Page 140 of Family Jewels

“What happened?” I asked in shock, taking several steps away from James.

“It’s a long story,” she said as she marched toward me.

“Do you have it?” he asked.

“Oh, I have it all right,” Neely Kate said, then gave James a dirty look. “And no. You won’t be gettin’ your grimy hands on it.” She turned to me. “Rose, I was right. He wants it for himself.”

“Funny, James and I were just havin’ that very conversation. But I don’t give two figs what he wants right now.” I shot him a dark glare. “I’m here as a mediator, and this parley’s takin’ place because you gave your damn word,SkeeterMalcolm!” I pointed my finger at him to prove my point.

“And I told you that my word doesn’t mean shit.”

“That’s bullcrap if I ever heard it.” I marched over to him. “Lift your arms.”

He gave me a semi-amused look.

“Lift your damn arms!”

He lifted them from his side, and I ran my hands down his side and his back, finding a gun tucked in his jeans.

“If you’d wanted to feel me up, you should have told me in your bedroom,” he said in a voice I wasn’t used to hearing. Dirty and coarse.

I knew what he was doing, and it wasn’t going to work. I knew he didn’t see me the same way he saw the women he slept with. Even if his actions hadn’t convinced me, that vision had. “Stop that right now,” I said as I handed the gun to Neely Kate. I crouched and felt his legs, finding another gun in one of his boots and a knife in the other.

“I can’t protect you if you take all my weapons.” The edge in his voice told me there was some truth in his words. The vision backed it up. But we weren’t doing this his way. We were doing it mine.

I stood and lifted my chin, holding his gaze. “Then we better hope your men do a much better job of searching Buck’s men than they did with you.”

His anger was back, but the front door opened, and Brett stuck his head in. “They won’t wait any longer.”

“Send them in, Brett,” I said as I turned to James, giving him a defiant look. “We’re ready to begin.”

Chapter 31

Iwalkedover and grabbed the back of one of the chairs on his side and positioned it between the two tables.

James looked like he wanted to wring my neck.

Let him try.

The door opened, and Buck burst through, with Kip following behind. The glare on Kip’s face told me he was furious. There was already turmoil between the partners. I could use that to my advantage. Hugh and the other man from my vision trailed them.

“I don’t like to be kept waiting, Malcolm,” Buck said as he strutted toward the table, looking like he wanted to wrestle a bear.

“It was me who kept you waiting,” I said, standing at the end of the table.

A lusty grin spread across Buck’s face. “Darlin’, you clean up nice. If you needed a few extra minutes to slip into that dress, I’ll be more than happy to give them to you if you’d let me help you out of it.”

The dress James had chosen had a deep, plunging neckline, and the lacy push-up bra was doing its job. Maybe a little too well.

Neely Kate marched right over to him and grabbed his crotch. “Apologize to Lady.”

His eyes bulged and he reached for her neck, but I lifted the hem of my dress and pulled my gun out of the leg holster Jed had given me last winter. I aimed it right at his head. “I think it’s the perfect time to set a few ground rules.”

Neely Kate released her hold and stepped back as Buck bent over coughing and groaning.

Kip turned to James and demanded, “Why doessheget a gun?”

“This is her damn meeting,” James grumbled. “Her rules.”