Flirting with Danger by Bev Hardy (digital e reader TXT) 📖

the hell ya talkin' about? Who cares what happened last night or why. Who knows? All I know is it aint safe here now!" He took a deep breath to calm himself and let go of her arms to begin pacing again, trying to order his thoughts. "So, where ya gonna stay?" Already he was running through her options in his head. "You could stay with me at the guest house," he suggested. That was his preferred choice as he would be able to keep an eye on her best there. One look at her face however suggested that she wasn't impressed. Okay, maybe that wasn't such a practical idea; not the most comfortable place to stay for any length of time. Well, as long as she moved out somewhere, he didn't mind. "Or go stay with someone for a while… anyone."

"Luke," she began calmly but adamantly, "I'm not moving out of here."

He turned on her and pointed with a firm finger. "Yes you damn well are!"

She laughed. "No I'm not. This is my home and I'm staying here, where I live Luke. Now," she went on, in an annoyingly calm way… Luke was chewing on his temper. "I'm going upstairs to finish getting changed, sort out an electrician and then I'm going to see Richie and bring back your car. I'll pick up Eddie to drive it and give you a lift back to the guest house on the way," she announced, heading towards the hallway. "Do you think you could try and stay out of trouble until I get back?" She stopped at the kitchen door and turned to an infuriated looking Luke. "And you can put that thing away," she said, gesturing to his gun. "You really shouldn't have it at all, considering your present predicament. It doesn't do much to prove your innocence," she said before disappearing behind the door.

Yeah right, ever heard of protection ya dumb broad!

If she thought he was leaving it at that, she was out of her mind. These were the Borelli's they were dealing with. She hadn't got a clue as far as they were concerned, not a damn clue!

Charlie strolled through the hallway, trying to figure out what had overcome Luke.

Good grief, talk about overreacting. Nothing had happened last night and nothing was going to happen… not in her house. Anyway, it had to have been Jackson and she was harmless enough.

She paused then suddenly, not entirely sure why, but her senses felt uneasy. This was crazy. She had to stop being ridiculous and letting Luke's paranoia get to her.

Without even glancing behind her, she continued towards the stairs.

Right, she had to get dressed and get over to Richie's quickly in case he decided to leave the house. She wasn't much looking forward to that visit, but it had to be done.

The figure that had been awaiting her then came out of the shadows and fast approached.

Everything happened so fast then that she really had no time to think. She was being held so firmly against the iron wall of a male body that she felt almost paralysed, and, with the hand clamped over her mouth, no sound could escape her lips. Then she was being dragged backwards.

Chapter 27

As Charlie found herself being forcibly moved into the garage, she slowly became aware of something that transformed her fear swiftly into fury and disbelief. After the door was shut, and locked, she was finally released.

"You bastard!" she shouted. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing? I'm leaving now, this minute," she said, stepping around Luke to reach for the door.

"No you aint," he replied emotionlessly, slipping the key into his pocket with one hand and grabbing her by the shoulder with the other to shove her back away from him.

"Like hell I'm not!" she yelled, forcing herself forwards again with her eye on his trouser pocket.

Luke pre-empted her however and blocked her way. He took told of her wrists then, grasping them firmly in his hands to prevent her from attempting to take the key from him.

How dare he! She could feel her anger building and building.

She twisted her arms abruptly, forcing him to relinquish his hold, before lunging for him once more. She had been trained in these situations and there was no way that she was putting up with this! Again, he took hold of her wrists, but this time, to ensure that he kept hold of her, he turned quickly, looping their arms over her head, with his grip still on her wrists, as he moved behind her. By bringing both of their arms down, she found herself clamped against him, with her arms crossed around her middle. He had also been trained, and he wasn't going to let her go until he was ready. He had to make her understand the danger… somehow.

She sensed his head just above hers but was far too infuriated to even turn and look at him.

"Luke," she began, through gritted teeth, "If you don't let go of me now, you will be out of my life for good," she threatened. "You can sort out your messed up life yourself."

"Can't let go of ya Charlie, not till ya see sense," he replied, seemingly unaffected by her declaration.

"Me see sense?" she exclaimed, outraged. "You've completely lost your mind! Get the hell off me!" she shouted, thrashing out, "Let me go Luke!" She continued by twisting, pulling, kicking, even attempting to bite him, so enraged was she, but he blocked her every move and still kept her restrained; he was simply stronger than her.

She hated him… hated him with a vengeance for the fact that she was so damn physically helpless against him. She just couldn't get free until he chose to let her go. Damn him!

Finally, almost beside herself with frustration and anger still, she had no choice however but to stop struggling; it simply wasn't going to help. Now, words were her only means of escape.

"Well done Luke, does this make you feel more of a man or something, that you can physically hold me here against my will?" she said bitterly.

"It aint about that, an' you know it," he replied.

"I know that you're losing your mind. What do you want from me exactly, huh? What do you plan on achieving from this?" she asked, finally turning to look him in the face. His expression was unreadable, his face a blank mask.

"Keeping you alive," he replied simply.

"Oh really? So, what are you going to do? Keep me locked up in here forever?" she came back.

"If that's what it takes," he replied, irrationally.

She laughed with incredulity and turned her head away from him again. "You're insane. You're so far out of your depth; you don't know what you're doing. You do realize that, don't you?"

He groaned. It was the first sign of a crack in this cold, hard emotionless attitude he'd adopted.

"I need time to think… to decide what to do without you bolting for the damn door," he explained.

At least he was making a bit more sense now. Not much, but a bit.

"And I have no say in this at all then?" she answered.

"You would have done, if you'd have shown me that ya understood the danger you're in now," he came back.

"You haven't listened to a word I said, have you? You're not listening to reason," she replied with frustration.

"What about listening to my concerns eh?" he snapped back. "How d'ya think I'd feel if you left today an' I never saw you alive again? You ever think of that?" he accused, his emotions beginning to break his mask of control.

"Don't put that on me Luke. That's no excuse for this behaviour. Besides, whatever happened to, 'life is hard; then you die'?" she said sarcastically.

There followed a short silence before he broke it. "Is that supposed to be funny or somethin'? Cause I aint laughin'. This aint no joke!" he replied angrily.

"Well, what about respect then, eh? I was your partner. How many times have we been through this kind of thing together, and you always at least showed me respect before. I'm not stupid Luke. I'm a damn good agent and I deserve your respect!" she said, struggling once more to free her arms as her feelings began to fuel her anger again. Still he refused to release her. "For God's sake Luke, I'm undressed under here; just take your hands off me at least!"

"I wouldn't care if you were butt naked right now; I aint letting go to have you leavin here without protection. You can despise me as much as ya like; but at least you'll be alive while ya doin it!"

The last thing she wanted at that moment, with the fury she was feeling towards him, was to be pressed so tightly up against his body. She hated herself almost as much as she hated him at that point. She hated how she had reacted to him the night before, and the night before that, and that morning, because now, all she desperately wanted was to be as far away from him as possible!

"I can defend myself for God's sake!" she shouted out. "I did it all the time we were working together; you never locked me up then? Why the hell now?"

"It's different now," he admitted.

"Oh really? Why Luke? Why is it different now?" she challenged, twisting her head to try to get a glance of his face again. It was harder this time though; he had shifted position.

He wasn't prepared to admit even to himself the real reason why things were different then, but there were other reasons that also sprung to mind.

"Because we aint dealt with people like this before," he replied.

"Oh come on, we've dealt with Mafia in the past," she countered.

"It's different ya hear me! It's just different!" he exclaimed.

"Why?" she pushed. "Why Luke?"

"Because…because I lost Danny through this God damn it! I aint losing you too!" he shouted, tightening his grip on her. "I can't deal with that," he added more quietly. "I just can't."

Suddenly, it no longer felt as if he were restraining her, more like he was holding on to her for dear life. He was afraid, afraid enough to do something as crazy as this. It was that realization, and the break in his voice, a sound of helpless desperation, that finally, gradually cut through her anger.

She sighed and leant back against him.

"How many times have you said to me that emotions and MI5 work don't mix?" she pointed out in the most accommodating voice she could muster. Shouting the odds at each other, when essentially they were on the same side here, was getting them nowhere. "You're letting your fears rule your reasoning. The only way we are going to get through this is by working together, can't you see that?" She waited for a reply but he seemed to have fallen silent, so she went on. "I don't mean to devalue the work you've done on this case Luke but you tried on your own for seven years to bring down the Borelli's and it didn't work. We need to be together on this. Won't you trust me?" she appealed.

"I trust ya Charlie," he finally replied, "but you got no