Never good to piss off the FBI. He should have found a way to stall them. Once they had evidence of a crime, they could bring the feds on board.
“Why don’t we meet at my apartment?” Linc suggested, a place Taggart had been before. “If you park in the underground garage and take my private elevator, no one will see you.”
“All right. I’ll give you an hour and a half to get into town and get settled.”
“Fine. We’ll see you there.” He turned to Carly, hating that they weren’t going to be able to escape their problems even for a day.
“Taggart?” Carly asked.
Linc nodded. “We’re meeting him at my place.” He sighed. “I shouldhave phoned him, given him enough to keep him hanging until we have what we need.”
“It’s not too late. We can do that when we see him. We’ll tell him something, just not what we’re planning to do. He doesn’t have to know anything we don’t want him to.”
He smiled. He loved her toughness, a vivid contrast to the sexy, feminine side of her. “You’re right. We can talk about it on the way.”
* * *
The high-rise condominium apartment building on Pearl Street in Uptown Dallas was near the art district and close to the park. Carly had been to Linc’s office on a number of occasions, but never to his condo. Standing next to him in his private elevator, she felt her curiosity ramp up as the conveyance rose, lifting her stomach along with it. The place a person lived could be a mirror into his soul.
Though definitely not in her case. After she’d left Iron Springs, she had never really put down roots. The longest she’d lived in one place had been the Park Slope district of Brooklyn when she had flown the New York-Paris route out of JFK.
With rent in the district high, she had shared an apartment with three other flight attendants, all of them in and out on different schedules.
She’d met Carter Benson in a small, local café, the son of a renowned architect. His family was wealthy. Carter had gone to the best private schools, then on to a top architectural college. He worked for Benson and Associates, his father’s prestigious firm, and had already begun to build a name for himself by the time she met him.
She had fallen hard for Carter, who had promised her the moon and given her the boot instead. At the time, the pain and insecurity of losing him had been devastating.
As she looked back on it now, she saw it was Carter’s good looks and charm, the bright lights of his success that had attracted her, rather than anything of actual substance, or anything they had in common.
The elevator doors slid open with a softdingand Carly walked out into a slate-floored entry, while Linc carted her bags into the roombehind her. Through an impressive wall of windows in the living room, views of the city stretched endlessly below.
“Go ahead, take a look around,” Linc said. “I’ll put your stuff in the bedroom.”
“Okay.” She wandered, pleased he was inviting her into his personal space so completely, strolled into the open living/dining space, comfortably modern, done in shades of dark brown and cream, with lots of dark wood tables and accent pieces. A beautiful dark walnut dining table that easily seated eight, could probably stretch to ten.
She wandered into the kitchen: granite countertops and state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances, including a Sub-Zero fridge. As she continued her journey, she passed another living space, more of a den, with brown leather sofas and chairs and a big-screen TV. Clearly this was Linc’s man cave.
She wanted to prowl, see what she could discover about him in that room, but the rest of the apartment beckoned. Down the hall, she passed his wood-paneled study, where a black granite fireplace was built into one wall. A high-tech computer sat on his desk and a big projection screen hung on the wall.
She found him in the master suite, hanging up the bag that held the gown she planned to wear to the gala. A king-size bed covered by an elegant brown silk comforter and a stack of cream and brown throw pillows made her think of what would happen later, and warmth settled low in her belly.
Through an open door, she caught a glimpse of a huge marble bathroom, wandered past the dresser, where framed photos of Linc with Beau sat beside a photo of Linc with his brother, Josh. She picked up a picture of Linc with Joe, Linc’s arm around Joe’s shoulders, and her throat closed up. The photo told her how important her grandfather had been to Linc, which somehow made her feel closer to him.
Footsteps warned of Linc’s approach. He bent his head and kissed her, took her hand, and tugged her toward the door of the suite.
“I’m getting hard just watching you walk around in here,” he said with a grin. “Since the FBI will be here any minute, I think we’re safer in the living room.”
Carly laughed. Linc led her out the door and back down the hall. “I bought this place after my divorce. Four bedrooms, each with a private bath, great views from every room. But the selling feature was this. . . .” He led her through a set of sliding doors off the dining room, onto a lovely landscaped terrace.
“Sixteen hundred feet of outdoor living space. I can actually breathe out here.”
She glanced around the terrace. “And it still has beautiful views.”
“Plus a gazebo with a hot tub. It’s great when I need to relax.”
“Your place is wonderful, Linc.”
One of his dark eyebrows arched up. “You think it fits me?”
