After their jaunt in the forest, her eyes glowed with bright contentment, and a flush covered her fine cheekbones. All of her glorious hair cascaded down her back, drying slowly. Her hand trembled as she reached for the bed and sat, scooting back until her shoulders rested against the headboard. “You don’t want to know. Just trust me.”
He barked out a laugh. “Trust you? No dice. Try again.” While he kept his voice hard, he had to appreciate her gumption. Even now, she was trying to play him, which wasn’t easy and definitely took balls. “We’re not moving until you talk.”
She eyed his body, the door, and the rest of the room.
He grinned. “We can fight first, but I don’t play fair, baby.” His legs tensed with the anticipation of a good tackle.
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve already kicked you in the head, and apparently there’s nothing in there. The kick didn’t knock one semblance of sense into you.”
Warmth rolled through his chest. Spunky and cute, wasn’t she? “I do have a hard head.” As did she. In fact, he hadn’t met anybody more stubborn than the little demon. But the woman had a heart, and he could get to it. Though she tried to hide her soft side, she wasn’t very good at it. “You’re hurting my feelings by not trusting me.”
Her eyelashes fluttered, and she studied him, her fingers picking at the bedspread. “I’m trying to protect you from having to make impossible choices, you big oaf.”
“How sweet,” he drawled. “How about you let the big, bad enforcer protect himself?” And her. Whether she liked it or not.
She shook her head. “Go away.”
“Nope.” He let loose his brogue. “Not garna happen. You have a choice here. Either start talking, or I’ll see if you’re ticklish.”
Her eyes widened, and she wrapped her arms around her legs. “You’re joking. The big, bad enforcer tickles for information?”
He slowly nodded, enjoying her discomfort. Yeah, he’d thought she was ticklish after sleeping with her in the tent. When his foot had rubbed the bottom of hers, she’d nearly jumped out of the sleeping bag. Was that only a couple of days ago? “I often tickle for data, and by the panic in your eyes, I’m thinking I’d get what I want.”
She swallowed and didn’t move.
“All right.” He prowled toward her, keeping his movements slow. Where to start? Feet or ribs? He liked her ribs. Then he put one knee on the bed.
“Wait.” She held out a hand. “Fine.”
He bit back another grin. She must be incredibly ticklish, and boy, was he going to explore that later. “Well?”
She drew in a deep breath and then exhaled, dark regret filling her eyes. “Fine, but I warned you. One of the banks I’m planning to rob holds evidence against Simone Brightston, the woman you love as a sister. She’s involved with Bychkov and Rudger, and she owns two of the mines currently supplying planekite to the manufacturer of Apollo.”
Chapter 17
Fire crackled and spread warmth across the cabin’s main room. Felicity sat at the long table and moved from the maps to the laptop, quickly accessing her online storage server. “I’m sorry, but I’ve looked at the documents I could find, and I’ve traced the original incorporation documents to the bank in the Caymans.”
Daire shook his head, no warmth in his gaze. “Impossible.”
She shivered, not realizing until right that second how heated he’d been with her. “It’s true. Simone initially signed on to a limited liability corporation with Trevan Demidov, another witch, and when he died, his son took over. It’s called Triad Financing, and it owns the land that contains the mines owned by Ivan.”
Daire frowned. “Ivan doesn’t own the land?”
“No. He, or rather, his people control the mineral rights and several easements to bring material in and out. He actually does not own the property.” The arrangement was fairly normal, even in the Pacific Northwest with silver mines.
Daire relaxed. “Trevan was Simone’s lover, and he used her to go after our family. He died decades ago, and his son died very recently.”