LITMIR.BIZ

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before she vomited.

      As she lay with her cheek pressed against the cold tile floor, she didn’t know what was worse—the morning sickness or the moment of temporary insanity that had led her to the White Knight Investigations’ offices.

      But something she did know for certain now. She had gotten herself into this mess, and she was going to have to get herself out of it. There were no white knights on sturdy steeds coming to her rescue.

      She had only herself to rely on. And just as she had throughout her life, she would have to find the strength to face whatever came and do whatever had to be done. Alone.

      CHAPTER TWO

      “OUR CLIENT IS VERY pleased, David,” Charles Knight told his son as he waved a check. “Getting a runaway to voluntarily return to her parents isn’t something we see often. How’d you pull it off?”

      Charles sat on the edge of his son’s desk. He was David’s height and still powerfully built at sixty-four, with the finely chiseled features of the men who swung tennis rackets and rode polo ponies in slick magazine ads.

      “Her boyfriend convinced our runaway to bail on her family,” David told his dad. “She imagined herself in love and was ready to give up anything for the guy, until I showed her some live-action video of the slimeball getting it on with another girl.”

      “Where did that video come from?”

      “The guy taped it himself. He gets his kicks filming his conquests of underage girls.”

      Charles shook his head. “What are you going to do about him?”

      “He’s twenty-one. Jared has all the evidence he needs to make an arrest. I just wanted to be sure our client’s daughter was home safe and out of the fray before the law got involved.”

      “Smart of you to bring your brother in on this, David. As always, you have thoroughly thought out every aspect of this case. So, why are you frowning?”

      David took the file in front of him and shoved it into his open desk drawer. “Didn’t realize I was.”

      “Something on your mind?”

      David closed the drawer and looked up at his dad. Those steel-blue eyes had him in their sights. Charles might have the look of a country club man, but David knew his dad had the keen instincts and cunning of a cougar.

      “I was just thinking about this woman who came by yesterday morning before the offices were open.”

      “You caught a cat burglar?” Charles asked with a smile.

      “Probably would have been better if she’d turned out to be one.”

      The teasing smile faded from Charles’s lips as he studied his son’s solemn face. “So, what’s this woman’s name?”

      “It’s not important.”

      “Something about her is. You going to tell me?”

      David wondered whether he should. Maybe a discussion was what he needed to help put all the churning images and emotions into a semblance of order.

      “She wanted me to find some guy she had a one-night stand with. Seems she’s carrying his kid.”

      “Not exactly an everyday request,” Charles said, “but I don’t see the problem.”

      “She made me drag every detail out of her like I was some prosecuting attorney grilling a hostile witness. Even when I explained that she had to open up and be totally honest if I was going to help her, she still held back crucial information.”

      “What crucial information?”

      “She was wearing a wedding band, yet she said nothing about being married. And, believe me, I gave her plenty of opportunity to spit it out.”

      Charles shrugged. “So she was embarrassed or ashamed or both. I’m not saying that dealing with a cheating spouse is pleasant, just part of the job. And there’s nothing in the private eye book of rules that says we have to like a client.”

      “But this one didn’t look like someone who should be lying through her straight, white teeth.”

      Charles let out a long breath. “Ah, so that’s the problem. You do like her.”

      David knew there was no point in arguing. He was attracted to Susan, had been from the first moment he saw her. Not even her evasions or the fact that she was married changed that.

      He shot up from his chair, feeling suddenly confined and inexplicably cornered. He stomped over to the window and stared out at the gray day.

      “For two solid years attractive women have entered and left this office on a regular basis and my heart hasn’t skipped a beat.”

      “Something about this woman has changed that. Don’t beat yourself up, David. Had to happen sometime. Your body’s just telling you the time has come to get back in the game.”

      “The timing’s lousy. Makes no sense at all that I’d be attracted to her.”

      “Hell, son, I’ve yet to hear a logical explanation as to what happens to a man’s normal good sense when he gets around a certain woman. But if you feel that uncomfortable around this one, maybe your brother Richard better take her case.”

      “The case isn’t ours.”

      “She changed her mind?”

      “I turned her down,” he said as he twisted to gaze at the now empty chair where Susan had sat.

      “That’s not like you, son.”

      David knew that. Only too well.

      He turned back to the window, where miles of slick, silver streets and gray forest spread out before him. On the distant horizon the majestic snow-capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains gathered what was left of the day’s fading light. But all he saw was the stricken look on Susan’s face when he had all but thrown her out of his office.

      “Maybe she didn’t tell me about her husband because he’s some big, mean bastard who beats her,” David said. “Or maybe he’s having sexual problems and can’t perform, and she didn’t want to reveal his weakness.”

      “What do you want to do?”

      “I want to make this right.”

      Charles walked over to his son and rested his hand briefly on his shoulder. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll do.”

      “I’m glad one of us is confident.”

      “I know you, David. When you have a destination in mind, nothing gets in your way. You meticulously map out the steps you need to take, and you doggedly follow them until you get there.”

      David glanced at his dad. “That used to make you groan when it was my turn to pick the route for a family vacation.”

      “Only because your old man is the adventurous sort who likes to set off and see what’s around the bend,” Charles said with his usual hearty flare and no hint of apology. “You have to admit, we came upon a lot of amazing sights when we winged it. Things no amount of planning could have uncovered. Something your mother has never fully appreciated, I might add.”

      “You always got us lost,” David said with a growing grin.

      “And you always got us there. Using the shortest route. Within the scheduled time frame. Or earlier. Damn showoff.”

      David took the punch of pride his father delivered, knowing the spirit in which it was thrown, despite the rocking force of the blow against his upper arm.

      Charles checked his watch. “Speaking of time, I’d better get going. Have to swing by Jack’s office to see if he’s completed a background check I asked him to do before I pick up my car at the shop. Got the brakes adjusted today.”

      “Need

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