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Her eyes widened.Then they dipped down to the gun.She swallowed.Slowly, her gaze came back up to meet his.They were far away from the lone exterior light, though, so he couldn’t read her expression clearly.But he thought fear might have flickered on her face.
“Ebenezer?”
“Do you want to die tonight?”He didn’t hear footsteps behind them.Not yet.
She didn’t respond.
So he pushed and questioned, “Eager to join your loving husband?”
“He wasn’t loving.And I don’t consider him my husband.”
“Funny.I could have sworn I heard you take vows.”Shit.Had a hard edge just entered his voice?It had.An edge that absolutely, under no circumstances, could be jealousy.“Pretty sure you promised to love and honor him forever.But he wasn’t even cold in the ground, and you’d ditched your wedding ring.”Yeah, he’d noticed the ring had been gone at the funeral.
Because I notice far too much about Naomi.
“I am not talking about this with you.”A hard, negative shake of Naomi’s head.“Get out of my way, Ebenezer.”
“Eb.”
“Yeah, well, if I was named after the mean old guy fromA Christmas Carol,I’d want people to call me something else, too.”Her chin notched up.“Get out of my way,Eb.”
He did not.He lowered his head.He crowded in closer.He got even more in her way.“That guy you just pissed off?He’s Bratva.”Would she even know about the Russian criminal underworld?
“Please.That guy is wannabe Bratva.”
Okay, so she knew about Bratva, but she was wrong in thinking Ivan wasn’t a dangerous threat.He was the real deal.Ivan should terrify her.But maybe nothing terrified Naomi.Maybe she didn’t have the capacity to truly fear anyone or anything.
“Ivan has something that belongs to me, and I’m getting it back,” she declared.“If I have to wreck his bar in order to get what I need, I’ll do it.”
The woman was impossible.“If I hadn’t carried you away, you could be dead right now.”Maybe she should try showing a little gratitude.
“Yeah, and why would you care?”Zero gratitude.Just a whole lot of kiss-her-assitude.
He blinked.
She heaved another sigh.“You hate me, Ebenezer.Oh, sorry, my bad.Eb.Like everyone else, you think I am a cold-blooded killer.Well, goody for you.”
“You have no idea what I think.”But, yes, I absolutely think you are a killer.Cold-blooded to the core.You didn’t even shed a tear at Hudson’s funeral.Not one.
Naomi huffed out a hard breath.“I don’t know why you’re here.I don’t know why you’re in my way.I don’t know why you saw the need tocarryme from my target.But here’s a word of warning…” Her chin notched up.“Stay out of my way.”
“Or what?”Eb had to ask.Her scent teased him.Not some sweet scent.This woman did not smell like candy.Or cinnamon.She was sensual.Sultry.Bold.Amber.Jasmine.A wild, warm?—
“Seriously, you want an ‘or what’ answer from me?”
Yeah, he did.Thus, the question he’d just asked.“If I don’t stay out of your way, are you gonna shove a knife into me the way you did Hudson?”
She stiffened.
He’d probably gone too far.The way to get close to the woman, the way to get her to reveal every secret she possessed, it wasnotto become her enemy and to have her hate him from day one.The hate could—would—come later.After he’d locked her hot ass up in a jail cell.For now, he had to try another technique.So get your control back in place, man.Put on the mask you wear so well.
“Is that what you think?”Zero emotion entered her voice.“You gonna join the crowd who believes I murdered my husband and then set up the scene to look as if an intruder came in to kill him?You think I’m that diabolical?”
Hudson was a trained CIA operative.Getting killing close to him would be tricky.Your average home intruder would never get the drop on him.But Hudson would be fooled by someone he trusted.Someone he loved.Someone he loved could easily get close enough to kill him.
And Hudson had loved his beautiful wife very, very much.
The autopsy had shown zero defensive wounds on Hudson’s body.He hadn’t fought back at all against his killer.Probably because he hadn’t expected his beautiful, delicate, and deadly wife to attack him.