you can leave a message with the desk sergeant.”
Mei-li walked the policemen out, but Jason stayed where he was. He glanced at Alana, noting she looked much better than the last time he’d seen her, her tear-stained face pale in the moonlight. But one thing hadn’t changed at all...he was still attracted to her. And that disconcerted him.
He was even more disconcerted when she said softly, “You look different from how I remember you.” He raised a questioning eyebrow as if he had no idea what she was talking about, but she wasn’t fooled. “Oh, don’t worry,” she reassured him. “I have no intention of revealing who you are to anyone, especially the police. Mei-li wouldn’t tell me anything about you, not even your first name. Not surprising, now that I know you’re her brother. But she did say sometimes RMM breaks the law.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“That you broke the law...for the right reasons? That you did whatever you had to do to rescue me?” Her oddly colored eyes—almost amethyst, really—glowed with an inner fire, holding his gaze. “What do you think, Mr. Moore?”
He smiled faintly. “Jason, please. And I think perhaps you’re romanticizing what happened.”
She shook her head. “I may be idealistic, but I’m not naive. Tell me that if the men who abducted me had come into the room you would have escaped without me. Tell me and I’ll believe you.” When he remained silent, her voice dropped a notch. “You would have done anything to rescue me. Even if it meant killing those men. Even if it meant dying yourself.”
He couldn’t lie. Not about this. “Yes.”
“I knew it. I knew it that night. You have no idea how much that means to me, knowing there are men like you left in this world.”
“Don’t make me out to be some kind of hero, Miss Richardson,” he began.
“Alana, please.”
“Alana,” he acknowledged. “Don’t make me out to be a hero. I—”
“You are. But that’s not the only reason why I’m—” She broke off, warm color tingeing her cheeks.
Mei-li walked back into the room at that moment, saying, “Dirk’s running late, Jason. Later than you. He said not to wait dinner for him, that he’ll—” She stopped short, and he knew his sister had read and correctly interpreted their body language. “I didn’t tell her, Jason, I swear.”
“I know.” He smiled at Mei-li with a touch of ruefulness. “She recognized my voice.”
Her concerned expression morphed into a smile. “Yes, that would tend to give you away.” Then she looked at Alana. “Since you didn’t say anything to the police about it when they were here, does that mean you don’t intend to? Ever?”
“Don’t put her on the spot like that,” Jason began, but Alana broke in.
“Never.” The implacable way in which the one word was uttered was even more revealing than the word itself. “If your brother hadn’t rescued me, I...I’d be in Macau right now. Forced into...” She shook her head slowly, then turned to gaze at Jason, everything she was feeling reflected on her face. The horror at what could have happened to her. Her fervent gratitude over being spared that fate. “Much as I’d like to help the police find the woman who was abducted yesterday, I don’t think telling them who rescued me will do any good, so your secret is safe with me.”
Jason wanted to make light of his actions, but for some reason he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He didn’t want Alana’s gratitude. Or did he? Last week his ego had been stoked by the idea that Alana saw him as a superhero. Apparently that hadn’t changed. Because the way she was looking at him? He wanted that. The same way he wanted her.
And he knew he was in trouble.
* * *
Verbal conversation at dinner was almost nonexistent between Jason and Alana. Mei-li kept the conversation going by addressing questions to both of them, questions they were forced to answer. But in between their gazes locked on each other, and they communicated without words.
Don’t look at me that way. You know nothing about me, his eyes said.
I know everything important there is to know, hers replied, then added, I could say the same to you about me. You know nothing about me.
His eyes flickered down to her wrists, which still bore the marks of the rope that had bound them—the rope she’d struggled against—then back upward. You’re a fighter. You refused to surrender. And when I showed up you knew not to ask questions right then. That tells me all I need to know.
Even after Dirk arrived, full of apologies for being late, Jason and Alana continued their silent conversation over the curried chicken.
I’m a criminal...in the eyes of the law.
You answer to a higher law.
Jason had believed that about himself since he’d found his true calling the day Sean had been buried, but he’d never thought he’d find a woman who understood. Was it possible? Could Alana understand? Truly understand?
Long before dinner was over Jason knew he wanted to see Alana again. And not just because he was physically drawn to her, although he wouldn’t lie to himself—there was a strong physical element to his attraction. But he also craved an opportunity to talk with her one-on-one, to get to know her as a person. And that was new for him. His previous relationships with women hadn’t prepared him for this at all.
Your own fault, he chastised himself. You gravitated toward women who knew the score. Who were expecting exactly what they got from you...and nothing else. And who gave you exactly what you asked of them...and nothing more.
The thought brought him up short. Had he become so jaded he hadn’t allowed himself to find the woman he’d been searching for all these years? Had he let his money and his complicated childhood become a barrier...and a self-fulfilling prophecy?
And what did that mean where Alana was concerned? Wouldn’t she be better off if he left her the hell alone?
* * *
The Eight Tigers only met as a group a few times a year as a general rule. But the enforcer in charge of prostitution had asked for this special meeting, and the High Tiger had acquiesced...once he knew what the other man had to report.
“We are back on target,” the man boasted to the assemblage. “A new woman has been added to our premier house in Macau.” His eyes took on a lascivious leer. “She is quite a prize—I have sampled her myself.”
The High Tiger ignored the expressions of disgust on the faces of three of his fellow Tigers. Prostitution was not to every man’s taste, especially when women were abducted and forced into one of the Eight Tigers’ illegal brothels. Which was why those men were not in charge of the prostitution arm of their criminal organization.
This was business—an extremely profitable one for the Eight Tigers. It generated nearly as much money as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and the other illegal drugs they dealt in, which he privately deplored but allowed to continue because the market was too profitable to ignore.
So just as he suppressed
