Julie gasped and turned to him. “Luke,” she said, and surprised him by sliding right into her role, “I promised I’d behave and I will. I was just upset about riding separately to the ferry and forgetting my coat.”

“You’re both to come,” the said. “No deviation allowed.” His eyes met Luke’s. “Not if you want Mr. Arel’s business.” He lifted his coat just enough to make sure it was clear how far he’d go to get them in the car. “And just so you know, Arel gets rather cranky when someone turns down his invitations.” In other words, Julie came with them or she’d be killed. The man dropped the jacket and motioned them forward. “Shall we?”

Where there was one gun, there were more, and probably pointed at them, waiting to take a shot. Luke motioned Julie into the car, wishing her dress showed a little less leg as she climbed inside.

The instant she was safely out of view, Luke’s gaze lifted to the man’s, and Luke knew he was in a bad spot. He looked weak by letting Julie go along. He risked them both being killed, if he did not. Everything was a test: they either survived or failed and died. Luke didn’t intend to fail or die.

Before the man could blink again, Luke grabbed the man’s wrist and reached for the gun, sliding his hand to the handle without removing it. “Be glad I want to meet your boss because I don’t like being disrespected in front of my woman, or anyone for that matter.” He released the man. “This stays between us, unless you give me a reason to consider you a liability. At which time I will hunt you down and kill you and tell your boss I got rid of his weak link.”

As soon as he slid inside, he could almost feel the fear rolling off of Julie, and it wasn’t going to serve either of them well. He needed to come off confident and comfortable, and Julie couldn’t let her fear show. He pulled Julie close and slid her hand to his leg.

“So, what are you going to do to make me glad I brought you along.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Nothing in front of the driver and the man who’d just recovered from wetting himself and slid into the front passenger seat, but it wasn’t that easy.

Luke kissed her, his hand sliding up her leg. They were going to put on a show, and show as little as possible in the process.

***

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to a beachfront mansion that Luke would bet was used for entertainment, but wouldn’t be Arel’s actual home. No, Arel would not be stupid enough to live where he entertained. Water worked for him. He liked it, he could live with it, but with Julie by his side, it wasn’t a good escape route.

The door opened and the same man who invited them into the car waved them out. Luke stepped out of the car, ignoring the coldness of the night as he tuned into what was important, even as he offered Julie a hand and helped her to her feet. Discreetly, he took in exit routes, numbers of vehicles, and signs of guards, and location of windows.

Cold wind gusted across the ocean, whipping around Julie’s shoulders and she shivered, even with his coat wrapped around her. He wrapped his arm around her, trying to shield her from the force of the gusts until they stepped inside the foyer of the house. Julie shivered and blew on her hands.

“In there,” the man said, motioning toward two massive double doors.

Shelves of old books lining an entire wall of the room behind a massive oak desk. To the right of the desk a leather couch and two chairs framed a fireplace. In front of the desk were two chairs, and in front of those, three men, all dressed in black cargo pants, and all wearing shoulder holsters with guns.

One of the men, the tallest of the three with a long blond pony tail and a face that looked like it could stop time, moved forward.

“I’m Michael,” he said. “Head of security here. Well be doing a search before you enter the main house,” he said, and snapped at Julie, “Coat.”

Luke helped Julie remove the jacket, keenly aware of the male attention on her. He handed the jacket to Michael, and when Michael’s gaze lingered on Julie’s breasts, Luke said, “You want to keep those eyes?”

Michael’s attention snapped upward, a smile twitching on his lips that told Luke this one wasn’t as easily intimidated as the last.

“Ladies, first,” Michael said, glancing at Julie. “Hands on the desk, and spread your legs.”

Julie gasped and turned to Luke.

“In your wet dreams, man,” Luke said, “but not in this lifetime.”

The man arched a brow. “Either I search her or she spends the party here, with me.”

He grabbed the coat from the man. “Tell your boss I don’t share well with others, but I’m damn good at what I do. When he wants to find out how good, he knows where to find me.” He turned, pulling Julie close, only to hear. “Wait.”

Slowly, Luke turned around, arching a brow as the other man had only moments before.

“We’ll provide a female to pat her down.”

Luke still didn’t like it, but it was as close to compromise as he suspected they would get. He glanced at Julie and she wet her lips and nodded. Slowly, they turned back around.

“Step forward,” the man ordered, clearly the only one of the three allowed to communicate. ”We’ll search you while we wait on the female, unless you’d prefer to be patted down by a woman yourself?”

“Just the one you wish you could have and can’t,” Luke said, handing Julie the coat and stepping forward. The other two men stepped to the sides of the desk as Luke planted his hands on the wooden surface and let the asshole pat him down.

When he shoved off the desk and turned, he stood toe to toe with the man and lowered his voice. “Just so we’re clear. If you so much as think about fucking her again, I’ll rip your balls out through your throat and hand them to your boss.” He turned away, as the ‘female’ who wasn’t much of a female at all walked in. Stocky, five foot five, and wearing cargo pants, she was more man than some he knew.

Luke silently cursed as the ‘female’ sauntered forward, and gave Julie a once over from behind that made him want to backslap the bitch.

Michael motioned the other men out of the room. “I’m staying to protect my guard.”

The female guard stepped to Michael’s side and Luke could almost feel Julie’s discomfort, and the smirk on both Michael and the woman’s face said they were enjoying it.

Julie inhaled and let it out. “Let’s get this over with.” Bravely, she walked forward. Michael and the female stepped aside and Julie planted her hands on the desk.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Luke felt helpless watching the guard grope Julie. He should have protected her. He should have found a way to get her out of this. But it was over, finally over.

When the party motioned toward the door, he pulled her close under his shoulder, and whispered, “I’m going to make this up to you.”

She didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at him, and he knew she was struggling with her feelings, which only made him feel like a bigger dog. But he couldn’t think about that now. He had to focus, to make sure he knew how to get them out of here if he had to.

They were led past a set of stairs and into a massive living room with a high ceiling, walls of massive stained-glass windows, and furniture in sleek black leather. A variety of people, all dressed to impress, mingled, Judge Moore included. Several waiters held trays filled with drinks.

Luke glanced around to find the man who’d escorted them up gone, then he refocused on Julie and followed her gaze to the the painting of several sailboats on an ocean over a fireplace.

“That Monét,” she whispered, “is supposed to be in a museum in London.”

“It’s probably a fake,” he said, but Luke didn’t doubt the real thing was in Arel’s possession, thus why he had this one displayed.

“I hope you’re right,” she said. “Because it’s worth a fortune.”