Hustlers (8 page)

“Called in who?” Ellie asked.

“Come on,” Jimmy mumbled. “The dude used to be Special Forces. He seemed like the best person to call.”

“Who is he?” Ellie frowned.

“Jimmy, you need to stop reading the old newspapers and start focusing on the future. That alliance is long since over.”

“Him, who?” Ellie shouted. “What the fuck did we just get into?”

“At least I didn’t call Meyer,” Jimmy muttered.

“If you had called in Meyer, I’d have killed you myself! Enough from both of you, we’re not discussing this. Not now, not ever!” Her father flashed a look at them both that demanded silence.

E
llie shifted uncomfortably in the black cocktail dress she wore. She glanced down at her rhinestone sandals and wobbled on the heels for a moment.
Who can walk in this crap?

“Stop fidgeting,” her father said. “You look beautiful.”

She peered at her father with narrowed eyes, who appeared at ease in his fitted tux, but then he wasn’t wearing ridiculous heels. “These things make me useless. I can’t even run in them.”

“You don’t need to run anywhere tonight. You’re supposed to be enjoying yourself.” He nodded at the busy ballroom surrounding them. “You wanted to feel like a girl, right?”

She grabbed a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter and then downed it in one swig. After a long conversation with her father and Jimmy, she’d finally managed to explain that she was a girl, and girls needed to do things that weren’t high-risk jobs sometimes. “This really isn’t what I had in mind. I was thinking rock concerts or going on a date. This isn’t my kinda place.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, I’m guessing Oxford isn’t your kind of place either.”

She glanced up as applause broke out around the room, smiling at the stage as the Special Forces team were awarded medals by the people they had rescued from Starling’s human trafficking ring. It had taken the SAS and the police in multiple countries working together to hunt down the captives and bring them home. Starling and his son had been thrown in jail for it.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ellie said with as much innocence as she could muster.

“Apparently, the course you were supposed to go on filled up really quickly, and unfortunately someone else got your place there. I don’t suppose you and Jimmy know anything about that?”

She flashed her dad a grin. “I have no idea how that happened.”

“I bet you don’t,” he muttered.

She peered at her feet. It was cheating. She’d lost the bet. She wasn’t good enough to manage anything, especially not a job with her father, but she really didn’t want to go to university. She loved her life with her father and Jimmy.

She glanced at him. “I know I failed, but that’s the last time it happens.” She narrowed her eyes with determination. “I’m never dating again. Nothing is going to get in my way. I mean it dad, I…” She trailed off as a tall man with dark hair strolled past them. He was a couple of years older than she was. His handsome face and big brown eyes caused her skin to tingle. Like a magnet, she was drawn to him. He winked at her as he passed by, and she found herself admiring his broad shoulders as he walked away.

She jumped when her father laughed. “Sure you will. You did okay on that last job, kiddo. You adapted and dealt with an unplanned situation. It wasn’t the date that got you into trouble. You didn’t do your research. Dating is fine. Just make sure that the person you choose is good enough for you.”

“No, I’m not dating ever again, unless it’s that guy.” She nodded at the dark-haired man who had stopped a few feet away from them. She tilted her head to the side as she studied his muscular body.

Her father laughed again. “That’s not the kind of research I mean.”

“Mr. Hawkins! How wonderful to see you here,” an older woman cried as she hurried across the dance floor toward the man that Ellie had begun to think of as Mr. Nice-Ass in her mind.

She frowned and glanced at her father when he gripped her arm.

“We need to get going,” he said as he guided her toward the exit.

“Aren’t we sticking around for the end of the awards thing?” she asked, glancing back over her shoulder at the tall, dark stranger.

“What, and leave Jimmy all alone? Lord knows what kind of trouble he’ll get into.” Her father shook his head.

She narrowed her eyes as a waiter brushed by, dropping an envelope into her father hand. “What are we
really
doing here?”

“I don’t know what you’re implying.” There was a sparkle of mischief in her father’s eyes as he pocketed the envelope.

She faced forward and tried to master walking on heels at her father’s hurried pace. “You’re unbelievable,” she muttered.

After waiting a beat, she decided to sort out her future once and for all. “So, I don’t have to go to university, and I can date now?”

He frowned at her. “You don’t have to go to university
yet
, and we’ll discuss the dating.”

She shook his arm away from hers. “What’s to discuss?”

“Your selection process,” he muttered as he put an arm around her waist and guided her toward the exit.

“There’s nothing wrong with my selection process.”

“When your only criteria is a nice ass, there is something missing from the process.”

“I really don’t want to discuss nice asses with my father,” she grumbled.

“Good. Then hopefully you’ll stop trying to date them.”

She rolled her eyes. She’d only dated one guy who was an ass, so far.

As they stepped out into the evening air, she smiled at the valet who drove up in her dad’s car. “Okay, no more asses. What’s the next job?”

Her father studied her for a moment then winked. “I thought you’d never ask. Have you ever heard of the lost ruins of Haldika?”

Her pulse raced with excitement, the kind that Matt had never made her feel. “No, what is it?”

Her father smiled as he opened the door of the jag for her. “It’s a whole new world of possibilities,” he said with a wink.

A
s alarms blared throughout Hawkins Hall, Ellie Phillips dropped the stone tablet she was trying to steal from the glass case in front of her. She winced as it bounced across the Persian rug. Relieved to see that the tablet was still in one piece, she scooped it up and slipped it inside her handbag. The clasp of her outsize clutch barely snapped shut around it.

Her heart hammered as she heard footsteps pounding up the sweeping staircase outside the room. She spun around to stare at the panel of wires that had been concealed behind an oil painting of an old cargo ship.

I cut all the alarms. I know I did!

The professional in her itched to check the schematics and go over the wiring again, but the time for that had passed. She exhaled a frustrated sigh. She had locked the door behind her as a precaution, but she had assumed that she would evade the notice of Hawkins Hall’s formidable security staff when she disabled the alarms. Now they were pounding down the door and the police were probably on their way.

Meyer had given her an easy job. All she had to do was get into Hawkins Hall, grab an Incan tablet and get out, but she’d somehow managed to bollocks it up. Well, the only thing to do now was escape. She’d have to figure out what had gone wrong later. She frowned as she scanned the room for an exit route. Strolling out of the building disguised as a guest wasn’t a viable option anymore.

She glanced at the window, narrowing her eyes. With the door blocked by angry-sounding security guards, it was the only available exit.

She inhaled sharply as she leaned out into the evening air. It was a four-story drop. Glancing sideways, she saw a narrow ledge beneath the windowsill that led around the corner of the manor house. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to pop the bubble of panic that was growing in her throat.

This is insane.

Something heavy collided with the locked door behind her, galvanizing her into action.

She scrambled through the open window and struggled to balance on the narrow ledge, teetering on towering Louboutin heels. She took a few precious seconds to regain her footing before she closed the window.

The silk frock she’d bought to fit in with the charity-auction crowd did nothing to protect her from the gusts of cold blasting across the English countryside. She took one tiny step sideways, and then ventured another; she forced herself not to look down.

Just get around the corner, and they won’t know you’re here.

Her stomach twisted in cold fear as she edged around the corner of the building, clawing at the brickwork for any kind of handhold. She held her breath as she heard the window slide open just as she cleared the corner.

She froze in position, breathing a sigh when she heard the window slamming shut.
I got away with it!

Her moment of triumph was cut short when she heard the commotion coming from the grounds below. Security guards, no doubt. But they were down there, and she was up here. Her immediate concern was getting back inside Hawkins Hall.

She pressed herself against the damp limestone and carefully continued her way along the ledge. She almost lost her footing when another gust of cold wind blasted into her. When she threw a hand back against the wall to steady herself, she felt a window frame. It seemed to be open an inch or two.

Thankful that her luck had finally turned, she slid close enough to look inside. Beyond the heavy damask curtains she saw a master bedroom, complete with an ornate oak bed and matching furniture. There was no one in the room and the door was closed.

She pushed the window open and tossed her handbag inside. It landed on the thick carpet with a dull thud. Relieved to have the heavy bag out of her hands, she gripped the window frame with one hand, hoisted up the fishtail skirt of her evening dress with the other and slid herself into the room.

Once safely back inside Hawkins Hall, she surveyed the room and collected her thoughts. She was starting to wonder about this gig. It should have been a snap. Go to a fancy party, pretend to be posh, nab an Incan tablet and swan out the front door after asking a valet to call a cab. Meyer had given her everything she needed—a wad of cash to blow on a high-street outfit, the layout of the estate, instructions for disarming the alarms—and Meyer didn’t make mistakes. He was ruthless, but he was also a pro. So why had the alarms gone off?