“Don’t ever say the ‘f’ word again.”
“All I’m sayin’ is, you keep shuttin’ me down before I get a chance to woo you, right and proper.”
“Woo me?”
“Yes, woo. A man’s gotta woo a woman.” Damn, am I the last ladies’ man on the planet? What happened to winin’ and dinin’?
He’d like to take her out for a fabulous meal, go dancing, maybe even a romantic moonlight stroll afterward. And then take her to bed for a couple of days.
“You want to…date me?” She frowned, as though the concept was foreign.
“For starters. I ain’t sayin’ you gotta take me home to meet your daddy, but I don’t want a one-night stand either. It’ll be a recreational, respectful relationship—albeit a short one.”
“Relationships aren’t fun—they’re a hassle.”
“Because you haven’t had one with me.”
“What if I don’t like you after I’ve given you a shot?”
“I know you will, because I’ve never disappointed a lady. However, in the unlikely event you aren’t interested, I’ll back off. What do you say?”
An eternity passed before she nodded.
Byron felt like pumping his fist in the air but held himself in check. A lesser man might worry about an upcoming fight with a serial killer, but Beauregard had taken down armed men who were as vicious as himself. He sure as hell wasn’t scared of some freak who attacked defenseless women.
“I have a few ground rules. One, you don’t leave my side until this over.”
“I don’t know….”
“That’s non-negotiable. I take your safety seriously and so should you.” In the meantime, he’d try to convince her to let him handle this problem the mobster way. If anyone had a reckoning coming, Oscar Valentine did.
“Fine, I suppose you might be useful in more than one way.”
“Oh, darlin’, you don’t know the half of it. I’ve got plenty of skills, and you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
“I was referring to your people skills.”
He winked. “Me too.”
Jane shook her head. “First, I need to drive to work and get the case file. I’m going to take some vacation days until this is resolved, and I’ll need to drop by the apartment and pick up some clothing for our road trip.”
“You can fill me in on the details later.” Byron stood. “I’m drivin’ you to the office, so I’ll have my Escalade brought around.”
Byron walked off with a spring in his step. This was going better than he’d hoped. Jane needed his help—she was staying in his home, under his roof. He’d play the hero, put the bastard away, and get the girl too.
Sounds like a damn fine plan.
Chapter Seven
Jane was relieved the long trip to Dallas was a silent one.
Before she talked to Georgia, she needed to gather her thoughts.
Byron had attempted to start a conversation with her a couple of times but stopped when she gave him short, clipped answers. They rode in his big black Escalade. Like some sort of jungle cat, the engine rumbled and purred as they drove—it reminded her of the man himself. There was something predatory, dangerous about Byron, and that was comforting. Byron was more than a match for Valentine.
He sang “Devil Inside” by INXS along with the radio, tapping on the steering wheel. Despite the dire circumstances, he was in a good mood, and it irked her.
Jane was hardly ever in the mood for company, especially not this morning. An introvert to the core, she needed a lot of alone time. Last night, she’d tossed and turned. Every time she’d closed her eyes, Jane found herself back in the dark room, pressed against the doorway, bargaining for her life. When she was awake, she’d agonized over the decision she had to make.
Walking away and keeping her client’s secret was the proper professional course of action—yet, she couldn’t go through with it. Valentine had murdered a half-dozen women, probably more. If Jane kept her mouth shut, he’d go on to kill others, and she couldn’t live with herself if she stood by and let it happen. Her guilt over helping Valentine skirt a murder charge also weighed on her conscience—she’d been partially responsible for putting him back on the streets.
And yet violating Valentine’s constitutional rights was wrong too. There wasn’t a correct answer to the problem, and it was maddening. Jane liked clearly defined boundaries and legal classifications, and this situation was a murky quagmire of moral questions.
Jane already knew this decision would haunt her for the rest of her life. Both choices were terrible, but she took the one which would be least objectionable. When weighing Valentine’s civil rights against the lives of future victims, she had to side with protecting people.