Chapter Nine
Where the fuck is she?
“Has anyone seen Amber?” Alexei asked as he scanned the crowd gathering for the after-match party at Cesar’s. He was becoming increasingly concerned. He could understand Amber wanting to leave before the match ended to come here to check the final preparations for the party, as she was arranging caterers for the event, but where had she got to?
“You didn’t ask her to join us as your guest?” Dante showed his disapproval with a shake of his head. “Don’t you think she deserves some recognition after everything she does for us? Look at this spread…”
“You could have asked her just as easily,” he countered blackly.
Dante huffed. “I’d like to see your face if I tried. I did see her go into the stable while we were changing ponies during chukkas.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Alexei exclaimed. “Did you see her come out?” He stared at his teammates, but they all shook their heads. He remembered Amber’s comments about security and his own feelings. He didn’t pause to examine those thoughts, he just ran. He arrived at the stables in time to find Amber exiting through the open barn door with a prisoner under guard.
“Don’t underestimate the hired help,” she said, smiling grimly as she pushed the mortified youth ahead of her.
“How did you—?”
“How did I hear him? Trick him? Throw him to the ground and tie him up?” She shrugged. “Really? You didn’t undergo the same training I did in Special Ops?”
As several of his security guards came to take the youth into custody, she explained, “I knew you’d be busy with the match, so I called security—congratulations on scoring the winning goal, by the way. The guards told me. They said you were heroic.” She pulled a comic face.
As they led the youth away, Alexei gave her a considering look. “You did well.”
“You don’t say,” she murmured.
The warning not to patronize her rang out loud and clear. “So, who was he? Did you find out? And how did he breach our defenses?”
“Well, breaching the defenses here doesn’t take too much skill, since there aren’t any. And he’s no one—except to his mother, whom I called. He’s a keen rider who wanted to see the world’s top ponies in real life. But,” she added significantly, “he could just as easily have been a scout for a gang of horse thieves.”
“And you’re sure of his identity, how?” he asked, needing proof before he could call off the hounds.
“I checked with his school, his mother, and with the police on the mainland. He plays polo in junior league. He slipped onto your security-approved ferry under the guise of being an additional groom who’d been recruited last minute. He landed on the island and mingled with the crowd. He almost got away with it, but I had a feeling that something might happen, so I went to check the horses.”
“Lucky you did,” he conceded.
“Nowhere is ever completely secure, Alexei. He wasn’t doing any harm, so, yes, we were lucky this time.” She started back toward the stables. “But now we know what is and isn’t possible, we need to tighten up security both ends—here and the mainland, to make sure this never happens again.”
He caught up with her. “We?”
“Yes. We,” she insisted. “I keep telling you, who’s better qualified to join your group than me? Everything you do, including your work with horses, is all well within my sphere of expertise.”
“You? Join us?” He laughed. “You’re deluding yourself, Amber.”
“Am I?” she challenged stonily. “I thought you were offering me a job before.”
“With the horses,” Alexei agreed. “The work we do outside of polo is far too dangerous.”
“For someone trained in Special Ops?”
“You are not getting involved in this,” he stated firmly.
“I’m already involved, Alexei.”
“Not unless I say you are.”
“And what would it take for you to do that?”
“That’s not going to happen.”