Twin Temptation

Maddie’s head spun again. “I don’t think this has been used in a while.”

“Hang in there. It’s almost over.” Dropping to his knees, Jase lowered the ladder. It made a little shrieking sound and particles of rust rose in a fine spray. “I’ll be right beneath you.” He turned and began to climb down.

Maddie braced a hand against the brick wall of the building as the fire escape groaned and swayed. Then she heard the sound of the impact as his feet hit cement followed by a soft grunt.

“C’mon. I’ll catch you.”

For a minute, Maddie closed her eyes. Don’t think about it. Then, drawing in a deep breath, Maddie gripped the railing, ignored the slight sway. Think of something else. Jase. In her mind, she pictured him standing beneath her, ready to catch her if she slipped. With that thought in mind, she turned around, dropped to her knees and found the rung of the ladder with her feet. Slowly, she began her descent.

“Atta girl,” Jase said.

She kept his image in her mind as she located the next rung and the next. She pictured what his face looked like when he was above her, thrusting into her, the crinkles that formed at the corners of his eyes when he was grinning. She recalled the concern she’d glimpsed briefly in his expression when he’d watched D.C. walk with that cane. The cold steel she heard in his voice when he went into security mode.

She’d known him less than forty-eight hours and yet she knew so many sides of him. Her right foot dangled in the air and she gripped the ladder tightly.

“Just drop. I’ll catch you.”

For only a moment, she hesitated. But even then, she didn’t picture the distance to the ground. The image in her mind was Jase below her, his arms outstretched, that long, lean body braced to catch hers.

When she let go and fell, she felt her heart take the same fast tumble.

Arms as strong as steel clamped around her. “Gotcha.”

For an instant, she felt him sway. Then he set her solidly on her feet.

“Ready?”

She turned to him then. And the fear that snaked up her spine had less to do with the fact that her life was in danger and much more to do with the man. She wasn’t sure she was ready for what she was coming to feel for Jase Campbell. But she was going to get ready. Taking his hand in hers, she said, “Yes.”

Side by side, they raced for the end of the alleyway.

15

TWENTY MINUTES later, Jase and Maddie climbed the stairs in Adam’s apartment building.

“You’ve given me a whole new perspective on the lack of security in New York City dwellings.”Jase slanted a look at her. She hadn’t commented as he’d gotten them into the basement of the building through an emergency-exit door. The alarm had sounded, but before anyone had appeared in the hallway, he’d urged her into the stairwell. “This one has excellent security at least at the front end. A doorman and another man on duty at the desk.” That was why he’d chosen a different entrance.

“Can you get into any building this easily?”

“Depends. I was in a hurry, and I was lucky.” He knew enough not to depend on luck for everything. He’d been able to hail a cab on Fifth Avenue and he’d switched taxis twice before arriving at Adam’s building. He was as sure as he could be that they hadn’t been followed, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d overlooked something.

On the fourth-floor landing, he pushed through the exit door. “Another time I might have pulled a D.C. and spun a story for the doorman that would have gotten us into Adam’s apartment in a more legitimate way.”

When they reached apartment 457, Jase motioned her to one side of the door. Then he knocked loudly. He counted ten beats, then knocked again.

Nothing.

Only then did he take the small case out of his back pocket and begin to work on the lock. Less than two minutes later, he had the door open. Still on the threshold, he scanned the living room. Something had his gut clenching, but there was no sound, no movement and nothing to be seen but dust motes dancing in a slant of morning sunlight.

Hurry, he told himself as he stepped into the small foyer. All he caught was a blur of movement, but it was enough to have him turning slightly. As a result, the blow hit him in the side of his head instead of the back.

“Maddie, run.” He managed to choke out the words as the pain, immediate and fierce, grayed his vision. Then his world went black.

MADDIE STOOD frozen as she watched Jase crumple to the floor. Then a hand grabbed her arm and jerked her forward into the room. Even then, she wasn’t able to shift her eyes away from him. Blood was oozing from a cut on his head.

A shove from behind had her stumbling past Jase’s lifeless body. A spurt of anger freed her from paralysis. She whirled on her attacker. She would have lunged forward had it not been for the gun in the woman’s right hand.“Dorothy?” Maddie stared at the impeccably dressed woman standing in front of her, taking in the details as her sluggish mind raced to keep up. Adam’s mother was wearing a royal-blue suit today. The color contrasted nicely with the blood dripping from the fireplace poker Dorothy held in one hand. Jase’s blood.

Maddie swallowed the hysteria threatening to bubble up. She had to think, she had to find a way to help Jase. She’d been trained in self-defense tactics by Cash. The first rule was to distract your opponent. For now, she just had to stall. Keep Dorothy talking.

“What are you doing here?” Maddie asked.

“Adam called me.”

Dorothy took two steps forward, and Maddie backed up in retreat. They were out of the foyer now, farther away from Jase. That was good. But in the stronger light, what Maddie saw glinting in the older woman’s eyes had fear nearly freezing her again.

“He saw you leaving by way of the fire escape,” Dorothy continued. “I was still on my cell talking to him when the police arrived to take him in for questioning. That was your doing. Don’t bother to deny it.”

Dorothy’s voice was calm, composed, making the lethal weapon in her hand seem surreal. Keeping the gun steadily aimed at Maddie, she moved sideways to the fireplace and hung the poker on its hook. Good, Maddie thought. There was only one weapon to worry about now. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play innocent.” Dorothy moved closer, and this time Maddie held her ground. She had to if she was going to get that gun away.

“I know what you’re doing. Your friend runs a security firm. Jase Campbell. Adam recognized the name the moment you introduced him.”

“He’s also Jordan’s apartment mate,” Maddie said. “And a good friend.”

“But that’s not why you brought him with you to Eva Ware Designs. Before she died, Eva told Adam that she’d hired Jase Campbell to investigate the robbery. And I knew when I saw him with you yesterday that you intended to stir everything up again. It’s all part of your goal to push Adam out of Eva Ware Designs. And for that you have to die, just as Eva had to die.”

DIE. That one word penetrated the fog clouding Jase’s brain. Then he remembered. The woman standing just inside the foyer. Maddie was in danger. How long had he been out? Experimentally, he opened his eyes just a little and rode out the wave of pain. He could just make out the two women standing in a slash of sunlight about ten feet away.

Dorothy Ware had a gun aimed at Maddie. Anger and fear flooded through him. Jase shoved both aside and resisted the urge to get up. When he moved, he’d have to be fast. And he had to be sure that he wouldn’t get dizzy. Wouldn’t stumble. Slowly, carefully, he raised his head off the floor. Pain spiked at his right temple, but there was no dizziness.

MADDIE SAW two movements at once. Jase lifting his head and Dorothy raising the gun slightly. Don’t panic. Stall.

“Is that why you hired the hit woman?” Maddie asked.Surprise flickered for a moment in Dorothy’s eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I prefer to handle things on my own.”

Maddie didn’t let herself look at the gun. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

With her free hand, Dorothy gestured toward the purse that sat on the arm of one of the sofas. “Adam asked me to come and take away the jewels.”

“The jewels?”

“Adam is not entirely stupid. He knew he wouldn’t get away with another robbery. So instead, he’s been bringing pieces here one at a time. Eventually he’ll sell them in the same way he sold the others. He couldn’t afford to leave them here now that the police are involved.”

A chill snaked its way up Maddie’s spine. Dorothy spoke about her son’s actions in the same matter-of-fact tone she might use to discuss the weather. Don’t panic. Just keep her talking.

“Adam robbed Eva Ware Designs? Why? He’s rich.”

Dorothy sighed. “Not anymore. He has a gambling problem, and he hasn’t conquered it yet. He’s gone through his trust fund, and Carleton wouldn’t help him out. He claims he can’t because money has become very tight at the bank. Plus he’s still annoyed with Adam for not taking a job at Ware Bank. He could be a VP by now. So Adam had to borrow money elsewhere.”

“At a high interest rate?” So Jase had been right.