obviously waiting for her.
“No! Those dresses are too expensive and…!” Before she could finish her comment, the salesperson stepped up with the dresses already encased in a protective, plastic wardrobe bag.
“It was a pleasure, my lord,” she said, smiling up at Malcolm.
Ella sighed, then turned to glare up at him. “Why are you helping me? As soon as I figure this out, you’re going to prison.”
He laughed softly and put a hand to the small of her back, ignoring the horrified look on the salesperson’s face as he led her out of the store. “Maybe I’m daring you to figure this out,” he told her.
She thought about that for a moment, and nodded. “Okay, I can see that. You’re arrogant enough to think I’m not smart enough. Or your secret-club cronies are powerful enough that anything I discover will be suppressed. Do they all have a ‘get out of jail free’ card?” she asked, suspiciously.
He chuckled as they left the boutique. “I suspect that some of them do. But I have every confidence that you will be able to not only get enough evidence to stop their efforts to avoid prosecution, but that your writing is powerful enough to convince public sentiment that something has to change in the system.” He looked down at her as he opened the back of his car. “You’ve demonstrated the power of your writing before. Don’t let me down.”
Chapter 6
Ella smoothed the burgundy evening gown over her hips, twisting from right to left in an effort to see how she looked. The bodice was covered in sparkling jewels and reached her neck. It was sleeveless, and hugged her breasts and tapered at her waist. Thankfully, the skirt was several dozen layers of burgundy chiffon. No thigh slits and nothing see through.
She hadn’t accepted the garment bag from Malcolm after trying on all of the dresses. But as soon as she’d pulled into the parking lot of her tiny apartment, a delivery person with the dresses and the bag of lingerie was waiting for her. She didn’t even have to sign for the delivery. The man just smiled professionally and handed both bags to her as soon as she’d stepped out of her car. The dratted man hadn’t given her a chance to refuse the delivery. He was gone before she’d even closed her car door.
So, now she was the proud owner of four evening gowns and a lot of sexy, expensive lingerie.
She’d also received a text message from his assistant with the time that Malcolm would pick her up and the names of the people they were trying to connect with. Ella had stared at the text message, recognizing several of the names. They’d come up in her research, plus she knew that those men had traveled to several of the countries where “flaming hand” sightings had occurred.
Those names were the only reason she was dressed and ready to attend this event tonight. At least, that’s what she told herself. Ella stared at her reflection in the mirror, realizing that there was a betraying level of excitement emanating from her. Was that because she was going to find out more information on her investigation? Or was it because she was about to see Malcolm again?
Ella tried very hard to be honest with herself. And deep down inside, she knew that her excitement was due to the anticipation of seeing Malcolm tonight.
She also suspected that he wasn’t the man she’d originally thought him to be. He was helping her to investigate what was going on with this “flaming hand” thing. He was going out of his way to provide information as well as access to places that would normally be out of her reach.
After spending time with him for the past several days, Ella had to admit that he wasn’t acting like a man trying to hide something. Her gut told her that he was innocent. Even more, it seemed as if he wanted to discover the truth as well. But her instincts also told her that he knew more than he let on.
“I can do this,” she told her reflection. And with a nod of confidence, she turned away from the mirror, enjoying the way the chiffon skirt fluttered around her legs. She’d even pinned her hair up and added a pair of faux diamond earrings. She looked and felt sexy.
“Time to get more leads,” she muttered as she grabbed her evening bag. Ella wasn’t foolish enough to let Malcolm pick her up at