I apologise for the long time between updates, i have been extremely flat out since uni has started, teaching takes up a lot of my time, also i am lacking the motivation to write, not sure if this story is worth continuing anymore. Thank you for the kind reviews especially from my dedicated readers, hopefully you continue to enjoy.

Chapter 13 'It would make Danny sit up and beg'

Quinton eyed Danny. 'What kind of business did you say you were in again, Messer?'

He hadn't said . He'd deliberately skated around the issue. A man didn't come right out and declare her was on the wrong side of the law, not unless he was an idiot. And Danny knew that Quinton had no patience with idiots.

'Same as yours, Mr Quinton.' He took a sip of the champagne. Their eyes met in silence. Quinton understood him, Danny thought in satisfaction. 'Investments. Land developing.' Danny took another sip, pausing for emphasis. 'A little of this, a little of that.' He positioned his glass within the water ring it had formed on the frosted tabletop. 'Wherever there's money, i'm there.'

He didn't make it sound very solid, Lindsay thought. And yet he could afford to give her a ring the size of Rhode Island. Business had to be good.

Quinton tilted his head, a raven watching a worm rise out of the earth, waiting to pounce. 'Then why is it I've never heard you mention before?'

Danny laughed shortly. 'People I deal with have better things to do than bandy names about.' He waited a beat to give the next words emphasis. 'But Werner's mentioned you to me on several occasions.'

The name obviously meant something to Quinton, Lindsay thought. She saw the dark brows rise, one higher than the other. 'Hans Werner?'

Danny barely nodded, then smiled. 'He'd said you'd remember, he told me he met you in Rio a couple of years ago.' With hooded eyes, Danny watched Quinton's expression as he leisurely sipped his champagne. He was almost enjoying himself. 'Said you were a very reasonable man to work with, once the terms were correct.'

'I am.' Quinton threw back his glass as if he were downing shooters instead of a glass of champagne that went for fifty dollars a bottle. His small eyes pinned Danny to his chair. 'Where do you know him from?'

Danny deliberately played it cagey. 'Like i said, i deal in the same commodities you do.'

Lindsay had the impression she was watching a very strange dance. For each step one man took, the other matched him, then moved one step on his own.

She glanced at Sally. The woman had tuned the conversation out and was amusing herself by watching a well-muscled man who couldn't have been more than twenty years old. He was strolling around the pool blatantly showing off his body. The white thong he wore left little to be imagined. The smile on Quinton's lips peeled back a fraction of an inch at a time as he regarded his tablemate. 'perhaps we can get together later and discuss this further, when we wont be bothering the ladies.'

Lindsay knew better than to be taken in by the thoughtfulness Quinton seemed to be expressing. He just didn't want them around. For the first time, she wanted to stay.

'I'm nor bored,' she assured him with feeling. To prove her point, she wrapped her arms around Danny, her eyes on Quinton. 'I want to know everything about my husband's line of work.'

Quinton studied her, as if unable to decide whether she was the genuine article. 'Sometimes, my dear, too much knowledge can be a bad thing.'

'Ignorance is bliss?' she guessed, surprised she remembered the saying. 'Only if you consciously choose it to be. I don't.'

Quinton leaned over. 'Take my advice. choose it.' And then he smiled as he leaned back in his chair. 'Somebody as pretty as you shouldn't have to clutter up her head with details that don't concern her.'

Was he for real? one look at Danny told her that Quinton meant exactly what he was saying. The veneer might be smooth, but beneath it, he had the soul of a Neanderthal. She didn't need her memory to see that. Lindsay could practically see him dragging his knuckles on the ground. Quinton shifted in his seat until he could reach into his back pocket for his wallet. He drew out a handful of hundred-dollar bills and tossed it carelessly down on the table.

'Sally,, why don't you take Mrs Messer shopping? Buy something pretty for tonight.'

'Tonight?' Lindsay echoed. She thought tonight would be private. She looked at Danny for an explanation. Quinton answered instead. 'Yes, as i said earlier, you two are my good luck charms. I'd like to see if that luck holds up at the casino tonight.'

Sally was gathering the bills together and stuffing them into her purse. 'You know', she murmured to him, 'a credit card would be easier.'

Quinton laughed. 'Perhaps, but i like the feel of money in my hand.' He looked at Danny, still trying to figure him out. 'Nothing like the feel f crisp bills in your fingers is there, Messer?'

Danny didn't want Lindsay leaving, but there wasn't anything he could say without arousing suspicion. He was forced to nod his agreement.

'You wont get an argument from me. But you can save your money, Mr Quinton. I can afford to dress my own wife.'

To Lindsay's astonishment, Danny handed her an equal number of bills, all hundreds.

Quinton liked what he saw. 'I guess you can at that.' He turned to Sally. 'Well, what are you waiting for? I asked you to leave.'

Lindsay could see that Sally didn't care to be ordered around, sent away like an inconvenience, but the woman rose. She half glanced at Lindsay.

'C'mon... Lindsay is it?' She didn't bother looking at Lindsay for an answer. 'Were being dismissed.' Lindsay picked up her purse. She could see that Danny wasn't happy about her leaving. The thought cheered her. Maybe there was hope, after all. 'Don't be gone long.' he called after her. Not, she thought, if she could help it.

Sally, Lindsay discovered, descended on the mall like a queen on a country she had already conquered. Moving from store to store with Lindsay in her wake. Sally spent money as if it had been printed expressly for her use. The more expensive an item was, the better. It seemed to Lindsay that she took particular delight in spending Quinton's money.

The spree was a revelation to Lindsay. She found that she didn't have much interest in clothes whose price tags could have easily been a down payment on a brand new sedan. She liked her clothes simple but interesting. While Sally selected three gowns by a new designer who was all the rage and whose prices reflected it, Lindsay's attention was drawn to an electric blue satin slip dress that looked as if it knew just where to hug a curve.

Easing it off the hanger, Lindsay held it up against herself and looked at her reflection in the mirror, debating trying the dress on. So far, nothing had tempted her sufficiently to enter a dressing room. Sally glanced in her direction and surprised Lindsay by nodding at the selection.

'That should make him sit up and beg.'

Lindsay hadn't expected a compliment. She ran her hand over the material. 'You think?'

There was s smirk on Sally's lips. She turned her attention back to her own selections. 'Trust me, honey. I know.'

Lindsay had no doubt she did. Intrigued, she went to try the dress on, she was pleased to discover that the dress looked better on than she'd imagined.

It would make Danny sit up and beg.