“You came here to make trouble, didn’t you? To stir it all up. We can’t let you do that.”
“We?”
“I’ve got a message for you.”
“Who is the message from?” she asked, wondering if he would tell her.
“You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
“What’s the message?”
“Keep your mouth shut. If you tell anyone, if you even suggest . . .”
“Yes . . . ?” She deliberately drew out the word to irritate him.
“I’ll feed you to the crocodiles. I’ll put a bullet in the back of your head.”
“Which is it?” she asked. “Feed me to the crocodiles or put a bullet in my head? Make up your mind.” She slammed the phone down. When she turned around, she was shocked to see Aiden standing behind her. “What are you? A ninja? How long have you been standing there?”
He didn’t think the question needed an answer. “Who was on the phone? Who the—” He stopped himself before he said a foul word. “Who was threatening you?”
“I—”
The phone rang again. “Don’t answer it. I’ll get it.” He frowned at Cordie while he listened to the caller. “No, we’re both awake. Come on up.”
Come on up? The second he ended the call she demanded to know who was visiting at this hour.
“Liam.”
“Oh God. I’m naked, Aiden.”
“No, you’re wearing a robe,” he replied. “But yeah, you should probably put on some clothes.” He was talking to air. Cordie had disappeared into her bedroom and shut the door.
“Who was on the damn phone?” he shouted through the door as he put on his T-shirt.
The bell sounded for the elevator. The door opened and Liam walked into the foyer.
Aiden greeted him with a question. “Did you go into the security room and look at the footage?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I listened to the audio, too.” He added, shaking his head, “They really thought they could drag her from the hotel.”
Cordie rushed out to join them. She’d put on jeans and a white blouse. She hadn’t taken the time to tuck it in, and she hadn’t bothered with shoes either. A quick brush through her hair had taken out the tangles. Aiden tried not to react. Every time he looked at her, she became more beautiful. Her face was flushed, and he thought he could see some slight scratches on her neck from his day’s growth of whiskers. For some inexplicable reason, he liked that.
“Hello, Liam,” Cordie said. She felt the color warming her cheeks and wondered if Liam could see what she was thinking or could tell what she and Aiden had been doing just minutes before. She was relieved when he didn’t seem to detect her embarrassment. He greeted her with a wide grin and a big hug.
Aiden felt a surge of possessiveness and thought it might be fun to throw Liam down the elevator shaft. It was crazy, his reaction. What was wrong with him? Fortunately, he was a master at keeping his emotions hidden. He’d done it most of his life.
“You’ve said hello. Now let go of her.”
“Would you like something to drink?” Cordie offered, stepping back.
“I could use a beer. I’ll get it,” Liam said, and headed to the bar.
Cordie was about to sit on the sofa when she noticed her black camisole. Mortified, she grabbed it and stuffed it behind the cushion a second before Liam sat down across from her.
Aiden stood over Cordie as he explained to Liam, “Someone called and threatened to kill her.”
“Not the first call,” she corrected.
“What?” Aiden was incredulous. “He’s called more than once?”
She nodded. “I recognized the voice. He called earlier today and asked to speak to my father.”
“Your father’s dead,” Aiden said.
Exasperated, she replied. “I know. I was at the funeral.”
“I meant to ask if you told him your father was dead,” Aiden clarified.
“No, I just told him he wasn’t here, and he said he would call back later.”
“And the second phone call?”
“He asked to speak to my father again, and then he threatened me. He said if I didn’t keep quiet he would feed me to the crocodiles and put a bullet in my head. He was making me mad, but I probably shouldn’t have taunted him.”
“How?” Liam asked.
“I asked him to make up his mind.”
Liam smiled. “Aren’t you going back to Chicago tomorrow? The last time I checked there weren’t any crocodiles in Lake Michigan.”
“Right,” she agreed. “So I guess it’s a bullet.”
“Don’t be flippant about this,” Aiden snapped.
“Will you settle someplace, please, and stop hovering over me?”
He dropped down beside her. “What did you find out about the men with Simone?” he asked Liam.
“They work as bodyguards, and both have squeaky-clean records. Never had a single complaint lodged against them, yet they tried to drag a woman out of a hotel lobby packed with people. Pretty damned gutsy for squeaky-clean bodyguards, wouldn’t you say?”
Aiden nodded. “Keep looking.”
“They had to have been hired by Simone. She couldn’t very well have asked her husband or her father,” Cordie said.
Liam put his beer on the table. “Let me tell you about the Taylor/Rayburn family and their little empire.” He leaned forward and braced his arms on his knees. “They’re pretty guarded about their personal lives and their business dealings, so it took some digging to get any information on them. Their wealth and power come from Merrick Enterprises, a company that was built by Simone’s grandfather, Howard Merrick. Some would say he was a ruthless businessman, but you don’t take over in business like he did without getting rid of your competition. He started out investing in real estate and branched out into other areas of construction and manufacturing from there. Estimates say the company’s worth hundreds of millions today.
“When Merrick died, the estate, including his business, went to his firstborn, Alice, who by then had married Julian Taylor. Alice had no interest in business and, by all accounts, was a rather weak, sickly woman. This left the door open for her husband, Julian, to take over. To this day, Julian runs the company. Merrick Enterprises was successful when he took charge, but he’s increased its value many times over. He controls everything and everyone with an iron fist. Simone seems to be intimidated by him. My guess is that she’s become so accustomed to her cushy life, she’s afraid of anything that will disrupt it.
“Simone’s husband, Craig Rayburn, is second-in-command at the company. Now, there’s an interesting guy. He grew up in a small town in Western Australia and came to Sydney right out of school. His first job at Merrick Enterprises was as an assistant to a regional manager, but he was ambitious. Most would say he was obsessed. Within a few years he had worked his way up to being head of one of Merrick’s real estate companies, and that’s when Julian took a personal interest. If there’s anything that turns Julian on, it’s ambition—that and the ability to take orders, and in Craig’s case, do what your father-in-law demands. Julian began to turn more and more responsibility over to Craig, and it became apparent to everyone that he was the chosen one. Marriage to Julian’s daughter cinched the deal. Craig’s landed in a pot of gold and he’s loving every minute of it. He has all the trappings: big mansion, yacht, vacation home on his own island. You name it. He’s become quite the mogul and is destined to take over when Julian steps down, though it’s a pretty good guess, as long as Julian’s alive, Craig will be his puppet.
“And that brings us to the two sons, Glen and Knox. Grandpa Julian has been grooming them since they were born. Talk about chips off the old block. They go to the best schools and even now are being molded in Julian’s image. I haven’t found the details of their inheritance yet, but they’re most likely going to take over when the time comes. There’s no doubt they’ll be taking orders from Julian and Craig for years to come.
“Simone, despite her misspent youth, has reinvented herself. While the men are off making all that money, she has become one of the grand dames of society. The role really suits her. She lends her name to a couple of charity boards, and the good people of Sydney have all but canonized her. She was even named Woman of the Year by some philanthropic organization a couple of years ago.
“Julian puts his family on display as though they’re God’s gift to Australia. Every month or so there will be an article in the news about some charity event the family’s involved in. Ask anyone in Sydney. They’ll tell you Julian Taylor and the Rayburn family are just swell, not a black sheep among them. They’re a little too Stepford if you ask me, but they’re definitely a Julian Taylor creation.”
Cordie listened to Liam’s report on the family with rapt attention. When he was finished, she sat back and mulled over what he had discovered. “Simone has a lot to lose if her secret gets out,” she said. “If anyone found out she abandoned her husband and child, her standing in the community would be gone, and her entire family would suffer. The disgrace and humiliation would destroy her.”
Liam nodded. “So the question is: How far would she go to keep her secret safe?”
SIXTEEN
Aiden wasn’t quite so hostile toward Liam now. They continued to talk about Julian Taylor and his brood, and the more Cordie heard, the happier she was that she was going home and wouldn’t have to worry about seeing any of them again.
She left the men to their discussion, said good night, and went to bed. She could hear the low voices in the other room talking about Simone and the members of her family. She didn’t want to think about that vile woman anymore. How long would it take to get Simone out of her head? Regan and Sophie were right. She never should have come here, never should have started this, never should have let her anger control her. It was so unlike her not to be logical. Yet, since she found out the truth about Simone, she had been too enraged to be rational. She hadn’t been thinking at all. As appalling as it was to admit, she had let her emotions control her.
And then there was Aiden. She knew what was going to happen once they were back in Chicago. He would return to his skinny, flat-chested blondes, and she would finish getting her house ready to sell and move to Boston. Dear God, how depressing.
Tomorrow she would remember why she was moving on. Tonight she needed him. She wanted to sleep in his arms because with him she felt safe and protected. She thought she heard the elevator bell and was pretty certain Liam had just left. Still, she wasn’t going to walk into the living room without a stitch of clothing. She slipped her robe on, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
Aiden was taking off his T-shirt again. He noticed her watching him and stilled. “Liam just left.”
She untied her belt. “I thought I heard the bell.”
Aiden waited to see what she would do. She was blushing, which he thought was sweet. She was acting shy, but he knew what she was like in bed. She was just as wild as he was, just as crazed.
Cordie removed her robe and let it drop to the floor. She walked toward him, and the way he looked at her made her feel like the sexiest woman in the world. When she reached him, she put her arms around his neck, stretched up on her tiptoes, and nibbled on his earlobe. “I want to sleep with you.”
He lifted her into his arms. “You can sleep on the plane.”
• • •
It was hot and humid in Chicago. Cordie hadn’t gotten much sleep on the way home, and she was feeling jet-lagged and sleep deprived. She didn’t even know what day it was, but she blamed that on the time change.
Aiden rode with her from the airport. He carried in her luggage, kissed her good-bye, and he was gone. She was too tired to care if and when she would see him again. She knew he wasn’t going to be getting much sleep with all the problems waiting for him. Just before they left Sydney, he’d received a text from his brother Spencer letting him know that Walker, accompanied by medical personnel, had flown back to Chicago and was now recuperating at the Hamilton. He had been scheduled to enter a rehab facility where he would receive physical therapy daily but at the last minute had changed his mind. Spencer ended his message with a warning to Aiden that Walker was being a real pain.
There was also an issue with the expansion of the Miami Hamilton, and Aiden had mentioned he would be flying out in the next day or two. He didn’t seem to need much sleep, and she worried that one day it would catch up with him. She, on the other hand, needed six hours every night.
Feeling like a zombie, she crawled into bed and slept for a solid eight hours. She still dragged all the next day. She drove to the supermarket to get milk and bread and a few other necessities and by the time she was finished shopping and on her way back home, she was wiped out.
Dark clouds were gathering overhead, and she felt the first drops of rain as she hurried up the steps to her door. Shifting the heavy bags to one arm, she fumbled through her purse for her house key and inserted it into the lock, but the door opened before she could turn the key. That was odd, she thought. It was unlike her to forget to lock her door, especially after the lecture Aiden had given her when he’d found it unlocked. She’d learned to be very safety conscious since then. She couldn’t believe she’d been so careless, but then, her head was still fuzzy from the trip home. Balancing the bags in both arms again, she went inside and kicked the door closed behind her. Only a few steps in, she tripped over something in her way. One bag of groceries went flying, and she juggled to control the other as she grabbed the banister to keep from banging her head. Her shin throbbed in pain. When she looked down to see what had caused the spill, she found one of her moving boxes sitting precariously in her pathway. After limping into the kitchen and depositing her bag on the kitchen table, she returned to the front hall to pick up the scattered groceries.
Puzzled, she stood and stared at the errant box for a few seconds. She could have sworn she had the boxes stacked three high against the wall. How did this one end up on the floor? It was too heavy to topple off the stack by itself, and she certainly didn’t recall taking it down. As she dropped the loose groceries back into the bag and took it to the kitchen, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. True, she’d been in a bit of a fog the last day or so, but she’d never been this careless before.
