Dangerous Nights: Tall Dark Defender / Undercover Wife. Merline Lovelace
the leak in the operation? Was someone gunning for Hardin?
Nothing about last night’s turn of events sat well with Jonah, especially when he figured Annie into the picture. Hardin had drawn her into the dynamic. She could have unwittingly become ensnared in the sticky web of deceit Hardin and Farrout had spun.
Jonah mulled his next move, then glanced up from his ham on rye when Annie breezed through the front door at ten minutes until noon. She cast him a quick nervous glance as she poked her purse under the counter and rushed back into the kitchen.
Jonah swabbed another greasy fry through his puddle of ketchup, keeping an eye on the kitchen door. Waiting.
Moments later he heard Hardin’s raised voice roll from the back of the restaurant like thunder announcing a storm. “You lost it? You idiot! I told you how important that package was! How could you lose it?”
Jonah craned his neck, trying to find Annie through the service window.
He heard the soft murmur of Annie’s response, recognized the frightened tremble in her tone, and his gut pitched.
“Sorry’s not good enough!” Hardin screamed.
A loud crash. Annie’s frightened yelp.
In an instant, Jonah had jumped from his stool and barreled through the swinging door into the kitchen. He sized up the situation in a glance. Hardin’s red face, balled fists and threatening pose as he leaned close to Annie. The young waitress had scrunched back against the wall, her face pale and arms raised defensively to protect her head.
“Is there a problem here?”
Hardin’s glare snapped over to Jonah. “What are you doin’? Can’t you read? Employees only!”
“Annie? You all right?” he asked, ignoring Hardin.
Frightened brown eyes lifted at his inquiry.
Hardin jabbed a finger toward the door. “This ain’t none of your business!”
“I’m making it my business. I don’t take kindly to any man threatening a woman.”
Annie’s brow furrowed warily.
“The bitch lost two hundred grand of my money!” Hardin growled.
Annie gasped, and her eyes widened. “Two hundred grand!”
Hardin narrowed a glare on her. “That’s right. Two hundred grand. And it’s comin’ out of your paycheck!”
Her face blanched a shade whiter. “Mr. Hardin, I can’t—”
“Shut up!” He slammed a hand on the wall beside her head, and she yelped, trembled.
Jonah’s blood boiled, and he strode closer to Hardin. Grabbing the man’s shirt, he yanked him around, then shoved him back against the opposite wall. “Back off! If I see you so much as breathe on her again, I’ll tear you apart.”
Hardin puffed his chest out and shoved back. “Don’t threaten me! She’s my employee and—”
“That doesn’t give you the right to hurt or intimidate her,” Jonah growled through clenched teeth. “Don’t touch her. Ever.”
“Jonah …” Annie said quietly. “Don’t.”
“If anyone is to blame for that money being stolen from her, it’s you.” Jonah poked the man in the chest with his finger. “You had no business sending a woman into that neighborhood alone, especially at that hour. What were you thinking? She could have been killed.” He took a deep breath to calm the rage seething inside him. The urge to smash the guy’s face was too strong. He needed to step back, cool off. He released Hardin’s shirt and moved away, his hands still bunched at his sides.
Hardin’s eyes narrowed, and his face flamed red. “Get out of my kitchen! Out of my diner!” He turned to Annie, aiming a finger at her. “And you! You’re fired!”
Annie bit her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut.
Jonah moved between Annie and her hostile boss. “Not so fast, pal. Unless you’d like to explain to the cops what that two-hundred-grand delivery was about, where the money came from.”
Now he had Hardin’s attention. The man’s eyes widened, and his face leeched of color.
“She can file a wrongful termination lawsuit whether she has grounds or not, and the delivery you asked her to make is sure to be called into question. You got an explanation ready for the judge about that two hundred grand?”
Tensing, Hardin glared darkly at Jonah, then cast his glower toward Annie.
Jonah held his breath, second-guessing his rash challenge. Tossing down the gauntlet with Hardin might not have been his wisest move if he wanted to keep a low profile as he worked his investigation.
But Hardin, in his rage, had spilled the tidbit about the huge sum that had been in the package. Hardin knew Jonah had been at the diner last night when Annie left to deliver the envelope. And Jonah couldn’t help but wonder if his intervention now hadn’t provoked Hardin to fire Annie.
Guilt pinched Jonah. He couldn’t let her lose her job because of his temper.
“Fine,” Hardin snarled, spittle spraying Annie’s direction. “Consider yourself on notice. You screw up again, and you’re gone.”
With another scalding glance to Jonah, Hardin stomped into his office and slammed the door.
Annie pressed a hand to her chest and slid to the floor, shaking.
Pulling in a deep breath for composure before he approached her, Jonah studied Annie’s trembling body and wan expression. He’d seen reactions like hers too many times in both his personal and professional life not to know what he was dealing with. If her fearful reaction to Hardin weren’t enough, her scars and her distrust of him last night bolstered his assessment.
She’d likely been abused. Husband, father, sibling—didn’t matter who. The devastating legacy of violence and mental cruelty didn’t differentiate.
Acid roiled in his gut, and he took another couple of seconds to cool off before squatting in front of her.
“Annie—”
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved,” she murmured. Raising her eyes to meet his, she shook her head. “He’s my problem, and I have to learn to deal with him.”
He frowned. “Annie, he had no right—”
“That doesn’t matter! Right and wrong isn’t the point.” Annie hiked her chin up a notch and firmed her jaw in a display of moxie that sparked hope in him.
He held his tongue, giving her the chance to speak her mind. Her body language as she gathered herself and recovered from Hardin’s intimidation spoke volumes to him. She was strong. A fighter. She had the mettle to overcome her past. Warmth swirled through his blood as he held her rich-coffee gaze.
Annie swallowed hard and squared her shoulders. “This was my problem, not yours. I have to learn how to handle these situations for myself, if I’m going to—” She tore her eyes away and shook her head again. “Never mind.”
When she pushed up from the floor, Jonah put a hand under her arm to help her to her feet. She shrugged out of his grip. “I’m all right. I don’t need—”
“Okay.” He held his hands up and backed away one step.
Stroking her hands down her uniform apron, she angled a dubious look toward him. “Why have you decided to be my protector? You barely know me.”
He shrugged. “How well do you have to know someone to want to help them?”
She ducked her head and didn’t answer.
Jamming his hands into his pockets, he cocked his head and studied her bruised cheek and swollen lip, evidence of last