Texan Undercover (Romantic Suspense) (17 page)

Claire pasted on a smile on her face and
turned toward him. "As a matter of fact, I
was
looking for
you."

"Well, here I am. All yours." He smiled back
and the air whooshed from Claire's lungs. Why did he have to be so
good-looking? And when had he become so nice? She needed to be
strong.

"What do you think of Richard's surprise?"
she asked.

"He outdid himself, didn't he?"

Claire leaned close and spoke softly so no
one would overhear. "I told you he wasn't the hacker."

"Don't gloat. You were right. But so was
I."

"What do you mean?" She backed away,
surprised.

"Pierre's not our man. That's one point for
you." He licked his finger and made an imaginary mark in the air.
"Pierre's got the hots for Claire. One point for me." He made
another mark.

"Oh, get real. Richard doesn't think of me
that way."

"He sure seemed to enjoy kissing your
hand."

"Jealous?" She searched his face, looking for
what she didn't know.

"Maybe. Should I be?"

"We're not in a real relationship," Claire
reminded him. And herself. "There's no need for jealousy."

He frowned. "Right."

Claire didn't want to dwell on their
non-relationship. It was too depressing. "What were you and Brozek
discussing? He looked upset."

Dillon glanced around the cafe. "Let's go
outside." He took her elbow and headed for the door.

The day was brisk, but the sun was shining,
the big Texas sky clear and blue. They walked in silence for a
minute before stopping two doors down from the cafe.

"What's going on? Something's happened."
Claire braced herself for bad news. Away from the cozy interior of
e*Claire's and the happy festivities, the menace of the hacker and
the situation quickly invaded with vehement force. When would it
end? How? She didn't feel very strong and independent when
confronted with the unknown danger lurking about.

Dillon stuffed his hands in his pockets. "All
three companies' computers were broken into again last night. With
an even stranger kind of virus than before."

"Were there more threats?" Claire wished he
would wrap his arms around her and hold her close, but that wasn't
going to happen out here. They were taking great care not to
advertise their "relationship." And Dillon was good at keeping a
low profile--both professionally and emotionally.

"No more threats," he said. "But every single
computer froze with the word 'Bang' printed on the screen. Another
juvenile trick from our sophisticated hacker."

Claire's stomach dropped to her toes. A
frisson of fear curled around her spine. "
Going out with a
bang,
" she whispered.

"Yeah, it looks like he's ready to call it
quits. He knows he's being watched. He could just lay low and maybe
he'd get away with it all. But this last prank makes it look like
he wants to get caught. I think this guy's off his rocker."

"Why would he want to get caught?"

"Who knows? We'll have to be extra careful.
I'll do my best to keep you safe. I won't lie to you--I'm
worried."

"Yes, well . . . let's try to enjoy today.
There'll be plenty of time to worry tomorrow. I need to get back to
the party." Claire turned away from Dillon, wondering if anything
would ever be normal again.

The cafe door burst open and Natalie rushed
out. "Claire! Dillon! Come quick! Something's going on with the
computers. Not just one, but all of them."

Claire's heart sank as she ran in the cafe.
Customers were gathered in groups, staring at the monitors. Across
every one of them scrolled the words:
Bang.

Natalie stood beside Claire. "We've been
hacked into, haven't we? Who would do something like this? And what
does it mean?"

"It means we're shut down until we reinstall
the systems," Claire said.

"Well, I'm calling the cops. This is
ridiculous."

"No, Nat. No cops."

Natalie stared at her, wide-eyed and
incredulous. "Why not?"

Why not? Think Claire, think.

"Dillon and I will take care of this. It's
some kind of prank, that's all." She hated lying to Natalie. She
hated the whole situation.

Richard walked up to them, twisting and
wringing his hands together. "There is a call for you on line
four."

"I'll take it in my office." Claire swallowed
the lump forming in her throat. "Nat, tell everyone the party's
over. E*Claire's is closed for the next couple of days."

She zigzagged through the crowd, across the
cafe, speaking to a few of the customers along the way, then
hurried down the hall to her office, all the time aware of Dillon
shadowing every step.

He closed the door behind them; a frown
marred his handsome face. With arms folded across his chest, he
stood guard. He nodded toward the phone. "Take the call,
Claire."

Anger and fear simmered close to the surface
inside of her. She walked slowly toward her desk, knowing it would
be bad news. How bad? Taking a deep breath, she picked up the
receiver and pushed the button. "This is Claire."

With eyes glued on the man standing by the
door, Claire listened, somehow made appropriate responses, then
hung up the phone. She sank into her chair and let out a long sigh.
Could the day get any worse?

"Well? What is it?" Dillon moved toward her
and leaned his fists on the desk.

Claire sighed again. "That was my manager in
Nacogdoches. His computers are locked up, too."

"Same message on the screens?"

"Yes."

The phone buzzed. Claire braced her shoulders
and answered. After a couple of minutes, she disconnected. The cafe
in Huntsville. Oh, yeah--the day could get worse all right. Another
button on the phone lit up. She didn't want to take the call,
didn't want more bad news.

Five minutes later, Claire leaned back in her
chair and closed her eyes. College Station had been hit, too. Her
little empire had crashed right alongside her computers.

"I can't believe this is happening," she
said. Anger was fast overriding fear. "Every computer in every one
of my cafes is down. Frozen with the same message on the monitors.
It'll take days to get them all up and running again. Why would
someone do this to me?" She sat up straight and looked at Dillon.
"Is this what the hacker meant when he said he's taking me down
with him?"

"Let's hope so, Claire. Let's hope this is
all he means to do."

"But we can't be sure, can we?" She pushed
away the fear and allowed the anger to take hold. She would not
allow anyone to control her life or her business.

"No, we can't be sure." Dillon leaned over
and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "We'll get him, babe.
You can count on it."

He was being tender again. Sensitive.
Protective. How could she resist him? And how would she survive
after he left?

****

"It's getting late." Dillon laid his hand on
Claire's shoulder. "We can finish up tomorrow."

They were alone in the cafe. After hustling
everyone out and closing the doors, Claire sent the employees home.
Natalie and Richard protested, but Claire had stood her ground.

And ever since, she'd been reloading the
computers, working feverishly to restore order to the chaos. Dillon
looked around the cafe. Claire hadn't allowed anyone to clean up.
Dozens of half-deflated balloons hovered near the floor. Richard's
magnificent frozen sculpture had melted into a small unrecognizable
lump of ice.

"Claire, did you hear me? It's getting
late."

Ignoring him, she stared at the computer
monitor. He tightened his grip. She shrugged off his hand.

"I heard you. I'm not leaving until I
finish."

Dillon turned her to face him. "You won't
finish tonight. We're going to your place and get some rest. We'll
continue tomorrow."

"I'm going to Nacogdoches tomorrow. I need to
reload the operating systems and applications on every computer in
every cafe. I'm losing money I can't afford to lose. You can't run
cybercafés without computers, you know."

"You don't have to do it all yourself. Isn't
that why you hired that tech? Make him earn his keep."

"He's reloading computers as we speak. But I
want to check them out. Make certain everything's running
okay."

"Look, I'll help you. I'll go with you--"

"No, you won't. You need to stay here and
catch the hacker. It's one thing when he messes with those
high-tech companies. It's totally different when he messes with my
computers. I want this guy's head on a platter."

"And you think I don't?" Dillon asked. "This
case has become personal for me. The minute you were threatened, it
became personal."

"Really?" She looked at him with those
chocolate brown eyes, hope shining in their depths.

He pulled her from the chair and into his
arms. "Damn straight."

"Dillon, please don't--" She half-heartedly
tried to push him away.

"Don't what?" He gathered her closer;
tightened his arms around her. Claire held herself stiffly, as if
struggling with something inside. She must have lost the battle,
because she laid her head on his shoulder and leaned against him.
Claire's soft curves molded themselves to his hard body.

"You're trying to distract me," she mumbled
into the crook of his neck.

Her warm breath tickled his skin, heating up
another part of his anatomy. "Is it working?"

With a sigh, Claire snuggled deeper into his
embrace and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Yes, damn you. It's
working. I don't want to be distracted, but I can't seem to help
myself."

"Maybe you need a distraction." He nibbled
the corners of her mouth. She tasted good. Sweet and good. "Let me
distract you, babe."

Dillon kissed her hard. She opened for him,
moaning softly, pressing her body into him. His reaction was
instantaneous. Ready, willing and able. Able, hell. More like if he
didn't get her clothes off and into a bed soon, he'd die.

He gripped Claire's bottom and pulled her
higher to rest against him. He was straining at the bit, fast
losing control of the situation.

It didn't matter that they'd made love every
night for the past couple of weeks, he couldn't get enough of this
woman. It worried him. Scared him. But he wouldn't think about it.
Just enjoy it and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Dillon eased a hand under Claire's sweater,
skimming his palm over her silky skin, inching his way to her
breast. He loved her breasts. Small and firm--a handful of
perfection. He brushed a thumb over the satin bra and she moaned
again into his mouth.

He smiled in satisfaction. There was no
denying Claire's response to him. He deepened the kiss, slipped his
fingers inside the bra and caressed the taut nipple.

Claire pulled back and looked at him with
desire-glazed eyes. She covered his hand on her chest. "You're
good, Mr. Private Eye. Mission accomplished. Let's call it quits
and go home."

"All right, then. Let's go." He kissed the
tip of her nose and set her away from him. Away from temptation,
because he was so hot for her he wanted to get naked now and forget
about the bed.

"Help me shut down the computers and clean up
a little, then we can leave," Claire said.

"Sure thing." He palmed her bottom as she
passed him. Claire threw him a saucy smile and headed for the
tables still set out with food. He watched her for a minute as she
moved around the cafe, switching off monitors and lamps, dumping
leftover food in the trash.

Why was he standing here wasting time? The
sooner the place was cleaned up, the sooner he'd have her in bed.
He walked over to the row of computers and began shutting them
down.

Dillon's cell phone trilled softly from his
belt. It was Brozek. He flipped open his phone. "What's up?"

"Hey buddy, I think we have our man."

Before he could reply, the phone on the
counter buzzed loudly. Claire shot him a look of surprise and went
to answer it.

"Come again?" Dillon asked, not sure he'd
heard Brozek correctly.

"I said, I think we've got him. I'm in the
van watching yesterday's videos. I've seen the guy in the cafe
before, but I don't know his name. There's incriminating evidence
on the tape. You need to see it."

"Get over here, quick. Park at the end of the
street. I'll meet you there." Dillon cut the connection. The hunt
was almost over, the net finally closing in. The hacker was within
reach. Adrenalin pumped through Dillon's system, firing him up,
setting him on edge.

He glanced in Claire's direction again. She
fired him up and set him on edge, too. She'd be happy with the
news.

Even though he couldn't hear Claire's
conversation, the tone of her voice left little doubt something was
wrong. A frown furrowed her forehead as she listened to the caller.
Dillon had the absurd desire to kiss the frown away. Man, he was
losing it. He walked over to see what was going on.

"Who is it?" he mouthed to her.

Claire held up one finger and shook her head.
"Okay. All right," she said to the person on the other end of the
line. "I'll be there in ten minutes. I know, I know. Bye." She
dropped the receiver into the cradle, tilted her head back and
closed her eyes.

"Claire, what's happened? Who was that?"

With a long exhale, she straightened. "Frank
broke up with Natalie and she's taking it hard. She really liked
him, and she's not used to being dumped. I need to go." Claire
turned toward the espresso machine.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Dillon
asked.

"Making an espresso. Natalie loves them." She
grabbed a cup and filled it. "Look, Natalie's a good friend. She's
always been there for me and I need to be there for her, too. I'll
meet you back at my place as soon as I calm her down." Dillon
stepped around the counter and took hold of her shoulders. "You
can't go alone. We still need to be careful, Claire."