“No. I wouldn’t expect you to share anything I tell you about me, so I would afford you the same courtesy.”
Meiling rubbed her upper thigh gently with her palm while she thought over what she was going to say. “The idea of working with you has some appeal,” she conceded. “But the rules would have to be very clear. We’d have to go over everything ahead of time so you know what I’m willing to do for your clients and what cases I won’t work on. I’m good with computers, so I could help behind the scenes.”
“You said leopards react much like mine does around you. If you’re in a room with male leopards, will they be raging at you, or just ignoring you as if you don’t exist?”
“They ignore me.” She forced herself to look at him.
Gedeon had pulled on a black tee, stretching it over his thick chest and letting his dark hair fall free. Of course he looked tough and gorgeous. Staying in the same house with him was out of the question.
“Taking you with me when I go to a party will be such an asset. You’re so tiny. If you slide into the shadows, my shy little companion, eventually, the leopards will forget you’re there. They’ll be watching me. Worried about what I’m doing there. What I want. Who I’m after. The more nervous I make them, the more freedom you’ll have. You’ll be wandering around the room, listening to the conversations and collecting data on everything and everyone.”
“I have a price on my head.” She blurted it out.
He might as well know the worst. She might as well know if he was going to turn on her. She watched his reaction carefully. It was impossible to read his expression. He didn’t respond right away. He sat in silence contemplating her disclosure. In the end, he steepled his fingers.
“Who put the price on your head and how much are they offering?”
“I have no idea what the answer is to either question. I lived with Libby’s family since I was a small child. They were attacked on several occasions. Eventually, her father was killed. I think I was ten. Then her mother. I was thirteen. Libby and I were taken in by a neighbor, as we had no other relatives. A year later, they were attacked and killed. Libby and I escaped and ran to a friend’s house. We were taken in and lived with them until we turned eighteen.”
“It could have been both of you girls. Or just Libby.”
“Libby isn’t really my blood relative. We just always called each other cousins. Her father worked for my father and apparently just showed up with me one day. They never talked about the how and why of it. According to Libby, he planned on telling me everything about my family when I was old enough, but then he died.”
“Did Libby know?”
“She would have told me. She couldn’t keep a secret to save her life,” Meiling explained. She spread her hands out in front of her. “I started separating myself from her for a few weeks at a time to draw the killers away from her just to be certain they were after me. I watched over her. I wanted to make certain she was safe. They followed me and left her alone.”
“Were they bratya? Did you ever see them?”
She shook her head. “I never got close enough. I had to make money to support us. Libby is . . .” Her stomach dropped. “Was a spender. She liked nice hotels and pretty clothes. I would get the money to pay for those things for her.”
“She didn’t work?”
Meiling sighed. Libby shone like the brightest star. It didn’t bother Meiling to work for both of them. Libby’s family had taken care of her for most of her life. She could support Libby. “No, she didn’t work. She was never attacked, not until Colombia, and I didn’t get the sense that it was the same people involved. If they had been looking for me, they would have tortured her to get the information on where to find me.”
“Would she have given them what they wanted to know?”
Meiling refused to cry. Libby could be selfish at times. Moody. Even temperamental. But she genuinely loved Meiling and regarded her as family. She shook her head and then reminded herself that Gedeon was blind. “She wouldn’t, at least she’d hold out as long as she could. She was stubborn, and if she thought they were going to harm me, she would do her best to make them believe she didn’t know where I was. Truthfully, she didn’t really know. She did always have my cell number.”
4
GEDEON listened carefully to every nuance of her voice. Meiling was pushing down grief as best she could. He had an unexpected urge to wrap a comforting arm around her and pull her close, just as he had in the shower. The reaction was so foreign to his nature and that of his cat that he wanted to take a little time to examine it. Was it possible she was his mate? If so, why wasn’t his male pushing to claim her?