Behind Duncan, Kate quivered, either from fear or rage. “We?”
“Penny and I. We have a little proposition for you.”
Chapter 21
Sniffer Update: @newshound—Duncan and Kate in love! Hot on the trail of juicy details! #paparazzi
Cold fury settled in Kate’s stomach. She should probably have sense enough to be afraid, especially because Neil had a weapon. Instead she wanted to launch herself at him and scratch his eyes out. But before she took any action, foolish or brave, she had to find out what Penny was doing here.
Neil pushed himself away from the arched opening and backed into the living room, keeping the gun trained on Kate and Duncan. “Kate, you can join your sister on the sofa. MacDowell, you stand behind the sofa. That way I have a clear shot at all three of you.” He positioned himself with his back to the fire he’d obviously made while he waited.
Penny looked very pale and un-Penny-like with her hands clenched in her lap. “I’m sorry, Kate. I’ll bet when you kept my ID on the elevator code for old times’ sake, you didn’t expect something like this.”
“Not exactly.” Kate had meant the elevator to be an escape route if Penny had ever needed to hide. Her grandmother had agreed they should leave the code in place. They both worried about Penny’s vulnerability living in the human world. Instead, the threat to Penny had come from the Were world in the form of Neil.
Kate eased down onto the sofa next to her sister as Duncan positioned himself behind them both. Kate felt his solid presence there and took comfort from it. They would figure this out…together.
She covered Penny’s cold hands with her own. “What’s going on?”
Penny took a shaky breath. “Neil’s been blackmailing me for years. It wasn’t much, because I couldn’t afford much.”
“You bastard.” Kate regarded him with loathing. Yet she couldn’t say she was surprised. Furious, yes, but not surprised. She’d always known that Neil was capable of treachery. The switched blog was child’s play compared to this, however.
“It was gas money,” Neil said with a shrug. “Elizabeth always was stingy with me, so I needed a supplement. But now…thanks to your main squeeze there, Kate, I need more because it looks as if I won’t be the pack alpha, after all. I’ll need to keep on the move, and I’ll need funds. I figure you and Woofer-boy can ante up now, too.”
“Dream on, you creep.” Kate glared at him. “We won’t do it.”
Neil rocked back on his heels. “That’s not a very good attitude, cousin. You see, what with the cell phone craze, all the members of Penny’s human family have ’em. They’re on one of those family plans. And I have Tom and both of their kids on speed dial.”
“You really are a first-class heap of dung, aren’t you?” Duncan said in a conversational tone. But his anger blazed hot enough for Kate to imagine she could feel it.
“You have the first-class part right, Woofer, and that’s how I plan to travel from now on, with your help, of course.”
“You won’t get away with it,” Kate said. “First chance I get, I’ll turn you in. We’ll hunt you down.”
“You wouldn’t want to do that. Any hint that you’ve become a tattletale, and those three people will receive my text messages.”
“They won’t believe you,” Duncan said. “They’ll think you’re a lunatic.”
“Maybe, maybe not. They’ll have questions. Penny might crack under the pressure of all those questions, because the fact is, she’s never been a particularly good liar. The texts won’t be identical. Taking all three together, there’ll be enough detail for them to search out the truth.”
Penny’s hazel gaze was filled with agony as she looked at Kate. “I worry so much about losing my kids. I’ve tried to tell myself that nobody would believe something like that, but I’m not sure. Tom’s had questions over the years. I know he has. I think a word from Neil, and Tom would begin to put it all together.”
“And that’s not only bad for Penny,” Neil said. “It’s bad for the entire Stillman pack. Much as MacDowell yearns to usher in a new age between werewolves and humans, it ain’t here, yet. The pack might take me out, but in the process all of you could find yourselves facing a mob with pitchforks, so to speak.”
Kate glared at him. “That’s nothing compared to what’s going to happen to you if the pack ever catches on to what you’ve been doing.”
“They won’t unless one of you tells them, and if that happens—I’ll be able to send those texts before they bring me down. My life won’t be worth much at that point, but neither will any of yours. So let’s all play nice, shall we? We can negotiate this. I’ll throw out some figures, and then you throw out some figures. I’m reasonable. I’m willing to haggle.”
As Kate tried to think her way out of the situation, she discovered that looking at Neil just made her see red instead of helping her concentrate. She searched for something else to focus on. She studied the books on her bookshelf, as if they might have some words of wisdom for her.
Wait. Did the bookcase just move? It couldn’t have. Probably wishful thinking on her part. No one else had the code except her grandma, and she’d have no reason to come up here.
Neil trained the gun specifically on her. “So here’s what I was thinking, Kate. You should chip in a little more, because Penny’s your sister, but the Woofer can probably afford a fair bit, too, because he’s like royalty or something over in Scotland. You said he lives in a castle, so that has to make him worth something, right?”
“I don’t have a lot of money,” Duncan said, “but you might be interested to know that I can use a broadsword.”
“Oh, I’m so scared. A broadsword. Whew.”
Kate glanced at the barrel of the gun, but couldn’t keep looking at it, so she settled her gaze on the bookcase again. Then she blinked. She hadn’t imagined movement there! The bookcase was opening ever so slowly and carefully, as if whoever was behind it didn’t want to make a sound and give away that anyone was there.
Her heart beat faster. Someone was there, but who? She hoped to God it wasn’t her seventy-five-year-old grandmother hoping to get the jump on Neil. Surely not. But whoever had come up in the glass elevator understood how it operated and had kept the light off. If it was her grandmother, did she realize Neil had a gun?
“Okay, Neil,” Kate said. “I don’t appreciate being held at gunpoint. Could you put that thing away so we can talk like civilized beings?”
“I rather like this gun, Kate. I’ve never seen you quite so nervous before, and it does my heart good. You and Penny always thought that you were better than me, but I’m the one in control now, not you.”
Beside Kate, Penny tensed. She must have seen the bookcase moving, too. Duncan’s breathing had changed slightly. He must also be aware that someone was back there.
“What’s the bottom line, Stillman?” Duncan asked. “How much do you want for this blackmail scheme, and how are we supposed to get it to you?”
“Well, well. It appears that your sweetheart is a sensible Were, Kate. He’s figured out there’s no way around the problem, and besides, it’s only money, right? The safety of family is way more important than a little cash.”
Kate prayed her grandmother wasn’t about to leap out from behind that bookcase with a baseball bat. Neil would turn and shoot her. Grandma Elizabeth had many wonderful skills, but dodging bullets wasn’t something she’d ever had to learn.
“Come to think of it,” Duncan said, “Kate has her purse right here. She might be able to give you something immediately, to tide you over until we can arrange for more.”
Kate had nothing in her purse but her room key and a tube of lipstick, but she guessed Duncan might be looking for a way to distract Neil. “Actually, I do have a fair bit in here,” she said. “I was planning to give the staff a bonus in cash tonight, rather than make them wait until payday. They’ve done a fabulous job this weekend.”
Neil’s eyes glittered. “Then I’ll just take that little purse as a down payment.”
“Here.” She threw it straight at his head, grabbed Penny, and jerked her to the floor. She got a quick glimpse of two large bodies hurtling through the open bookcase wall. Neil’s yell was followed by the thud of fists against flesh. The gun went off. Her stomach pitched at the thought of someone being shot. Please not Duncan. She lifted her head to look.
“Stay down!” Duncan’s shout was music to her ears.
More thudding sounds followed, punctuated by crashes, grunts, groans, and curses, some in what sounded like Gaelic. Finally, it was quiet except for the sound of heavy breathing.
A hand touched her shoulder. “It’s okay, lass.” Duncan gulped air. “You can get up now.”
Kate scrambled to her feet and Penny got up more slowly. The room was in chaos, with lamps smashed, books scattered, and a curtain ripped. Neil lay facedown and very still on the hearth. Duncan stood on one side of the fireplace guarding Neil’s prone body while Aidan and Roarke Wallace stood on the other side. All three struggled for breath. Their fists were raw and bleeding.
“Is it over?” Grandma Elizabeth peeked out through the open bookcase wall.
“Grandma!” Kate started to rush over, but a sharp warning from Duncan made her pause.
“There’s glass everywhere,” Duncan said. “Best stay right there for now.”
At least Kate knew how Aidan and Roarke had accessed the elevator. “Is Neil…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word. Much as she hated him, she hoped they hadn’t killed him, especially in front of Elizabeth.
“He’s alive,” Duncan said. “Just out cold.”
The knot of tension in Kate’s chest eased, and when she glanced at her grandmother, Elizabeth briefly closed her eyes in obvious relief. Then Kate studied Duncan, Aidan, and Roarke. They were battered but didn’t appear to be shot. “The gun went off,” she said. “I heard it hit something soft.”
“I’m afraid he put a bullet in your lovely sofa, milady.”
“Who cares?” She let out a breath. The bullet hadn’t gone into living flesh.
“Well, somebody needs to organize things, so I guess it will be me.” Elizabeth picked her way around the debris as she walked into the room. After one glance at Neil, she averted her gaze. “Shameful. Just shameful.” Then she raised her voice. “Howard! You all can come in now.”
Kate turned toward the entryway and her eyes widened as Howard walked through the door followed by Emma, Abby, and…Angela Sapworthy? She turned to Duncan, who only shrugged. He seemed as bewildered as she was.
Although both her table lamps had been destroyed in the battle, Kate’s overhead kitchen lights were on, and Angela’s rhinestones created a strobe effect when she moved. She walked around the suite inspecting everything and everyone. “Amazing,” she said. “This will make such a great story.”
“Excuse me.” Kate faced her grandmother. “But why is Angela here? I realize that eventually we’d have to make a statement of some kind, but it seems as if you actually invited her in.”
Elizabeth’s expression was sheepish. “We really had no choice. She’s the one who tipped us off about Neil.”
“That’s right.” Angela continued to take careful inventory of her surroundings. “I saved the day.”
“How?”
Angela walked over to her. “I was so fascinated by this romance between you and that hunk of a Scotsman that I followed you up here. This lodge is old, you know, and the doors don’t fit very tight. I thought maybe if I listened at your door, I’d hear some interesting sweet talk.”
Kate gasped. “That’s a terrible invasion of privacy!”
“It may be,” Elizabeth said, “and I don’t condone her methods, but in this case they came in very handy. She heard Neil’s voice, heard him mention Penny, and knew you had big trouble.”
“So I hotfooted it down to the ballroom, alerted Howard and Elizabeth, and voilà.” Her rhinestones flashed as she twirled around, causing everyone to squint.
“We had some help from Duncan and Kate,” Roarke said. “I knew Kate had seen the bookcase move when she started talking about the gun. Factoring in the gun meant we needed a distraction so we could rush him, and Duncan suggested that Kate hand her purse to Neil. But she threw it, which was even better.”
“And you had sense enough to duck.” Duncan bestowed a warm smile in her direction.
“She was much more resourceful than I was,” Penny said. “She’s become quite a leader. All I could do was sit there and shake.”
Those words of praise about her leadership ability meant more to Kate than Penny would ever know. She put an arm around her sister and gave her a squeeze. “Of course you were terrified. You had the most to lose.”
Emma stepped forward. “Penny, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Emma Wallace, Aidan’s mate.” Stepping carefully, she rounded the sofa and held out her hand.
Penny shook it warmly. “I know all about you. I’ve read your books, although I’m careful not to let my family know. I don’t want to introduce the subject of werewolves, even in a work of fiction.”
“I understand. And please don’t think I’m trying to interfere in your business, but…I have an idea for you to consider.”
Penny looked wary. “What’s that?”
“I haven’t checked it out with Aidan, either.” Emma’s gaze sought her mate’s. “But I think he’ll agree with me. I can imagine how much you long to share your secret with your mate, and the distress it’s causing you not to, even without Neil making your life miserable.”