Dark Lover Read Free Page B

I won’t ever ask him to make a deal.” She added, “And I won’t lose.”
    Nick nodded, a gleam in his eyes. “I wonder why he suddenly bought property here.”
    She felt herself still. “What?”
    â€œYou heard me.”
    â€œHe’s living here? ”
    â€œBought an eighteen-million-dollar home, right on Park Avenue.” Nick smiled at her.
    Sam was shocked. Why would he come to New York? She walked over to a window and stared down at the pedestrians and traffic on Hudson Street. “When did this happen?”
    â€œLast January. A month or so after your little visit to Loch Awe.”
    â€œHis deciding to live here has nothing to do with me,” Sam said without thinking.
    â€œI didn’t say it did.” Nick eyed the folder. “That is interesting reading, by the way.”
    Sam folded her arms, her instincts going into overdrive. When she’d arrived at his home on Loch Awe, he’d been expecting her. How was that possible?
    â€œI was wonderin’how long it would take ye to find me.” He was amused .
    She smiled coldly. “In your dreams.”
    He had poured her champagne, ignoring his other guests and his Playboy centerfold girlfriend. “Welcome to my lair.”
    â€œYour father was the wolf.”
    â€œLike father, like son,” he murmured, his gaze dipping to her cleavage.
    â€œIn the mood for a proposition?”
    â€œI’ve been in the mood since we first met.”
    There’s no way he’d come to New York to pursue her. No woman would ever be worth that kind of effort for him and she was sure of it. He’d come to town for other reasons. The Duisean? She wouldn’t put it past him.
    â€œYou’re an amazingly striking and terribly seductive woman,” Nick said thoughtfully. “And you know it. Coupled with that is your power as a Slayer.”
    Sam stared at her boss. “Keep up the flattery and I might become frightened.”
    He grinned. “Nothing scares you, Sam.”
    He was right.
    Nick added, “I can’t write off his arrival in New York as a coincidence. He’s dangerous and ruthless.” Nick picked up the folder. “But you’re dangerous and ruthless, too.”
    Her interest was piqued. “So he’s my objective.”
    â€œIf he has the wrong intentions, I’m counting on you to neutralize him.”
    â€œGoody.” She fingered the folder. “What’s in there?”
    â€œSome interesting coincidences.”
    â€œI’m a Rose. According to our Wisdom, there’s no such thing.”
    Nick smiled. “I know. He’s been flagged by our agency, but he’s also on Scotland Yard’s watch list. Do you recall the theft of that van Gogh in Milan two years ago?”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    â€œThe painting just vanished into thin air in the middle of a working day. According to a clerk there, no one from the public was inside the gallery that morning and no alarms went off. But Maclean had been a visitor earlier in the week.”
    Sam paced thoughtfully, tingling with some excitement. “He leapt into the gallery and leapt out with the painting. Gee, I wonder if it survived traveling at the speed of light.”
    â€œGuess who is rumored to now have it?” Sam waited and Nick said, “Hemmer.”
    Sam started. “Okay. So that explains the guest list. He stole the painting, sold it to Hemmer, and now they’re best buds.”
    â€œHe’s best buddies with various other wealthy art collectors around the world.” Nick was wry. “And he’s linked to five international art dealers, who have suffered the combined loss of eight masterpieces in the past decade. Several of his other friends are reputed to be in possession of those stolen works of art now.”
    Sam stared at Nick. Maclean was using his powers to steal. So this was how he’d acquired his wealth—and his Park