Modern Romance Collection: April 2018 Books 5 - 8. Heidi Rice

go of her arms but positioning themselves in front of and behind her, so close that she could feel the heat coming off them, smell the sweat. They ascended a dimly lit flight of stairs until they reached a door at the top and they moved beside her again. One of them rapped his knuckles against the matte black paint.

      ‘Enter.’

      Harper was shoved into a small, square office, lit by a single florescent strip light. A dark-haired man sat at a desk facing the door, his head bent, his fingers rapidly tapping at the keys of a computer. Behind him, a long rectangle of glass, a two-way mirror, gave an uninterrupted view of the undulating mass below.

      ‘Thanks, guys.’ Still he didn’t look up. Harper noticed the way the light shone blue-black on the thick waves of his hair. ‘You may go.’

      With subservient grunts the pair shuffled out, closing the door behind them.

      Harper desperately tried to steady her heart rate, to think clearly. Her eyes flitted around the room to see if there was any means of escape. It was almost totally silent in here, she realised. The pulsating beat that had been with her ever since she had entered the nightclub had gone, replaced by the roaring of blood in her ears and the gentle tap of the laptop keyboard.

      She stared at the man before her. Even though he was seated and steadfastly ignoring her, she could sense the power of him. But there was something else, something worse, an enmity that was radiating from him like a palpable force. Suddenly being left alone with this silent, formidable figure was worse than being manhandled by those gorillas. She was almost tempted to run after them, ask them to take her with them.

      ‘So.’ Still he refused to look at her. ‘The wanderer returns.’

      ‘No!’ With a rush of breath, Harper hurried to put him right. ‘You don’t understand...’

      ‘Spare me the excuses.’ Finally closing his laptop, the dark figure rose gracefully to his feet and Harper realised with a gulp how tall he was, how handsome, how effortlessly cool. ‘I’m really not interested.’ Still refusing to look her in the eye, he strolled casually to the door behind her. She heard him turn a key in the lock before slipping the key into his trouser pocket as he returned to his desk.

      ‘W...what are you doing?’

      ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ He stood by his seat. ‘I’m making sure you don’t escape. Again.’

      ‘No.’ Harper tried again. ‘You’re making a mistake. I’m not—’

      ‘Sit down.’ He barked the order, gesturing to the chair opposite his. ‘There is no point in making this any harder than it already is.’

      Harper edged forward and did as she was told. She felt as if she had fallen into some sort of rabbit hole. That none of this was real.

      Seating himself, her captor folded his arms across his chest, his eyes finally meeting hers for the first time. And only then did his icy composure slip.

      * * *

      Che diavolo? What the hell? Vieri Romano ground down on his jaw. It was the wrong damned woman! A surge of frustration went through him as he clenched his fists. The person before him looked like Leah McDonald and she sounded like Leah McDonald, with that soft, lilting Scottish accent. But now that he was glaring at her beneath the harsh overhead light he knew with irritating certainty that she was not Leah McDonald.

      Hell. He raked a hand through his hair as he continued to stare at this imposter. They were certainly very alike, obviously twins, but the subtle differences were now clear to see. This young woman’s eyes were wider apart, the lips fuller, the nose a tad longer. Her hair was different too, falling in careless auburn waves compared to Leah’s more styled tresses. But even without these differences, Vieri would have known this wasn’t Leah, simply by her manner.

      The woman before him was all serious determination. There was no sign of Leah’s flirty confidence—something that Vieri suspected Leah would be trying to use right now to get herself out of trouble, had he managed to get the correct sister in front of him. Leah was well aware of her assets and knew how to use them, whereas her sister appeared uncomfortable beneath his scrutiny, wrapping her arms around herself to cover up her slender but shapely figure. And if Leah’s eyes would have been batting seductively by now, her sister’s glared at him, full of fire. She reminded Vieri of a cornered animal, one that was most definitely not going to give up without a fight.

      But then neither did he. Vieri ran a hand over his jaw, rapidly assessing this new situation. Maybe they were in it together, this pair of Celtic beauties. He wouldn’t put it past them. Perhaps this one had been sent as backup. They might just be dumb enough to think they could get away with it. Although dumb was not a word he would use to describe the woman sitting across from him now. There was something about her that suggested a sharp intelligence. If nothing else, it was possible she might be able to lead him to her double-crossing sister. One thing was for sure, she wouldn’t be leaving here until she had been thoroughly interrogated.

      ‘Name?’ He barked the question at her.

      ‘Harper.’ She shifted in her seat. ‘Harper McDonald.’

      When he didn’t immediately reply she tipped her chin in a show of defiance. ‘And you are?’

      Vieri’s brows snapped together. He wasn’t accustomed to being asked who he was. Least of all in one of his own establishments.

      ‘Vieri Romano.’ He kept his tone steady. ‘Owner of Spectrum nightclub.’

      ‘Oh.’ He watched her full pink lips purse closed as realisation dawned. ‘Then I should like to formally complain about the way I have been treated here. You have absolutely no right to—’

      ‘Where is your sister, Ms McDonald?’ Raising his voice, Vieri cut short her futile protests. He had no time to listen to her pathetic accusations.

      She bit down on her lip, nipping the soft flesh with her front teeth, the action engaging Vieri more than it should. ‘I don’t know.’ He could hear the panic in her voice. ‘That’s why I’m here, to try and find her. I haven’t heard from her in over a month.’

      Pulling his eyes away from her seductive mouth, Vieri let out a derisive grunt. ‘Well, that makes two of us.’

      ‘So she’s not here?’ The panic escalated. ‘She quit her job?’

      ‘She has walked out, if that’s what you mean. Along with my bar manager, Max Rodriguez.’

      ‘Walked out?’

      ‘Si. Disappeared without a trace.’

      ‘Oh, God.’ Harper reached forward to grip the edge of the desk with hands that visibly shook. ‘Where has she gone?’

      Vieri shrugged his lack of knowledge, watching her reaction closely.

      ‘You have no idea what might have happened to her?’

      ‘Not yet.’ He picked up some papers on his desk, tidying them into a pile. ‘But I intend to find out. And when I do, her troubles will be just beginning.’

      ‘Wh...what do you mean by that?’ Harper’s remarkable green-brown eyes widened.

      ‘I mean that I don’t take kindly to my employees disappearing off the face of the earth. Especially with thirty thousand dollars of my money.’

      ‘Thirty thousand dollars?’ Her hands flew to her mouth. ‘You mean Leah and this Max guy have stolen money from you?’

      ‘Your sister and I had a business arrangement, or so I thought. I made the mistake of paying her the first instalment up front. She has absconded with the money.’

      ‘No! Oh, I’m so sorry!’

      She looked suitably shocked, enough to convince Vieri that she knew nothing about it, but he noted with interest that she didn’t challenge the facts.

      ‘She will be too, believe me.’

      He