"And you're the one who pulled back, and still does. I'm sick of it, sick to death of it. It's always you, isn't it, Eve, who has to make the changes and give way?" Fury shimmered around him in all but visible waves, and when those waves crashed over her, she'd have sworn they had weight. "Well, I've made changes of my own, and given way more times than I can count. You can have your privacy when you need it, and your neurotic little snits, but I won't put up with my wife closing doors between us."
The neurotic little snits left her speechless, but the my wife freed her tongue again. "Your wife, your wife. Don't you dare say my wife in that tone. Don't you dare make me sound like one of your fancy suits."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Now I'm ridiculous." She threw up her hands. "I'm neurotic and ridiculous."
"Yes, often."
Her breath began to hitch. She could actually see red around the edges of her vision. "You're arrogant, domineering, egotistical, and disdainful of the law."
He lifted one amused brow. "And your point would be?"
She couldn't form a word. What came out was something between a growl and a scream. The sound of it had Galahad leaping from the top of the desk and curling under it.
"Well said," Roarke commented and decided to have another whiskey. "I've given up a number of businesses in the past months that you would have found questionable." He studied the color of the whiskey in the glass. "True, they were more like hobbies, habits, I suppose, but I found them entertaining. And profitable."
"I never asked you to give up anything."
"Darling Eve." He sighed, found most of his temper had slipped away. "You ask just by being. I married a cop," he said half to himself and drank. "Because I loved her, wanted her, needed her. And to my surprise, I admired her. She fascinates me."
"Don't turn this around."
"It's just come full circle. I can't change what I am, and what I've done. And wouldn't even for you." He lifted his gaze to hers, held it there. "I'm telling you not to lock the door."
She gave a bad-tempered shrug. "I knew it would piss you off."
"Mission accomplished.''
She found herself sighing, a weak sound she didn't have the energy to detest. "It's hard – seeing what had been done to those men, and knowing…"
"That I was capable of doing the same." He set his glass down again. "It was justice."
She felt the weight of her badge, tangibly. Not in her pocket but on her heart. "That wasn't for you to decide."
"There we part ways. The law doesn't always stand for the innocent and the used. The law doesn't always care enough. I won't apologize for what I did, Eve, but I will for putting you in the position of choosing between me and your duty."
She picked up her cold coffee and drank it to clear her throat. "I had to tell Peabody. I had to bring her in." She rubbed a hand over her face. "She'll stand with me. She didn't even hesitate."
"She's a good cop. You've taught me the phrase isn't a contradiction in terms."
"I need her. I need all the help I can get on this one because I'm afraid." She closed her eyes, fought to steady herself. "I'm afraid if I'm not careful enough, not quick or smart enough, I'll walk onto a scene and I'll find you. I'll be too late, and you'll be dead, because it's you he wants. The others are just practice."
She felt his arms come around her, and moved in. There was the warmth of his body, the lines of it all so familiar now, so necessary now. The scent of him as she gripped him close, the steady beat of his heart, the soft brush of his lips over her hair.
"I couldn't stand it." She tightened her hold."I couldn't. I know I can't even think about it because it'll mess me up, but I can't get it out of my head. I can't stop – "
Then his mouth was on hers and the kiss was rough and hot. He would know that was the tone she needed, that she needed his hands on her, hard, impatient. And the promises he murmured as he tugged her shirt aside were for both of them.
Her weapon thudded to the floor. His beautifully cut jacket followed. She tipped her head back so that his lips could race thrills over her throat as she dragged at his belt.
No words now as they hurried to touch. With greedy little nips and bites they tormented each other. She was panting when he pushed her onto the desk. Paper crinkled under her back.
She reached for him.
"I'm not neurotic," she managed to say.
He laughed first, delighted with her, delirious for her. "Of course not." He closed his hands over hers and drove into her.
He watched her come at the first thrust, those golden brown irises blurring, that slim torso arching up. The shocked pleasure strangled in her throat then shuddered out on his name.
"Take more." His hands were less gentle than he intended as he lifted her hips, went deeper. "Take all of me."
Through the stunning waves of sensation she understood he wanted acceptance, finally and fully, for both of them.
She took all of him.
Later they shared soup in her office. By the second bowl, her head was clear enough to deal with the business at hand.
"I'm going to be working here for the most part for a while."
"I'll lighten my schedule so I'll be available for you."
She broke open a roll, buttered it thoughtfully. "We're going to have to contact the Dublin police. Your name's bound to come up." She ignored the quick grin he flashed her and bit into the roll. "Should I expect any surprises?"
"They don't have any more hard data on me than your records show."
"Which is next to nothing."
"Exactly. There's bound to be a few members of the guarda with long memories, but there shouldn't be anything too embarrassing. I've always been careful."
"Who investigated Marlena's murder?"
The amusement died out of Roarke's eyes. "It was an Inspector Maguire, but I wouldn't say he investigated. He went through the motions, took the bribes offered, and called it death by misadventure."
"Still, his records might be of some use."
"I doubt you'll find much, if any. Maguire was one of the many cops in the pocket of the cartel whose territory I trespassed on." He took the other half of Eve's roll. "The Urban Wars started later and lasted longer in that part of the world. Even when I was a boy there were pockets of it still being waged, and certainly the results of the worst of it were still in evidence."
He remembered the bodies, the sound of gunfire screaming through the night, the wails of the wounded, and the sunken eyes of the survivors.
"Those who had," he-continued, "had in abundance. Those who didn't, suffered and starved and scavenged. Most cops who'd been through the hell of it went one of two ways. Some dedicated themselves to maintaining order. Most took advantage of the chaos and profited."
"Maguire decided to profit."
"He was hardly alone. I took plenty of kicks from a beat cop if I didn't have the payoff in my pocket. When you're down to your last punt, you'd as soon have the kick and keep the pound."
"Did you take any from Maguire?"
"Not personally. By the time I was working the grift and the games, he was riding a desk. He used uniforms as his runners and muscle and collected in comfort." Roarke sat back with his coffee. "For the most part I outmaneuvered him. I paid my shot when I couldn't get around it, but I usually stole it back. Cops are easy marks. They don't expect to have their pockets picked."
"Hmm" was all Eve could say to that. "Why was Maguire brought in on Marlena?"
"When she was killed, Summerset insisted on calling in the police. He wanted to see the men who had… he wanted to see them punished. He wanted a public trial. He wanted justice. Instead he got Maguire. The bastard came sniffing around, shaking his head, clucking his tongue. 'Well, well,' he said, 'seems to me a father should keep a closer eye on a pretty young girl. Letting her run wild like that.' "
As the old fury crawled back, Roarke shoved away from the table to rise and pace. "I could have killed him on the spot. He knew it. He wanted me to try it, then and there while he had six cops around him who'd have broken me to pieces at the first move. His conclusions were that she was an incorrigible, that there were illegals in her system and she'd fallen in with a bad lot who'd panicked and killed her when they'd done with her. Two weeks later he was driving a new car around Dublin Town and his wife had a new haircut to show off her diamond earrings."