Rarities Unlimited 02 - Running Scared

left in her.
    And the adult wasn’t someone Risa wanted to know.
    “Where and when?” Risa said.
    “Tonight. You look at the gold, and then you hand over the money. That’s the deal. I’m tired of being fucked.”
    “Tonight?” Risa looked at Dana. “I don’t know if I can get the money together that quickly.”
    Dana looked at Niall.
    He nodded. Part of his job was to be sure that Rarities maintained a multimillion-dollar cash pool for just such offbeat buying opportunities. Like Shane’s casino, Rarities had more cash on hand than ninety-nine out of a hundred banks.
    “All right. Tonight,” Risa said.
    “I’ll call in a couple hours and tell you where. Bring lots of money. We’re gonna have a big ol’ auction, piece by piece.” She laughed high and wild. “Whoever has the most money wins the most prizes.”
    “Cherelle—” Risa began, wondering what was going on.
    Cherelle kept talking, her voice husky and yet hard as gravel. “Come alone, baby-chick. You bring anyone with you and I go out the back door, and you never see that gold again. Your boss wouldn’t like that.”
    “I can’t just drive off into the night alone carrying a trunkful of—”
    Risa was talking to herself. With a disgusted sound she slammed the receiver back down.
    “You’re not going alone,” Niall and Ian said together.
    Risa gave them the kind of look that said she would do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and they could take it or shove it.
    “Rarities is fronting the money,” Niall said, “I say you’re not going in alone.”
    “The Golden Fleece will front the money,” Shane said from the doorway. “And Risa won’t go in alone.”
    Risa spun toward the door just as Shane stepped aside to let a beautiful Eurasian woman inside.
    “I think you know everyone here but Risa,” Shane said. “Risa Sheridan, April Joy.”
    Risa took one look and knew trouble had arrived. Even if she hadn’t figured it out all by herself, there were the flat lines around Ian’s eyes and mouth to give the game away.
    Shane looked even grimmer.
    “Hello, April Joy,” Risa said. “Am I pleased to meet you?”
    The agent’s lips quirked in a rare, genuine smile. “Probably not, but you might get lucky.”
    Ian’s dark laughter told Risa she probably wouldn’t.

Chapter 62
    Las Vegas
    November 5
    Late afternoon
    R isa took a few steps toward Shane, then stopped. From his expression, she could have been a stranger. Or invisible. She didn’t know if he was mad at her or mad at the world. Considering April Joy’s presence, probably both.
    Even so, Risa’s hands itched to feel the heat and textures of her lover, to reassure herself that he was all right.
    “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” she said. “Are you okay?”
    He gave her a hooded glance, then held out his hand. When she took it, he pulled her close and buried his face in her hair. She wrapped her arms around him and hung on, just hung on.
    “I was so worried about you,” she said softly against his neck. “Why wouldn’t you let me come with you?”
    He pulled back and looked at her brilliant, earnest eyes. “You’re going to drive me crazy.”
    She blinked. “Because I lose my temper?”
    “Because you don’t seem to realize that someone could put a bullet in you and I’d spend the rest of my life wishing it had been me.”
    “I don’t want you hurt either.”
    “I’m not talking hurt. I’m talking dead.” Shane looked at Dana. “The gold artifacts I ransomed are locked in the casino safe.”
    “Hallelujah,” Dana said with a delighted smile. “Ten down and seventeen to go.”
    “Seventeen?” Shane said quickly, wondering how much of the one-sided conversation he’d missed while he stood in the doorway. “Who? When? Where?”
    “Cherelle,” Risa said. “As for the when and where, we’re waiting to be told.”
    “In the meantime,” Niall said to Ian, “get over to the Wildest Dream.”
    “There’s only one exit from the private garage,” Shane said. “Gail Silverado drives either a white Mercedes or is driven in a white limo. License plates are on file with my security.”
    Niall grinned and said to Ian, “If Silverado gets the call before we do, follow her and guide us in.”
    Ian nodded, grabbed a dark jacket from the back of a chair, and brushed past April without even a glance.
    She gave him the kind of once-over that suggested he was skid marks on underwear.
    “What’s the ante for this game?” Shane asked