Dark Alpha (ALPHA 2) (21 page)

Not that Lucien had ever doubted it. Dair was very, very good at what he did; he needed to be, when he and Lucien were themselves hiding even deadlier secrets than Nicky.

“Of course my name is Nicky McKenzie,” she now attempted to dismiss lightly.

Her face was too pale. Her eyes too haunted.
Her denial far too fucking late
.

“Don’t,” Lucien warned her hardly.

She gave a shake of her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about—”

“I said
don’t
lie to me, damn it
,
” Lucien ground out between gritted teeth.

“You’re in a very strange mood this evening, Lucien, and I think maybe I should just go—”

“You aren’t going anywhere until you tell me exactly who you are and what you want from me,” he bit out scathingly.

“My name is Nicky McKenzie, and I
was
here to have dinner with you. Obviously that’s no longer going to happen, so if you don’t mind I really would like to leave now.”

“Oh but I do mind, Nicky.” He smiled without humor. “I mind very much.”

A little of the color returned to her cheeks as her eyes sparkled with temper. “You can’t keep me here against my will.”

“I can do what the hell I like with you,” Lucien assured her hardly. “A fortress, remember, Nicky?
My
fortress. Owned by me. Controlled by me. No one goes in or out of this building without my say so. And where you’re concerned, I have no intention of ‘saying so’ until you’ve told me exactly who you are and why you’re here with me.”

“My name is Nicky McKenzie and we were supposed to be having dinner together—”

“Nicky McKenzie died twenty years ago!”

Nicky felt the blood drain from her cheeks as she stared at Lucien blankly.

How could he possibly know that?

Because he did know. Nicky was left in absolutely no doubt about that as she looked into the hard and accusing glitter of his eyes.

This had to be her worst nightmare come true. A waking and immediate nightmare Nicky had no idea how to deal with.

Any more than she knew how to answer Lucien’s questions.

Except to know that she would be doing Lucien a favor by not answering them at all.

Lucien may be a billionaire, and a man who surrounded himself with an army of personal security, but Jack Montgomery
owned
most of the underbelly of London. He was also, she knew from personal experience, capable of killing—or at least, ordering someone to be killed—without mercy or regret.

She doubted Lucien would thank her for it, but the less he knew about Jack Montgomery, and consequently Nicky’s past, including her real name, the safer he would be.

Her chin rose determinedly as she knew attack was her only defense. “I have no idea where you got your information from, Lucien, but I assure you its wrong.”

“Dair is never wrong.”

She gave a scathing snort. “And does he investigate all the women you go to bed with?”

“No,” Lucien bit out grimly. “Dair just thought it necessary in your case. So what’s it to be, Nicky?” He eyed her coldly. “Are you working for one of my business rivals? Or do you intend to sell the story of ‘My Wild Nights of Sex in Lucien Wynter’s Bed’ to the tabloids? Or maybe you’re going to ask me for money in exchange for
not
selling that story to the gutter press?”

“What—?” Nicky was too shocked to even attempt to hide it.

Lucien thought—he really thought—

It would have been laughable, if it weren’t so damned insulting. She didn’t want that sort of personal publicity—any publicity—any more than Lucien did.

She gasped softly. “My God,
this
is the reason you were in such a strange mood when you came to my apartment earlier,” she realized incredulously. “Why you’ve been so bad-tempered tonight.” She gave him a pitying look. “At least I try to trust people, Lucien, whereas you—
you
were the one who invited me out to dinner initially, remember?” she reminded accusingly. “An evening when you were so—so obnoxious, you gave me no choice but to walk out on you.”

His mouth twisted. “And yet just months later you came back for more.”

“I came to ask you for a job!”

“Exactly,” he bit out grimly.

Nicky looked at him searchingly, a shiver running the length of her spine as she saw the cold, unyielding way Lucien continued to look at her. “You think the job I really had in mind was dishing the dirt on your sex life to the newspapers?”

“Lucrative work, I would imagine.” He nodded. “And all you had to do was go to bed with me a couple of times. You must have thought the financial reward worth a few hours of your time.”

“This is ridiculous...” She was falling in love with this man—was already in love with him?—and he was accusing her of attempting to blackmail him.

Lucien’s top lip turned back in a sneer. “You were out of a job, you have debts, and you needed money. Obviously you failed in your attempt to blackmail Lionel Jenkins—”

“The only thing I ‘failed’ to do, Lucien, was to realize what a cynical bastard you are!” Nicky spat out disgustedly.

He gave a humorless smile. “And
I
could have respected
you
more if you had been upfront about it and just asked me outright for the money. At least that way I would have known I was paying for the sex.”

Nicky flinched at the deliberate insult. “I would never have asked you for money, under any circumstances—because I’m not interested in your damned money! Nor do I have any intention of selling any story about you to the newspapers.”

Lucien wished he could believe her. Wished he could believe a lot of things where Nicky was concerned. But her deer-caught-in-headlights expression just now, when he had challenged her about her name, and her evasions since, were all too indicative of her guilt.

His mouth thinned. “Let’s start this conversation again. You dye your hair—”

“How do you—” Nicky broke off, the color entering her cheeks as she obviously realized exactly how Lucien knew that.

He gave her a telling glance. “You probably also wear colored lenses. And your name is not Nicky McKenzie.”

“Then what is?” she demanded impatiently.

“I don’t know that yet,” he growled hardly. “But I will. Believe me, I will.”

Her chin lifted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Lucien. But I do know that when ‘I walk out that door in anger’ this time, that you can be assured that I don’t
ever
intend or want to ‘come back’!”

Lucien felt a moment’s regret, a brief tightening of his chest, for the loss of the Nicky he had thought she was. A feisty and—he had believed—totally honest Nicky. A beautiful Nicky, who had skin that felt like silk. A passionate Nicky, he had very quickly discovered was totally his equal in bed.

Now he knew exactly the reason why Nicky had been so willing to try anything he asked of her.

He straightened tense shoulders. “This conversation isn’t over yet—”

“Oh it’s most definitely over, Lucien.
We’re
definitely over,” she clarified.

“That would depend on whether or not you decide to go to the newspapers—”

“You really think I would ever want anyone else to know what an idiot I’ve been where you’re concerned?” She gave a self-disgusted shake of her head. “Even I can’t believe that I was stupid enough to ever think that beneath that cold and ruthless exterior, there was a decent human being just trying to get out. Was I ever wrong about that! You’re cold through and through, Lucien. A complete and utter bastard,” she stated flatly.

He gave a humorless smile. “Not a complete one, Nicky, or I would have waited to have this conversation until
after
I’d taken you to bed!” he taunted.

“I would never have gone to bed with you when you’re in this mood!”

“Now really isn’t a good time to challenge me, Nicky,” his voice was steely soft.

Nicky looked at him guardedly for several long and tense seconds before lifting her chin determinedly. “I want to leave. Now.”

Lucien thought of continuing to refuse, of keeping her here until she told him the truth, as he had said he would.

But what was the point in that? Nicky was as adamant in her denials as he was in his accusations. They would achieve nothing more tonight, except to become more and more angry with each other. And God knew where that might lead.

Besides which, Dair, or one of his men, would be keeping a very close eye on Nicky until they knew the truth about her.

He nodded abruptly. “I’ll drive you home—”

“I don’t think so, thank you,” she dismissed hardly. “It would make me feel physically ill to have to spend that amount of time in your company right now, let alone breathe the same air you do.”

Lucien’s eyes narrowed at the disgust he could hear in Nicky’s voice. “You didn’t seem so particular about exchanging bodily fluids with me last night.”

Her eyes glowed darkly in the paleness of her face. “And if I don’t leave in the next few seconds I think I’m actually going to be physically sick.”

He shrugged unconcernedly, not sure he was capable of spending any more time with her either right now. Not without doing something he was sure to regret. “Then I’ll have Dair drive you home—”

“I don’t want to be anywhere near him tonight, either,” Nicky couldn’t seem to stop her voice from shaking. She was more than halfway in love with this man, and it hurt that he believed her capable of the things he had just accused her of. “I just want out of this building, and far away from you. I can get a cab once I’m outside.” Maybe she would be able to breathe properly again too, once she was away from Lucien.

She would also be able to give in to the tears that had been threatening these past few minutes. She certainly wasn’t going to give Lucien the satisfaction of crying in front of him. Or letting him see that her heart was breaking.

“It’s dark outside, and it isn’t easy to find a cab this time of night in the business district; your choices are either Dair or myself driving you home,” Lucien answered her tautly.

Nicky looked at him searchingly, knowing by the hard determination in his eyes that Lucien wasn’t going to give an inch on this particular subject. “Dair,” she chose flatly, looking anywhere but at Lucien as he made the necessary call on his cell phone, but knowing, feeling his gaze on her the whole time he spoke to his cousin.

It was hard now to remember how much she had been looking forward to this evening, to being with Lucien again. To the two of them just spending a normal evening together like other couples. Well, as normal as it could be with a man as dynamic and mercurial as Lucien.

Not only was that never going to happen now, but she also had to consider whether or not she could even remain living in London; if Dair had already discovered that her name wasn’t Nicky McKenzie, then there was every possibility the other man would also ‘discover’ her real name, and that her father had not only stolen ten million pounds from the most dangerous man in London, but that he had later been murdered because he refused to tell Jack Montgomery what he had done with it.

Nicky had never discovered what her father had done with that money, either; she would hardly be living in fear for her life if she had. If she had known where the money was, then she would either have returned it by now, or she and Neil would be living the high-life in some exotic location.

Neither of which had happened.

The thought of possibly having to leave London again, of giving up her job, of having to say goodbye to Chrissie and Fleur—without them actually knowing that’s what she was doing—and then having to start all over again somewhere else,
as
someone else, made Nicky feel hollow inside.

She had no doubts she would never see Lucien again after this evening, no matter what she decided.

“Dair will meet the two of us downstairs,” Lucien interrupted her flow of thought.

“I can go down in the elevator on my own—”

“I’m coming down with you.” He eyed her challengingly.

“Of course you are,” Nicky sighed. “You’ll want to make absolutely sure I’ve left the premises.”

That hadn’t been Lucien’s reasoning at all. In fact, now that he’d had his say, allowing his temper to cool, and it was time for Nicky to leave, he found that he wasn’t happy about her going with that look of pain and disappointment in her expressive eyes. Disappointment in
him.

Because of the things he had accused her of?

Uncertainty, a totally alien emotion for Lucien, began to set in.

What if he had been wrong about her?

What if there was a perfectly logical explanation as to why Dair had found evidence her name wasn’t really Nicky McKenzie? As Dair had cautioned him earlier, hundreds of people disappeared every day, for their own reasons, and most of them weren’t criminal.

The two of them should know that better than anybody.

Yes, Nicky had refused to even admit to changing her name, but that didn’t mean her reasons for doing so had anything to do with blackmailing Lucien. Especially when she had been Nicky McKenzie for several years now, long before she had even met him.