"I'll bet the right man could put her in her place."
McCoy glared at her through a weed-induced haze. "You saying I'm not man enough?"
"Oh... is that how it came out? Sorry. Not what I meant at all. Everyone knows you're the man, Derek. Someone ought to put her in her place, though. Teach her a lesson."
An interested, evil smile tilted the corners of his full lips. "You have something in mind?"
Now they were getting somewhere. "Yeah. I have something in mind."
And after she finished up planting seeds here, she was going to make another attempt at contacting the Reverend Black. The episode with the blood in New York at the Garden was just too juicy to let go.
"Double, double toil and trouble," she singsonged with a grin as she picked up the phone. "Time to stir the pot a little more."
She was taking a chance, yes. Feeding information as to Janey's whereabouts to the religious zealots was risky, but look at the payoff so far. Yeah, the bloodbath was a blast. Chris couldn't help but wonder what they'd do when they found out Janey was home in California.
Thursday, July20th, Malibu, California
Jase stood in the open doorway of Janey's beach house bedroom. It was 10:00 a.m. They'd arrived at LAX around seven this morning. By the time they'd gotten loaded into the waiting limo and they'd made the drive to her beach house, it had been after nine.
A nifty-looking fifty-something housekeeper by the name of Fiona had welcomed Janey home—right after she'd been slobbered over and adored and gifted with about ten pounds of fur from a one-eyed yellow cat named Cat and three of the ugliest mutt dogs Jase had ever seen. As far as he could see, they weren't good for much. They hadn't even barked when he and Janey had arrived.
Nope. Not much in the watchdog department. But very much in the making-Janey-smile department. He'd have to like the ugly mutts for that alone.
She'd sent Fiona for a week off with pay and finally, fully dressed, she'd fallen asleep—God knew she needed to sleep—all three dogs and the cat pig-piled with her on a bed roughly the size and color of a lake.
Jase would like nothing better than to crawl right in there with her. Cover all that warm woman heat and take her someplace where she'd forget about crazed stalkers and murdered mothers and the mystery of who was after the million bucks.
Yeah. That's what he'd like. And that's why he backed quietly out of her bedroom, which was done in dark, rich wood tones and soft, cool blues.
He walked into the main living area. Took it all in— the square footage, the oceanfront view, and the designer decor—and thought,
Whoa.
So this is "home" for a rock star.
He'd known she made a fortune. But that had been an abstract, nebulous awareness. This was up close and personal. And it was something. He'd heard about places like this. Never thought he'd set foot in one.
Grand. That's what his mom would say about it. Yeah. It was grand.
And if he hadn't already decided there wasn't a beached salmon's chance against a grizzly of anything long-term ever happening between him and Janey, the reality of how far out of his league she truly was would have done it.
Sweet Baby Jane was a superstar. He'd forgotten that during the past few days. He was a workingman. He'd forgotten that, too.
He wasn't likely to forget it again.
And Max Cogan wasn't likely to let him forget that Jase held Janey's life in his hands. Christ. The man was paranoid. He'd called at least three times since they'd arrived in California, sounding more desperate each time with his warnings to stick to Janey like glue. That he'd have Jase's head on a pike if she so much as got a scratch on his watch.
Weary to the bone, Jase walked to a wall of sliders that opened onto an elevated deck with more square footage than his parents' entire house.
He stepped outside, sank down onto a cushioned chaise under an umbrella that blocked the sun. He breathed in the salt and surf scent of the Pacific and couldn't help but wonder. Five? Six? Ten million for this prime piece of oceanfront property? Easily.
Out of my league.
And he'd been out of his mind to sleep with her.
He closed his eyes, knew he should work up a little more regret for that slippery slide from grace.
Knew he never would.
Chapter 16
It was after 3:00 p.m. when Janey woke up. She stretched and yawned and hugged and loved on her critters, then headed for the shower.
Dressed in white shorts and a blue bandeau top, she walked barefoot out of her bedroom, running a brush through her hair. Baby Blue was standing at the kitchen island, talking in hushed tones on his cell.
His back was to her and apparently he didn't hear her. Fine. She couldn't deal with him right now anyway. She couldn't deal with seeing him and thinking about walking up and pressing herself against that broad, bare back and suggesting a replay of the night before last in Mississippi— when she'd made the mistake of falling in love.
Turned out she had some pride left, though, because she headed for the sliders instead. She walked outside and down the deck steps, the dogs scrambling along behind her.
She'd missed this more than she'd thought, she realized as the dogs romped and played in the sand. Missed the scent and sound of the Pacific. Missed the lolling tongues and wagging tails of her silly little mutts.
For the first time since all of this mess started with Grimm and the mystery of her mother's death, she drew a breath that wasn't thick with tension.
One breath. That's all she got before she heard the
whoop, whoop, whoop
of distant helicopter rotor blades.
Too quickly, the chopper closed that distance and zeroed in on her, kicking up sand and sending the dogs running and cowering toward the deck steps.
Shielding her eyes with a hand, she looked up at a small helicopter hovering so close she could see the brand name on the zoom lens of the camera sticking out the open cockpit door.
Was it too much to ask? Twenty-four hours? Twenty-four freaking hours of peace?
She thought about giving them the finger, but she followed the dogs to the house instead, just as Baby Blue came jogging down to hurry her inside.
"Pricks," he said, and hustled her up the deck steps.
"So much for enjoying a leisurely week at the beach," she grumbled when he shut the slider behind them.
"I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but it gets worse."
That's when she heard the chanting.
"What would Jesus say? What would Jesus say? Sinner go away. Sinner go away."
She hurried over to her front window. "What the hell?"
"They drove up about the same time I heard the chopper."
When she edged the blinds aside, her heart sank. Twenty to thirty men and women lined the street in front of the house, all of them carrying signs.
Sinner stop singing. Rock kills morality. SBJ
—
Satan's handmaiden.
She was suddenly aware that Baby Blue was looking over her shoulder.
"Nifty friends you've got."
"Welcome to lifestyles of the rich and deviant." She dropped the blinds as a local news van pulled up and a camera crew jumped into the fray. "Who has more fun than me?"
He headed for the door. "I'll get rid of them."
She grabbed his arm. "How? You going to shout them down? Or were you planning to physically remove thirty or so God-fearing, brotherly love and brimstone disciples in front of what's probably a live television feed?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so."
"They can't get by with harassing you like this."
"Oh, I think they can."
To prove her point, she picked up the remote, flicked on the TV, and clicked through the channels until she found what she was looking for. Sure enough, a reporter from a local station was broadcasting, talking over the video footage of the scene in front of her house. The inset in the corner of the screen showed Samuel Black at the pulpit, his heavily made-up, big-haired, bottle-blond wife, Tonya, smiling at his side as if he were the second coming.
"Have a look." Janey tossed the remote aside and sank down onto her sofa.
Standing beside her, a dark scowl on his face, Baby Blue was silent for a moment; then he flipped open his cell.
"I'm getting you out of here," he said, tilting the phone away from his mouth while he waited for his call to connect.
She pushed out a humorless laugh and lifted a hand toward the TV "How? That live newscast is going to bring the crazies out of their caves. The streets will be jammed. In five minutes, we probably won't be able to get past the driveway."
"I said I'm getting you out of here."
"What? You've got connections with Captain Kirk? Is the
Enterprise
going to come swooping down for Scotty to beam us aboard?"
"Something like that. Hey, No. It's Jase," he said when he made a connection. "I need a favor."
"Well, damn." Thirty minutes later Janey watched the sky through the sliders. "Looks like the white hats have arrived. It ain't the
Enterprise,
but it'll do."
She'd dressed in a short pink knit skirt with a single row of ruffles for a hem and a turquoise U-neck shirt that missed meeting the hip-hugger skirt in the middle by a good six inches.
"About damn time." Jase dragged his gaze from all that snug material and bare skin and glanced outside as the chopper closed in on the beach. It was an impressive bird. Big and black and lethal-looking—especially when it swooped low over the beach and muscled the smaller media chopper out to sea.
God, I love this job,
he thought, shouldering a pair of duffels. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
He wished he could make it better for her. Felt bad when she dropped down on one knee and hugged each dog good-bye before picking up the cat and cuddling him. All she'd wanted was to get away from things for a while and spend some time with her pets. That wasn't going to happen now.
"I called Fiona, guys," she said, stroking the cat's head. "She'll be here in a couple of hours, okay? Once the crowd thins out."
Jase hated to rush her, but they had to get a move on. "Janey. We've got to go."
She hugged the cat one last time, tossed the dogs treats, and sucked it up. "Let's do it."
"Keep your head down and don't stop until you reach the bird."
With one hand on her elbow and the other on the duffel strap, he raced with her down the deck steps and across the expanse of beach to the waiting bird.
Last time he'd run for a chopper, it had been a Blackhawk and he'd been under fire. He'd gladly have taken some hostile fire today if he could have spared her all of this.
"Welcome aboard, ma'am. Sir." A young man dressed in a flight suit jumped out and onto the sand to help Janey inside. "We'll have you to LAX in no time."
"And where would we be going?" Janey asked once they were airborne and the paparazzi and the Holy Rollers were mere specks as the coastline shrank away.