“How the fuck do you think I knew? I’ve been tracking him since I got out of the hospital. The better question is how the hell did you know?” Then it hit her. Radcliffe had squealed. “I’m going to fucking kill Beau…”
Nostrils flared, Matthew grit his teeth and growled like a dog.
One look at him and Charlie lost it. “I was honest about what I am, so stop looking at me like that. You have no right to be angry.”
“You listen here, Charlotte. Listen good.” He was fuming, grey eyes murderous as he gripped her arm. “This will never happen again, you hear me? Sneaking around like you are is gonna get you hurt.”
“Hunting men is what I do best… I’ll do as I please!”
“It ain’t your place no more,” he thundered, about ready to tie her up and drag her off. Hell, he’d even gag her if he had to. “If I ever find you out looking for some sack of shit criminal, God help you woman. No table leg is going to save you from the hell I will bring down upon you.”
Her hands came to his chest, shoving with all her might. “And just what hell might that be?”
Matthew got a good grip on the slippery woman, using his mass to hold
her still. Pinning her, watching her continued struggles, to fight as if she were stronger, made the point for him. Charlie continued to lose until she was panting, hair disheveled… caught like a cornered animal.
When he had her still, Matthew spoke the hard truth. “You think you’re so tough, so goddamn dangerous? Guess what, little Blackbird,” he tugged her wrist, forcing her to see the red scar. “You do miss, and you do bleed.”
Desperation hitched her voice. “And so do you, Matthew. Don’t you get it? Roy was only a hired thug. Someone is coming after you, and I aim to find out who.”
He grimaced in an attempt to control his fury. “I don’t need your help.”
Poking his chest, she railed, “Open your eyes! You would’ve never found him if not for me. Who do you think ran Roy’s name past Beau? I called him this morning looking to see if the jackass knew who the fucker worked with! And that son of a bitch dragged you in where you don’t belong. Walkin’ in there all puffed up and dangerous… If Roy had laid eyes on you, he would’ve taken one look and run. Then I would have to find him all over again!”
Biting down the retort cooking on his tongue, Matthew looked away. It was long seconds before he could get past the anger and say what he was feeling. “I thought you were dead. Ain’t never felt so scared like I did the moment I saw you half-naked, crumpled in a pool of blood. You were white as a ghost, Charlotte.”
All the wind went out of her sails. “Oh, Matthew, I’m not gonna die on you.”
One hand came to her face, Matthew ignoring the swelling in his knuckles so he might wipe blood splatter off her cheek. “This ain’t the life I want for you. It ain’t the life you want for yourself. It’s time for you to set it aside and let the menfolk do their duty.”
Pressing against the heat of his palm, Charlie closed her eyes, exasperated that it had to be spelled out. “You can’t just expect me to sit back, to wait and wonder. Not when I can find out what’s going on.”
“I’m going to handle the man that hurt what’s mine.” His voice came considerably softer. “I am, not you.” He swallowed, leaning so close their noses almost touched. “Leave it be, Charlotte.”
The thought of him out there alone made her blood run cold. She was begging him, pleading, “I know these men. Let me stand at your side… Together we—”
He put his forehead to hers, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He was still angry, no doubt about that, but she had some magic that cooled the temper. “You can stand by my side in every other way… but not in this. Darlin’, I love you too much to allow it.”
It was the one thing he might say that would curb her. Charlie went quiet. Frowning, she pushed off from the truck, shoving him away to kick up a cloud of dirt and scream out her frustration. When the shriek was over, unwilling to give her acquiescence vocally, Charlie panted and offered one sharp nod. It didn’t matter, Matthew knew what she meant. He could see the monumental struggle it was for her to step away from the hunt.
The chase was over anyway. Nathaniel had returned, the crumpled body of Roy Beachum dumped at his feet.
Bitter, Charlie crossed the distance and gave Roy one hard kick in the ribs. “That’s for cutting my arm, prick!”
Ignoring the sputtering man whining at her feet, sapphire eyes darted up to look dead on at Matthew. “If something happens to you, there will be no mercy for the men I go after. You understand me?”
Matthew nodded, accepting her surrender, one with caveats should he fail—the look in her eyes made that perfectly clear.
Chapter 14
With the back of Eli’s head nothing but mush, Charlie was put in charge of getting him home. Matthew got her ass on the next train leaving Charleston for Monroe, handing his woman all the cash he’d collected from the last transaction with Radcliffe—as if to show he trusted her, saying silently not to make the same mistake twice.
For some reason it made her sad, and she couldn’t quite meet his eye. The ride back she fumed. She was furious at Beaumont, angry with Matthew for denying her, at Nathaniel for glaring… and stupid Eli for blowing her cover in the first place.
When the truck had not returned to Devil’s Hollow by midday, Charlie took the sack of cash, invaded Matthew’s office, and opened his ledgers. Poring over his books, she did the same job she’d done for Radcliffe all those years ago.
After dark, Matthew cleared his throat from the door, Charlie looked up, startled.