His Private Pleasure(31)

Pearl surprised her with a laugh. “Oh honey, he was just one in a long line of people who have made that pretty damn clear. Club owners, boyfriends, girlfriends…my own ma, for Christ’s sake.” She shrugged. “I got worth, don’t get me wrong. This ain’t no pity party. But I know my limits, too. I wasn’t from the right stock for Duggie. I knew that. I didn’t have no silver spoon in my mouth, more like picnic plasticware. It didn’t mean he couldn’t love me anyway, just that we weren’t meant for each other in the long term. And he set me up nice when he left.” She tugged at her shirt, stood a little taller. “I run a school, you know. Dancing.”

“See? That’s great. A businesswoman. Successful, too, I bet. So what happened? You protected him all these years, he took care of you. Why give him over now?” Liza could almost hear Dylan gnashing his teeth behind her, but she ignored him. She had put two and two together pretty easily and knew why Pearl was here, and under police protection. She also had a pretty good idea of who had set that fire…and why they’d chosen that motel.

“I protected him is right,” Pearl said, almost fiercely. “Kept his ass out of prison. Then, after all the years of trying, Elaine finally went and got knocked up.” Pearl looked up. Her dark brown eyes were blazing, then just as suddenly filled with tears. “She said no fun time in the sack no more until after Duggie Junior arrived. So he…he—” She choked back the sob. “He thought I’d be willing to resume our relationship while his wife was…was with child. Like I was some kind of…some kind of—” She huffed and sucked in a breath as she scrubbed the tears from her face. “Well, I’m a lot of things, but I ain’t no whore. What is your name, anyway?”

“Liza,” she supplied.

“Like the singer!”

Liza just nodded, feeling an affection for the woman despite, or maybe because of, her wacky, up-and-down nature. She was this endearing combination of weary street smarts and naive, wide-eyed wonder.

“Well, Liza, I know a lot of people might think less of me because I took my clothes off for money. But, like I said, I ain’t no whore. Never have been.” She laughed, her voice hoarse with tears. “Maybe I should have. Probably coulda retired in Florida, be feeding the birds by now.”

“I think you should talk to Dylan,” Liza said abruptly, gripping Pearl’s wrist when she would have pulled away. “Men can be assholes, but the only reason Dylan wanted you away from here is because Dugan set a fire to your first meeting place. He was worried about you.”

“He’s worried about the information I have, you mean.”

Liza nodded. “Sure, he is a cop. You knew that coming in. But there are a lot of other cops in Vegas. You chose to talk to this one. Surely there was a reason you trusted him and not the others.”

“He was…nice to me. Back a long time ago, when they first tried to take Duggie down. The others, they didn’t, you know, show any respect.” She shrugged, then looked at Liza consideringly. “You trust him?”

She smiled now, and it was the sort of look that only another woman would understand. “Honey,” she said, leaning in, “he’s hard not to.”

Pearl smiled back, and pushed at her hair, straightened her shirt. “You two…you’re, you know, together?”

Liza shrugged and nodded. “For now, anyway.”

Pearl sighed and dabbed at her lipstick, then adjusted her bra. “Yeah, well, if I was you, I’d do whatever I could to keep my hooks in that one.” She sighed. “He’s a bit young for me, anyway.” She leaned down and shot Liza a wink. “You didn’t hear that from me. Most men don’t guess I’m as old as I am.” She moved away, mercifully keeping Liza from having to answer that one, and crossed the road. “Okay, Detective, I’m ready to talk. Is there somewhere around here a girl can fix her makeup and get a soda and some fries? I do better when my digestive system is evened out.”

Dylan smiled. “Sure. No problem.” He corraled her toward Quin’s car, sending Liza a look she couldn’t interpret, but figured she’d hear all about momentarily. “You two follow us,” he told Quin. “I know just the place.”

As soon as she and Dylan were back in her car, Liza turned to him, all set to tell him to back off, that she’d done him a favor, only he beat her to the punch.

“Thank you.”

Her mouth dropped open, then snapped shut again. “You’re welcome,” she said, nonplussed.

He smiled as they headed away from the airstrip, and continued on in the opposite direction from town. “What, you think I’m going to beg to be the one who has to handle the angry, hysterical woman?”

Liza smiled, but answered him seriously. “She wasn’t hysterical. She was humiliated. She thought this Dugan character held her in some kind of esteem because he’d taken care of her financially and had the decency to end their sexual relationship before finding himself a more suitable bride.”

“You’re angry. Is this personal?”

Liza shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Someone pass you over for that reason? I have a real hard time believing that one.”

She shot him a smile. “Brownie point earned. And no, not me. But my parents could both write books on the subject. Thankfully, neither has an interest in literature.”

Dylan chuckled, then apologized. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at their misfortune.”

“Don’t worry. I learned a long time ago they brought their misfortunes on themselves.”

“I take it you’re not close, then?”

She hadn’t meant to talk about them, didn’t really want to now, but she supposed this was a step toward revealing a couple of those little pieces. It wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. “They were always pretty self-involved, even when they were together. It’s easier and certainly healthier to leave them to their own destructive devices.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Don’t be. I’m not. It just is what it is.” She glanced at him. “I always wondered what it would be like to have a big family. I think I would have enjoyed having an escape hatch like you did. I can’t imagine a houseful of people, all related to me.” She laughed. “The very thought used to make me shudder.”

“Used to?”

Her smile wavered, then steadied as she held his gaze. She nodded. “Till recently. Very recently.”

He smiled, looked back to the road. “Thank you,” he said at length.

“For?”

“The little piece.”

She glanced over at him, but he kept his eyes ahead. What do you know, she thought, shifting her own gaze forward, her lips curved in a slight smile. It didn’t hurt to share a little. In fact, it felt kind of good.

He was silent for a long while. Normally Liza didn’t mind the silences, but she discovered she was curious about this one. Curious about what he was thinking, curious about a lot of things regarding Dylan Jackson. Everything, really. “Pretty quiet over there,” she said casually. “You thinking about Pearl, the case?”

“Honestly?” He darted a quick look at her. “I was thinking that I enjoy the way you put things into words.”

“What? Where did that come from?”

“I was thinking how much I enjoy just having you with me. I enjoy talking to you, listening to you. You’re interesting and entertaining.”

She didn’t know what to say. She’d honestly expected some cop shoptalk, even an “I can’t discuss a case” response.

“You’re witty, with a sense of humor that is dry and clever without sounding flippant or petty,” he continued. “You’ve got this ability to put everything in perspective with a quick, common sense approach. And you read people very well.” He shifted a little and glanced briefly at her. “You handled Pearl really well.”

Liza shrugged, caught totally off guard. “It’s a gift, what can I say?”

Dylan laughed. “Now you’re being flippant. What, you can’t take a compliment?”

“I can take a compliment. It’s the observations that are harder to swallow.”

“Was I off the mark?”

She glanced at him now, and smiled. “I’ll just say thank-you and shut up.” When he merely stared at her, she reached over and nudged his face to the front again. “Keep your eyes on the road, Sheriff.”

“Chicken.”

She smiled, then laughed. “Okay. Let’s just say you read people well, too. Maybe too well.”

Dylan grinned. “Then we have something in common.”

“Learned in completely different worlds, but maybe you have a point.”

“Just about that?”

She smiled but didn’t look at him. She could feel his glance. “Maybe. Maybe more.” Liza rubbed at her arms despite the hot, dry air that teased her curls as they drove on. But it only enhanced the tingling sensation she was feeling. Perhaps the same thing he was feeling. A connection that belied the short time frame of their acquaintance. Natalie had worried about the very same thing when she’d met Jake. And Liza had told her then that maybe sometimes a heart simply knew. She stole a glance over at Dylan’s hands, hands that had pushed her, prodded her, brought her indescribable pleasure.