A Man Like Him

by Rachel Brimble

  He faced Garroway. “I’d talk if I was you, buddy. Angela’s kind of unpredictable with that thing.”

  Garroway’s gaze shot from the gun, to Angela, to Chris and back to the gun. “For crying out loud, what’s with the metal, lady? I ain’t touched you or hurt you.” He sniffed. “Masters said you were a head case.”

  Chris grappled him to the floor, putting his knee to Garroway’s torso, his hand tightly gripping his jaw. “That’s all I needed to hear, you slimy piece of shit. Now, we’re going to sit here nice and quiet and wait for my sister to arrive.”

  “Your sister? What are you? Some kind of nancy boy who hides behind his damn sister?”

  Chris grinned. “She’s Templeton’s police inspector, you moron. And if I know her at all, she is not going to be happy that you got away from her the first time. My girlfriend and her gun will be the least of your worries when my sister gets her hands on you.”

  Sweat burst onto Garroway’s forehead and upper lip but he dropped his head back in defeat. Chris glanced behind him and his gaze locked with Angela’s. The gun now visibly shook in her hand and she lowered it. He gave a small nod of encouragement and she slid it into her bag. Relief stole through his veins. Neither of them had signed up for bloodshed.

  The seconds ticked by like hours as Chris kept his hold on Garroway. He seemed to have lost his fight. As though Garroway knew it was inevitable that Cat would soon find out enough to pin his ass to the wall. Chris glanced at Angela again.

  “Go out and see if she’s coming. Not that I think this guy is going anywhere.”

  She threw a glare at Garroway and opened the door. Once she was outside, Chris leaned his face close to his captive’s. “Why don’t you tell me what you know about Masters?”

  Garroway’s eyes snapped open. They stormed with fury. “Go to hell.”

  Chris smiled. “That would be you, my friend. Not me.”

  A scuffle and banging at the door turned their heads. Cat came barreling through the door and straight at him. Her livid gaze shot from him to Garroway and back again. “You, I’ll deal with later.”

  Two uniformed officers backed up Cat as she snatched Garroway’s lapels from Chris’s grip and dragged him to his feet. She unceremoniously flung him facedown on the bed and handcuffed him. She whirled him around and planted him back down on his ass.

  “Hello, Mr. Garroway.”

  He sniffed and looked to the window.

  “I’m guessing you weren’t completely honest with me the last time we spoke? So you won’t mind if I ask you a few more questions now, will you?”

  He snapped his eyes to hers. “I ain’t telling you nothing. You either arrest me or don’t.”

  “I don’t need to arrest a man who is helping me with our inquiries, do I?”

  “I ain’t done anything.”

  Cat smiled. “Now, you and I both know that isn’t true, don’t we? I agree you are undoubtedly little more than Masters’s plaything but I don’t think you did nothing.”

  Chris trembled with impatience and reached for Angela’s hand. She slipped her fingers in his and held tight. He turned to face her but her eyes were fixed on Garroway.

  Cat cleared her throat. “Okay, fine. Let’s do this at the station. Mr. Garroway, I am arresting you on suspicion—”

  “For Christ’s sake, I’m supposed to distract her, that’s all. Make her wonder how Masters is in two places at once while he sorts out something back home.”

  Cat continued. “Anything you do or say will be taken—”

  Angela’s hand slipped from Chris’s and she approached Garroway. “While he does what at home?”

  Garroway glared at her. “How the hell should I know? My job is to let you and your man here see me from time to time. That’s it. Masters doesn’t tell me what he’s doing.” He turned his glare on Cat. “What the hell are you going to charge me with, Inspector? What I’ve done is hardly a crime, is it?”

  Cat opened her mouth to speak but Angela got there first. “So he’s not in Templeton. He’s planning something. Something at Standbridge.”

  “Angela...” Cat moved to grip her elbow.

  Angela held up her arm and focused entirely on Garroway. “Is he coming for me?”

  Garroway closed his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m a decoy. That’s all I know.”

  “So, he could be here already?”

  He shook his head. “He’s not here. He’s going to contact me and give me my money once he arrives and then I’m supposed to make myself scarce. That’s all I know.”

  Chris stared at Angela’s profile. He could practically see the cogs turning in her mind as she tried to figure out what Masters was up to. She turned to Cat. “Arrest him. Take him in. You need to keep this asshole under lock and key and get someone in Standbridge. Someone in Robert’s hometown is helping him do something. Something to do with me.”

  Cat glared as she hauled Garroway to his feet. “I will. And I don’t need you telling me how to do my job.” With a final shake of her head, Cat marched Garroway out the door, the two uniformed cops following on behind.

  * * *

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Chris took Angela’s hand as they left the newspaper office and made for his car. The reporter had fallen hook, line and sinker for their engagement story. Chris smiled. Bearing in mind he couldn’t keep from touching Angela while they sat in front of the guy’s desk, it was hardly surprising he thought their relationship authentic. Which it was...to a point.

  They were lovers. They’d touched, kissed, caressed and tasted, but he didn’t know her thoughts and heart as he wanted to. He didn’t have the audacity or the courage to push for more. Not yet. Who knew when or if they’d make love again. Angela had been in charge last night...and this morning. There was no way in hell he’d push her. From his research on the internet, he knew what Masters had subjected her to, both physically and emotionally, and even though Chris wanted her with every ounce of his being, it would only happen if she wanted him, too.

  Plus, Cat’s anger still rang in his ears. When she’d walked into the hotel room and looked at him the way she did, he’d had to refrain from grabbing Angela and escaping through the fourth floor window. His sister’s glare was enough to turn them to stone. It was just as well they’d threatened Garroway with removal of his gonads if he as much as whispered about Angela’s gun to Cat.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  Angela’s voice cut through his reverie and Chris turned. “Cat.”

  She grimaced. “Ah.”

  “You know she’s going to come after us both if that slimy bastard tells her about the gun, don’t you?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “We’ll worry about that when it happens. I’ve got a funny feeling she’s going to be too busy kicking his ass for holding out on her first time round to worry what we should or shouldn’t have done.”

  They reached the car. “I hope so, because you’ve no idea how mean that woman can be.”

  Tossing him a smile, Angela slid into the passenger seat and he walked around the other side. He settled behind the wheel. The sun was bright and warm in the sky. Yet nothing felt as full of summer as it should. Instead tension and foreboding pierced the atmosphere as though poised and waiting to crack a thunderstorm right above them.

  He turned. “At least the chat with the journalist went well.”

  She met his gaze and exhaled a shaky breath. “I hope so. If this works and we lure Robert here, I just hope and pray he’s picked up before he finds me.”

  Chris nodded, confidence tentatively humming inside him. Confidence in them and Cat. “He will. Cat has his picture at the ferry port and the toll road. He’s not going to get into the Cove undetected.”

  “And the trains?”

  “Covered.”

  She looked past him
and sighed. “Then why are we doing this engagement thing behind Cat’s back? Wouldn’t it be better to let her know after what happened at the hotel? If you really thought getting Robert here was in any way sensible—”

  “Hey.” Chris took her hand and gazed at her beautiful face. “We’re not telling her because it’s a bad idea. We’re not telling her because she’d never agree to it. She can’t. Cat’s a good cop. A straight cop. She was beyond angry at the hotel. God only knows what she’ll say to me later when I get home. She does everything by the book and luring Masters here isn’t a strategic police move. We both know that...but we’re doing it because we have to.”

  Her eyes stormed with worry. “I have to do this. I have to be free of the torment. You, on the other hand, should be walking away. Going back to Reading.”

  “You’re stuck with me now. We’re in this together.”

  She opened her mouth, closed it and then blew out a defeated breath and slumped against her seat. “I’ve kept Eloise away to keep her safe, but you’re here and in so much danger. I’m getting you involved in God knows what, yet...”

  “What?”

  Her gaze wandered over his face. “Yet, the flood put everything into perspective. I’m not invincible. I need people. I need my sister for the first time in a long time...and I’m starting to need you.”

  Male pride knotted Chris’s gut. It was more than he could have hoped for. For the first time, she’d acknowledged he might be around for her past this. They’d been thrown together through a disaster and it had brought nothing but trouble to her door ever since. They needed to hold on. Needed to believe the good times could start when they came out the other side.

  He touched his finger to her chin. “Hey, we’re here because we want to be, okay? No more hiding or running. Plus, there’s safety in numbers. We can do this. Between the three of us...you, me and Cat, Masters doesn’t stand a chance.”

  “Maybe.” Her eyes glazed with tears before she blinked and they were clear once more. She eased his hand from her face and slowly pushed it onto his leg. Her smile was forced and tight, no matter how much she tried to disguise it. “Can you drop me at the holiday park? I need to work.”

  “Angela...” Couldn’t she see how amazing she was to have come this far? To have lived practically in exile for two years?

  She glanced at her watch. “I want to keep busy...and you should go and be busy, too.”

  Shut down. “I could come to the park and work, too. How’s it going down there?”

  “Slow. There’s still so much to be done. Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather be alone.”

  He stared. “There’s no need for you to do this, you know.”

  “What?”

  “Shut me out.”

  A wry smile curled her lips and she shook her head. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “No. I’m asking you for some space.”

  “But—”

  “Chris, please.” Her eyes darkened. “I just need a little time on my own, okay?”

  “I want to come with you. We can work together, get some perspective—”

  She snatched her gaze to the windshield. “Is this how it’s going to be now?”

  He frowned. “How what’s going to be? Me caring about you?”

  “There’s caring and there’s caring. I’ve told you this before. I don’t like feeling controlled. We made love and you’re a great guy, but right now I have nothing more to give, okay?”

  “I’m not asking—”

  She turned. “You are. Whether you realize it or not. I came on to you the way I did last night because it was the only way to break the chains that have held me back for so long. Don’t make me look back at last night and this morning and realize that was the start of another mistake.”

  She might as well have taken a knife and plunged it straight in his damn heart. He closed his eyes. “I don’t believe this.” Frustration hummed through his veins, heating his blood. “What is it with women?”

  “What?”

  He snapped his eyes open. “Women, Angela.”

  She stared and inched back in her seat. “All I’m saying—”

  “I know what you’re saying. Melinda said the same thing when I found out she’d been having an affair. Her excuse to her cheating on me was because I’m too nice. I care too much. Is that how you feel about me, too? I’m too damn nice?”

  “No.” She swiped her hand under her eyes. “Robert—”

  “Stop.”

  Her eyes grew wide with apprehension. Chris waited to see if that apprehension tipped to fear. It didn’t. Relief cooled a little of the fire inside. The last thing he meant to do was frighten her.

  He turned around in his seat and gripped the steering wheel. “I need to know if you want to give us a chance. A real chance. If you don’t, then that’s okay, too. But this is who I am. When Melinda—” he drew in a shaky breath “—did what she did, I made the decision to stick with the person I became when I was with her.” Chris turned. “A person who’s happier being there for someone to lean on...protecting them. If that’s not what you want—”

  She looked to her lap and bit down on her lip.

  Chris stared. “Well?”

  “I’m sorry, but right now...this doesn’t feel like protection. It feels...tainted.”

  He flinched like she’d slapped him. “Tainted?”

  A lone tear rolled over her cheek. “He’s made it that way. His protection was terrifying, and when I hear you say that word...” She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

  It suddenly all made sense. Masters had changed her deep inside from a girl who could be loved to a woman who couldn’t. The death of his father and the deterioration of his mother had made him a runaway turned steadfast protector.

  He huffed out a laugh. “We’re a mess. Both of us.”

  “Then maybe this...us, is a bad idea.”

  Denial screamed in his head. The words telling her she was wrong. The heat in their lovemaking was impossible to ignore, but this was her decision, not his.

  He threw the car into first gear. “Maybe, but I won’t leave until I know Masters is definitely out of the picture. After that, I’ll go home to Reading and not bother you again if that’s what you want.”

  Silence.

  His heart beat painfully. “Is it?”

  She stared, tears making her caramel eyes shine in the sunlight streaming through the windshield. “No. That’s not what I want.”

  Relief slumped his shoulders and Chris smiled. “Good. Then let’s go to the park. If you don’t want me there, I’ll leave you to it.”

  “Thank you.”

  She leaned across and pressed a brief kiss to his cheek before snapping on her seat belt. Chris pulled away from the curb and another part of his happy-go-lucky attitude broke, never to be mended.

  He’d no right to insist he knew better than what Angela felt. He knew better than that after assuming what was best for Cat, his mother and Melinda. It was time to learn from past mistakes. He didn’t want Angela to be another mistake, so this time he’d take a step back. He’d listen and be what she needed him to be, rather than do what he needed to do for himself.

  At least he had his answer. Angela wasn’t ready for any more than the physical release she initiated last night. That was fine...if it wasn’t for the twisting sensation deep in his chest.

  Maybe he wasn’t good enough for her anyway. Doubts that had woken him and tormented him into the early hours niggled at Chris’s conscience once more. Maybe some time apart was a good thing. He needed to make sure this all-consuming passion he felt for Angela wasn’t borne in the need to smooth salve over the wound Melinda sliced through his pathetic heart. He’d loved Melinda and he’d love again.

&n
bsp; He wanted to wrap his arms around Angela, sitting so wonderfully strong, yet wounded beside him. Keep her safe. Walk a few feet behind her just so he could watch the confident sway of her hips, pick her up if she fell...

  He had zero inclination to run. Chris tightened his jaw and concentrated on the journey ahead. One he prayed, in time, Angela would take with him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  ANGELA REACHED FOR her bag as Chris pulled to a stop outside the holiday park reception. It had been almost two weeks since the flood and her staff and volunteers had worked tirelessly, even though she hadn’t been around as much as she wanted to be. Guilt pressed down on her conscience. She’d been so embroiled in what Robert might or might not be doing, her hours at the park had suffered.

  “Look at this place.” She sighed.

  “It’s progress if nothing else.” Chris cut the engine.

  “Everything still looks like a work of art that a vandal threw a ton of brown paint over. It kills me to see it this way. I love this park.”

  “It’s been kind of special to you, hasn’t it?”

  Angela turned. His warm hazel gaze lingered on hers, his tone soft and understanding. Fresh pain whispered across her heart and she cursed the poison Robert had left there. “Yes. More than anyone could understand. I’ve always felt safe here. Anonymous.”

  “You aren’t anonymous to the guests.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He gave a small smile. “When I was sitting at that bar the first night we met, I watched the people watching you. Everyone notices you. You’re beautiful, friendly, have a smile that can floor man or child. Plus—” he winked “—you’re fantastic at your job.”

  Pride brought a flash of warmth to her cheeks. “Thank you.”

  She turned to look out the window before she acted on the burning urge to kiss him again. It suddenly felt as if it’d been far too long since she’d last tasted him.