Midnight Assignment. Victoria Dahl
amounts are small enough not to draw attention, but I don’t have a definite figure yet.”
“So, not a lot. Come on, Noah. Even I can tell these people are apple-pie, small-town folks.”
“Small-town folks are no different than you big-city types, Elise. Some are good, some bad.”
“Do not try to tell me old lady Castle is a bad seed. For God’s sake, I thought she was going to make me a sandwich!”
He shrugged, the hardness of his face not even hinting at softening. “If not Mrs. Castle, then her son. You don’t really think she’s been running things, do you?”
Elise frowned down at her coffee cup, feeling suddenly exhausted. She liked these people. The old woman who still came to the office every day. The son who’d come in to help carefully pack up his mother’s office. They were real people. Good people. Elise needed them not to have dark, hidden sides. It was just too damn close to Christmas to deal with that kind of crap. “She claims to still be in charge of day-to-day operations.”
“John Castle says he started taking over some responsibilities in 1998.”
“Regardless, I don’t believe the Castles were stealing money from the bank.”
“When did you grow a heart?”
She snapped her head up and glared. “Excuse me?”
“And a soft one at that.”
“There’s never been even a hint of suspicion about their business practices. They’ve filed every report we’ve asked, taken every measure we’ve suggested and—”
“There’s a hint now. I’m heading over to the other branches to make sure everything is running smoothly, but when I come back, I’m going to concentrate my efforts on those missing funds.”
“Fine.” She closed her eyes. He thought she was heartless? He was an ice-cold bastard and always had been. “But you’re wasting your time.” I hope. “Wanna bet?”
She rolled her neck, trying to ease some of the strain from it. It was one in the morning, and though she’d started sending team members back to the hotel in shifts, she was going to be here until 6:00 p.m. the next day. “Sure. I’ll take that bet, if only to teach you a lesson in humility. And heart. How much?”
“Oh, I didn’t say anything about money, Elise.”
Her weariness vanished like a popping bubble, and her head snapped up. He’d said her name like a dare, as if he meant to demand something from her. A forfeit. A prize. A kiss.
Ridiculous. His face didn’t hint at anything more than anger.
His gaze dipped for a split second, brushing over her mouth.
“Um…”
He just stared, ignoring her uncomfortable squirm.
“Not money?”
He raised his eyebrows. “No.”
This uncertainty pissed her off. Elise set her jaw. “What, then? Are you going to lay your manly pride down on the table as a prize?”
His eyebrows lowered. Two spots of pink burned into his cheekbones.
Oh. Elise took a deep breath and replayed her words in her mind. She couldn’t stop her face from heating. “I mean…not your…I meant…”
“My pride, huh?” he said roughly. His gaze slipped down her face, and for one frightening, exhilarating second, she was sure he was glaring right at her mouth. Then he smirked. “Yeah, sure. Why the hell not? I’ve managed to restock. Pride, it is.”
Elise’s mind spun, and by the time she’d righted herself, the doorway was empty and Noah was gone. She pressed her fingertips to her mouth and cursed. Kissing that man had been a horrible, awful mistake. Even two years later she couldn’t quite believe she’d done it.
This was going to be one hell of a long week, and with Noah James around, she wouldn’t get one second to relax. He’d make sure of it.
EXHAUSTION FELT LIKE anger. At least it always had to Noah. He’d been working for more than twenty-four hours without a break, and he’d been awake much longer than that. Now as he stared at the man standing before him in the parking lot, all Noah wanted to do was yell.
He didn’t.
“Sir, the bank is closed for the evening, but it will open again at eight tomorrow morning, just like always. I promise you that your money is safe.”
The middle-aged man waved a pillowcase around and screamed that he wasn’t going to let the government steal his hard-earned cash. Noah tuned him out and watched the tirade turn to clouds of white in the frigid night. Man, it was cold. His own breath froze against his lips like dry ice. He wanted to be anywhere but here, being yelled at by a stranger.
Maybe exhaustion wasn’t anger, maybe it was just a need to escape. Or maybe it was irritating introspection.
He stifled a yawn.
A security guard approached the door from inside the bank, and Noah waved him off before returning his attention to the irate customer. “Sir, I understand your frustration, but the bank closed two minutes ago. Not because we’re shutting it down, but because of normal business hours. If you’ll—”
The bank door opened, and Noah turned to snap at the security guard, but found himself scowling at Elise Watson. Well, what the hell. She deserved a scowl too.
“It’s all right, Mr. James. Let him in.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.” She must be as exhausted as Noah. The rest of the team worked in shifts, but the team leaders often refused the breaks. She’d ordered Noah to take a break at 10:00 a.m. today. He’d ignored her. And he knew for a fact that Elise hadn’t let up once.
Unlike Noah, her weariness didn’t look like anger. As the muttering, hunched customer pushed past her without a word of thanks, Elise’s face looked soft and sleepy, as if she didn’t deserve a scowl at all. Damn.
She held the door open and Noah slipped inside before locking it behind him. A glance at the teller line showed Lara smiling and speaking calmly to the man, but he shook his head and waved his pillowcase around. The teller began counting out bills.
“He called a half hour ago,” Elise explained quietly. “Told us to have his money ready to go. It’s only seventeen hundred dollars. I don’t want him losing any sleep over it.”
“Or God forbid, taking his story of government hooligans to the local news.”
When she tilted her head up and met his eyes, Noah felt his heart stop. And when a slow, tired smile crept over her face, his heart started again with a crazed rhythm.
“Exactly,” she said softly. An innocuous, everyday word that sounded impossibly sexy coming from Elise’s mouth.
For a long moment, Noah couldn’t recall what the hell they were talking about. Then her smile faded and she looked tired again.
“You should go back to the hotel,” he said. “Get some rest.”
She shook her head. “The team…”
“There’ll be here for another two hours, and they’ve already had a full night’s sleep.”
Her eyelids moved slowly when she blinked, but she glanced around and shook her head again. Noah didn’t know why he felt protective. Elise could take care of herself, and this wasn’t the toughest case they’d ever worked. But she looked so…vulnerable. Elise Watson, vulnerable? Man, he really was tired.
“Come