Yeah, she was a firecracker all right, and a lick of excitement jabbed his jaded soul.
"No mystery. Jax Maroney."
He held out his hand, but his attempt at a handshake fell flat when he had to grab her to prevent her collapsing at his feet.
She swayed, her skin pale, her eyes wide and startled as she stared at him as if he'd popped up from Hades to steal her soul.
"You'reJax Maroney?"
Her incredulity implied she'd find believing he was Elvis in disguise easier.
"Last time I checked."
Her pallor vanished as colour surged to her cheeks. "Get out."
He'd heard that a lot as a kid, when he hung out with mates who idolised their dads.
Get out, kids, the pub's no place for you. This is men's business.
However, whenever he followed his dad, Denver didn't mind. He'd been proud of his son, would clap him on the back and ruffle his hair and cuff him playfully.
Most of his mates had envied him, having a cool dad. And he'd idolised Denver, loved everything about him, from his raucous belly laughs to his booming voice, his unerring ability to command a room just by being in it to his generosity with money.
He only learned later that his dad could be generous with money that wasn't his.
And their close father-son bond only made what his dad had done harder to accept.
Jax released her, annoyed she hadn't lost the horrified look.
"That's not very charitable. How did we go from coffee toget out?"
She gnawed on a gloriously full bottom lip, eyeing him as if she expected he'd ransack the entire showroom contents and abscond.
"On second thoughts, you're coming with me." She grabbed his arm and dragged him towards a black filigree wrought-iron door with a winding staircase behind it. "You need your butt kicked and I'm just the woman to do it."
For someone who hadn't had much to smile about lately, he found himself unable to stop the slow grin stretching his disused facial muscles.
He'd like to see her try.
Chapter 4
Ruby had always been spontaneous, but dragging Jax Maroney up the stairs and into her apartment for an interrogation threw her.
From all accounts, the guy fled Melbourne years ago, eager to escape the fallout from his father's incarceration.
While there'd been no hint of criminal behaviour tainting Jax, how much had he seen and done?
Rumours had been rife during the trial. Had Jax known about the embezzlement? Had he laundered money like his dad? Had he stashed away a small fortune untouchable by the law? Had he helped his mother disappear?
She hadn't followed the news, but her mum had been outraged by the thought of a renowned criminal like Denver Maroney having access to high society money,friends'money, and swindling the lot.
As for Jackie, Jax's mum, Mathilda Seaborn had raised her nose in the air and forbidden either of her daughters to speak of her again. Being duped by a criminal was one thing. Being betrayed by one of their own, another.
Now, Ruby had every intention of discovering how Jax had ended up CEO of a profitable mining company in WesternAustralia, a mining company driving her family business into the ground.
Learning his identity, she now understood the hint of danger emanating from him; and understood her unlikely attraction.
She'd always had a thing for bad boys.
