Dangerous Love (11 page)

Ken started to move, each stroke sending a flood of sensations through her. Soon she couldn’t think of anything else but him. He picked up tempo. She met each thrust with her own, her hands all over him, her mouth on the parts of his body she could reach. Sweat dotted his skin, his chest expanding and sinking with each breath. She became light-headed. White spots fluttered in front of her eyes. She was close to cresting.

As though he knew, he repositioned her legs, placing one over his shoulder and the other between his. The angle deepened the contact, drove her straight out of her mind. Their thrusting grew frantic, skin speaking to skin, bodies singing in perfect rhythm. Pants and moans filled the room. An abyss opened and they launched over the edge, both of them crying out.

She plunged into a darkness that had no beginning or end. When sanity returned, Ken was kissing her. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, bodies still connected. Faith kissed his jaw and chest then rested her cheek against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Home
.

“I need to go home,” she whispered in a sleepy voice.

He kissed her forehead. “Go to sleep. I’ll wake you in an hour.”

Her last thought before sleep sucked her under was that her intention to get Ken out of her system by sleeping with him had just backfired. She would never get enough of him.

***

Ken watched Faith sleep. The long lashes fanning her cheekbones, the gentle slope of her jaw, her lush lips. She looked so sweet and angelic, but he missed the challenging gleam in her eyes, the stubborn tilt of her chin. Sex with Faith would always be hot, but winning her heart would take more than great sex. He needed to gain her trust. It was the only way she’d let him in. The task was daunting, but he planned to rise to the challenge.

Music echoed from downstairs. Ken frowned as he slid off the bed, dragged on his pants and went to investigate. At the foot of the stairs, he was greeted by silence. He checked the gizmos and gadgets at the workstation in his home office but nothing was out of place. Just when he was about to head back upstairs, the song began again. A ring tone?

Ken followed the sound to Faith’s bag, which he grabbed and took upstairs. He found her still curled under the covers fast asleep. He pressed his lips to hers. When she moaned and shifted, he deepened the contact. Even in sleep, she responded to his touch.

“Ken.” Her hand caressed his face.

“It’s time to wake up, sweetheart.”

“Love me again,” she murmured, pulling him closer, eyes still closed.

The temptation was great, especially when delivered in a husky tone that did things to his body. “I plan to, but first we need to talk.”

“Why?” Her hand swept over his chest, past his abs to his waist. Her eyes snapped open when she encountered his pants. Dewy eyes stared into his, a frown settling between her brows. “You’re dressed.”

 
“Your phone’s been ringing like crazy. I thought it must be something important for someone to call this late.” He lifted her bag from the floor.

Faith shot up and dove for her cell phone. Ken’s eyes stayed riveted on her face though the covers slid to her waist, baring her breasts. Her eyes widened when she checked the caller ID. She pressed a button and brought the phone to her ear.

“Eddie? I’m at a friend’s. Why?” She gasped then scooted to the other edge of the bed. “I’ll be there.” She circled the bed and went on her knees to collect her clothes, grabbed her bag.

“What’s going on?”

“That was my cousin Eddie. Someone broke into my store.” Her voice shook. Before he could react, she disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.

Ken pulled on his T-shirts, socks, and shoes then sat on the edge of the bed and started dialing the phone by his bed. Eddie Fitzgerald was a meticulous detective who wasn’t afraid to go outside normal channels to find answers. He’d met the detective last year when they both worked on an old arsonist case. Since then they’d helped each out here and there.

“Eddie, Ken Lambert here.”

“Can’t talk now,” Eddie said in his usual brisk manner.

“I know you’re on the job—the break-in at Falasha. Can you tell me more about what happened?”

There was silence from Eddie. “Faith is with you?”

“Yes. How bad is it?”

“That depends on how you look at it. Are you two on your way?”

“How bad, Eddie?”

“It’s not pretty, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“We’re on our way.” Hanging up, something cold sunk deep into Ken’s chest. Faith didn’t need this, not on top of everything else. He walked to the bathroom door. “Faith?”

“I’m almost done.”

“I’ll start the car.”

“No, I’ll drive myself.”

“I’m not letting you drive.”

The door swung open. She stood before him barefoot, eyes flashing, blouse askew. She’d skipped a button. “I’m fine,” she snapped.

 
“I know. Give me a minute.” He stopped her when she could have brushed past him and started to redo her buttons. Her expression shifted from bewilderment to blank then she took over from him. “Come on. You can put on your boots in the car.”

He started down the stairs, not sure she’d ride with him. When he reached the door to the garage, she was behind him. She slid in the passenger seat of his SUV without speaking.

Anxiety filled the cab. He wanted to reassure her that everything would be okay, but Faith wasn’t the type of woman to be placated by empty phrases. She met problems head on. He reached over and covered one of her fisted hands. She clasped his, tight.

The blue and red lights from several squad cars flashed outside her store. She was out of the car before Ken parked. When he stepped out, she was at the entrance talking to Eddie.

One policeman blocked Ken’s path.

“I’m with Ms. Fitzgerald,” Ken explained.

Eddie waved him over before he followed Faith inside. Ken picked his way through the shards of broken glass. From the size of the hole on the window, a car must have rammed through it. He heard snippets of a conversation from several cops behind him.

“Damn smash-and-grab thieves,” one said.

“The third store this week?” another one asked.

“Sixth if you count the hits in Ventura and Burbank.”

Inside the store, a team of crime scene investigators was already dusting the place for prints and photographing the room. The gowns on the mannequins were gone, the display cases broken though not all the jewelry was taken. Some littered the floor along with scarves and belts. A few clothes dangled on the arms of hangers by the wall and the cash register was missing from the cashier’s desk. Ken couldn’t imagine how Faith felt seeing the destruction.

He caught up with Eddie and Faith inside the walk-in closet beside her sewing room, where she stored her collection for the show in New York. He tried to catch her gaze, but she was busy going through a rack of clothes in garments bags, pulling zippers down then back up.

“Are they all there?” Ken asked.

Faith nodded.

“They didn’t come this far,” Eddie added. “It’s typical of these smash-and-grab robbers to not waste time. They go for the nearest things then flee.”

“I heard there’ve been similar robberies all over the county,” Ken added, his gaze not leaving Faith.

Eddie nodded. “Several.”

Faith’s hand stilled then she turned slowly to face them. “Are you saying this is just a random break-in?”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “It is, unless there’s a reason to suspect someone targeted you. Do you think there might be someone who would purposely destroy your store?”

Faith’s gaze collided with Ken’s but she quickly looked away. “No. Of course not.”

Eddie studied her then turned to stare at Ken before coming back to her. “Faith?”

“Believe me, Eddie. If I knew who did this, I’d want him hauled to jail too. I’m going to lose business over the next couple of weeks because I have to replace the windows and my clothes.” Her voice broke.

Ken moved closer to her. He wanted to take her in his arms, get her away from here, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate being coddled.

“Did the surveillance camera pick up anything?” Ken asked instead.

“We haven’t seen the footage yet. Where do you keep the system?”

Faith pushed open the door that led into her office and walked ahead of them.

Eddie blocked Ken’s path when he could have followed. “I saw the look you exchanged with my cousin, Lambert. Want to tell me what’s going on?”

Ken shrugged. “I don’t know what you saw, man. Can we get this done, so I can get her out of here?”

Eddie glowered then glanced over at Faith who was punching in numbers on the console of her surveillance system. He lowered his voice. “Listen, I will not let another psycho mess with one of my cousins, so if something is going on here, you’d better level with me.”

“Of course. I always do.”

Eddie continued to study him then turned and headed toward Faith. Ken followed. Eddie Fitzgerald was good at what he did, but it wasn’t Ken’s place to tell him about Faith’s problems with O’Neal. Ken didn’t know her reasons for not going to her cousin for help, but he was happy she’d come to him instead.

Ken joined Eddie and Faith as they replayed the robbery footage. The two thieves had worn ski-masks, so identifying them was out of the question. They also appeared to have been more concerned with destroying the store than stealing. One had even attempted to pull down the mannequins from the ceiling with little success. From their flashing teeth, they had laughed the entire time.

As Eddie replayed the footage again and again, everything fell into place. These were no ordinary burglars, not when one of them went straight to the store’s security pad as soon as they entered the store and punched in numbers on the security panel. They knew the number combination. Interesting.

Eddie pressed stop on the machine, turned, and faced Faith and Ken. He crossed his arms, his eyes bouncing from one to the other. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”

CHAPTER 9

Faith sighed. She never wanted her relatives to learn about the mess with Sean. Most of them treated him like family, so she wasn’t sure whose story they’d believe. Sean already painted her as a selfish heartbreaker and himself the jilted lover who still wanted her back as a fiancée and business partner.

At first, his malicious words had hurt and she’d even contemplated telling her family the truth. But she hadn’t wanted to play the victim, or give Aunt Viv an excuse to start her standard lecture.

Fitzgeralds don’t whine, Faith. We are fighters. No matter how often life knocks us down, we pull ourselves up. Faith got enough of that in her teens, so she’d kept her mouth shut. Now, hell was about to break loose and she must find a way to contain it.

 
Aunt Viv’s lectures didn’t bother her anymore but she might see Faith’s problems with Sean as a lack of business savvy or incompetence. Her aunt had a history of bailing out family members whose companies struggled due to limited funds, mismanagement, or lack of vision. As a result, her generosity wasn’t just limited to handing out cash. She gains part ownership into the company and the right to vote on every major decision, including the direction the company was taking. Faith wasn’t ready for that kind of a partner.

“It’s obvious this was an inside job, Faith,” Eddie said, interrupting her thoughts. “And the way you two are acting tells me you know more than you’re letting on.”

Ken moved closer to her, crossed his arms, and widened his stance, his gaze narrowed. The intimidating gesture was sweet but unnecessary. Eddie was all bark and no bite.

Faith took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Okay, Eddie, but whatever I tell you stays between us. Nobody else in the family must know.”

Eddie glowered.

“I mean it, Eddie.”

He nodded jerkily.

“Okay. Someone has been stealing my designs and selling them to my competitor.”

The slight pinching of Eddie’s lips showed he didn’t like what he was hearing. “How do you know?”

“A client stopped by the store earlier this week and told me she’d seen the exact same gown I’m making for her already owned by someone else. The designs are similar down to little details like the placing of the sequins on the bodice and the cascading ruffles. I know my work, Eddie. They’re all unique and I’ve copies of sketches to prove this particular design is mine.”

Eddie’s expression didn’t change, which made her wonder whether he believed her or not. “Go on.”

“The designer of the other gown is Sean O’Neal.” The corner of Eddie’s mouth dipped downward in a smirk. Not sure what to make of it, Faith continued. “Five years ago, I caught him using my designs without my permission. He even used them to secure a contract. When I confronted him, he laughed it off, said since I worked for him, anything I created belonged to him. It didn’t matter that I sketched them in the evening at home and never brought them to the office. Because we were dating at the time, he had access to my house. I need to know if he stole my designs again, especially those I plan to show in New York.”

Eddie shook his head. “The weasel. I knew there was a reason why I never liked him. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t come to me.”

“You know why, Eddie.” He almost lost his job after he disobeyed his captain, joined forces with a civilian and went after a deranged kidnapper. It hadn’t mattered that the kidnapped woman had been their cousin or that the captain was his father. “With all the stuff you’ve been through at work, I couldn’t.”

“That’s beside the point, Faith. You should have come to me or the captain when you found out about Sean five years ago. Our family needs to see him for the slime ball he is, especially after the crap he tells anyone willing to listen.”

 
“I don’t care what he’s told our family. I don’t see the need to involve other people in my personal problems.”

Eddie scrubbed his face. “Christ, Faith. We’re not other people. We’re family. We watch each other’s back. We don’t run to strangers when we need help.”

The reprimand stung. She opened her mouth to defend herself and closed it without uttering a word. It wasn’t the first time she didn’t get in the last word with a member of her family.

“You want to ease up on her a little, man,” Ken cut in. “She’s been through enough already.”

 
Eddie turned to glare at Ken. For a brief moment, Faith wondered whether she’d have to step between them.

“So what have you learned, Lambert?” Eddie said in a low and hard voice. “And whatever means you used to get it had better be legal.”

Ken grinned. “Absolutely. We put a trace on O’Neal’s phone after we retrieved call history and text messages from his Smart Card, all within my perimeters as a licensed surveillance investigator.”

“Depends on how you came by his phone.”

Ken chuckled. “He dropped it during a scuffle and we were kind enough to return it to him.”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “A scuffle? Bullshit. I’ve worked with you, Lambert. Some of the people you employ would make Oliver Twist look like a saint. If you swiped his phone, whatever you found will be inadmissible in court.”

“Who said anything about court? Whether to prosecute the pin-head or not depends on Faith. Right now, all she wants to know is whether he stole her collection or not.”

“I got that the first time she explained it. About his phone?”

Ken looked at Faith, silently asking her permission. She sighed. “Tell him.”

“Everything,” Eddie retorted. He was pacing and cursing Sean by the time Ken finished explaining about the designer’s surprise visit to Falasha.

A knock at the door and Eddie’s partner poked his head into the room. He nodded at Faith then looked at Eddie. “The CSU is done out here. Did you get the security footage?”

“Just a second. Can we have a copy?” Eddie asked Faith.

She walked behind her desk and retrieved a memory stick from a drawer. The detective disappeared as soon he got what he came for. When Eddie went back to grilling Ken, Faith left the room and dared to venture back into the front room for a second look now that the Crime Scene Unit was done.

The shock hadn’t worn off yet. Helplessness washed over her and a hollow feeling settled in her stomach at the smashed display shelves, the accessories on the floor, and the few clothes dangling on hangers. She swallowed her anger, stooped down to pick up an intricate earring. The second one was missing. Deidre’s signature jewelry had colorful stones set on sterling silver, and was reasonably priced. Still, she worked so hard on them and would be devastated at the loss.

Mindful of the shards of glass, Faith gingerly pinched the edge of several soiled scarves and shook them before placing them on a rack. At the other end of the store, yellow tape criss-crossed her windows announcing to all and sundry that her precious store was a crime scene. Tomorrow would be a nightmare filled with people gawking and asking questions she couldn’t answer.
 

Faith moved closer to the gaping hole on her window. All the cop cars were gone except for Eddie’s police-issued unmarked car. The glowing end of a cigarette inside the cab indicated that his partner was waiting. Hopefully, Eddie and Ken had finished talking and not advanced to the next stage of knocking heads. Both men were investigators and ought to get along instead of their endless show of testosterone. The hostility didn’t make sense, especially when they’d worked together before. Whatever their issues, they’d have to settle them on their own. She needed to think up a way to patch the hole in her front window. The remaining merchandize didn’t need to be exposed to the elements or, God-forbid, more thugs.

Maybe she should cancel her trip to New York and the show. There was so much to do.
 
Tomorrow, she’d need to talk to her landlord…call her insurance company…tell her people not to come to work…

Faith stopped and frowned. Something had been bothering her since she heard about the break in and now it returned with a vengeance. She hurried back to Ken and Eddie, and caught the end of their conversation as she entered the office.

“The bastard stole her designs all right,” Ken said, confirming what she’d already suspected. “We got the proof yesterday when he showed Faith’s designs to colleagues of mine posing as clients. We also planted bugs while we were there, completely above aboard. I wouldn’t be surprised if O’Neal was behind jacking the store tonight.”

“Maybe he knows what you’re up to and was trying to divert your attention,” Eddie suggested.

“I doubt it. My people are good.”

Eddie pursed his lips in thought. “We’ll see. How many of your employees have access to your security code, Faith?”

“That’s what I came back in here to talk to you about. Other than me, only one other person knows the code. Molly. She and I have been together since I opened for business. She also has spare keys to the store and I often leave her in charge when I’m out of town. But I find it hard to believe she’d betray me. Why would she give them the code and not the keys? It doesn’t make sense. There must be some other explanation.”

“Greed is always a good one,” Eddie said. “Do you have her address? I plan to pick her up for questioning first thing in the morning.”

“Can I talk to her first?” Faith asked.

Eddie shook his head. “Not a good idea. Everything must be done by the book for the charges to stick, which means no civilians involved. In fact, I plan to visit all of your employees while the stolen merchandise is still hot.” He gently squeezed Faith’s arm reassuringly. “I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”

Faith looked at her watch. It was almost midnight. This was going to be a very long night. “I won’t be able to sleep a wink until I know Molly is not involved.”

“I can pay her a visit tonight,” Ken offered.

Eddie cut him a hard look. “Stay out of this, Lambert. In fact, you and I need to talk.”

Faith sighed at Eddie’s tone. When was he going to realize that talking to Ken like he was his superior was counterproductive? She started her computer and the printer, her head cocked to catch the conversation between the two men.

“Some time tomorrow,” Eddie added.

“No can do, detective. I’m flying to San Diego for a family thing in the morning and I won’t be back until Sunday evening. My flight back arrives at seven-fifteen, if you still want to meet.”

“Make it Monday. I’ll need a copy of your investigation notes and phone call logs of all Faith’s employees’ cell phones and O’Neal’s, pictures and surveillance footages you’ve accumulated. I’m taking over this case from here on.”

Ken snickered. “Like hell you are.”

“Why not? You have evidence that O’Neal stole her designs. That’s probable cause to get a search warrant for his offices, get the incriminating designs and haul his ass to jail.”

“Don’t be in a rush to lock him up,” Ken warned. “Copyright laws are murky when it comes to the fashion industry.”

Eddie snickered. “The law is the law, Lambert. You break it, you go to jail. End of story. We’ll get a confession out of him. If that fails, we’ll see if he has a habit of passing off other designers’ works as his and line up witnesses against him. Whatever the case, we’re running him out of town.”

“If you can find anyone willing to go against him,” Ken countered. “The man dresses celebrities and his designs are in every high-end store. According to online bloggers, the public can’t get enough of anything tagged ‘DHS.’”

“Sounds like you admire the man,” Eddie retorted.

“I despise him.”

Eddie smirked. “Or maybe you’re scared of going after him.”

“Like hell I am. I want to nail the bastard as badly as you do. The difference is I don’t have bureaucratic shackles holding me back, which means in this race, I’d be first at the finishing line. But I have to go with what Faith wants. Have you even asked her?”

Faith shrugged when Eddie looked over at where she was busy printing out names and addresses of her employees. She’d decided to let the two men duke it out. For some reason, they were determined to outdo and out-insult each other. She couldn’t tell whether the problem stemmed from personal or professional differences. Or maybe this was how they worked, challenging each other at every turn.

“Ken has a point about the copyright thing,” she explained. “Congress and the courts have been reluctant to grant full legal protection to designers for fear that rigid laws would lead to lengthy court cases and cripple the business. According to them, whatever high prices we demand for our designs only last a season, so suing another designer for making a gown similar to yours is never done. Sean will get a slap on the wrist, pay a fine, and go home.”

“But people can still boycott his work once they know he’s a thief, right?” Eddie pushed. “With your testimony, we can expose him. But if he’s behind tonight’s break-in, he’ll do jail time.”

“Don’t push her,” Ken warned.

“It’s okay.” Faith sighed and rubbed her temple, a useless attempt to ease the pain pounding inside her skull. All she’d ever wanted was to design clothes and share her passion with the world. Exposing Sean was not part of that plan. If something went wrong and the charges against Sean didn’t stick, she’d look like a sour ex-lover trying to ruin a good man. The whole thing could blow up in her face and destroy everything she’d worked for. On the other hand, he’d already stolen her designs and was probably behind the destruction of her store. If she didn’t stop him now, he could very well destroy her career and continue to take advantage of other naïve designers like he did her. “Can I think about this?”