Jasper rubbed his chin, studied her and nodded.
Her breath expelled in a relieved rush. “Good. He...he always spoke highly of you.” Spoke. She’d used the past tense. That wasn’t what she’d meant to do. Veronica blinked away the stupid tears that wanted to fill her eyes. “He said that you were one of the best trackers he knew.”
“Is that all he said?” His voice, with the faintest hint of a Texas drawl, rolled over her.
“He said you were deadly. That I should...” This part was embarrassing, but she wouldn’t lie to him, so she finished, “He said that I should stay far away from a man like you.”
Another slow nod. “Sounds about right.” One golden brow rose. The man’s face was almost perfect. Too gorgeous. High cheekbones. Square jaw. Firm lips. A slightly hawkish nose, but it just made his other features look even stronger. And his eyes...
A woman could easily be tempted by eyes like that. Tempted to do just about anything.
The jukebox started to play another tune. A slower song. The dance-with-me kind of song.
“If your brother warned you away, then why are you here, Ms. Veronica Lane?”
“Because I have to be.” She perched on the edge of her chair. The chair’s legs were uneven and wobbled a bit beneath her. “I need your help.”
His fingertips drummed on the scarred tabletop. “And you think I’ll help you because...?”
“Because I can pay you.” She fumbled and opened her purse. “I even brought some cash in with me—”
He swore and grabbed her hands, closing the purse and trapping her fingers beneath his own. His skin was rough, the tips of his fingers and his palms calloused. “Lady, don’t you know better than to flash a wad of cash in a bar like this?”
Her heart raced so fast that her chest hurt. “I’m desperate.”
Very slowly, he released her. “Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, “I am getting that impression.”
“I heard...” Rumors, whispers, some of what she’d picked up from her brother over the years and some that she’d learned on her own. Clearing her throat, she said, “I heard that you would be willing to take on certain jobs if the money was right.” She leaned forward. Her chair teetered. “I can make the money right for you, okay? Please.” She wasn’t above begging. Because I am that desperate. “Say you’ll help me.”
His eyes gave no clue to his thoughts. They were just a cold green shield. “What do you want me to do?” He waited a beat. “You trying to get me to kill someone for you?” His voice was silky soft, deadly.
She shook her head. “No, of course not!”
He just stared back at her. Veronica swallowed the lump in her throat. She realized that the “of course” probably didn’t apply to him. He was ex-military, a man who often sold his lethal skills out to the highest bidder. Dealing out death...maybe that was common for him.
It wasn’t so common for her.
Her fingers clenched around her purse strap. The better to hide the trembling of her hands. “I want you to find someone for me.”
She caught the faintest expression of surprise in his gaze. A very, very fleeting expression.
“Who?” Jasper demanded.
“My brother. Cale’s missing.” Missing and, she feared, dead. Because Cale had been gone for six months. There’d been no contact at all from him during that time. Cale would never leave her for that long without a word. Even when he’d been working as an army ranger, he’d still found ways to check up on her. To let her know that he was alive.
Her brother knew how much she needed him. He wouldn’t just leave her.
But Jasper leaned back in his chair and waved a dismissive hand. “Cale’s a big boy. If any man knows how to take care of himself, it’s him.”
Why? Because her brother was a killer? A mercenary? Yes, she knew all the dark parts of Cale’s life. It didn’t make her love him less. Her chin lifted. “It’s been six months. No calls. No letters. No texts or emails.”
“He could be in deep cover. Maybe on a mission that can’t be—”
“Cale didn’t even tell me when he left.” That was the part that had first tipped her off to the fact that something was wrong. “Before every mission, he always comes to see me.” It was a ritual they’d had. After the sudden death of their parents, well, they’d needed to stick together. There hadn’t been a choice. It had just been the two of them.
Cale had never gotten a chance to tell their parents goodbye, to say that he loved them that one final time.
So every time that Cale left for a mission, he came to see her. He always told her goodbye.
“He didn’t tell me goodbye,” she whispered.
Jasper shook his head. “You think your brother is missing because he didn’t tell you goodbye?” He gave a low whistle. “I hate to break this to you, but—”
“Six. Months,” she gritted, not about to be put off now. Fine, he could think she was crazy, but he’d still better take the job that she was offering to him. “If you don’t believe me, well, you won’t be the first. The local sheriff thinks I’m being neurotic, and he sure won’t lift a finger to help me.”
Jasper watched her with his steady gaze.
“Does it even matter if you believe me?” Veronica asked. “Can’t you take the money, find him and then prove that I’m wrong? You’ll get paid either way, I swear. I just need to know that he’s alive.” Because the gnawing in her gut told her that something was wrong.
She was afraid that Cale was dead.
“I can’t live the rest of my life, wondering if my brother’s body is in a shallow grave someplace. I need to know what’s happened to him.”
Jasper just kept staring back at her.
“Say something,” she told him, voice tight.
His head cocked to the right. “You’re not what I expected.”
Well, that was something. Just not what she’d wanted to hear.
“We met once, didn’t we?” Jasper asked her.
So he remembered? She gave a quick nod.
His gaze narrowed on her. “Your hair’s different.”
Her hair didn’t matter. Only Cale mattered. Why was Jasper stalling?
He said, “Your brother talked about you a lot. He was always telling me how smart you were.”
Not so smart when it came to people. People generally made her feel lost, but when it came to computers and technology, she got by pretty well. “None of Jasper’s credit cards have been used. None of his accounts touched. Not since he vanished.”