LITMIR.BIZ

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home with the best news of his budding career, and there was nobody to listen. Sister Katy had stolen his thunder.

      “Here,” Cassie called from the hall, waving a piece of paper. “She did leave us a note!”

      Marion took it from her with trembling hands and read it. “Mama and all,” Katy had scribbled. “Danny and I are engaged. We are going to Chicago today to meet his parents. We’ll invite you all to the wedding! Wish us luck. Love, Katy.”

      Ben met his mother’s dark eyes. “Do you believe it?”

      She shook her head. “But it’s important that we make Coleman believe it…Do you understand me, Ben, Cassie?”

      They both nodded. Cole’s temper wasn’t something to arouse unnecessarily. It was frankly dangerous.

      MEANWHILE KATY WAS SITTING jauntily beside Danny in the spiffy Alfa Romeo, forcing herself to laugh gaily and pretend wild enthusiasm for the long trip North.

      Beside her, Danny Marlone was grinning from ear to ear, his complexion even darker against his perfect white teeth. He gave his companion a warm glance and began to whistle.

      “You’ll love the Windy City, baby,” he said. “I’ll show you all the best places. There’s a beach…You’ll love that. I’ve got this big house, all stone, on a hill overlooking the lake, chock-full of servants. You’ll have everything you want. Everything!”

      “Darling, I did tell this one itty-bitty white lie,” she said, wanting everything aboveboard.

      He caught her hand and pressed the palm to his lips. “What itty-bitty white lie?”

      She swallowed, trying not to think about Turk and how it had been…“Well, so that my brother wouldn’t kill you, I said we were getting married.”

      “Darling! But this is so sudden!” He chuckled, grinning at her.

      She just stared, taken aback.

      “It sounds great, doesn’t it? Mr. and Mrs. Danny Marlone,” he said, clasping her fingers closer. He laid her open palm on his thigh. “Yeah, I like that. We’ll go whole hog, too. Announcements in all the papers, only the best people at the wedding. Your family can come. Your big brother can give you away. Oh, it’ll be great, honey!”

      Her breath lodged in her chest. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing! “But I thought you just—just wanted to have an affair!” she burst out, turning to face him.

      “I want you,” he said, and the look in his eyes made her feel oddly humble. That wasn’t lust. That was love, pure and simple, and even while she marveled at being the recipient of it, she ached to have that look from Turk. She never would, now. Never.

      “For keeps?” she whispered.

      He nodded. He pulled the car to the side of the road and let the engine idle while he stared at her. “For keeps. Let’s get married.”

      “I’m not a virgin,” she said straight-out, without going into detail.

      “Neither am I. So what?” he asked bluntly.

      Her cheeks went rosy. She smiled, feeling really shy. “Well…”

      He bent and put his mouth over hers. It wasn’t unpleasant, letting him kiss her. He ran his hands slowly over her shoulders, down over her breasts, and that wasn’t unpleasant, either.

      He laughed. “You’re not that experienced, either, chick,” he whispered as she flushed again. He winked at her as he moved back under the wheel and put it in gear. “We’ll get along okay. Now sit back and watch this baby run!” He hit the accelerator, and the car shot forward with a surge of pure power.

      Katy, sitting beside him, suddenly felt as if she’d won a lottery. So there wouldn’t be any disgrace. She’d be a respectable married lady, and Cole wouldn’t come and kill Danny. She closed her eyes and smiled. She wondered what Turk would say when he found out. He’d probably be relieved to hear that she was out of his hair once and for all, she thought bitterly. She comforted herself with the hope that she wouldn’t be pregnant. Turk had tried to spare her that shame. It was one thing to go to Danny without her chastity, quite another to present him with another man’s child. She had too much character for that kind of dirty trick. But…what if Turk’s actions had been too late?

      FAR AWAY, ON THE NORTHERN end of San Antonio, Lacy was clutching her husband’s sleeve as he helped her on board the morning train that ran down through Floresville and stopped on a siding near Spanish Flats.

      He was deadly quiet this morning, all business. Still in his work clothes, he drew feminine eyes nevertheless. But he never returned those sly glances, or even acknowledged them. He helped Lacy into a seat and slid lazily down beside her. Deceptive, that slow movement of his lean, hard body. She’d seen him in a hurry once or twice, and he was as quick as greased lightning and twice as dangerous.

      “Katy will be glad of some young company,” he remarked as the train pulled slowly out of the station, lurching with the first movements.

      “What’s he like, this Chicago man she’s seeing?” Lacy asked.

      He shrugged. “Italian. Dark, well mannered, a little shady. Turk doesn’t like him.”

      “Turk doesn’t like anybody around Katy, and you know it,” she murmured dryly, glancing up at his hard face.

      Dark, angry eyes cut down into hers. “Turk is the best friend I have in the world. But even he isn’t permitted that kind of familiarity. Katy isn’t going to become one of Turk’s castoffs.”

      “Oh, no,” Lacy said demurely, folding her hands over the lap of her dark skirt. “But she’s perfect for a gangster?”

      “It isn’t that kind of relationship. She’s young. She’s just having a fling,” he said.

      She watched him cross his long legs and roll a cigarette. He was so capable, she thought. Always in perfect command, taking charge, making everything all right. She’d felt secure with him, even in their early days together. She’d never been afraid when Cole was anywhere around.

      “Why won’t you let Turk near her?” she asked bluntly.

      He turned in the seat, with his arm draped carelessly over the back, and studied her. “Because he seduces everything in skirts,” he said matter-of-factly. “Katy would be easy prey. Then it would be impossible. He’d be embarrassed and guilty about it, and she’d be compromised or worse. I’d have to do something about it, and that wouldn’t help anybody. No. It’s better this way.”

      “You don’t think he could settle down, maybe get married?” she persisted gently.

      “He was married,” he said. “She died. He’s never wanted anyone else like that. I’m not sure he can. He likes his own company now.”

      “Like you,” she said, smiling faintly.

      His broad shoulders lifted and fell. “I’m used to it. It takes too much time and effort, letting people get close. More often than not, they find a weakness and exploit it. If you keep them at arm’s length, that can’t happen.”

      “It’s a pretty lonely life,” she reminded him, gray eyes soft and searching.

      “Loneliness and independence are different words for the same thing. Freedom. I like mine. I don’t think I could survive being hog-tied and smothered.”

      “I never tried to smother you,” she said, defending herself. “I just hated being ignored constantly.”

      “And the one time I didn’t ignore you,” he replied quietly, watching her blush, “you cried all night long. I heard you, even through the wall.”

      She turned her face away, but he caught her chin and jerked it back around to search it, his eyes dark and fierce.

      “You walked away,” she said unsteadily, glancing

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