The woman who came to Quinton’s hotel room at ten o’clock that night was a beauty. He couldn’t help wondering how, after John couldn’t find him a woman last night, he was able to send this lovely creature tonight. She had long black hair and pale blue eyes and a perfect little figure. She was dressed in low-riding designer jeans and a close-fitting pink sweater which left nothing to the imagination. She reached up and pulled her raven hair back and her sweater slipped upward revealing a gold belly-button ring. For an instant he wondered if she was eighteen and he realized the last thing he needed was to be caught with a minor.
Maybe it was intuition, or maybe his good sense kicked in, but Quinton felt something wasn’t on the up and up with this young lady. He smiled at her and said, “I’m sorry, Miss, but I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“This is room 612 isn’t it?”
“It is, but I’m afraid somebody gave you some wrong information. I didn’t expect company.”
She cocked her head and gave him a pouty smile. “Even if I got the info wrong, maybe we could take advantage of the mistake. After all, you’re a good-looking man and from what I see in your pants you must think I’m pretty, too.”
Everything in him wanted to go along with her suggestion, but he still had that strange feeling. Quinton seldom ignored those warning bells in his head. The few times he’d not listened, he’d lived to regret it. He didn’t want to regret it tonight.
“I’m sorry, Miss. I’m sure it would be nice, but I think you should leave now. Go tell whoever sent you they gave you the wrong room number.”
“Let me get a little closer and see if you still want me to go.” She reached for him.
He backed up a little and was thankful because if she’d touched him he might have given in. “I’m sorry, Miss, but I said no.”
She looked as if she was going to cry. “Aren’t you going to give me some money for my trouble?”
“No, I’m not. Go tell your contact he has to pay for his mistake. I’m tired and I want to go to bed.”
“Alone?” She batted her eyes at him.
“Yes, alone.” He moved to the door and opened it. He put his hand on her back and eased her out of the room. “Thank you for coming.”
He closed the door and locked it then went into the bathroom, stripped and took a cold shower. All the time he was wondering if he’d passed up a good thing.
* * * *
The next morning he met John in the lobby.
“I sent for Calvin to bring the limo around. Did Jillian say yes?”
“I gave her until this morning to make up her mind. I’m going to see her and get the answer now.”
“Shall I call the other two?”
“Not yet. Let me have a firm answer from her first.”
John nodded and followed Quinton toward the door. “By the way, I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with a woman for you last night.”
Quinton gave him a sharp look. “What happened?”
“I mentioned it to the desk clerk and he said he’d see what he could do. I never heard from him.” John followed Quinton out the front door and they stood on the sidewalk. “I heard something interesting in the bar later last night, though.”
“What was that?”
“A little black-headed beauty came in and sat in the booth behind me with some men. I heard her tell them it didn’t work. The man sent her out of his room and refused to give her any money or let her take any clothes off.”
“And?”
“I nosed around a little and found out the desk clerk is only part time. He’s really a cop. Good thing I didn’t set up anything with him because it seems he called them and told them someone had asked for a prostitute. They tried to run a sting.” He grinned at Quinton. “Wouldn’t happen to be your room the woman came to was it?”
“You know damn good and well it was. I had a feeling there was something fishy going on. I sent her away.”
“I’m glad your instinct was on warp speed last night. I don’t know if I could’ve done that. The lady cop was a looker.”
Quinton chuckled. “I liked her looks, too. Took two cold showers to get rid of the evidence.”
“I don’t know how you do it, boss. You’ve made some wise decisions living by instinct.” He grinned. “What’s it telling you about this morning’s conversation with Ms. Lockland?”
The limo pulled up. The driver jumped out and opened the door for Quinton. As he was getting inside he said, “I have a feeling I’ll be married by tomorrow and my wife’s name will be Jillian.”
John gave him the thumbs up sign as the driver closed the door. In an instant, the car pulled away.