never done to her it was lie. Any man who could stand in front of a woman he professed to love and tell her he wasn’t giving up crime wouldn’t bother to lie and cover it up.

Something was off. Conviction replaced the fear in her gut. Anger began to simmer, making her fists clench around the pictures. Something was going on. Toby had said someone was following her. Now pictures, a warning, and roses had mysteriously appeared in her house. And Daly and Jeremiah were once again involved in something she refused to give name to.

It was too convenient, the ribbon wrapping it all together, too fucking neat. Her instincts kicked in. She hadn’t been cut out to be a cop, but she’d been blessed with the instincts of one.
She’d never trusted them when it came to Jeremiah because her heart had always been involved.

But they were screaming at her now. She put the pictures back in the envelope. Daly had some connections and she was going to use them to find out what the hell was going on.

She wasn’t going to tell Jeremiah or Toby. But she was going to protect herself and get to the bottom of this. Someone wanted her to believe Jeremiah capable of killing, and while she knew he’d done whatever it took to survive, she refused to believe his words from the other night.

“I’d kill for you, Daly.” Her heart had stuttered. But words pulled from him in passion did not make him a murderer. She didn’t believe him capable of snuffing out a life.

He’s a criminal.

You love him.

Can you really trust him?

How can you not?

Her head hurt.
First things first
, she told herself. She tossed the roses into the garbage. Then she called another locksmith. Two hours later she had new locks, a brand-new code for her alarm system, and a meeting with Carson Davidson, a PI she’d worked with for years. After setting up her appointment with him, she’d gotten her Glock from her bedside nightstand and checked her property. There were no signs that anyone had been there. None of her locks had been tampered with according to the locksmith, and her alarm company said the security system showed no signs of being disabled.

She didn’t call Toby and still had not heard from Jeremiah. Five o’clock was coming up rapidly and she showered, getting ready for dinner with Chelsea. Until she met with Carson, she wasn’t going to tell a fucking soul about those pictures.

Daly shoved the pictures in the top drawer of her dresser and got ready. An hour later she was setting her alarm, getting in her car, and pulling out of her drive. She looked around surreptitiously, noticed nothing out of the ordinary, and headed to McGuire’s.

How the hell she was going to enjoy a meal with all this weighing on her she had no idea. But in the end, she couldn’t do anything until she met with Carson. So Daly did what she always did: she shoved it to the back of her mind and faked it.

* * *

Copeland hadn’t even wanted to shower when he’d left Daly this morning. Their combined scent had stayed with him all day long and as he watched his brother pulling into the drive of the house that sat on Lake Lanier, all Copeland could think about was getting back to her.

David strode into the library of the mammoth house Copeland had built on the edge of Lake Lanier for his family—Ruthie, David, and yes, Daly. It had been an achievement and he’d wanted Daly to decorate it. She’d left him before that could happen and he’d outsourced the decorating. This house wasn’t a home, but it was a safe place, and that was why Copeland had demanded David come here.

The man who walked into the house today was a worried man. His shoulders were tense, his hands shook, and his eyes traveled over everything as if he were expecting someone to jump out at him.

Of the three siblings, David had always been the weakest mentally. He’d been the happy-go-lucky child. He’d never thought past his next want, and since his needs had been met by Copeland long before their parents abandoned them, he’d always turned to Copeland for everything.

And Copeland had long ago realized he’d done David a disservice by always taking care of everything. Though the weakest, he was incredibly bright, graduating at the top of his class in high school. He’d excelled at law at the University of Georgia and had become a lawyer with little effort. Once the achievement happened, he’d gravitated toward public defending.

Then he’d gotten into trouble with Juan DeLeon, and Copeland had to bail him out. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the worst. And it had cost him Daly. From that moment on, his relationship with his brother had changed, morphing into something along the lines of distant adversaries instead of brothers. They weren’t amicable unless their sister was around.

Now it seemed they’d come full circle once again and as David took a seat, Copeland sighed.

“I’m here,” David said with a huff.

Copeland lifted a brow. “The question is
why
?”

Confusion passed over David’s face like a cloud. “Well, because you told me to meet you here,” he muttered, and continued to glance around nervously.

“Yeah, I did. I don’t know if you’re being obtuse intentionally or if the fear I can smell all over you is making you dense,” Copeland bit out.

David’s gaze met his, then flitted away. Long moments passed, and Copeland refused to let his brother off the hook that easily.

“I’m in trouble,” David said into the silence.

“How?”

“I’m being blackmailed.”

Copeland steepled his fingers in front him. “Do tell,” he ordered.

David stood and began pacing. Copeland watched him for a time and then motioned to Toby, who left the room quietly.

“What the fuck is going on, David?” Copeland asked in a hard, mean voice. Rage moved under the surface of his skin. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told David he could smell his fear. It was a sour stench in his nostrils.

“Someone knows what you did to DeLeon,” David said in a hushed voice.

Copeland chuckled even though his scalp tightened. “Really? What did I do to DeLeon?”

“You killed him, J.C. And somebody has the pictures to prove it.”

Copeland stood at that and walked to the window that overlooked the crystal-blue water beyond. “I didn’t kill Juan DeLeon. Whatever pictures you have are a lie.”

“I’ve seen them, Jeremiah. It’s definitely you standing over a very dead DeLeon,” David said, and a note of fear had crept into his voice now.

Copeland shrugged. He’d done something horrible that night, but it hadn’t been killing DeLeon. “And that’s why you sent your ring to me through Daly?”

His voice went hard at the mention of his woman. There was nothing to be done for it. David had involved Daly, and that was unacceptable.

“No, I sent her the ring because someone is leveraging me to get to you. They know, Jeremiah, and I’m scared. They’ve threatened Daly, too,” he said and then squeaked.

Copeland was in his face that quickly. “What the fuck do you mean they’ve threatened Daly?”

David took a step back, eyes wide, breathing shallow. “I mean, they threatened you!”

Copeland shook his head and advanced the step his brother had taken backward. “You just said ‘Daly.’ You said they’d threatened Daly, David. Who is it and what have they said?”

The rage was volcanic now, bubbling and threatening to explode on the first available person. The door opened to the library and Toby walked over to them. “She’s fine, but I had to call her. Hoenig didn’t answer,” Toby said.

The only thing that could have tamped Copeland’s rage kicked him in the chest—
fear.
Hoenig was top-notch. He’d relieved Craft at dawn as Copeland had been leaving to venture an hour and a half north and wait for David. If Hoenig wasn’t answering, something was wrong.

“Get down there. Tell her to go to The Underground and wait for us there,” Copeland told Toby, then turned to his brother. “Who is it?”

David shook his head and held up a hand. “I don’t know, man. I just don’t know. They call and threaten. They sent me the pictures and then they told me to send my ring to you or she’d pay the price. They also said if I told you, they’d make her pay.”

“You’re leaving shit out, brother. Tell me all of it now!” Copeland heard Toby murmuring into his phone and then cursing roundly. In the midst of mind-numbing fear for the safety of his woman, he found a smile.

She’d told her brother to fuck off.

“She told me to fuck off,” Toby said in exasperation.

Copeland squelched his smile and turned a hard glare back to David. “Now,” he said succinctly.

“I don’t know who it is, Jeremiah. But I believe them. They want you and they’re willing to use whoever they can to get whatever it is they want accomplished.”

“Have they threatened Ruthie?”

Toby stilled, and Copeland felt the other man’s growing rage blanket the air.

David shook his head. “Only me and Daly.” David sounded miserable. Copeland didn’t care.

“I went through your financials and your caseload, David. It’s the only thing saving your ass right now. You said you’re being blackmailed and I believe it. If the State of Georgia even got a whiff that I’m under suspicion of murder, they’d pull your ass out of that position so fast you’d have whiplash. Whoever is doing this is using you as a pawn, and because of that, you’re going to play along. I’ll be monitoring your calls. If they contact you, you contact me immediately. I’ll tell you what to say and how to say it. Are we motherfucking clear, David?”

David nodded and breathed deeply. “I don’t want her hurt, J.C. She’s been hurt enough by you.”

Every muscle in Copeland’s body tensed. He wanted to strike his brother but breathed through the urge. How fucking dare the man who’d cost him Daly say anything about her being hurt by him? How fucking dare he?

“Remember what I said, David. You come to me the minute they contact you. I’ll be tracing all your incoming and outgoing.” Copeland held up a hand. “Before you fucking talk to me about client privilege, let me remind you that it’s because of you I lost her the first time. I won’t lose her again because you fucked up. I’ll keep your secrets, but you’d better damn well believe I’ll let you pay if it costs me Daly.”

David started to say something. Copeland shook his head and said, “Leave.”

“I need protection,” David said plaintively.

“You already have it.” David turned away and Copeland said, “I want those pictures in my hand by tonight. Don’t disappoint me, David. Please.”

His brother nodded and left.

“We need to leave now,” Toby said, and in his voice was the worry Copeland would not give in to.

He watched David leave and then followed Toby to the car. “Whatever it takes, I want her safe. I’ve got to find out what pictures David is talking about. Whoever this is knows something about that night, Toby, and I need to know both what and who it is.”

Toby grunted. “We’ll find out. Let’s get back to Atlanta.”

Daly’s screeching house alarm woke her from a dead sleep. She grabbed her Glock out of the nightstand drawer and threw off the covers, stepping into the hallway while sweeping her gun back and forth. She cleared her hall and two bedrooms and had just stepped into the living room when a strong arm locked around her stomach, pulling her into a hard body.

She slammed her head back, hitting the man in the face, and was released immediately. She turned and had the gun trained on—

“Jeremiah?” Shock ghosted through her and she lowered the gun.

Jeremiah glanced at her sheepishly as he tested his nose. “You changed the locks
and
the alarm code?”

Relief made her weak. His tone had her smiling in spite of the fear. “Yeah. Guess I showed you, huh?”

He growled and lowered his hand, looking no worse for wear. He crossed his arms over his chest and just stood there.

She melted. Daly snorted at her emotional response to him and he cocked his head. “I’m so easy,” she muttered. She stepped to the alarm panel and turned it off. The phone rang and she answered the security company’s questions, denying she needed any assistance.

He took the gun from her and settled it on the nearest table before grabbing her up in his arms and holding her against his body. “That’s better than cheap, right?” he murmured in her ear as he kissed the shell of said ear and let his lips travel south.

He took her mind so quickly. It was as if she’d never seen those incriminating pictures earlier—

Fuck.

She
had
seen them. And now here he was. In her house once again, stealing her mind with slow strokes of his tongue over her skin.

“Jeremiah?” She refused to believe he’d killed a man. She’d thought about it the entire evening; had fallen asleep looking for reasonable explanations for those pictures.

Eventually, she’d given in to her heart and her instincts. She’d also trusted Toby’s. Her brother wouldn’t work for a killer. And he damn sure wouldn’t call a killer his best friend. So yeah, she’d determined that until she had irrefutable proof otherwise, she was going with her gut. Or maybe it was just lust. Maybe she was the easiest woman on earth.

“What is it, baby?” he asked as he squeezed her to his body.

“I can’t breathe,” she said with a groan.

“You’re groaning just fine.”

“You’re squeezing them out of me.”

“I can do more than squeeze them out of you,” he returned as he kissed the top of her head.

“Yeah?” Her hands dug into the hard muscles of his back, holding him as close as he held her.

He laughed, and it was the sexiest thing she’d ever heard. “Yeah. I can fuck them out of you.” He licked the column of her throat and when he reached her lips, he lifted her and settled her legs around his hips. “Goddamn, I missed you like hell on fire today, Daly.”