by Wendy Haley
“What are you trying to say?” he asked.
“I’m talking about faith,” she said, her voice low and intense. “Those people were abandoned by Smithfield in the cruelest way possible. But they haven’t lost the ability to trust again. And to love. That, Detective, is the gift of faith.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are we really talking about here?”
“About us. You and me.”
His brows rose. “And faith?”
“Yes. You were the one who said we have something big and powerful, something you couldn’t name. Maybe...” She paused for a moment, struggling to contain her tumultuous emotions. “Maybe if you could learn to trust, you might learn to put a name to this.”
Ah, Gabriel thought. He saw the trap now. It was a very good one, tempting simply because it was baited with Rae herself. But he’d learned already how treacherous she could be.
“What’s the angle this time, Rae?” he asked.
She blinked in astonishment. “What are you talking about?”
“Maybe this time you can actually get me kicked off the force,” he growled.
Rae took a deep breath, stunned by the extent of her own hurt. She’d laid herself open to him in a way she’d never done before, and he didn’t care.
She’d lost. Finally and forever, she’d lost. A vast, echoing emptiness bloomed in her soul, and for a moment she was afraid she couldn’t hold it all. Then she took a deep, shuddering breath.
Of course she would handle this. Of course she would go on, and in time she might even be able to forget him. Of course. And the sun might freeze in place, the moon might be proven to really be made of green cheese.
“Cops have no hearts,” she said.
“Cops can’t afford to have hearts.”
Tears washed through her, a tropical rainstorm of loss that she kept sternly inside. She’d shown him too much already. With a convulsive movement, she rose to her feet.
“Where are you going?” he demanded.
“Back to the office. I’ve got work to do.”
“You haven’t eaten.”
“Maybe not,” she replied. “But I’ve had enough.” Turning, she walked out.
Chapter 15
Rae made it all the way to the car before she started crying.
Half-blinded with tears, she retrieved Tom the Dog from the back seat and cuddled him. Sensing her distress, the puppy wriggled closer, covering her tear-streaked face with comforting dog kisses. She rubbed her cheek against his neck.
“I tried,” she murmured into his soft, wavy fur.
Then she set off on foot. She didn’t care where she went, as long as it was far, far away from Gabriel MacLaren. God, she’d been stupid to think she could reach him.
“Rae.”
MacLaren. She shot a glance over her shoulder and saw the Taurus pacing her along the curb.
“Rae—”
“Go away,” she said, managing to keep her voice steady.
“Get in the car,” he ordered.
Her tears vanished in a wave of fury so hot it felt as though flames were shooting through her. It wasn’t fair, damn it. He’d turned her life to chaos and broken her heart, and he couldn’t even give her time enough for a much-needed cry.
“I don’t have to get in the car,” she snapped. “I don’t have to do anything you say. And this time, you can’t even arrest me.”
Head high, she stalked away.
She got as far as the corner. Just as she stepped off the curb at the intersection, Gabriel brought the Taurus to a screeching halt in front of her. This time, he didn’t waste time talking. He came barreling out of the car, scooped her and the puppy into his arms and stuffed them into the passenger eat.
Glaring over his shoulder at the gawking onlookers, he growled, “Police business, folks. Move along.”
They scattered, surely more because of his brooding, bad-tempered scowl than because of his words.
Rae gave him her best withering look. “Don’t worry, Detective. I’m still going to help you with your case, if only to get you out of my hair. But I’ll be giving you results by telephone or fax.”
He pulled out into traffic so fast that she didn’t have a chance to even consider jumping out of the car. Besides, Tom the Dog wriggled out of her grasp and climbed into the back seat, and she wasn’t about to leave him. She craned to look for him, but he’d slipped down out of sight.
What wouldn’t go wrong? she wondered. At least she had her anger. It was her shield against the threatening tears, and her shield against the man she loved so desperately and futilely.
“I want to go home,” she said.
Gabriel glanced at her with unreadable eyes. “Uh-uh. We’ve still got work to do tonight.”
Rae’s stomach did a steep nosedive toward her knees. She did not want to spend more time with him this evening. She couldn’t.
“Look,” she snapped, “I’ve put my whole day into your case, and I’m tired.”
Gabriel ignored her. Not because he was so anxious to work.
But something had snapped in him when she’d walked out of the delicatessen. and he’d followed her as though pulled by a string.
Very disturbing. Very unwelcome. After what she’d done to him, he shouldn’t give a damn where she went.
“We’re going to work,” he said.
“I’m not efficient when I’m tired.”
“Does that mean you’re not going to do anything constructive?”
“Officer, I wouldn’t dream of failing to cooperate with the police,” she cooed.
He braced his hands on the steering wheel. The light from the streetlights overhead cast hard-edged shadows in his face as he scowled at her. “What’s with you tonight?” he demanded.
“Nothing.”
“You are the most aggravating woman I’ve ever met. One moment you’re fine...Hell, you were even trying to convince me of the magical power of love. Then you just walked out in a huff.”
Rae sighed at the futility of it all. He couldn’t understand. His life was drug dealers and gamblers, thieves and cheats.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Why should I?”
Gabriel blinked, surprised by her counterattack. Why, indeed? It was obvious they had no common ground between them. Heck, they didn’t even trust each other. He didn’t even know why he’d come after her, other than he’d had to.
“Hell if I know,” he said.
Rae crossed her arms over her chest and lapsed into resentful silence. Only a faint violet stain in the western sky was left now, and lights bloomed in the buildings around them. As the darkness closed in, the city spread like a starlit sea around them.
Strange, she thought, how the night turned even this asphalt-and-concrete anthill into a fairyland. Somebody else would have thought it romantic. Under the cover of the darkness, she allowed herself a grimace. Romance. Not with Detective Gabriel MacLaren.
The moment he stopped the Taurus in front of her office building, she unhooked her seat belt and leaned over to find Tom. She found him crouched in the floorboards surrounded by shreds of white paper. A familiar smell drifted up to her. She turned to look at Gabriel, who obviously didn’t know what was going on.
“Barbecue,” she said. “You brought the sandwiches.”
He leaned over to look, and groaned. “I was looking forward to that. Heck, Rae. What is it with you and barbecue?”
“Me?” she echoed. “Did I know the food was there? If you’d said something about it, I would have made sure the dog didn’t get back there.”
“You weren’t talking, remember?” he countered.
Rae stared at him for a moment. Then she leaned over the seat and retrieved Tom. Tucking him under her arm, she got out of the car and headed for her office building. Gabriel caught up to her while she was still unlocking the outer door.
“I want you to go away,” she said.
“And I want to see i
f you got any replies to your e-mail.”
She gave him a hard stare. “You know, if you had a life outside of your job, you might be a nicer human being.”
“According to you, cops aren’t human beings at all.”
“I have never said that.”
“But you thought it.”
Rae was not about to admit any thoughts of any kind whatsoever. She shot a glance at Gabriel over her shoulder. His eyes were heavy lidded and secretive, and his gaze held an intensity that was rather disturbing. It seemed as though he were sifting through her layer by layer. She had the feeling that he wanted to strip away everything and peer straight into her soul.
And he hadn’t earned it.
Once in her office, she sat down in front of her computer. Gabriel leaned his hip against the desk beside her. Too close, much too close. He was arrogantly sure that his presence would disturb her, and damn it, he was right.
Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked rapidly to clear them. This was no good. Her emotions were running high and hard tonight, and it wouldn’t take much to make her lose control. And, of course, he wasn’t going to give her any space.
“You know, I can put all this on disk for you to put on your own computer at home,” she said.
“Nice try,” he replied, chuckling. “But you know I don’t have a computer.”
“How would I know?” she retorted. “My stay was limited—”
“To the kitchen table and the bed,” he finished for her.
She was really sorry she’d brought up the subject. There were too many memories in his eyes and in her heart. With a hiss of exasperation, she turned back to the screen.
“Now, let’s see what’s in the mailbox,” she said, going on-line to make that request.
A mellifluous electronic voice answered, telling her that she had twenty-three messages.
“You know efficient people,” Gabriel said.
“Yes, I do,” she said, calling up the first one.
That one was from her friend in Utah, a private eye who had helped her out in the past. He was merely acknowledging her request, and promised to send anything he could find. The next six messages were essentially the same.
MacLaren grunted. “This is going to take too long.”
“It takes as long as it takes,” she said.
“I know. And I know that it could take months if I tried to do it on my own resources, so I appreciate this. But I can’t help but think that time is running out for Peter Smithfield.”
Rae nodded, highlighting another message. This one was more interesting. It was from a woman in San Diego, home base of one of the companies owned by Elliston Enterprises. And she had information. Rae hit a key, and another page lit the screen.
Her awareness of her surroundings faded as she focused on the puzzle. No one source would have all the pieces; it was up to her to put them together into a viable whole.
She hardly heard the phone ring, and only vaguely registered Gabriel moving away from her. In fact, she was concentrating so deeply that she nearly jumped out of her skin when he put his hand on her shoulder.
“Take a break,” he said.
Rae blinked. Her watch showed that nearly an hour had passed, and her nose told her that a new smell had entered her office.
Barbecue.
“Barbara stopped by to drop off some food and take the dog home,” Gabriel explained.
Suddenly, he grinned, and Rae’s heart did a hard double bounce.
“I went downstairs to meet her, so don’t start thinking that she came in and you missed noticing her.”
Rae held out her hand in silent demand for her sandwich. Then, sandwich in one hand and computer mouse in the other, she returned to the search. Gabriel settled down on the sofa with the stack of printouts she’d given him earlier.
For a while, she thought the night might be a bust. Then one thing fell into place, and she slapped her hand down on the desk in triumph. MacLaren was instantly at her side.
“There,” she said, pointing to the screen. “That’s the company that owns Elliston Enterprises. It’s based in San Diego, but correspondence goes to a post-office box in Branson, Colorado. The box is in—” she slid her fingernail farther down the screen “—this guy’s name. Albert Henry Dietrick, Esquire, a New Mexico-based attorney. Now, look here. He’s got reciprocity to practice in Colorado. My guess is that he’s the agent-of-record of this corporation. Now, if we can peg him as agent-of-record in any of the other corporations, then we’ve got something solid to go on.”
“What city is Dietrick in?” Gabriel asked.
“Mmm, oh, here it is. Folsom.” She reached for a nearby atlas and thumbed through to find the New Mexico map. “Look, it’s nearly on the northern border.” She did a quick measurement with her thumbnail. “It’s about twenty, twenty-five miles from Branson, a convenient drive. Interesting.”
She glanced at Gabriel and caught him looking at her with mingled exasperation and awe on his face. The sight sent amusement rippling like sunlight through her, and she laughed.
“Welcome to the Information Age,” she said. “These days, you can’t tie your shoes without someone, somewhere, knowing about it.” She clicked the mouse onto the Print icon. “I’m printing all this out for you to take home. I went through it so fast that I’m sure to have missed something.”
He nodded, running his thumb along the angle of his jaw as he considered his next move. “I think I’ll give the local Folsom law enforcement a call, see what they have to say about Albert Henry Dietrick, Esquire. One lawman to another, so to speak.”
“You’re suspended,” Rae stated.
“They don’t know that.”
Rae couldn’t help but laugh. “True.”
Gabriel leaned over to see the screen better. Not the best of moves, for it put him in range of her scent. Rae didn’t wear perfume. But she smelled wonderful, shampoo and soap and the indefinable female scent that was uniquely hers.
His awareness of the computer screen faded. Instead, his attention focused on Rae. She bent to look at the keyboard, and her hair slid forward, hiding her face but exposing the back of her neck. Crazy as it seemed, the flash of that hitherto unseen skin was more stirring than if she’d been naked. He had the sudden urge to press his mouth to that spot, to feel her arch in response.
And suddenly, nothing else mattered. Not the case, not her betrayal, nothing but this woman who had taken his heart by storm. His world narrowed until all he knew was her scent, her warmth, the deafening pounding of his heartbeat in his ears.
He reached out, sliding his fingers into her hair. With a gasp, she turned. Her eyes were startled but not hostile, and her mouth held a vulnerability that only made him want to touch her more. Holding his breath, he reached out again.
This time, she didn’t move. He delved into the rich softness of her hair. It slid like pure silk across his hand, sending reaction pounding through him with every beat of his heart.
“Rae,” he murmured, “I don’t want to fight any more.”
Rae drew her breath in sharply. His voice was stark with tenderness and desire, underscored by an edge of pleading that astonished her.
She turned to look at him, and her heart raced crazily. In this light, with the shadows of his lashes lying across his cheeks and emotion turning his eyes the color of a moonlit sea, he seemed the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And oh, God, she loved him so much it hurt.
He would ask for everything she had to give, and he’d take all of it. Not as a gift, but as his right. She had no defenses against this, no way to protect herself. She loved him fiercely, wholly, without reservation, and she could deny him nothing. Even if it tore her heart out, she had no power to deny him.
“Tell me not to kiss you, and I won’t,” he said, his voice hoarse with arousal.
She meant to tell him no. Her mind shouted it, and she even opened her mouth to say it. But a vast, all-consuming need welled up in her, silencing any protest.
&nb
sp; His hand eased down to the nape of her neck. Then he slid his other arm around her waist, bending close. Rae’s eyelids drifted closed as he claimed her mouth with his.
Oh, it was sweet, so sweet. Her heart ached with love for him; her body ached with desire. She wrapped her arms around his neck and met his kiss almost savagely, inciting him, drawing him deeper, harder, hotter.
He made a harsh sound deep in his throat. With startling ease, he pulled her out of the chair and into his arms. Then he carried her to the sofa and laid her down. He knelt over her, his face in shadow, his hair limned with gold from the lamp behind him.
Dark angel, she thought. A being of mingled dark and light, vulnerability and danger.
She ran her hands up his sinewy arms to his shoulders, reveling in his strength. He drew his breath in sharply, and she knew she’d stirred him. That was no surprise; from the moment they’d first touched, they’d had this effect on each other.
Slowly, he eased down, fitting himself against her. A heavy feeling of inevitability settled in her heart as she accepted him. She had nothing to lose any longer. Nothing. She’d already given him everything she had to give.
He kissed her. She met him eagerly, pouring all her tumbling emotions into her embrace. Hot, wet, primitive, unrestrained, giving, taking... It was quite a kiss, and it left her shaken to her soul. She no longer cared what he might take from her as long as she could hold him like this, even for a moment.
His fingers spread out over the curve of her hip in a gesture of male possession. Then he slid his hand to her derriere, cupping her, lifting her pelvis against his.
A low groan rumbled deep in his chest, and he tore his mouth from hers. Slowly, almost as though it hurt him, he levered himself to a sitting position. Rae lay frozen in shock, not knowing what to do, what to say, what to feel.
“Oh, damn it,” he muttered, raking both hands through his hair. “Why the hell do I let you do this to me?”
Rae drew her breath in sharply. “You think I planned this?”
“I don’t know what goes on in your mind,” he said, his voice bitter and harsh. “All I know is that I get sideswiped every time I turn my back on you.”