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“Whoopee,” she muttered.
Sean pushed on. “So that was our bonding experience with Tam. She was maid of honor at Con and Erin’s wedding, when she gave Margot, Davy’s wife, this hairclip that sprays soporific gas. Which saved Margot’s life when they were being hunted by this wacko scientist who was selling a lethal flu vaccine…” His voice trailed off. He gave Liv’s averted face an uneasy glance. “Maybe now’s not the time to share.”
“It’s OK.” Liv’s voice was hollow. “I’d rather know that the woman I’m staying with is a hard-core career criminal.”
“Not now,” Sean said quickly. “Retired career criminal would be more accurate. She just lurks in her fortress. Designs crazy jewelry.”
“Yeah. She’s as harmless as a patchwork granny, I’m sure.”
“She’s special, our Tam. Try not to let her get under your skin,” he advised. “Check out this space age cloaking device over the garage.”
“What garage?”
She gasped as the mountainside split, bushes and moss and rocks gliding smoothly aside to reveal a garage carved right into the mountainside. “My God,” she whispered. “This is surreal.”
“Yeah,” he said, switching off the headlights. “Don’t worry. Tam likes us, for some reason. I imagine that’s why she hasn’t killed us yet.”
Liv stared, transfixed, at the rectangle of red-tinged light at the end of the dark garage. Light spilled out, reflecting in a long, ruddy streak on the gleaming stonework of the floor. A slender form appeared in silhouette, dramatically backlit. Hip cocked, leaning against the door frame. A gun dangled negligently from one hand. The other brought a cigarette to her lips. The tip glowed red. She tilted her chin up, blew out a stream of smoke. It looked like the opening of a dance piece.
Liv took a deep breath, and shoved the car door open. All she needed. Another challenge. Chatting up the beautiful bad Bond girl.
Sean slid his arm around her waist. “Relax,” he whispered. “What’s with the gun, Tam?” he demanded. “Lighten up.”
“The day I lighten up is the day I get killed.” Tam’s voice was low and husky. “I know your face, but I don’t know hers. She could have been holding a gun to your ribs, for all I knew.”
“I don’t do things like that,” Liv announced.
“I can see that.” Tam took another deep drag on her cigarette and sauntered towards them, hips swaying languorously, keeping Liv’s face in the light and her own in the shadow. “Oh, God, look at you. Looks like I’ll be doing some emergency shopping in the morning.” She grabbed the flapping T-shirt Liv wore and twisted it, to reveal the shape of her body. “Nice tits. Thirty-six double D, size…twelve?”
Liv jerked away, hackles rising. “On a good day. But please don’t bother. I’ll manage.”
Tam took another drag. “I can’t let a sister with a figure like yours dress like that. It’s a crime. Follow me. And take off those shoes.”
Liv stopped on the threshold, stepping out of her ruined sandals. “Do you have a no-shoes rule in your house?”
“I have a no-ugly-shoes rule in my house,” Tam said coolly.
Sean made a smothered laughing sound, and turned his face away. Liv privately vowed to make him pay for that lapse. In blood.
“Look, lady, I’ve been on the run for my life,” Liv told her, through set teeth. “I’ve had way more important things to think about than—”
“On the run for your life is all the more reason to look your best, cupcake.” Tamara tucked her gun into the back of her jeans, and waved them on ahead of her. “Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”
Liv stared as Tam tapped in codes to reset the alarms.
“I’ve never seen you with brown hair and yellow eyes,” Sean said.
“Enjoy it while you can,” Tam said. “You may never see it again.”
Tam was slim, muscular, and curvy, a triple combination which Liv took as a personal affront, it being so unfair. Her brown hair was braided, long wisps dangling around the sharp line of her jaw. She had the most astonishingly beautiful face Liv had ever seen. Everything was perfect; high cheekbones, full lips, straight, perfect nose. Her eyes were huge; golden brown, with curling lashes and winged brows. There were smudgy circles beneath them, but what would make another woman look tired and frazzled made Tam look dramatic and mysterious.
She was dressed in faded Levis and a tank top that showed off several inches of taut belly. No makeup. Barefoot. Her only jewelry was a gold horn stuck through one ear that tapered to a point, like a fang. Anyone hugging her would probably bleed to death, stuck through the carotid artery. Maybe that was the idea.
Liv felt fat, frumpy and outclassed. She couldn’t stop staring.
Tam ignored her, evidently used to it. She shooed them into a huge kitchen, and turned on a bright overhead light. Liv blinked as the light refracted off an uncountable number of gleaming reflective surfaces. Tam gave Sean a brilliant smile. “Your brothers will be here to kick you around, first thing in the morning.”
Sean groaned. “Shit. Tam, I told you not to—”
