LITMIR.BIZ

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of the brother was out of proportion, based on Derek’s dramatized bragging and her own wild imagination. But in her mind, he’d become her nightmare, and she was very afraid. “Out of all of them, I fear him the most.”

      He leaned back, watching her carefully. “Angel…”

      “No! They can’t know. Ever. If that seems selfish of me, I don’t care.” Her hands trembled, despite her tight grip, because she knew if he decided to take her baby away, he could. And she was already proving how weak she was against him. “I’m a good mother, Derek, I swear it.”

      He sighed. “I never doubted it, honey.” He shoved himself reluctantly from the bed and pulled a pen from his pocket. Using a notepad on the bedside table, he scribbled down some numbers. “I’m going to give you my number.”

      “I already have it.”

      He stalled, looking harassed for a moment, then shook his head. “It’s hard to reach me at home these days. Here are the numbers to my cellular and my pager. You can always reach me with them. If you ever need me, for anything, call either one of these numbers.”

      Angel nodded, feeling foolish for her outburst. She was just so weary, so tired of being afraid. He cupped her cheek again.

      “I’ll be back tomorrow.” His gaze probed hers, demanding. “You’ll be here?”

      “Yes.”

      “Good.” He leaned down and kissed her once more, a light kiss that still made her shiver. “Pretty soon, you’ll stop looking so afraid, Angel. And you’ll start to trust me. I promise.”

      As he walked out of the room, Angel looked at the paper with his numbers. Somehow, just having someone to call made her feel safer.

      She heard the front door close, the lock turn, and she dropped her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes. As she drifted off to sleep, the paper was still in her hand.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      “I WAS TAILED last night,” Dane said the minute Alec had taken his seat. He looked at his closest friend, waiting for his reaction.

      “From the woman’s place?”

      “No, thank God. Later, from my house. It was dark, and I have no idea who it was, but I don’t like it. I want you to set up a watch at her apartment. Something is definitely going on and I don’t want her hurt.”

      “The man who was with her yesterday?”

      Dane shook his head, again remembering how protective Mick had been. “No, he’s a kid and a blessing as far as I can tell. If it hadn’t been for him, she’d probably never have made it.”

      Alec said nothing. It was one of the things Dane liked most about him. He didn’t pry. In fact, he was one of the most closemouthed bastards he’d ever met.

      “Something about her just doesn’t add up. It’s like she wants Derek around, but she’s forced to it.” Then he shook his head again. “No, that’s not entirely true. There’s something there—but it sure as hell isn’t trust or friendship. She initiated things, but now that I’m, or rather Derek’s, interested, she’s trying to back off. I think she got more than she bargained for.”

      “You want me to check into her background, the time she spent with your brother?” Alec’s eyes were almost black, the same as his hair, and piercingly direct. Dane knew he could find out anything he wanted. How he found things out sometimes left him curious.

      “No.” He didn’t want anyone snooping into Angel’s past but himself. He had no idea what clues he might uncover, but they were his business and no one else’s. He didn’t question his protective attitude. He’d find out what happened to his brother, but he’d find it out his way, and isolate Angel’s involvement as much as possible. After all, she was his nephew’s mother; for now, that was all the excuse he needed. “I’ll take care of it. In fact, I have Raymond coming in today.”

      Alec snorted, shifting his big body uneasily in the chair. He was in his usual jeans and a flannel shirt, his hair pulled back in a ponytail. He looked like a mugger, or the typical bad guy. Dane grinned.

      “You don’t like him either? Why?”

      Alec shrugged, indifferent. “I don’t really know him.”

      “Dammit Alec…”

      “Something about him just doesn’t sit right. You know it yourself.”

      “Yes. I know you’re also suspicious of just about everyone.” Dane assumed his own dislike of Raymond was personal. He was engaged to Dane’s sister, Celia, and Raymond reminded him too much of his own family—ruthless, business-oriented. He probably suited Celia to a tee.

      “I do have some info for you.”

      Dane straightened, his thoughts once again in perspective. “Let’s have it.”

      “Where your brother’s car went off the road, there’s an extra set of skid marks. Two cars were going fast that day, and two cars braked. Unfortunately, your brother’s was the one that went off the berm.” Alec handed him a file folder. “I checked with the police on duty that day. They say that’s a dangerous curve and people are always squealing their tires there, that the extra marks don’t mean anything and could have been from long ago. I don’t think so.”

      Dane took the folder, his temper heating as he pondered his brother trying to escape another car. He would find out what had happened.

      “There’s another thing.”

      Dane looked up.

      “Your brother had been in a local bar, not the classiest of joints, which is what drew my attention, and he’d been drinking it up right before the accident. The bartender said he’d met someone there, but that nothing seemed unusual about it. He didn’t have a description, only that it was a male.”

      “Dammit!” Dane exploded from his seat and paced around his desk. Playing the role of his brother was wearing on his nerves. Using Derek’s office, his name, made him edgy. He’d left this life behind long ago and though he hadn’t moved far away, he’d still managed to keep an emotional distance from it all; now he was back under the worst possible circumstances. “Why are the cops blowing this off?”

      “You know as well as I do, everyone claims your brother was acting goofy for a month. They just summed this up to stress.”

      “Bullshit. My brother could run two companies and not be stressed. He was primed for it, raised to do it. And he thrived on it.” Unlike Dane, who hated every minute of the corporate business agenda. He wondered why his mother didn’t know any of this, why she hadn’t pursued the truth.

      “I’m not arguing with you.”

      Pressing a fist against his forehead, Dane muttered, “So what does Angel have to do with all this? I don’t believe she was directly connected to Derek’s death, but it is possible she helped pave the way for the killer, maybe unknowingly. She could be our only lead to what really happened since she was the last person to be close with him. But why would Derek have treated her so poorly?”

      Alec shrugged, not forthcoming with a verbal response.

      A knock on the door had both men swinging their heads around. “Come in.”

      Raymond Stern sauntered in, his three-piece suit immaculate, his hair styled. Dane winced at the sight of him. The man, though pleasant enough, represented everything Dane disliked about the corporate world and his family. “Thank you for stopping by, Raymond.”

      Raymond looked at Alec, a suspicious frown in place. “No problem. You said you wanted to talk?”

      Dane nodded and reseated himself behind his desk. Alec stood. “I’ll be going now, unless you need something else?”

      Dane shoved the file folder into a drawer before answering. “No. I’ll be in

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