Living On The Edge

“You have to know you’re beautiful, Madison….”

Without meaning to, she touched her left cheek, fingering the scar there. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away.

“The scar doesn’t matter,” he said.

In that moment she believed him.

Quiet settled between them. She found herself getting lost in his dark eyes, searching them for emotions and secrets. Tanner cared. It took a while to uncover the feelings, but they were there.

She suddenly realized he still held her hand. Somehow his fingers were tangled in hers and it felt…right.

Why was she attracted to Tanner? Was it the situation—a victim wildly grateful to her rescuer? Was it that everything was so raw between them, so there wasn’t time or energy for games? Was it the man himself?

Did it matter?

Living on the Edge

Susan Mallery

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SUSAN MALLERY

is the bestselling and award-winning author of over fifty books for Harlequin and Silhouette Books. She makes her home in the Los Angeles area with her handsome prince of a husband and her two adorable-but-not-bright cats. Feel free to contact her via her Web site at www.susanmallery.com.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 1

Given the choice, Tanner Keane preferred darkness to light, and tonight was no exception. It had taken him forty-eight hours to find the woman and her kidnappers, but he’d waited another thirty-six before going to rescue her—just so he could learn about their schedule and then go in at night.

He liked the shadows, the silence, the fact that most people were asleep. Even those awake were on the low end of their energy cycle—although not his men. He made sure of that.

Tanner checked the time, then glanced back at the two-story house. After nearly two weeks of watching over the woman, the guards had grown sloppy and complacent. They patrolled the estate on a schedule now, instead of at random intervals. After so many days of quiet, they no longer expected trouble. All the better for him.

He reached for his night-vision binoculars and trained them on the second-story bedroom windows. The third one from the left had open drapes, which allowed him a view of the darkened room. A woman paced there—restless, worried, scared.

Tall and willowy, she moved with the grace of someone trained in dance…and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Blond, beautiful and worth about five hundred million—if he counted her daddy’s share of the family’s net worth.

Oh, yeah, he knew pretty much everything about her and he wasn’t impressed. Even now, he didn’t shift his binoculars to her. She was the target, but incidental to the moment. What he really needed to know was who else was in the room with her. How many watchers had been left on duty?

There were a total of five assigned to her—usually working in shifts of two. Except at night. From midnight until seven, there was only one woman keeping watch.

He scanned the room and saw the guard sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. From the tilt of her head, he would guess she’d fallen asleep.

Sloppy, he thought. If she worked for him, she would be fired. But she didn’t, and her bad habits were his gain.

He turned his attention back to the prisoner. Madison Hilliard crossed to the French doors and opened them. After glancing over her shoulder to make sure her keeper continued to doze, she stepped out into the cool California night and walked to the railing.

Her life had taken a turn for the unpleasant, Tanner thought without sympathy. Two weeks ago she’d been living in her rich-woman world and now she was held captive, threatened and never left alone. That was enough to ruin anyone’s day.

“Red Two, go,” a voice murmured into Tanner’s earpiece.

Tanner tapped the tiny device by way of a response. He was the operative closest to the mansion. Until it was time, he wouldn’t be doing any talking.

Madison lingered by the railing. Tanner tucked his binoculars in his backpack. There was no point in looking at her—he’d spent the past four days studying everything about her. He knew her age, her marital status, distinguishing marks, where she liked to shop and how very little she did with her day. She might be worth enough to keep a man in style, but she wasn’t his type. Not her pedigree, not her life, not her body. Rich women tended to be high maintenance, and Tanner liked his women easy…very easy.

He checked his watch again. Nearly time. He tapped once on his earpiece, then reached for his gun.

The modified pistol in his hand shot strong, incredibly fast sedatives. They incapacitated in less than five seconds. He preferred something a little faster, but this operation required more finesse than usual, and he couldn’t risk the potentially fatal reaction to a quicker-acting chemical. The client had insisted on no dead bodies.

Pity, Tanner thought as he began to creep toward the glass doors on the side of the house. He didn’t have much sympathy or patience for kidnappers. The outrageous ransom—twenty million dollars worth of unmarked bills in multiple foreign denominations—had annoyed him. He hated when criminals watched too much TV and took their ideas from bad spy movies. To his mind they should either act like pros or stay out of the game.

He reached the glass doors and waited. In less than three minutes, two things occurred simultaneously. Brody, their alarm maestro, tapped the “all clear” signal on his earpiece. A quick double click told Tanner that the system was down. Brody was good enough to keep the cameras moving back and forth while all the red lights continued blinking just as they should. The only difference was the alarm wouldn’t go off.

The second thing that happened was a guard strolled by, right on time.

Dumb-ass, Tanner thought as he spun silently, popped the guy full of sedative and held him immobile for five seconds. He dropped the dead weight not too gently onto the patio and rolled him out of sight next to the planter. There wasn’t any sound.

He touched his earpiece twice. Three more individual clicks followed.

“Red Two, go,” a soft voice came again.

Angel, Tanner’s best sniper, sat up high in a tree, out of range of the action. He kept an eye on everything happening. Only an idiot walked into hell without an angel watching for trouble.

Tanner moved to the locked glass doors and removed a small container from his utility belt. One minute later, the custom acid mixture turned the locking mechanism to mush and he was in. He pulled on night-vision goggles, double-clicked his earpiece to tell the team he’d completed the next phase of the operation and headed for the stairs.

At the top of the landing he encountered and immobilized another guard. But he didn’t head to the door midway down the hallway. Not until he’d heard three more individual clicks, followed by a soft “Red Two, go.”

Still clear.

Tanner emptied his mind of everything unessential. The floor plan of the suite had been etched into his brain. When last he’d seen Madison, she’d been on the balcony. Given her few freedoms in the past couple of weeks, he doubted she would have moved. Her guard would still be sleeping on the job. One shot would take care of her. With a little luck, she wouldn’t know what hit her.

He turned the container he still held and shot the second blast of acid from the back end. A slow count to sixty, then he eased the door open.

“Man on the stairs, Tanner. Watch your back.”

Tanner swore under his breath. There was an extra man on duty tonight. Wasn’t that always the way?

He left the door, pivoted and pressed his body into the shadows. Someone walked into view, his gun drawn.

“Natalie, are you all right? There’s been some trouble. A.J.’s missing.”

“What?”

When things went to hell, they did so at light speed. Madison’s female guard—aka Natalie—stumbled from her seat. Tanner heard the sound just as he zapped the guard. Unfortunately she tried the door and found it unlocked. There was the sound of a pistol being cocked.

Tanner dropped the guard onto the landing and waited for Natalie to come out, hoping she was just stupid enough not to follow orders. That rather than staying with her prisoner, she would venture onto the landing.

Sure enough, the door cracked open. He got her in the arm before she cleared the threshold. Which left Madison Hilliard all alone.

Tanner dragged a now-unconscious Natalie out of the way and headed into the suite. He hoped he didn’t have to go looking for the rich princess. He also hoped she wasn’t a screamer. He hated screamers…well, not in bed.

But Madison hadn’t hidden. She still stood by the railing, watching him approach.

“I’m one of the good guys,” he said. “Let’s move.”

Her long hair hid most of her face, but he thought he saw her smile. Coolly, though. Not with relief. She wasn’t going to throw herself at him with gratitude, but at least she didn’t seem to be a screamer.

“I always thought my rescuer would have a better line than that. Maybe ‘Come with me if you want to live.’”

Tanner couldn’t help an answering grin. “Yeah, I’m a Terminator fan, too, but I’d rather talk on the helicopter. Unless you’d like to stay here?”

She didn’t answer. Instead she walked toward him.

“Shoes,” he said. “Don’t sweat which ones. We’re not going to a fashion show.”

She stuffed her feet into loafers and hurried toward the door. He followed her. Once they reached the landing, he took the lead. After grabbing her hand in his, he hustled them down the stairs.

There was no point in telling the team he had her; everyone would have heard their conversation.

“You’re clear,” Angel said quietly. “Chopper will be here in thirty.”

They headed out the rear of the house. Tanner pulled off the night-vision goggles as they went. The rumble of a helicopter started in the distance while he and Madison hovered by the edge of the patio.

“How did you find me?” she asked.

He glanced at her. “That’s my job.”

“Ah. The strong, silent type. That must have impressed my father.”

Tanner looked at her for the first time. Really looked. Madison Hilliard was no longer a glossy photo, but a real, breathing woman. Her long blond hair began to fly around her face as the helicopter started to descend. She tried to hold it at the back of her neck. One of the lights from the copter caught her full in the face.

Not much shocked Tanner—not anymore. But he was unprepared for the ugly slash scarring her left cheek and the way it contrasted with the beauty of her face. She saw him watching—staring—but didn’t blink or turn away.

The helicopter landed. Before they could board, there was a yell from behind the house. Tanner swore and turned in that direction.

“Two guards,” Angel said into his earpiece. “Son of a bitch. Early shift change. They just drove up. Kelly, get down. On your left. On your—”

The sound of gunfire cut out the rest of Angel’s words. The pitch and volume of the blasts told Tanner they hadn’t all come from his men’s guns. Not good, he thought grimly. His team quietly checked in, except for Kelly.

“Go,” he told the woman, pushing her into the helicopter.

Madison scrambled inside.

Tanner hated stepping in next to her, but his men were trained. They would fan out and find their fallen team member. Sure enough, less than two minutes later, three men appeared, although only two were walking. They carried the third between them.

“Get going,” Angel said into Tanner’s earpiece. “Kelly got both of the other men after they got him, but they’d already made a call requesting backup.”

“Will do. You get out of there, as well.”

“I’m already gone, boss.”

Tanner helped his men drag an unconscious and bleeding Kelly onto the floor of the helicopter, then he signaled for the pilot to take them up.

As they rose high in the sky, he checked his man. Two gunshots, both bad. One in the chest, one in the leg. Dammit all to hell, he thought grimly and glared at the woman huddled in the far seat. There were things worth dying for, but saving someone like her wasn’t one of them.

The other two team members had already started emergency first aid. Tanner moved back to give them room. He picked up a headset and motioned for Madison to do the same.

“Your reunion is going to have to wait,” he told her, speaking into the attached microphone. “I need to get my man to a doctor.”

Her gaze moved from him to Kelly, then back. “Of course. I can stay with you at the hospital.”

There was no point in telling her they weren’t going to a hospital. Public health facilities required too much paperwork, and the staff would have too many questions. Tanner had his own state-of-the-art medical center with trained specialists—all former military doctors—on call.

“One of my men will take you to a safe place,” Tanner told her. “You can wait there until I’m available to return you to your family.”

He figured Madison and her husband could hold on an extra hour or two before seeing each other. As his was the only face his clients ever saw, he would have to return her himself. Just as well—he could pick up his sizable check at the same time.

He jerked off the headset and fought his temper. It should have been an easy job, he told himself. No one was supposed to get hurt. Certainly not Kelly—the youngest and newest member of their team. Kelly had just gotten engaged the previous month. He was from Iowa, for God’s sake. This wasn’t supposed to happen to a kid from Iowa.

Madison Hilliard paced the length and width of the small room. She had no idea how long she’d been held there—no windows provided light, she wasn’t wearing a watch and she couldn’t find a clock. She figured at least a couple of hours had passed. Maybe more.

The space was spare to the point of being monastic—a single bed, a sink and a toilet. No closet, no desk. Nothing to read, nothing to look at, nothing to do. She supposed she should have slept—she hadn’t been able to do more than doze since the kidnapping. But anxiety kept her moving. While she wanted to believe she’d been rescued, she knew it was unlikely.

Fear gripped her. In the past twelve days she’d grown used to the cold fingers clutching her midsection and the sense of looming disaster. She tried to tell herself that someone, somewhere would miss her. That her clients would ask questions, that her friends would notice she’d disappeared. But would they? Wouldn’t Christopher have already thought of that and planned for the contingency?

The only door in the room was locked from the outside. She’d already tried it several times. There was no way she could break through the metal door and she doubted she could claw through the walls. So she was trapped until her rescuer returned to reunite her with her family. And then?

How long would Christopher keep her alive? A few weeks? Months? She didn’t know his plan, so she wasn’t sure if he needed her. That need was her only hope.

A faint sound came from the hallway. Madison turned and braced herself for the inevitable. For the sight of the man who wanted her dead. Instead the door opened and her rescuer stood in front of her.

He was tall, muscular and dark in a way that went deeper than his black hair and brown eyes. He was the kind of man people walked around rather than confronted. Power and confidence surrounded him like a visible aura. He wore black and there was a gun at his belt. How much did he know? Would he be using the gun on her?

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” the man said, sounding more angry than actually sorry.

“It’s all right. How is your friend?”

“Still in surgery.”

“I hope he’s going to be all right.” She didn’t need the weight of a stranger’s injuries on her already burdened conscience.

A case could be made that the shooting wasn’t her fault—she hadn’t asked to be rescued or even kidnapped in the first place. But the injured man had been there because of her, and she couldn’t make herself believe she wasn’t somehow responsible.

The man in front of her looked her over. “Are you hungry? Did they feed you?”

“I’m fine.” She couldn’t imagine ever eating again. She couldn’t imagine life ever being normal. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Keane. Tanner Keane.”

“Mr. Keane, I’m assuming my family hired you to find me?”

He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Call me Tanner. And yes, your husband and your father came to me a few days ago. They’d hired another company to locate you after the kidnapping, but they didn’t have much luck.” He raised one shoulder, then let it fall. “I’m better.”

Interesting. Why would Christopher have gone to someone who wasn’t the best? He hated dealing with anyone who wasn’t completely qualified. She tried to focus on the question, on the point of it all, but lack of sleep made her fuzzy.

It had to be about money, she told herself. But how?

“Was there a ransom?” she asked.

“Twenty million.”

Madison felt her head start to swim. “That much.” She crossed to the bed and sank down onto the mattress. “Was it paid?”

“It would have been.” Tanner glanced at his watch. “In about two hours. I put in a call to have it intercepted. I’ll be returning the money to your family when I take you to them.”

Which was the problem, she thought. “My father hired you?”

“And your husband. They’re both very anxious to get you back. It’s understandable. This has been difficult for them, as well.”

Madison fought the urge to laugh. She had a feeling any humor would quickly explode into hysterics. Once she lost control, she might never get it back.

“Mr. Keane—Tanner—I don’t want to be returned to my family.”

One dark eyebrow rose slowly. “Why is that?”

“Do you need a reason? Can’t you simply let me go?”

“My contract with your family states that I return you to them. I would have done it right away, but Kelly’s medical treatment took priority.”

“I know and it’s fine. I just…” She stared at him, wondering how to make this man understand. “Unless you’re planning to hold me captive, as well, I should be free to go.”

If only he would agree. She could easily disappear—Los Angeles was a huge place and she had friends no one knew about.

“I can’t have you wandering the streets with no money or identification.”

Oh, right. No credit cards, either, although she didn’t think she could use them. Christopher would be able to track her.

Tanner gave her a smile that didn’t come close to reaching his eyes. “Mrs. Hilliard, you’ve been through a very traumatic experience. You’re confused, and that’s understandable. I’m sure when you’re back home with your husband and your father, you’ll feel much better. In a few weeks, you’ll be able to put this whole experience behind you.”

“I hope you’re right. Unfortunately I think there’s also a very good chance I’ll be dead.”

Chapter 2

Tanner held in a groan. He had neither the time nor the patience to deal with a drama queen right now. He wanted Madison Hilliard out of his life so he could focus on what was important. Dammit all to hell, what was it about rich women and their need to be the center of the universe?

“Wasn’t the kidnapping enough for one week?” he asked, barely able to restrain his temper.

“I’m not playing a game,” she said, her eyes wide with a lot of emotion he wasn’t interested in reading. “You can’t return me to my family. Take me anywhere else. Please.”

“How about a police station?”

She considered that option. Funny how he wasn’t surprised when she slowly shook her head. The cops wouldn’t be the kind of audience that interested her. They wouldn’t be willing to play her little game, either.

He narrowed his gaze as he wondered if mental problems ran in her family.

She took a step toward him. “Christopher is the one who kidnapped me. I was attacked and drugged as I walked into my condo. I couldn’t see anyone, but I recognized his watch right before I passed out. It’s very distinctive—he had it custom-made.”

“Uh-huh.” He would have to give her points for originality, if nothing else. “Can you prove it?”

“What? Of course not. It was a kidnapping. It’s not as if they sent me an itinerary ahead of time and used Christopher’s letterhead. But I know what I saw.”

Sure. “So tell me, Madison, why would your husband want to kidnap you?”

“I don’t know. I guess he needed the money.”

“You both already have plenty of that.”

“Christopher doesn’t have as much as you’d think. He’s always running short of cash. That’s the only thing that explains the excessive ransom.”

“Twenty million is a hell of a lot for him to need.”

She nodded. “Please. I know how this sounds. I know you have no reason to trust me, but things are not as they seem. Christopher lives on the edge. He gambles and usually loses a lot. He buys expensive pieces of art and furniture. Trust me, he always needs more money.”

“Nothing personal, Mrs. Hilliard, but I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t like me, either,” Madison said. “That’s okay. But it doesn’t give you the right to put me at risk.”

“I don’t believe you are. Why would your husband have hired two different companies to find you if he wanted you dead?”

“Because I’m worth more to him alive. You don’t actually know he hired another company. He could be lying.”

“Sure, and so could you.” Tanner reached the end of his attention span for this conversation. “I was hired by your husband and your father to find you, and I did. Because of that, one of my best men is close to death. All I want is my fee and you out of my life. I’m not interested in getting involved in whatever sick game you and your husband are playing.”

With that, he turned and headed for the door.

Madison rushed toward him. “We’re not married. Did he tell you that? We’ve been divorced for over six months. I’m sure there’s a way you could check the court records to verify it.”

Tanner stared at her. Divorced? He glanced at her left hand. No ring and no marks to show one had been removed recently. Neither Hilliard nor her father had said anything about a divorce. In fact, Hilliard had made it very clear he wanted his wife home with him, where she belonged. Tanner remembered wondering about Mrs. Hilliard’s feelings on being such an important possession.

Not that it changed anything, he told himself. Divorced or not, he’d been paid to complete a job and he had. Except…

He swore under his breath. There was something about her desperation, something about her words and, most important, something about the tension in his gut. He’d learned from hard experience to never ignore that feeling.

Madison must have sensed she had his attention, because she started talking very quickly.

“I left him nearly two years ago. He spent the first six months trying to convince me to come back and the next year fighting the divorce. Fortunately California is a no-fault state, and in the end, he couldn’t stop it.”

“Why was he so interested in keeping a woman who wanted to get away?”

“Money.”

“You’ve brought that up before. Your ex is loaded.”

She shook her head. “No. He’s not. His lifestyle sucks up a lot of his company profits. Plus he’s into something big. I don’t know what it is—I’ve only heard my father talking about it from time to time.”

“Didn’t he get a big chunk of your net worth after the divorce?”

“No. There was a pretty tight prenuptial agreement.” For the first time since he’d met her, she smiled. “Besides, I’m not worth all that much on my own. The bulk of the family fortune is tied up in Adams Electronics. My father is the principal stockholder, not me. I only own a few thousand shares. Christopher did get the house, which was fine with me.”

So Hilliard had lost the eye-candy wife and access to the big bucks. That couldn’t have made him happy.

“He and your father are working on something together. It came up in my research,” Tanner told her.

“I know. I’ve read the same thing. I don’t talk to my father about it. I’ve tried to convince him to stop doing business with Christopher, but he won’t listen. He doesn’t understand how I could have let such a good man get away.”

She tilted her head, which caused her long blond hair to fall away from her face, exposing the side with the still-red scar. He narrowed his gaze. Why would such a beautiful woman keep such an ugly mark on her face? She would have had access to the best plastic surgeons in the world, along with the money to pay them. As much as he hated to admit it, a lot of things didn’t make sense.

“He set up the kidnapping to get the ransom money,” she said earnestly. “I doubt there was any other company looking for me. I’m sure he told my father there was to keep him from worrying.”

“Why wouldn’t your father have insisted on going to the police?”

Her mouth twisted. “He trusts Christopher implicitly. As far as he was concerned, his son-in-law would handle everything perfectly.” She glanced down at the floor, then back at him. “My father is something of an absentminded professor. He likes it best when the real world doesn’t interfere with his time in the lab.”

Which meant what? That her father hadn’t been all that worried about the kidnapping because good old Hilliard was taking care of it?

Tanner recalled his meeting with the two men. Hilliard had done all the talking. Blaine Adams had seemed concerned, but not overly so.

“If nothing else, you should make sure you get paid,” Madison told him. “My ex has a bad habit of offering fees in halves. Half up front, half at the end of the deal. Only that second half doesn’t ever seem to get paid.”

“Hilliard wouldn’t try that with me.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’d hunt him down and make him beg to give me the rest of my money.”

“Good luck with that.”

She spoke with the confidence of someone who had lived the truth. Tanner grimaced as he realized he’d carefully checked out Blaine Adams when he’d taken the job, but he’d only done a cursory check on Hilliard. After all, Daddy had been the one paying the ransom. But Hilliard had offered to take care of the bill.

Sloppy work, he told himself. Sloppy gets you dead.

He glared at Madison. He didn’t have time for this or her or her sob story. He wanted her gone. But he couldn’t—not with his gut whispering that she just might be telling the truth. Hilliard kidnapping his ex-wife to get his hands on the family money wasn’t his business, but he wouldn’t send her back if she was at risk. No matter how much he wanted to.

He was going to have to check out her story.

“I don’t believe you for a second,” he said flatly. “But I’ll look into what you’ve told me.”

Her relief was a tangible creature in the room. Before she could get too relaxed, Tanner moved close and cupped her neck. He applied just enough pressure to make it difficult for her to breathe.

“If you’re playing me for a fool, I’ll make you sorry. Is that clear?”

Her eyes widened. Color fled her face, but her gaze never wavered. She stared right back at him and slowly nodded.

He acknowledged that she hadn’t flinched. At least she had some backbone. And she wasn’t a screamer. Two small points in her favor.

When he released her, she stood her ground. She didn’t whimper or complain or even rub her neck.

“You don’t understand,” she told him quietly. “There’s nothing you can do that’s worse than what Christopher has already done to me. I’m not trying to trick you, I just want to stay alive.”

Funny how at that moment, he almost wanted it to be true. That she was just what she said.

Not a snowball’s chance, he thought. He studied her face, her long blond hair, her slender body. Except for the scar, she was perfect. Tall, leggy, beautiful. And completely useless.

He had no time for women like her in his life, but he wouldn’t mind finding her in his bed—just for the night. She would be a hell of a ride.

Tanner left Madison in the holding cell and returned to the front office of the small warehouse building he rented down by the airport. His laptop sprang to life when he hit the keys. Seconds later, he was on the Internet and tapping into sources to check out what Madison had said about her ex.

Two hours later, he had a detailed financial profile of Christopher Hilliard, along with e-mails from two informants. Word on the street was that Hilliard had a habit of skipping out on bills. An interesting practice for someone born to money. There were also some hints about shady dealings, but nothing specific. The most interesting point came from a casino employee Tanner had on retainer. Hilliard liked the high-stakes games, but they didn’t like him. He was up to his eyeballs in serious debt to some not-friendly people. Could that be why he needed the ransom money?

Speaking of which…He made a quick call, then leaned back in his chair. Now what? While he didn’t want to believe Madison, so far he hadn’t caught her in a lie. Sure, she wasn’t anyone he could respect, but that didn’t mean he wanted her dead. And until he was sure, she remained his responsibility.

Might as well get it over with, he told himself as he reached for the phone again. This time he called Blaine Adams’s house. The older man picked up on the first ring.

“Adams here.”

“Tanner Keane.”

“At last. Hold on, Mr. Keane.” There was a second of silence followed by Adams saying, “Christopher, it’s Mr. Keane. Pick up in the library.”