by Cynthia Eden
Mark braced his legs apart. “Ava’s stalker made an appearance earlier. He came to the art museum, armed with a knife...and isn’t Mary’s place just a few blocks from that art museum?”
Ty’s mouth dropped open as he seemed to understand Mark’s questions—and his suspicions. “You think I went after your girl?”
At this point, Mark didn’t know what to think.
“No, no.” The denial was sharp. “Call Mary. She’ll back me up. I didn’t do that. Come on, you know me, man. I would never do anything to hurt a woman. Not after the hell I saw my own mother endure.”
Because she’d been a victim, too. Ty had never mentioned specifics to Mark, but he’d let just enough slip over the years that Mark had realized Ty’s mother had been abused by a lover. To escape from that pain, she’d turned to booze. It numbs everything for her. Ty had told him that long ago.
“I’ve always had your back,” Ty told him, voice roughening. “Even when old man Montgomery passed—right after you—” He stopped, his chin jutting up in the air. “I never said a thing to the cops, did I?”
Mark’s drumming heartbeat filled his ears. He was aware of Ava stiffening. “There was nothing to tell the cops,” Mark said flatly.
“You threatened to kill him, man. Said he should pay for all the pain he’d caused. I heard you tell him that you knew what he’d done to the McGuires...” Ty cast an apologetic look at Ava. “And the next day, he was dead.”
“Mark?” Ava’s voice was stunned.
“I didn’t say anything to the cops,” Ty continued quickly. “Because I have your back. Always. So if you think I would ever do anything to hurt your girl, you are dead wrong.”
* * *
ALAN CHANNING LIVED in a high-rise condo in downtown Austin. Davis rode the elevator up to the guy’s floor, his body tight with tension. He’d turned over that ski mask to the cops, but even before the crime-scene techs had collected the important evidence, he’d seen the hairs stuck in the material.
Blond hairs.
The elevator opened, and Davis stalked down the hallway. The thick carpet muffled the sound of his footsteps. In moments he was in front of Alan’s door. Jaw locking, Davis lifted his hand and knocked.
Silence.
He waited, his impatience growing by the moment. He’d called Grant on the way over, and his brother was already digging into Alan Channing’s past. The guy had been at the scene tonight—too conveniently so—and if those blond hairs were linked to him...
You will go down for hurting my sister.
The door creaked open. Alan’s eyes flared in surprise when he saw Davis.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” Alan asked him. “Is Ava all right?”
Ava. “Mind if I come in?” Davis asked.
Alan blinked. “Uh, of course, come on in.” He stepped back. “I just got in myself. I had to stay with Kristin for a little while. She was quite flustered after the attack tonight.”
Davis thought “flustered” was quite an understatement. His gaze darted around the condo. The guy had obviously used an interior designer on the place. It looked like something out of a magazine—something perfect but untouched. There were no personal pictures in the place. No mementos. Just cold class.
“Ava is okay, isn’t she?”
Wanting to gauge his reaction, Davis turned his full attention back on the other man. “She left with Mark. I’m sure he’s keeping a very close eye on her.”
Alan’s lips tightened. “I thought you were taking her home.”
“Ava wanted Mark.”
Ah, there it was. A flash of anger on the guy’s face. “Ava could do far better than Mark Montgomery.”
He eased closer to the man. “Why were you at the museum tonight?”
Alan stepped back. “I’m on the board. I often go the museum—”
“But it wasn’t open to the public today.” He knew. He’d done plenty of checking. “They were working on a new exhibit. It was staff only.”
“I’m on the board!” Alan said again. “I was appointed recently, and I like to check up on things—”
“You’ve been making a lot of trips over to Houston in the last few months.” That was a total shot in the dark. Yes, Grant was checking for trips like that right then—but they didn’t know anything about the guy so far. All Davis had was his growing suspicion.
But at his words, Alan’s lips parted in surprise, and his head jerked. “That’s business! Just business!”
Well, well...
“My business takes me all over Texas. And yes, I have to visit Houston frequently. What does that matter?”
It mattered a great deal because... “Ava was living in Houston.”
Alan nodded. “Right, but Ava hadn’t seen me in ages. We ran into one another recently at the museum, we talked about grabbing a bite to eat together—and that is all.” The guy was sweating.
“Interesting phrasing you have there... Ava hadn’t seen you. But had you seen Ava?”
Alan’s chin hitched up. “I worried about her. She had a hard time after her parents died.”
Davis’s body tensed. “You don’t have to tell me that. She’s my sister. I know all about her.”
“No,” Alan said softly. “I don’t think you do. You still see her as that lost sixteen-year-old, but she isn’t that girl any longer.” Like he needed this guy telling him anything about Ava.
“Ava is so much more than you realize,” Alan continued, voice almost passionate. “I’ve always known that about her.”
The guy was talking about Ava as if he were still in love with her. And when Davis had seen them at the museum, Alan’s face had flashed with jealousy when Mark got near her.
Alan straightened his shoulders. “I don’t understand why you’re here.”
“I’m here because some psycho has been terrorizing my sister, and I don’t like for Ava to be afraid.”
“I don’t, either,” Alan said at once.
Davis smiled at him. He knew it wasn’t a pretty sight. “You don’t want me for an enemy.”
Alan’s cheeks flushed red as he sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m stating a fact. You don’t want me for an enemy, and you don’t want Mark Montgomery for an enemy.”
“I’m not afraid of Montgomery!”
You should be.
“Why was Ava at the museum tonight?”
Alan’s hands flew up in the air. “This is ridiculous! Obviously the woman was working. Kristin had a big project, and she needed all hands on deck.”
“And you knew all about that project?”
“I told you—”
“Right, you’re on the board.” This guy was pushing all of Davis’s buttons. “But Ava wasn’t scheduled to start at the museum for a few more days. Why would Kristin call her in early?”
Alan glanced away.
“I think I’ll call Kristin and find out,” Davis murmured.
Alan ran a shaking hand through his hair. “I told Kristin to call Ava in.”
I thought as much. You wanted Ava out in the open, didn’t you? Where you could get to her?
“I knew how qualified Ava was. This—this would have been a great opportunity for her—”
“Or for you.”
Alan inched back another step. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“It was a chance for you to get to Ava.” His hands clenched into fists. “I found the ski mask you left behind.”
“What ski mask?”
“The one you were wearing when you tried to stab Kristin. Only she wasn’t the target, right? It was Ava. You were waiting in that parking garage for her, but when the elevator opened, Ava wasn’t alone. Kristin was with her. You had to get rid of Kristin, so you
attacked.”
“No!” Alan shook his head. “I wasn’t in any parking garage! I was outside. I was coming by to see—to see if Ava wanted to have dinner with me. I didn’t attack anyone.”
“I found the ski mask,” Davis said again. “Your hair is in it.”
“My...my hair?”
“You left evidence behind. Very sloppy. But I guess you just couldn’t stand it anymore, could you? Seeing how close Ava was getting to Mark. She was supposed to come back for you, right? Not him?”
“Get out,” Alan spat.
“Just how long have you been obsessed with my sister?” Davis demanded as the rage heated in his gut. “Because now I’m wondering...did it start all of those years ago? She broke up with you, right? On the same night that our parents were killed.”
Alan marched to the door. He yanked it open. “Anything else you have to say to me...you can say through my attorney.”
“Don’t worry,” Davis took his time strolling toward the door. “I’m sure the cops will have plenty to say to you and your attorney real soon.”
Alan’s body seemed to be practically vibrating with rage.
Davis stopped right next to the man. “Stay away from my sister.”
Alan’s eyes burned with fury. “I’m not scared of Mark Montgomery, and I’m not scared of you, either. You think because you were some hotshot SEAL that I’m supposed to tremble when you’re near?”
The guy was trembling.
“I would never hurt Ava. Everything I’ve done has been to help her.” He gave a rough laugh. “So do your worst. Rip into my life. Go digging for all my secrets. You’ll see I’m not the one you’re after.”
“You’d better not be,” Davis told him. “Because if you are, I will make your life a living hell.”
Then he strolled out of the condo.
Alan slammed the door shut behind him.
Davis took out his phone and called Grant. “Hey, man, you need to get that info on Alan Channing yesterday.” He glanced back at the door. He knew that Brodie and Jennifer were at McGuire Securities with Grant—they were all working to dig up information on Alan Channing right then. “Because I think we may just have found Ava’s stalker.”
Chapter Ten
They were back at the guest cottage on the McGuire ranch. Mark turned off the car’s engine, but he didn’t make a move to leave the vehicle. Ava was beside him. She’d been pretty silent ever since Ty had dropped his bombshells.
He looked over at Ava. She sat there, as still as a stone. He told her, “I didn’t kill him.”
Ava flinched. She fumbled, opened her door and hurried from the vehicle. He followed right behind her and caught her before she could go inside the cottage. “Ava, please, wait!” He turned her around in his arms. “Listen to me, okay?”
She stared up at him. The porch light shone down on her.
“There were plenty of times when I wanted Gregory dead,” Mark confessed. More times than I can count. “When he hurt me, when he raged and drank... I wanted him to die.” The words were brutal and true. “I stayed here for my mother.” She’d been sick those last few years, battling heart disease, and she’d had no idea what Gregory had done to Mark. “When she passed, I didn’t plan to come back, ever.”
He’d tried to hide this part of his life from Ava because he’d been afraid she would turn away. Now he was desperate to do anything, to say anything, if he could just convince her to stay with him.
“Where did you go?” Ava asked him.
He half smiled. “Maybe I was more like your brothers than I realized back then. I joined the army. Served a tour and then I...went independent.”
Most folks didn’t call the contractors “mercenaries” any longer. He’d worked on jobs in so many different parts of the world. He’d seen things that he’d never be able to forget. And he’d realized...a man can only run so far from the ghosts that chased him.
“I got word that Gregory was bad. Drinking, going days without eating. He’d gotten a diagnosis of cancer, and it had driven him over the edge.”
She inhaled sharply. “I didn’t know—”
“No one did but me. His lawyers called me. Told me what was happening. He couldn’t take care of the ranch any longer, and if I didn’t come back, he was afraid he’d lose the business.” Only when he’d come back, he’d learned that Gregory was still interested destroying everyone around him. “I wanted him to get clean and look for treatment options. But he told me to screw off. Said he didn’t need me and never would.”
“What had he done to my family?”
His hand dropped back to his side. “Your father had been plagued by poor supply shipments and overzealous creditors for years. Did you know that?”
She shook her head.
“Yeah, I didn’t, either. Not until I came back. By then, Gregory wasn’t able to hide his secrets from me. I found records of all the times he’d tried to cause havoc in your father’s life.”
Ava’s eyes were so wide and deep.
“He thought he loved her,” Mark said. “In his twisted way. Though I doubt he could actually love anyone. And he wanted to punish your father for taking her away.”
“My mother?”
Mark nodded.
“That night—the last night he was alive—I’d found all the paperwork that showed what he’d done over the years. And even with your parents gone...” This was so hard to say to her. Especially when she was staring up at him with trust in her eyes. “I learned he was still trying to cause trouble. He should have been fighting the cancer! But he was scheming like mad and trying to get a team to come in and buy the ranch out from under your brothers.”
She stepped back.
“I told him it wasn’t happening. And, yeah, I said I should kill him myself. But that was just anger talking. Rage.” Fury at a man who’d abused him for years—and who’d enjoyed hurting so many people. “I told him that he was a disgrace and that maybe he was better off dead. Then I left him.” Guilt rose then, knifing through him. There’d been no love lost between him and Gregory but... I would wish that death he’d suffered on no one.
“Mark?”
“When I came back the next morning, he’d shot himself in the head.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her kind reaction shocked him. He had to touch her then. Had to wrap his arms around her shoulders and step even closer to her. “I told you what he did to your family.”
“He was the only father you knew.”
“He was a sick bastard who left me with more scars that I can count, and he harassed your family for years. No one should mourn him. No one should—”
“I’m sorry,” she said again. Her voice and her touch were so very gentle. “Because I know it hurt you. No matter what he’d done, I know it hurt.”
And it had. He put his forehead against hers.
Ava’s hand rose and caressed his jaw. “I know you,” she continued. “Even if you think you’re keeping your secrets from me, I know who you are inside.”
“I didn’t kill him.” Those words came out so gruff.
“I know.”
He’d seen suspicion on so many faces—even Ty’s. Ty thinks I did it. So do others at the ranch. But he hadn’t pulled that trigger. He hadn’t fired since his days in the Middle East.
Yet...
I would kill in an instant if it meant protecting her. That understanding went straight to his soul. He would truly do anything for Ava.
He pressed his lips to hers. When Ava was close, Mark felt better. Stronger. She made him want to be better. A man who was worthy of her.
The kiss deepened as he pushed her against the door.
Her taste made him heady. Desire surged through him. He couldn’t be near Ava and not want her. She’d gotten beneat
h his skin, and he knew that he’d never be able to escape the pull she had on him.
“Come inside with me,” Ava told him.
Like he needed to be asked twice.
Ava opened the door. Mark followed her inside. The cottage was dark as he reset the locks. Ava didn’t linger in the little den. She walked straight for the bedroom.
He hesitated.
“Don’t be shy now,” she told him, her voice light, soft, and banishing the grief and rage that had clung to him for a moment. “I’m waiting on you.”
“I don’t have a shy bone in my body.”
She slipped into the bedroom. He followed right behind her. The room smelled of Ava. Sweet strawberries. He turned on the light because he wanted to see every inch of her body.
She stood next to the bed and stripped. There was no shyness from her, either. Her clothing hit the floor with a soft rustle and she stood before him, her body bare and perfect. Her breasts thrust toward him. The pink tips were tight, and he wanted to taste them. Her waist curved into the flare of her hips. Just staring at her pretty much made him ache.
He stepped forward.
“You still have your clothes on,” Ava pointed out.
Mostly because he couldn’t wait to touch her. His hand curled around her breast, then stroked that tight nipple. Ava gave the little moan that he loved—Mark was sure he’d already grown addicted to that sound.
He lifted her up against him, holding her easily, and he took her nipple into his mouth. Her fingers sank into his hair as she arched toward him. He kissed that sweet flesh. Licked. Sucked. His mouth pressed to her as he carried her to the bed.
He put her down on the mattress, and for a moment he just stared at her. Lost. “You’re supposed to be afraid of me.”
She reached up and slid her hand under his shirt. “I’m shaking with fear.”
No, she wasn’t. “When I was in the army, and after...it wasn’t an easy time, baby. I did things—”