Bruno might have loved Winnie, but it didn’t seem that Mauri loved her very much. Maybe he had in the early years, or maybe he only stood by her because she was the mother of his children. But now facing his mortality, he made no apology for covering up the murder of his wife. Men in his line of work had to be detached, but Ivy was pleased Dax wasn’t cut from the same cloth.

‘This is why we should remain together as a family,’ Mauri said. ‘There is a rich history between us all, and it’s one that Ivy will be a part of now too.’

‘Ivy and I want to build our own family, not be a part of anyone else’s,’ Dax said, rising from the couch, taking her and her backpack with him.

Mauri sprang up portraying panic through his expression. ‘You cannot just leave here.’

‘I can, Mauri,’ Dax said. ‘Thanks for… I have a lot of respect for you, and I’m sorry that you are sick. This is a time when you need to embrace your family and I’m not a part of that anymore. Ivy is all the family I need.’

‘We can give you money and security and—‘

Dax skirted the couch and took Ivy to the door, which he opened before he looked back at Mauri. ‘The Stark trade will carry on without you and without me. Fate will decide how it works out. Take care, Mauri.’

Ivy stayed quiet when he led her out of the room and through the house to the exit. The Starks were no longer a part of their life, they would never have to come here again.

The car was still in the drive when they got there, Dax took their things out of it and left the car keys on the front seat. Looping her purse up over her head and putting on her backpack, Ivy smiled when her husband put an arm around her.

‘What are you grinning at?’ he mumbled at her as they made their way down the drive towards the gate.

‘I love you,’ she said. ‘And I’m so proud of you.’

‘Yeah? You just remember that while I’m trying to keep you alive.’

‘I will. I don’t doubt that you’re capable of fixing this, not for a second. I have faith in you.’

‘I’m glad one of us does,’ he said.

Pulling her closer to kiss her head, Dax guided them out onto the street where they could call for a cab. Now that they’d dispensed with one dilemma, they only had one left to deal with – the bounty.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The cab took them to Dax’s storage unit where he retrieved his bike, which was the only mode of transportation that they owned here. There was no point in going to a car rental place or even buying a new vehicle, because she hoped that they wouldn’t be in California for that long.

‘We could just go back east,’ Ivy said as soon as they got back to Dax’s apartment. ‘Or we could leave the country entirely and take up residence on a deserted island in the South Pacific.’

‘For half a mill, I know a couple of guys who would still manage to find you,’ he said as they made their way into the bedroom.

‘Do you have a plan?’ she asked, leaning on the inside of the bedroom door after it was shut.

‘I’ve been thinking about that since we left Mauri’s,’ Dax said, sitting on the end of the bed, with his feet far apart, he rested his hands on the bed behind him.

‘And what have you come up with?’

‘If you want me to go back there, to tell Mauri that I’ll stay and do what he wants—‘

‘No, why would I want you to do that?’ she asked, crossing to crouch on the floor between his knees. Pushing her hands up his thighs, Ivy moved onto her knees and rested her head against his leg. ‘I don’t want you going back there, not for anything.’

‘What he said was right,’ Dax said. ‘Mauri can keep you safer than I can, he has the resources and manpower—‘

‘I only need one man and that’s you. For all we know, Mauri wants us to go crawling back, if he’s the one behind this—‘

‘I thought about that,’ he said, stroking her hair down her cheek. ‘If he had put up the bounty then he would’ve shown his hand in that last meeting. He’d have told us that he knew something or someone that would make it go away.’

‘He would’ve blackmailed us?’

‘Yeah. I doubt he’d have come out and confessed to being the one behind it, but we’d have figured it out—‘

‘When he was magically able to make it go away.’

‘Yeah,’ Dax said. ‘But he didn’t, so I don’t think he put the bounty up. For one thing, he could’ve gone higher, made the bounty a whole million or more if he was that desperate.’

‘So that leaves us with nothing.’

‘Not nothing. I’m still trying to track down Winlow, if I can find out who was at that poker game then I will have my guy, I know it.’

‘I can come with you. I can—‘

‘No, you’re staying here, indoors. Outside, you’re just a walking target, and if I’m going to be out there scaring my contacts, then I need to know that you’re safe here. If I split my focus—‘

‘I’ll stay here,’ she said. ‘If you promise not to go back to the mansion, not for anything, Dax. I mean it. Even if I drop down dead this minute, I don’t want you to ever go back there.’

‘Why not?’ he asked.

‘Because they enjoy holding you for ransom. Trystan is beyond hope, and Brad cares only about his own interests. Mauri… I know that you still respect him, but I don’t trust him. He had all of that information about your mother and your upbringing and he never told you any of it.’

‘He had his reasons.’

‘Yeah, because it kept you where he wanted you, right there, doing his dirty work. I love you, Dax, and I know that I encourage you to make your own choices, but please, tough guy, don’t sink to their level again. You’re better than that.’

‘I’d make a deal with the devil if it kept you safe.’

‘And I’m telling you not to.’

‘Telling me,’ he said, arching a brow. ‘You forget who owns you?’

‘Not for a second,’ she said, rising up on her knees. ‘Did you forget who owns you? I told you that they can’t have you. Even if I’m dead, you still belong to me.’

‘Sure, until the first piece of ass comes my way.’

Grinning at his attempted joke, she dug her nails into him through his jeans. ‘That should be your number one reason to keep me alive, ‘cause if I’m not around, you’re not getting laid.’

‘How you gonna stop me?’ he asked. Slipping both hands under her jaw, he angled up her head to bring their mouths close.

‘I’ll haunt you and I’ll haunt her. Do you think that death would be enough to stop me from harassing and annoying you?’

‘If I thought it was then I’d have offed you weeks ago.’

‘You are a clever boy,’ she whispered and leaned in to meet his kiss.

Ivy thought that she gave Dax an anchor. But now she realised that he gave her one too. Making out with him never lost its magic, and using his grip on her jaw, he drew her up, onto the bed on top of him without breaking their kiss.

His mouth was never soft, but it was his rough hunger that engorged her, it whipped her into the depth of arousal that eliminated all fears and uncertainties about what they would face together. Kneeling astride him, Ivy crossed her arms to whisk off her dress then helped him out of his tee-shirt. The jeans were next, and as soon as she had them both naked, she climbed back on to seat herself on his erection.

Time and peril dwindled away as she worked herself up and down on him. ‘You see something you want and you go get it,’ he said, skimming his hands up her thighs, her hips, over her waist to take hold of her breasts.

‘You,’ she said, clutching his face and lowering herself to kiss him, he rose up to meet her halfway.

Their bodies came together and with his arms around her they switched positions. Dax took over the dominant position of the union to control the movement of their forms. By now they knew how to tilt, when to rise and when to fall. But no matter how many times they made love together, she never lost the addiction to the feeling of him gratifying her with the bulk of his arousal pushing into her without apology for its mass pervading her.