Chapter Six
Amanda Stanton
I looked up. I had loaded up another forkful of pancake ready to finish off the delicious remnants of my breakfast. I dropped it, the fork clattering against the Wedgwood plate, the forkful of pancake tumbling onto the floor.
I lurched up, the high stool behind me clattering to the floor. I turned, on adrenal autopilot as I ran to the kitchen door.
I tried to yank it open, but it was locked.
“Don’t worry, Amanda,” Elizabeth said, voice peaking with amusement, “He’s just a lawyer.”
I turned from the door, pressed my back into it, and stared at him wildly. He had the strangest expression on his face. The moment he’d walked into the room, a half smile had been playing on his lips, a distant look in his eye. Now that smile had stiffened, those handsome eyes widening and fixing right on me, his hands dead straight by his sides. “You don’t have to do that,” he put his hands up. “I’m here to help you.”
“You’re her lawyer?” I asked, my voice cracking as it leveled at a pitch that could crack glass.
Elizabeth looked interested and kept turning from me to Sebastian Shaw. “Oh no, don’t tell me that this is the lawyer on your lawn last night? While the mercenaries were in your drawing room, the burglars were in your hall, and the soldiers were in your kitchen?”
I nodded, head stiff, hands flat against the cool wood of the door behind me.
“But Sebastian is such a good boy,” Elizabeth pointed out with a flat nod, “He’s always been there for me when I’ve needed him.”
For Sebastian’s part, he hadn’t once taken his eyes off me. While his hands were still raised, his fingers still and straight, there was such a stiffness and tension to his shoulders that it didn’t look like a move of submission.
“He had a gun.” I stabbed a finger at him.
“Is that right, Sebastian?” Elizabeth crossed her arms. “Did you go to Amanda’s house last night with a gun?”
Sebastian, still with his eyes locked on mine, put his hands down. He offered a simple bare nod. “That’s right, Elizabeth.”
He said it with such ease, with such a truthful look in his eye, that you couldn’t help but believe him.
I shook my head, messy hair bunching around my face. “They broke into my house, Elizabeth, they tried to steal my globes.”
At the mention of the globes, Sebastian’s expression changed. Where he’d once had a keen but even look on his face, he now looked dangerously interested. His lips spread back, a glint of his straight and perfect teeth peeking from underneath. He sliced his hard gaze toward Elizabeth, and for the first time looked concerned. Then he shot that gaze right back at me, those eyes hardening again. “You told her about the globes?”
I receded back, clutching my arms around my middle. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. Elizabeth was meant to call a lawyer, a kindly old gentleman who would have sat there and listened to my story and gone out and made it all okay. She wasn’t meant to call Sebastian Shaw, and Sebastian Shaw sure as hell wasn’t meant to show up and get angry at me for sharing my story.
“Do you have any idea what you did?” His arms were no longer raised in fake submission. He held them stiffly at his sides, hands rounded into soft fists.
For the first time, I noticed the numerous cuts and bruises across the back of his hands and fingers.
“Excuse me?” My voice was about as high as it was possible to be. This couldn’t be happening. Criminals didn’t act with such sincere indignation, as if you had somehow broken their trust by telling the kind old lady down the road about their misadventures. “You broke into my house last night,” I began.
“Oh grow up,” he snapped, “I saved you from those men in your drawing room. I saved you from those men in the van,” he gave me a stiff, unfriendly nod, “If it wasn’t for me, god knows where you’d be but probably tied to a seat answering questions from real criminals.”
“Excuse me?” My voice was even higher this time; I couldn’t understand what was going on here. Who the hell was this guy to get so angry at me?
Sebastian grabbed one of the kitchen stools on the other side of the bench and sat roughly, pulling out the tails of his expensive suit jacket as he did.
Elizabeth, who was still watching us with great interest, sniffed and turned toward the kettle. “How about I make us all a cup of tea? Sebastian, would you like some pancakes?”
Sebastian turned to Elizabeth and offered her a friendly smile. He appeared to look at her with real affection, and the smile that played across his lips was most charming. But my oh my was it at odds with the steely look he offered me next.
“What’s going on here?” I tried again. But no matter how much I questioned this ridiculous situation, nobody else seemed to have a problem with it. For the love of god, I was about to sit down and have pancakes with a man who broke into my house only last night. This is not how things are meant to go. Then again, perhaps this was how things went when you had forgone calling the police and had gone to bed after your home invasion instead.
I still stood with my back to the door, my arms clutched around my middle as tight as they could go. With Sebastian seated, my gaze darted to the door behind him. If I somehow managed to get around the less-than-legal lawyer, I might be able to make it down the corridor and out the front door. Then it would be the old game of avoiding the criminals until they got bored and went home.
Sebastian saw where I was looking and shook his head. He didn’t even bother telling me I had no chance, he just got comfortable in his seat and shook his head like he was a master telling his dog not to jump on the bench.
I hardened my jaw, clenching my teeth.
“There are a lot of people out there looking for you, Amanda.” Sebastian drummed his fingers on the table, his large golden watch on his left wrist slipping and showing deep cuts along the flesh. “Trust me when I say they will not be as nice as I am.”
“Stop threatening me,” I said bravely, letting go of my middle in order to clamp my hands on my hips. “I’m going to call the police.”
He chuckled. “Well, if you were going to do that, you should have done that last night. That was what I expected you to do. But you do look a bit stupid.”
“Excuse me?!”
“Then again,” he leaned forward, still tapping his hands on the table, “You didn’t call the police, and that would be the only reason that you are not in the hands of Maratova and his men.”
I gasped. “Was he…. Was he the man who was after me last night?”
“One of the men, Amanda.”
“They’re working with the police?” I clutched a hand over my mouth.
“I wouldn’t say they are working with the police.” Sebastian leaned back easily. “But you’re still in a lot of trouble.”
“I haven’t done anything.” I shook. “I haven’t done anything wrong at all.”
Sebastian shrugged. The prick looked as if he was enjoying this. Then again, he didn’t seem like an upstanding character; it would take someone with a particularly flexible view of the law and morality to break into someone’s house in the middle of the night.
“Sebastian,” Elizabeth called from over by the stove, “You stop baiting that girl. I called you here to get this sorted, and if you want to be fed, you should jolly well get professional.”
Surprisingly Elizabeth’s reprimand had an effect on Sebastian, and he cleared his throat, leaning forward and straightening up.
“I have no idea what’s going on here,” I said weakly.
“You put a spotting globe up for sale at an auction house, and that spotting globe…” Sebastian shook his head, swallowed, and briefly looked as lost as I did. Then he hardened up and cracked his neck from side-to-side. “Well let’s say that you’ve got the whole world’s attention. More important than that,” he leaned forward, and he looked interested. His eyes widened, showcasing his dreamy blue irises, “Where are the other globes, Amanda?”
I still had m
y hand clutched over my mouth.
“It is important, Amanda; those globes are worth more than you can imagine. The one you sold at the auction house may have only fetched you £15 million. But altogether those globes….” He shook his head. He locked those blue eyes on me again. “Where are the rest?” He leaned even further forward, and it almost seemed as if he wanted to stand up from his seat, walk over to me, grab my shoulders and squeeze the information out of me. “You have no idea how important this is.”
“What are those globes?” Elizabeth asked, sounding interested but not awed or scared by what was going on. “They must be something to have so many strapping men interested in them.”
Strapping men? Was that the most appropriate way of describing them? Surely horrible, evil criminals was better. I held my tongue, bit my bottom lip, and watched as Sebastian started to carve up his pancake pile.
“Well, Elizabeth, I have to tell you that these globes are dangerous; you probably shouldn’t know more than you already do.” He shot me a particularly mean look at that.
Elizabeth waved a hand that him. “Oh pish, it doesn’t matter at all. Tell me, or I will not be paying your fee. So why don’t you go ahead and tell me what those globes are, and why my dear Amanda is in so much trouble here.”
“They are treasure maps. Perhaps the greatest treasure maps in the world. At first glance, and to those who know nothing of their true origin and purpose, they would look like ordinary spotting globes. Once each of the globes is put together, across their surface are the locations of innumerable treasure hoards.”
Elizabeth clapped her hands together, a true smirk crossing her lips as her ruby rings banged together lightly. “Oh, how exciting.”
Sebastian snorted. “I think the word you are looking for, Elizabeth, is dangerous.” Sebastian put his fork down and gave me a pointed look. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that I have no idea how much those globes are worth. I’m not kidding when I tell you that every Government, every henchman, every crook, and every Mafioso will kill,” he stressed the word kill, “To find out what that sum is.”
I put a hand up to my chest, my heart beating so strongly I could feel it vibrating.
“Amanda sold one of these at auction?” Elizabeth put her head to the side, looking genuinely curious. “How unlucky. I imagine it would be an adventure to traipse around the globe finding hidden treasure.” She leaned back on her stool.
Sebastian snorted again. “An adventure indeed, but not nearly as fun as dodging all the hit men, thugs, and mercenaries who will be after Amanda so they can get their hands on the other four.”
I wasn’t sure whether he was making things out to be more dangerous than they were just to get a reaction out of me. As he sat there, leaning back in his seat and taking deliberate mouthfuls of the pancakes without spilling any sauce down his middle, he seemed far too collected and calm to be trustworthy. Plus, he had that annoying boyish look about him. The one that told me this lawyer had never gotten over teasing girls in the playground.
I sniffed, straightened up, held my head high and tried not to be as frightened as the uneasy gurgle in my stomach suggested I was.
“So, Amanda, you want to tell me where those globes are? Or would you like to call the police and end up in Maratova’s hands by the end of the day?” He leaned forward, smile unpleasant.
“Look here, Sebastian,” Elizabeth leaned in, slapping her hand flat against the table to get his attention, “I imagine she would be a lot more willing to help if you would at least offer to help her first.”
Sebastian looked mildly chastened, played with his jaw as if it were bothering him for some reason, and opened his hands. “We will cut a deal: you tell me where those globes are, and I promise I will do everything within my power to keep you safe.” Though he had a truculent look on his face, his tone sounded sincere. “And don’t tell me they’re back at the manor; I don’t want to have to deal with Maratova again today.”
“Who is he anyway?”
“Not much to say: works with the army, Special Forces, heads up their unit that looks for… shall we say the valuable antiquities that governments, let alone museums, would kill for.”
I snorted. Governments and museums killing to get their hands on antiquities? Was this supposed be some stupid movie? Governments didn’t send out Special Forces to go find artifacts that “belonged in a museum,” to borrow a phrase from Indiana Jones. They were far too busy doing real, proper, democratic things with their time.
Sebastian looked unmoved by my incredulity. “I suggest you get all your laughing done, Amanda, because this is a serious situation. You think Maratova is a friendly guy? You think he’ll keep it all above board to get those globes? Let alone all of the other teams that are out there after you. You need to take this seriously, very seriously. While these pancakes have been delicious,” he pushed the plate away, offering Elizabeth another charming nod, “It’s probably time we get you somewhere safe, and you get me those globes.”
I stood there and tried to think. It was hard. Excuse me if I’d never been thrust into a situation like this before; I led a quiet life. I always had my trust fund to fall back on, I never got in any trouble, and I despised drama. I had zero experience with whatever the hell this was.
Was I meant to trust this guy? While he’d apparently saved me from the men in my drawing room, and he’d given me his gun, I could tell he was only telling me what he wanted. Plus, he knew that Maratova chap, the brute who’d chased me through the forest last night.
There was too much to think about, and I simply didn’t know enough to decide whether to trust this guy. Plus, despite the fact he was world-class attractive, he was a world-class irritating schoolboy too.
Sebastian Shaw
I couldn’t believe it. How could I get this lucky? After failing last night and being pistol whipped for my troubles, I’d found Amanda anyway. Or, better than that, I’d shown up for work, found her in Elizabeth’s kitchen, and been fed excellent pancakes as a bonus.
Getting her to trust me was going to take some effort.
The longer she stood there, back pressed against the locked kitchen door, eyes occasionally slicing toward the corridor behind me, the more I lost my advantage. As far as I knew nobody else, apart from Elizabeth, had any clue where Amanda Stanton was. But it wouldn’t be long before Maratova popped up; the man had more resources at his fingertips than God.
“Look, Amanda, we can’t stay here any longer. You’re going to have to trust me, let me know where those globes are, and we’ll take it from there. Or you can be just as stupid as you look, and stand in your pajamas and do nothing.”
“Sebastian,” Elizabeth crossed her arms, “Have you forgotten what I told you? Stop berating the girl, and jolly well start helping her. If it is as dire as you’re suggesting, stop being a brute, and start being nice.”
Nice? If Elizabeth weren’t one of my favorite clients, I’d laugh at that. If Elizabeth or Amanda were under any impression that whatever the hell would follow would be nice, they were in for a big surprise.
It would be stupendously violent. I was sure that pajama-wearing Amanda wasn’t going to be up to the task.
“Elizabeth.” For the first time, Amanda took a step away from the door.
I fought the urge to rise, sure that she was about to make a run for the corridor. The last thing I needed was for her to run onto a public road and right into the arms of Maratova.
“Can I trust him?” Amanda finished. She didn’t look at me once.
Elizabeth nodded. “He is a damn fine lawyer.”
Amanda gave a laugh, and damn it if it was cute as it rumpled her small bump of a nose. “I think this is going to take more than a lawyer—”
“For once, you’re right.” I looked up at her, toning down my anger. I knew full well I was misdirecting my ill will; while Amanda wasn’t taking this as easily as I wanted, what was pissing me off was how much I’d stuffed up last night and how damn hard I’d have to
try to stay out of Maratova’s way. Amanda wasn’t the problem; I was.
“Okay,” Amanda let out an enormous breath that puffed out her appreciable chest, and she covered her face with her hands. “Okay. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but okay, I’ll trust you.” She dropped her hands. “For now,” she clarified.
I rose from my stool. I reached out a hand to her.
She looked at it, confused.
“You shake it,” I chuckled.
“Okay.” With an uncomfortable expression, she reached out her hand and tentatively took my own.
I did all the shaking, but hopefully the point was clear that she’d agreed to a deal. As a lawyer, and more so as a treasure hunter, I had no intention of letting her break this one.
“Am I going to go to prison?” she asked quietly.
I wanted to laugh at her, not just because the question was stupid, but because of the frightened, doe-eyed look she shot me.
“No one’s heading to prison yet.” I nodded low.
“I suppose you’re going to need your gun back.” Elizabeth rose from her stool and pulled up her sleeves.
“And my bloody keys; I had to walk into town and get a taxi last night,” I pointed out as I gritted my teeth softly and glared at Amanda.
She stared back, lips parted and pouty. “Are you serious? I had to run through the forest in the dark with no shoes on to get away from some Special Forces team, while my house was being trashed by bad guys.”
I shrugged; she had me on that one.
Elizabeth led us from the kitchen. I was sure to stand behind Amanda, lest she take the opportunity to peel off into one of the side rooms, crank open a window, dive out, and run away from me for the millionth time. Despite the fact I found her pathetic, I had to admit she was resourceful when it came to running away.
Elizabeth led us into a large laundry next to the kitchen. There were old tiles on the floor, and they must have been cold, as the second Amanda walked onto them she began curling her toes and dancing around. That drew my attention to her feet. They had patchy blue and purple bruises over them and deep cuts scattered from her toes to her ankles.
I clenched my jaw. Fucking Maratova; this was all his fault.
Elizabeth led us over to her old washing machine. On top stacked in a neat pile were Amanda’s torn and muddy pajamas, with my gun and keys placed on top. I hoped like hell Elizabeth hadn’t washed them.
I grabbed them, pocketing the keys and holding the gun, as I didn’t have a holster on under my suit. I nodded at Elizabeth. “Thanks.”
She crossed her arms and stared at the both of us for a while. “Well, I suppose the two of you are about to go off and have some fun then.”
Amanda snorted.
I nodded and shrugged. “It’s vitally important that you don’t tell anybody what happened here. Don’t let anyone know that Amanda came here, and sure as hell do not mention anything about those globes.” I looked as serious as I could. I didn’t want the old dame to be drawn into this. Despite her eccentricities, I doubted she had what it took to deal with some of the world’s worst criminals.
She shrugged and inclined a hand at me. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I believe you are going to have your hands full dealing with Amanda.”
Amanda went pink at the suggestion, and I couldn’t help but give a half smile in reply. “Something like that,” I muttered.
While I wanted to know where those other four globes were, we’d already discussed enough in front of Elizabeth.
“We need to get going.” I swung my keys around my fingers as I motioned with my head toward the front door. “You let me know where those globes are in the car, then we’ll get them,” I flexed my shoulders again, “and we’ll see what happens next.”
“Um, I need to change out of my pajamas first,” Amanda pointed out as she gestured at her overly large and overly floral PJs.
“Oh, I thought that’s what you always wore.” I smiled as she snarled at me.
“Don’t you worry, dear,” Elizabeth walked over to one of the tall cupboards on the other side of the room, “I have clothes that will fit you.” She rummaged around for a while, several odd garments falling on the floor by her feet. They were all colorful and all equally as hideous. Elizabeth was the kind of woman who liked her clothes to match her personality, right down to the rhinestones and electric blue thunderbolts.
Today, however, she pulled out an ordinary cream skirt and a white linen blouse. With more digging, she added a pair of gray stockings to the pile and a dark cream jacket. It looked like the female equivalent of a safari suit. All Amanda would need now was a neat bun, a dainty hat, and a small pair of spectacles at the end of her nose. She’d be the perfect picture of a ye-olde female adventurer. Were it not for the fact she had jelly for legs and a tested ability to run away from the adventure, not toward it.
Elizabeth picked the clothes up off the floor and handed them to Amanda. “These are good clothes, dear, and they will keep you in good stead.” Elizabeth got a faraway look in her eyes. “I can just imagine the adventures you’re going to get up to.”
I tried not to snort. Seriously, lady, I wanted to point out, we weren’t going to have adventures. All we were going to do was run for our lives as we tried, or at least I tried, to find some of the greatest treasure out there. Sure as hell Amanda wouldn’t be coming along for that bit. I would keep her safe, because I’d shaken hands on that. But as soon as I deposited her in a place I knew Maratova couldn’t find, I would begin the real adventure, alone.
I stood there, wondering how long this was all going to take and how much gold waited for me at the end of it all.
Elizabeth cleared her throat. “Sebastian, this is the point when you walk out of the room and allow the lady to change.”
“Lady?” I questioned.
“Shut up and get out of the room.” Amanda brushed past me, grabbed the clothes in Elizabeth’s arms, and pointed at the door.
I got the picture, and I didn’t need to be pushed from the room; Amanda Stanton was a galaxy away from my type. I liked my women like I liked my cars: fast and with a hell of a lot more grunt.