by Wendy Haley
“Did I say anything about pate?” Barbara inquired.
Rae laughed. Barbara and Mike had been married a month now, and only wanted Rae and Gabriel to experience the same happiness.
But Rae was already so happy she thought she might die of it sometimes. She simply didn’t care about the how, when or where of their wedding, as long as she got to keep him forever.
“Barbara, honey, I give you permission to do the wedding any way you see fit, as long as I don’t have to wear anything confining, say anything stupid or invite anyone I don’t like.”
Barbara threw her hands up in a gesture of defeat. “You’ve just taken away everything that makes up a normal wedding, so I guess we’ll have to do the chaplain-and-wild-party thing.”
“As long as Big Mike agrees to do the food,” Gabriel said. “If he won’t, tell him I’m going to make the dog best man.”
“Barbecue and beer?” Barbara asked, making a face.
Tom the Dog fixed those mesmerizing blue eyes on her and barked.
“I know,” Barbara groaned. “I should have spelled it.”
“Oh, he recognizes the spelling now,” Gabriel said.
Barbara rolled her eyes. “Mike says that dog is smarter than most people he knows.” Then she pinned them each in turn with a suspiciously bland look. “Oh, by the way. Do either of you know anything about a twenty-thousand-dollar deposit made mysteriously in my account?”
Rae whistled. “Twenty thousand! Hey, if you’ve got a mystery, you’re rich enough now to hire us to solve it.” She whipped out one of her new business cards, which read, MacLaren & MacLaren, Private Investigators.
“You both passed the P.I. test!” Barbara cried. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Of course, the MacLaren & MacLaren won’t be official until we get married,” Rae said. “But I couldn’t resist the cards.”
Barbara smoothed her blond hair and got to her feet. “Now that you think you’ve distracted me about that twenty thousand, we’d better get back to the store. It’s almost lunchtime, and since Mike expanded, we’re busier than ever.” She raised her voice. “Let’s go, kids!”
The boys were too cool to actually hug anyone, so Rae just waved and said, “See you later, dudes.”
But Sarah gave Gabriel a hug, then ran to Rae and kissed her cheek. “I love you, Rae,” she said.
“And I love you, sweetie,” Rae murmured, touched by the girl’s gesture. “Be good.”
After the others were gone, Rae walked over to the sofa.
Gabriel sat up, snatched her into his arms and settled back onto the cushions with her in his lap.
“I love you, too, beautiful Rae,” he murmured, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “I adore you. I worship you. I want you to scratch my back—”
“Watch it, buster.”
He laughed, his voice a low, smoky rumble against her temple. “You’re a genius, getting rid of that bribe money that way.”
“It came to me because of Peter Smithfield, so it ought to be hers. It’s the only legacy those kids will ever have from their father.”
“They never had a father, except in the physical sense,” Gabriel said, his voice turning harsh for a moment. “Now they’ve got Mike, and he’ll do right by them all. Oh, by the way, Anton Taggett was arrested today. And there will be more arrests as the cases against his accomplices are prepared.”
“It’s about time.”
“The whole case is built on the research we did, and Captain Petrosky has convinced the powers-that-be to hire us to teach a course to the detectives on information-gathering via computer.”
She blinked. “Petrosky did that?”
“Hey, he might seem like a grouchy old dinosaur, but he’s got vision. And he doesn’t see a reason to ignore any tool that might help solve cases.”
“Well, what do you know,” she said. “I might even find another cop I can like. It’s a miracle.”
Gabriel looked up at her, and his heart gave a now-familiar lurch. He loved her so much, so very much. And to think he’d almost been stupid enough to throw her love away. She’d since told him what had really happened between her and her ex.
“I saw Brett Wilson today,” he said.
Rae tensed. “You didn’t hit him this time, did you?”
“Uh-uh. But he’s not off the hook yet. I—”
“Let it go,” she said.
His mouth thinned. “Why?”
“Because since Eddy told everyone what he found out about Danny, Brett Wilson’s name is dirt.” She framed his face with both hands, letting her thumbs drift along the hard, arrogant line of his jaw. “None of that matters. It’s the past, gone, forgotten. And you and I have everything. For the rest of our lives.”
His gaze bored into hers, sending a message of acceptance and passion that made her quiver inside. Oh, yes, they had everything. Slowly, she lowered her head. Slowly, he lifted his.
Their lips met. Their spirits melded, entwined.
And the world went away.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-7227-9
GABRIEL IS NO ANGEL
Copyright © 1997 by Chrysalis Enterprises, Inc.
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