Breath of Scandal(93)
"What:s his name?"
"Dillon Burke. Beards have always been a real tum-on for me. I've got this girl friend-she calls beards womb sweepers. Isn't that terrible?" She giggled. "They make a man so mysterious, you know?"
"Actually, I'm more interested in his background," The secretary scanned the data on the screen. "He started working for Matthias on April twenty-eighth last year. "
"Before that?"
"Doesn't say. See for yourself. That's all we've got on him. Not even a mailing address."
She turned the screen toward Jade, who checked the scanty information, then ripped a sheet of paper off a note pad and jotted down the man's name and social security number. "Exactly what does he do?"
"Everything. To look at him you'd never guess it, but he's smart and knows what he's doing. Matthias asks Mr. Burke's advice all the time, but he'd never admit it. "
Jade assimilated that. "So his allegations were true?" "Allegations? Oh, you mean what he said about Matthias using crappy materials?"
"Is it true?"
"Look, I don't see that that's any of your business. I've already told you more-"
"He flirted with me." Jade had a hunch, and she played on it. "While we were at lunch, Matthias slid his hand under my skirt and asked me to join him in his apartment for the rest of the afternoon."
The secretary's eyes narrowed to slits. The purplish fingernails curled toward her palms like claws. "Why, that two-timing, slimy, horny little shit!"
5Z
Jade watched Dillon Burke as he was escorted through a
door and led to a desk where he signed a receipt for his belongings. As he strapped on his wristwatch, the desk sergeant said something to him that brought his head around. He looked at Jade with that disturbing intensity she had first noticed through the binoculars.
Beneath dense brows, his hazel eyes regarded her suspiciously. They moved from the top of her head to the toes of her black eel pumps and back up again. It took all her willpower not to squirm.
"Are you sure?" she heard him ask the police sergeant when he turned back around.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, buddy. Go on, get out of here before we change our minds."
Jade stood up, surprised to discover that her knees were unsteady. She didn't like police stations. They were too reminiscent of the night she had spent in the interrogation room at the Palmetto County courthouse. She hadn't been surprised to read that Hutch now occupied the office once held by his father.
"Mr. Burke?" she said as she approached him. "Will you come with me, please?"
When he quizzically tilted his head to one side, his long hair brushed his shoulder. "What for? Who the hell are you? 11
"My name is Jade Sperry. Please?" She gestured toward the door. Her blue eyes didn't flinch from his hard stare, though it was disconcerting. "As the sergeant said, they might change their minds and decide to keep you overnight. This way."
. She moved toward the entrance, giving the false impression that she was confident he would follow her. For all she knew, as soon as they cleared die door, he would bolt and she would never see him again. To her relief, he fell into step beside her.
She led him to the limousine parked at the curb. The chauffeur hastened to open the back door for them. She
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Sandra Brmvn
Breath of Scandal
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offered to let Burke precede her. He hesitated only a few seconds before getting into the plush backseat. The limo was an extravagance, she knew. But she wanted him flabbergasted and humbled by the good fortune that had miraculously befallen him. She wanted him to say yes to her proposition.
Jade reached for the electric button that raised the glass partition between the chauffeur and the backseat. Saying nothing, Burke followed her motions with watchful eyes.
The limo pulled into traffic and glided through it as soundlessly as a silver snake. Jade crossed her legs, then wished she hadn't. Her stockings made a silky-scratchy sound in the silence. Burke looked down at her legs, then raised an inquisitive gaze to her face.
To cover her nervousness, Jade opened her purse and took out a pack of cigarettes and a new lighter. "Cigarette?" "I don't smoke."
"Oh. " She laughed with self-derision as she set the cigarettes and lighter on the small built-in bar of the limo. "I've seen too many movies, I guess."
"Movies?" "Whenever a prisoner is brought out, the first thing he's offered is a cigarette. I bought some, thinking ... this is the first time I've gotten anybody out of jail."
With a cynical eye, he gazed around the lush interior of the limo. "This is a first for me, too."
"You've never been in jail before?"
He turned to her abruptly, startling her with the unexpected movement. "Have you?"
He seemed very large and very close, and suddenly she doubted the wisdom of her impulsiveness. She recalled how quickly he had attacked Matthias when the belt was removed from his hands. His sheer physicality frightened her, but she didn't recoil, for she supposed that that's what he wanted her to do. He was trying to intimidate her, probably because he felt intimidated himself.