Alex was looking past her shoulder. “If my guess is right, and I know it is, my friends have tracked you here through me.”
“How?” she cried, glancing across her shoulder. “How’d they find us?”
Alex went back into the bedroom, heading toward the spacious walk-in closet. “I have no idea,” he grumbled.
Topaz began to wring her hands, gasping when she saw him leave the closet. In his hand, he carried a semiautomatic with a laser sighting.
“Let’s go,” he ordered, slapping a smaller pistol into her palm before pulling her out of the room behind him.
They crept through the darkening house. Topaz clung to Alex, whose attention was wholly focused on confronting the intruder with nerve enough to step into his home. They took the back stairway and spotted a dark figure ascending the front staircase through the living room.
Alex motioned for Topaz to stop where she was; then he continued onward. She leaned against the banister and closed her eyes to pray for courage. Alert, yet anxious, she crouched close to the carpeted stairs, watching as Alex tracked the intruder. She pressed her lips together to smother a scream when Alex ran up on the man and pounced. A struggle ensued as the two large males danced a brutal waltz. Punches were thrown and landed, furniture was broken, and portrait frames crashed to the floor beneath the pressure of their bodies slamming against the walls.
Topaz was trying to make out who had the upper hand in the tussle when, to her horror, she saw a third figure enter the violent performance. Ordering herself to her feet, she pressed the gun close, then raised, aimed, and fired as the second intruder pointed his weapon toward Alex. She was too late, as the man fired his gun just as her bullet pierced his shoulder.
“Alex!” Topaz cried, dropping her gun as she watched him clutch his calf where the bullet hit.
From then on, the events occurred in a dizzying fashion. The first intruder was aiming for Topaz when Alex managed to reach his arm. Again, they struggled until Alex wrestled the gun from his nemesis, squeezing the man’s wrist until it crunched. Howling in pain, he dropped to his knees, but he was not quite ready to surrender
“Topaz! Grab the guns!” Alex called.
She snapped to and did as he had ordered. In seconds, she was aiming both weapons at their attackers.
“Good girl,” Alex whispered, trudging over to take one of the guns. “Are you all right?” he asked, dropping one arm around her shoulders.
Topaz offered a jerky nod, smiling when he kissed her temple. Her eyes narrowed when he left her side to cross the other side of the room. “What are you doing?” she whispered, watching him push a button on the stereo.
Alex didn’t respond. Instead, he inserted a cassette tape into the appropriate slot and pushed PLAY. In seconds, Calvin Fines’s voice filled the room—it was the discussion of the contract on Topaz’s life. The two intruders appeared faint at the sound of their boss’s voice, and Alex smiled. While the tape continued to play, he reached for another, which he dropped into the lap of the man whose wrist he had broken.
“Here you go. I’ve got plenty,” he whispered, standing over the cowering man. “You tell Calvin to cancel the job on this lady or I send one of these to every TV and newspaper in the country—starting with my own. Oh, and I’ll be sure to get one to the FBI as well. They’ve been trying to pin somethin’ on Cal and his pops for over two decades,” he added, reaching down to wrench the man’s jacket collar into his fist. “Now get the hell out of my sight before I forget that I’m tryin’ to quell my murderous tendencies,” he growled close to the man’s face, before shoving him off.
Of course, the men did not hesitate. With the duplicated tape in their possession, they raced out of the house, using the beveled glass doors through which they had entered.
“Alex?” Topaz called in a tiny voice, when they were finally alone. He turned and opened his arms. She didn’t hesitate to run right to him.
“Are you all right?” he murmured against her forehead.
She snuggled deep into his embrace. “No, but I’m getting there fast.”
SIXTEEN
Alexander Rice and Topaz Emerson were the stars of DeAndra’s party. Of course, it had been much the same scene since the story on the buyouts hit the newspapers. No one could believe such corruption had existed in their town. Though all the evil elements had not been revealed, the story, covered in perfect detail in the Queen City Happening, had sent several tongues wagging.
“Are you sick of this yet?” Alex was asking, looking down at Topaz while they danced.
She beamed, winding her arms about his neck. “No, this is something people should never forget. Not that they ever could. I’m just glad it’s over,” she sighed, nuzzling her forehead against his chin.
“You feel that way even though the real culprits haven’t been brought to justice?”
Topaz offered a rueful smirk. “Sometimes things just have to be a certain way, I guess. Besides, those tapes are our insurance, right?”
Alex grimaced, absently trailing his fingers along her shoulder bared by the cut of the mint-green strapless dress she wore. He knew she couldn’t feel half as content as she was letting on. “I don’t want you feeling like you have to look over your shoulder every second.”
“Well, if I look over my shoulder and see you there, then ... well that’s something I could definitely live with.”
“I love you,” Alex whispered, kissing the tip of her nose.
“I love you,” Topaz sighed, closing her eyes when they hugged. Her lashes fluttered then and she gazed out over the elegantly attired crowd. She caught sight of Alex’s cousin DeAndra huddled close to Simon Whitley. “Wonder what they’re cookin’ up,” she teasingly inquired. A gasp touched her lips then and she pulled away from Alex as though she’d been burned.
“What?” he asked, frowning at the dazed look on her face.
Topaz smoothed her hand across the chignon at the nape of her neck. “I need to go speak with an old friend.”
Alex pushed one hand into the pocket of his mushroom trousers and turned to watch Topaz head to the other side of the spacious living room. Something told him to follow.
Topaz had seen Simon and DeAndra part company a few moments before she reached the other end of the room. She followed her ex-fiancé to a remote den, where she greeted him in a calm, reserved voiced.
“Paz!” Simon cried, appearing overjoyed to see her as he rushed over with outstretched arms.
Of course, Topaz could detect the trace of unease in his dark eyes. “You’re surprised to see me, aren’t you?” she asked.
Simon stopped short, his unease becoming more obvious. “Well, yeah, yes. I—uh, I know how you hate De’s parties.”
Topaz clasped her hands together behind her back and stepped inside the room. “But that’s not why you’re surprised, is it?”
