Fallen Angels: Beguiled / Wanton / Uncovered. Lori Foster

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СКАЧАТЬ looked at Dane, a wicked smile of appreciation curving her lips, then proceeded to pound her fiancé on the back until he’d managed to catch his breath. Dane leaned back in his chair, enjoying the dinner for the first time that evening.

      Damn, so much to think about. So Angel was innocent all the way around. That fact twisted his guts, making him feel guilty as hell, as if he were the one who’d betrayed her. He determined to make it up to her somehow. Whether she wanted him to or not.

      An hour later as they all gathered in the salon for drinks and conversation, Dane cornered his sister. Raymond was busy schmoozing their mother, and Celia was blessedly alone, staring out a window at the dark night. As he approached, she looked down at his hand and the drink he held.

      “I thought you abstained.”

      He lifted the glass in a salute. “Pure cola and ice. Nothing more.”

      “It irritates Mother, you know. That you won’t have a social drink.”

      Dane thought of Mick, so defiant as he explained his mother was an alcoholic. “In my line of work, I see too many drink-related cases. Men and women who abandon their families in favor of a bottle. They all started out as social drinkers.” Shaking off his sudden tension, he smiled at Celia. “Besides, I enjoy irritating Mother.”

      To his surprise, his teasing wasn’t returned. Celia turned fully to face him. “How do you do it, Dane? How do you just turn your back on everything, on all of us?”

      A frontal attack. He hadn’t expected it of his sister, but he relished a moment to clear the air. He’d missed her in the time he’d been away. Though she was a lot like his mother, her strength and determination not to be underestimated, she was also a woman who thought for herself, who didn’t blindly accept his mother’s dictates. He’d found that out tonight. In the years he’d stayed away, his sister had evidently come into her own.

      Too long, too damn long. “There’s nothing for me to stay here for, Celia. You know that. Mother made certain she drove me away—”

      “She’s sorry for that, Dane.” Celia touched his arm. Her eyes, the same hazel shade as his, were dark with concern. “She realizes now that you really did love Anna, that she shouldn’t have interfered.”

      He snorted. “Is that what you call it, interference? She deliberately destroyed my life, accused my fiancée of all kinds of reprehensible things, and just because she didn’t approve of Anna’s family.”

      Celia bit her lip, then forged on. “You were both so young. Besides, she did take the money, Dane. Mother didn’t force it on her.”

      “She made Anna feel as if that were the only option, as if she couldn’t possibly be my wife. Mother made sure she knew she’d never fit in.” Even as he said the words, he accepted that he wasn’t being a hundred percent truthful with her or himself. “Anna was pregnant, you know. After she ran off, she lost the baby. My baby.”

      Celia covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh no, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

      “I told Mother. I was angry and hurt and I wanted her to understand exactly what her manipulation had cost me. Do you know what she said?”

      Numbly, Celia shook her head.

      “She said it was for the best.”

      Celia lowered her forehead to Dane’s shoulder and her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “Mother’s set in her ways, Dane. She means well, and she really does love you. It’s just that sometimes she doesn’t think.”

      He had nothing to say to that. It amazed him that his sister would always try to defend their mother, no matter what she did.

      “Will you stay on at the company this time? We need you here.”

      Lifting a hand to his sister’s fair hair, giving one silky lock a teasing tug, he said, “You already know the answer to that.”

      She sighed. “I suppose I do. But I was hopeful.”

      “It’s not for me, sis. I don’t feel comfortable there and besides, I love playing detective too much to give it up.”

      She smiled at his teasing, then turned to face the window again. “I miss him so much.”

      “Me, too. Even though we hadn’t been in contact much lately, I always knew he was here. There were only miles separating us, and I knew we could get in touch if we chose to.” Dane wanted to tell her that he suspected Derek had been murdered, but he held back. His sister had enough on her plate for the moment. “I’m proud of how you stood up to Mother.”

      She made a disgusted sound. “She’s hurting. And it angers her if anyone even suggests Derek might not have been perfect. But I can’t sit by and watch her persecute an innocent woman.”

      Dane thought his sister was pretty damn special at that moment, and more than ever, he regretted the amount of time he’d let pass without seeing his family.

      “How long are you willing to help out?”

      Until I see things settled, he thought, but he only shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll see. Right now, I have every agent in my own business maxed out, working on two or more cases at a time. And running between offices isn’t getting any easier.” Especially while trying to uncover a murderer.

      He looked up at that moment to see Raymond watching him while his mother chatted in Raymond’s ear, no doubt regaling him with stories of old acquaintances, money and power. It was all his mother knew, all she cared about, and Raymond, with his desire to ingratiate himself, provided the perfect audience. Dane nodded then looked away. “Do you love him?”

      Celia laughed. “You say that as if such a thing is unimaginable.”

      “I just want you to be happy.”

      “I’d be happy if you stayed on.” She quickly raised her hands. “But I understand why you can’t. Dane, why were you asking questions about Angel Morris?”

      She effectively sidetracked him and he rubbed his chin, wondering what to tell her. Finally he said, “I suppose it just surprises me what Derek did. I don’t like to think him capable of such things. Can you even begin to imagine what Angel Morris must have felt like?”

      Celia leaned into him, their shoulders touching. “If it’s any consolation, I think he regretted it. He was very distracted those last few weeks. And unhappy. He told me once that Angel would never forgive him, and that he didn’t blame her. It was almost like he’d had to hurt her, though I never understood why. I planned to ask him, to understand, but then he died.”

      Dane didn’t understand either, but he felt better for having talked with his sister. His mother he simply hoped to avoid so she couldn’t try to nail him down on his intentions. He didn’t want anyone to know his plans until he’d figured everything out. At this point, he wasn’t certain who to trust, so he trusted no one.

      Not even Angel. The more he learned, the more reason he had to wonder why she’d ever contacted Derek again in the first place. She had to hate him for all he’d done to her. But, his thinking continued, Derek had also given her Grayson, and the baby appeared to be the most important thing in her life. Maybe for that reason alone, she’d СКАЧАТЬ