The Renegade Hunter (25 page)

friend Carol to give her a gift Annie had bought for her before her death and ask her about what Annie had been going to tell you, but you wind up in your basement with a dead woman in your arms and on the run for fifty some years, completely forgetting all about the question you'd wanted to ask."

Jo paused to peer at him. "What would have happened had you not run?"

"I probably would have been executed right away," he said slowly.

"No trial?" she asked.

"Well, maybe a ghost of a trial. I doubt they would have put much effort into it. Decker saw me, I thought I'd done it..."

He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," Jo assured him. "Either way you wouldn't have been around to ask about what Annie wanted to tell you."

Nicholas's eyes widened incredulously at her words. She was simply stating what had happened, things he'd already known, but they had an entirely different connotation when she said it like that. He'd never really connected the two events, never even considered they might be connected. But then he'd just assumed, as everyone else had, that he'd killed the woman found dead in his arms. Everyone had... but Jo.

"I think we need to find this friend Carol and see if she knows what Annie wanted to tell you," Jo said solemnly.

"Nicholas?" Jo asked quietly, moving around the coffee table to peer down at him. He'd gone quiet all of a sudden and

bowed his head. Pausing in front of him, she bent to brush her fingers over his cheek. "What is it?"

He lifted his head, and she felt worry slide through her at the stark look in his eyes, but then he cleared his throat and asked, "Why do you believe in me?"

Jo straightened in surprise at the question. "What do you mean?"

Nicholas reached out to take her hand and said solemnly, "Jo, you hardly know me. We only met yesterday morning and yet when I told you I killed a woman, you didn't believe it for a minute. My entire family, most of whom have known me for centuries, had no doubts, but you did. Jeanne Louise and Thomas, my own sister and brother, didn't doubt it and now won't even acknowledge my existence." He paused and looked away, but not before she saw the pain streaking across his face. It was gone when Nicholas turned back, and his face was expressionless as he asked, "Why do you believe I'm innocent when I wasn't even sure about it myself?"

Jo stared at him, unsure she knew the answer herself. Perhaps she simply didn't want to believe it, but from the moment Nicholas had said he'd bitten and killed a woman, her heart had rejected it.

Perhaps it was blind faith at first and a desire

not to think it possible that someone she was coming to care for could do something like that. Perhaps had he told her minute by minute how and why he'd done it, she would have believed it, but the moment her brain had gotten over the shock of the declaration and Jo had heard the I guesses, and the apparentlys, and then the complete lack of memory behind the claim... Jo had known, to the very core of her being, that this man hadn't killed some innocent, pregnant woman all those years ago.

Oh, she had no doubt he could kill in the right circumstances, but she was pretty sure that for Nicholas it would have to be to save another or stop a rogue. Jo didn't even think he could kill in a blinding rage, not on purpose, and she was positive no blinding rage would last through the time needed to bundle a woman into his car, drive the ten minutes home, drag her into the basement, and rip her throat out. It just wasn't logical, and Jo fancied herself a logical person.

Of course, the feelings she had for Nicholas weren't really all that logical.

While she was grateful he'd saved her twice, the

feelings she was experiencing for this man were far and away from simple gratitude. Jo liked Nicholas. More than that, she trusted him, and she lusted after him. Even now, she hungered for him and wanted nothing more than to climb into his lap and reexperience the mind-blowing sex only he could give her. The only thing keeping her from doing just that was the possibility that if they didn't find out what had happened that day so long ago and prove he was innocent, she would lose him forever. The very thought scared her silly. Jo wasn't ready to acknowledge that she might want a future with this man, but Jo was damned certain she would do everything she could to make sure she had the opportunity if she did want it.

"I don't know," Jo said finally, and, smiled wryly as she added, "Maybe your nanos are talking to me."

Nicholas smiled faintly. "I don't think they're capable of doing that. I wish they could," he added wryly. "They could probably tell us what happened that day, but then so could the walls of my house, the floor, the..." He sighed wearily.

"But they can't."

"But Carol might be able to help us figure it out," she said encouragingly.

"Let's find out where she is now and talk to her.

What's her last name? We'll call information and get her phone number. We can call her right now and maybe solve this whole thing."

Nicholas was silent, his eyes shifting away from her suddenly excited face, and then he shook his head. "It's nearly dawn, too late to be doing anything."

Jo followed his gaze to the window where the first streaks of sunlight were just visible through Sam's sheers.

"Well that's good then," she said. "Carol will definitely be home sleeping.

You immortals normally sleep during the day,

right?"

"Right," Nicholas murmured, and then turned to her adding, "But we also don't have phones in our sleeping rooms as a rule. Too many sales calls," he added dryly, catching her hand and tugging her forward.

Jo gasped as she landed in his lap, exactly where she wanted to be, but had been fighting going herself. She still fought it

now, pushing at his chest when his mouth started to lower to hers. "But we could try."

"Later. When night falls," he said solemnly, his mouth lowering toward hers.

"But-" Jo turned her head away. "Nicholas, this is important. We really have to-"

"You're important," Nicholas interrupted quietly, catching her face and turning her to peer at him. "You're the most important thing in the world to me, Jo. I love you. Let me have this moment."

She stared into his face, stunned into silence by his declaration and unsure what she should say in response. Jo wasn't ready to say the feelings that had grown so quickly in her were love for this man. Fortunately, he didn't seem to expect her to. He didn't seem to expect her to say anything at all. His mouth lowered to cover hers and his arms tightened around her, drawing her closer as he kissed her.

Jo sat unresponsive in his lap for perhaps a heartbeat, but just his mouth on hers and his tongue slipping out to glide between her parted lips was enough to overcome her protests. Sighing, she gave in and slid her arms around his neck, her mouth opening further for him as he suddenly stood, scooping her up in his arms.

A couple of hours wouldn't hurt, Jo told herself as he began to carry her to the hall and the bedroom that waited beyond.

They would call Annie's friend Carol when darkness fell again.

Nicholas finished dressing and moved to peer down at Jo where she lay on her stomach in the bed. She was sleeping soundly as her body worked at replacing the blood he'd taken from her this last time they'd made love. This time it hadn't been an accident of his getting overexcited. He'd deliberately bitten her, and had deliberately taken more blood than he normally would have just before they'd both found their ecstasy and passed out. It had been his hope that doing so would ensure she slept longer and he would have the chance to get away.

Apparently, his plan had worked like a charm.

Jo was dead to the world, and Nicholas found it odd that the realization saddened him rather than satisfied him. But then he supposed that while he knew this was the best thing he could do for her, it didn't mean he had to be happy about

having to do it. Sighing, Nicholas bent to brush the hair away from her cheek. She was smiling in her sleep, but he wasn't surprised. He'd allowed her to think all would be well and that when they woke up, they would head out, find Carol, and ask her about what Annie had been going to tell him. Jo was positive that would lead to solving the whole matter of what had happened all those years ago and, hopefully, point to another culprit...

But that was only because he hadn't told her

everything.

Because Annie and Carol were friends, Jo had assumed Carol was an immortal. She wasn't. She had been a mortal coworker, and while she and Annie had been friends, Nicholas doubted his deceased wife would have told the woman anything to do with immortal business. Which meant Carol probably wouldn't know anything, because if he had been drugged and someone else had murdered the pregnant woman all those years ago, it had to have been an immortal who did it.

Still, if it had been preying on her mind, he supposed Annie might have let something slip about whatever she'd wanted to tell him. Only it was fifty years later, and Carol would be in her nineties now if she even lived.

Nicholas didn't hold out much hope. He suspected he'd have to try alternate ways to find out what Annie had wanted to tell him back then... and Nicholas had no intention of dragging Jo around while he did it. She had family, friends, school, her job, and a life to live, and he had nothing to offer her but running and hiding and the dangers that entailed. Playing investigator was going to be a lot more risky than just life on the run. He'd spent the last fifty-plus years always moving, never staying in one place for long. But to try to find out what Annie had been thinking of would mean staying in Toronto, and he wouldn't be able to prevent leaving a trail for Mortimer and the men to follow. His biggest fear was of Jo getting herself hurt or killed trying to save him should the enforcers catch up to them.

He wouldn't risk that.

Nicholas straightened with a sigh and turned away from the bed. It was better this way, he told himself as he slipped out of the room. He paused in the living room to check the phone there, but it was dead. While Sam hadn't sublet the

apartment, she apparently had canceled the phone and cable. The water and electricity were obviously included in the rent, because they were both still on.

He set the phone back in its rest and left the apartment to take the stairs down to the main floor lobby. It was empty when Nicholas first entered, but he only had to wait a moment before a young woman entered and moved toward the buzzers in the entry. Nicholas slipped into the woman's thoughts, bringing her to a halt. He took a moment to search her thoughts and be sure she had a cell phone and then turned her toward the door as he moved forward to open it for her.

Nicholas let her in, urged her to a pair of seats in the lobby, had her take her phone out and then sit while he quickly punched in the number for the enforcer house. He placed the phone to his ear, grimacing when a woman's voice answered.

"Sam?" he asked reluctantly. It was the same woman who had answered the phone when he'd called from outside the veterinary clinic, and he knew Jo's sister lived at the house with Mortimer.

When she answered yes in a surprised voice,

he cleared his throat and said, "I need to speak to Mortimer."

There was a pause and then she asked politely, "Who shall I say is calling, please?"

"Just put Mortimer on, Sam," he said quietly.

"Nicholas?" she asked sharply. "I recognize your voice from the last time you called. Mortimer told me it was you after he hung up."

Great, Nicholas thought dryly.

"Where's my sister?" she asked, her voice grim.

"If you give Mortimer the phone I'll tell him where she is so he can come get her," he said patiently.

"Is she okay?" Her voice was worried now, and Nicholas rolled his eyes, wishing someone else had answered the phone.

"She's fine, Sam. She's sleeping right now. Please get Mortimer on the phone."

"Mortimer said she's your life mate." It wasn't phrased like a question, but he knew it was one.

"Yes, Sam. Jo is my life mate," Nicholas said apologetically and wasn't at all surprised when she cursed. Sighing, he said,

"I know it's not quite what you were hoping for when you set out to find your sister a life mate."

"You're damned right it isn't," Sam snapped. "You're rogue."

"Yeah, well, no one's perfect," he muttered under his breath.

"Ha ha," she said coldly. "Put her on the phone."

"Sam," he said, growing a little impatient now. "I'm trying to get her back to you where she'll be safe. If you'd get Mortimer I'll tell him where she is and he can send Bricker and Anders to come get her. So put him on the goddamned phone and-"

"Nicholas?"

He paused abruptly at the male voice. "Mortimer?"

"Yeah. Who's M. Johansen?"

"What?" he asked with bewilderment.

"The name on call display," Mortimer explained. "M. Johansen."

"Oh." Nicholas grimaced, his gaze dropping to Ms. Johansen, who sat blank-faced on the chair before him. "Just a kindly visitor of an ex-neighbor of Sam's who loaned me her phone. Jo's at Sam's old apartment. Come and get her. And this time, keep her safe."

Jo was up before she woke up. In fact, that was what woke her, her body sitting up and climbing out of bed. Startled awake by the activity, she blinked her eyes open and glanced wildly around, confused even as to where she was at first.

It took only a moment to recognize that she was in the bedroom of Sam's apartment. It took another moment to spot and

recognize the man standing by the bedroom door, and apparently controlling her, Jo realized as her body straightened beside the bed.

Bad-Breath Boy, Ernie.

"It's not my fault," he snarled, managing to sound both angry and petulant at the same time. "It's because of the blood.

We have to have it but it gives us bad breath."

He was in her thoughts and had heard her nickname for him, Jo realized.

Apparently, it had pricked his ego. She knew

she was still half asleep when her only thought was that his excuse didn't carry much weight since Nicholas didn't have bad breath and that perhaps Ernie should consider brushing his teeth. As first thoughts went in this situation, it was