Outlaw Carson (24 page)

She looked kissable, a thought so untenable
that it made him smile. Cooper needed an assistant. For reasons
that had everything to do with mental acuity and nothing to do with
physical attributes, he wanted a woman. He did not have to hire one
with great legs, pale, pretty skin, and auburn hair. He would not
hire one who even remotely made him think of sex, and when he
looked at Jessica Langston, the thought was far from remote.

“Ten days,” he agreed, meeting her
cinnamon-colored eyes, his decision made. “You’ll spend five of
them in London. Take the green folder, leave the red. It’s a long
flight, Ms. Langston, and it leaves at six o’clock tomorrow
morning. I suggest you go home and pack.”

Jessica nodded slightly, hoping to hide her
shock. Her mind raced ahead to the hundred and one details she
would have needed to take care of before she could go out to dinner
and a movie, let alone cross a continent and an ocean. She was a
mother, for crying out loud. A fact he would know, if he’d taken
the time to check her file.

Damn the man.

She turned on her heel and picked up the
green folder. She had no idea what awaited her in London, and she
wasn’t about to ask Cooper Daniels. He’d never seen “think on your
feet” the way she was going to deliver it. So help her, when she
got back, he’d be begging her to stay—which would give her the
ultimate satisfaction of saying no. She’d bet everything she owned
that he didn’t hear that word nearly often enough from the female
of the species.

* * *

After she’d gone, Cooper reached over to the
desk and picked up the phone. He punched in a call to London
without bothering to check the time. George Leeds would talk to him
no matter what time it was.

Jessica Langston wouldn’t last ten days. She
wouldn’t last the five on her round-trip ticket to

London. Cooper figured she would last
exactly as long as it took her to study the green folder, deplane
at Heathrow, take one look at George Leeds, and get back on a plane
to the States with her resignation in hand. He was sure the finer
points of negotiating bounty on maritime pirates with men like
Leeds hadn’t been covered in the curriculum at Stanford.

“Leeds,” he said when a man answered the
phone. After receiving confirmation, he continued. “I’m sending
someone in my place. Her name is Jessica Langston. Any offer you
wanted to take up with me, you can discuss with her, if she sticks
around long enough to hear it. And, Leeds—” He paused until the man
responded again. “Spread the word that she’s under my protection.
No interference will be tolerated. She’s a business associate and I
want her back looking as fresh and wide-eyed as she did when she
walked out of here. When she leaves, I’ll come and we’ll
finish.”

He hung up and stretched again under the
soothing magic of Sharon’s hands. She was working on his left leg,
his bad leg.

“You’re healing nicely,” she said.

“It hurts like hell.”

“Would you like me to prescribe something?”
she asked, her fingers gently probing the scar tissue that ran the
length of his thigh.

In answer, Cooper gave a short, sardonic
laugh. Sharon knew as well as he that there was nothing in her
magical bag of herbs and acupuncture needles to stop his pain.
There was only retaliation against the woman who’d had him maimed
and left him to die. There was only revenge against the woman who
had killed his brother.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
He’d relived the scene a thousand times, and every time Jackson
fell, Cooper found himself turning too slowly to protect his
brother, or to protect himself from his brother’s murderer. An
explosion of gunfire sounded and a cutlass slashed him open from
hip to knee before the dragon lady’s henchman fell under his knife.
All of it too damn late to save Jackson.

Jessica Langston didn’t belong in his world.
George Leeds was a peach compared with most of the people Cooper
dealt with. He only hoped Leeds was enough of his usual self to
offend her lovely sensibilities. Cooper didn’t have time for a
lawsuit, and he didn’t have time for her, and he was surprised that
he wished he did.

Damn surprised.

* * * * * * * * *

Thank you for reading
Outlaw
Carson
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