Fallen Angels: BeguiledWantonUncovered

by Lori Foster

  Dane glanced around at the stunned faces watching them, aware of the mounting tension, the delicacy of the situation. Everyone was now standing, expectant. Angel’s babbling barely made sense and he hesitated to upset her further. Few people knew Derek was dead, so who the hell had told her? But first things first. “What fire?” he demanded, concentrating on the one thing that wasn’t guaranteed to get him in any deeper.

  Angel drew a shuddering breath. “Oh, Derek. Someone threw a mess of burning rags through my kitchen window! Everything in the apartment stinks of smoke.”

  His mother gasped and went two shades paler, grabbing the conference table for support. “Dane, what’s going on here? Who is this person?”

  The muscles in his face felt like iron. “Give me a minute, Mother.”

  “Oh my God! It’s Angel Morris, isn’t it?” Celia stepped forward, trying to get a better look at Angel. “What in the world happened to her, and why is she calling you Derek?”

  Dane closed his eyes. He heard the conference room door slam and looked up to see Mick standing against it, Grayson held in his arms, his expression so hard he looked more like a man than ever.

  Raymond barked out, “I’m calling security!” and reached for the phone. His movements were jerky and frantic.

  “No.” Dane stopped him with a word, and everyone seemed to turn to stone, frozen and shocked and confused.

  “This is insane,” Raymond argued. “She’s upsetting the women!” And again he reached for the receiver.

  Dane released Angel as she slowly backed away from him. “No, Raymond, everything is fine.”

  “Fine?” Raymond argued, filled with outraged indignation. “The woman is mad, coming in here calling you by your dead brother’s name. For God’s sake, man, your mother and sister have been through too much already.”

  His mother did look shaken, pale and drawn and confused, but Celia looked titillated. Her eyes were bright and wide and didn’t budge from Angel’s face. “You are Angel Morris, aren’t you?”

  Angel looked around the room at all the avid expressions and she swayed. Dane grabbed her, but she jerked back from him and her expression was so dark, so accusing, he felt it like a blow. Her bloodless lips moved twice before the words finally whispered out. “You’re not Derek?”

  Again Dane reached for her, firmly taking hold of her shoulders while she tried to shake him off. “Dammit, Angel, sit down before you fall down.” Then he looked around the room and ordered, “Everyone out.”

  His mother started to protest and he said, “Now.”

  Grayson chose that inauspicious moment to give one short, protesting cry. Dane thought it might have been Mick’s tight hold on the baby that prompted the objection.

  Again, everyone froze.

  Drawing on lost reserve, Dane again tried to take control of the situation. “Mick, I want you to stay. Please sit down so everyone else can leave.”

  Obligingly, looking as if he wouldn’t have left anyway, Mick went to the leather couch and sat. He whispered nonsense words to Grayson and glared at anyone who tried to get closer to the baby.

  Dane took Angel to the same couch, trying to support her weight when he saw how badly she was limping, but she sidled away from his touch as if she found him repulsive. Once she was seated, Dane strode over to the door and held it open. “All of you, wait outside. I’ll explain everything in a minute.”

  One of his uncles shook his head. “Can’t wait to hear it.”

  The other agreed. “Always did say that boy knew how to shake things up.” They left together. His cousin gave him an uncertain, wide-eyed look and hurried out.

  Raymond stopped, holding Mrs. Carter’s arm. “Are you sure you don’t require security?” he asked. “I could get them up here, just in case. Or I could stay with you, as a precaution. You can’t be too careful with crazy people.”

  Dane ground his teeth together, sparing only a very brief glance at his mother’s angry, drawn face. “Out, Raymond.”

  Mrs. Carter stared up at her son. “Don’t trust anything that woman tells you about Derek.”

  “Mother…”

  “I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, son. Do what’s right, for us and yourself.” With that caustic warning, she walked out, Raymond hanging on her arm.

  Celia paused in front of Dane. Her lips were trembling, her eyes wet with unshed tears. But she brazenly tried to act in control, unwilling to contribute to the chaos. “I hope you know I’m not budging from this outer office until you give me a full report.”

  Dane nodded, appreciating her reserve.

  Celia licked her lips nervously, then ventured, “I could hold the baby while you two talk.”

  “No!” Angel sat forward on her seat, but Dane ignored her, his attention on his sister.

  “Thanks, sweetheart, but Mick can handle things and the baby’s already used to him.” Celia looked so crushed, Dane touched her cheek and added softly, “Get Mother something to drink. She looks ready to faint. And be patient, please.”

  Celia nodded at him, offering up a shaky smile. “Good luck.”

  As he closed the door, Dane muttered, “I’m going to need more than luck now.” He drew a long, calming breath before turning to Angel. His mother’s warning rang in his ears. Would Derek have seen his actions as a betrayal? Had he felt justified in his treatment of Angel? Things had seemed so simple when he’d first started this. Now he felt mired in conflicting emotions. But one thing was certain, he couldn’t lie to her anymore.

  Angel’s entire posture showed how wounded she felt, both physically and emotionally. She stared at Dane, her expression fixed, her arms crossed belligerently over her chest. As she’d been doing since Grayson’s birth, she held herself together by sheer force of will.

  Something inside Dane felt like it was breaking apart. Despite his mother’s warning, despite his loyalty to his twin, Dane knew he couldn’t ever hurt her again. And that meant he had to give her the full truth. “Derek’s dead. He died months ago.”

  For about ten seconds she looked shocked, then she jerked to her feet. Comprehension dawned in her face and her eyes widened on him, appalled. “Oh my God.”

  Dane nodded slowly. “Yes, I’m the dreaded evil twin, of course.” He took a measured step toward her. “I can explain everything, honey.”

  Her eyes went wild. “Don’t you come near me. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

  “Well, you’re going to hear it,” he said, tightening himself against her disdain. He was well aware of how she felt about him, and the damn reputation Derek had amplified. But it still hurt as he felt her emotional withdrawal, the separation between them growing. He bit off a curse, knowing if he didn’t push now, he’d lose her for good, along with the opportunity to discover what had really happened to Derek.

  “Angel…”

  All signs of fear were replaced by anger. Her face was flushed, her body practically vibrating with her temper, her scorn. “You miserable lying bastard.”

  Dane closed his eyes and tipped his head back. He heard Angel’s furious whispering, heard Mick grumble a reply, and quickly faced her again. “You’re not going anywhere, babe.”

  “The hell I’m not!” She tried to take the baby from Mick, but he resisted her efforts. She turned her cannon on Dane again. “You can’t dictate to me, and I’m certainly not going to listen to any more of your lies. There is absolutely no excuse for what you’ve done!”

  Mick glared at Dane, but spoke to Angel. “Nothing’s changed. There’s still someone trying to hurt you, and your apartment is still a mess. Think of Grayson. At least hear…” He looked at Dane, then shrugged in his direction. “At least hear him out. Whoever the hell he is.”

  Dane tightened his jaw. “Dane Carter.” The formality of an introduction was ludicrous.

  Angel sneered. “Derek told me all about you. You’re the worst of the lot!”

  “I was going to explain everything to you today, Angel. In fact, I was just
telling my family that I won’t work for the company—”

  “I don’t care what you were telling them.”

  “Angel.” He felt hollow inside. “Honey, you have to hear me out. The only reason I came back to the company in the first place is because I think Derek was murdered.”

  He shouldn’t have blurted it out like that, but he knew he had to make her listen. Angel wrapped her arms around her middle and sank back onto the couch, slowly rocking. “No, no, this can’t be happening.”

  Dane knelt down in front of her. “I’m so sorry, honey. At first, when you contacted me, I was suspicious of you, thinking you had more reason than most to hate Derek, to want him dead. I thought you might have had something to do with setting him up and then when I came home, you thought you hadn’t succeeded. There’s been no official announcement of Derek’s death and my family has done everything they could to keep the news quiet.” He spoke quickly, hoping to get his explanations out while she was still listening.

  She laughed, a harsh, broken sound and rocked that much harder.

  “It took me only a short time of knowing you to realize how ridiculous that theory was.”

  “No, not at all,” she said, her grin twisted and mean. Provoking. “I did despise him. Almost as much as I despise you.”

  “Angel,” he chided. “You don’t mean that. Not after last night.”

  He caught her right fist just inches from his face and stared at her in incredulous disbelief. “Dammit, Angel, that wouldn’t have been a little ladylike tap! Are you trying to—”

  A split second later, her left fist connected with his temple, almost knocking him off balance and making his brain ring. “Goddammit!” Dane caught both her hands and pulled her to her feet, struggling to subdue her. “If you can refrain from inflicting your vicious temper on my head, I think we can get this all straightened out!”

  Angel tugged her hands, obviously accepted that he had no intention of releasing her, and went still. “Let me go.”

  “Not on your life. We have a hell of a lot of talking to do and I think we’ll accomplish it more easily if my brain is left intact.” He lowered his voice to a mild scold, somewhat amused by her despite his still ringing ears. “I had no idea you were such a fury. Why don’t you just settle down and behave yourself.”

  She growled, anger flushing her face crimson. “Behave myself? Behave myself! Do you mean I should try conniving and manipulating and lying!” She jerked against him again, but he held tight. “You and your brother are two of a kind.”

  Dane grew somber. “No, actually we’re not.” He let her go and paced two steps away, out of harm’s reach. “Angel, this is the first I’ve seen my family in years. We hadn’t been on the best of terms, precisely because I’m not like them. I don’t approve of what Derek did to you—”

  “What you did was worse,” she growled, then grudgingly dropped back into her seat.

  She looked defeated and he hated it. “I suppose it was, regardless of what my excuses are. But I want to make things right. That’s what I’ve been trying to do this morning. I want to take care of you and Grayson, and don’t shake your beautiful head at me! The threat to you is very real, dammit. Derek is dead, and somehow you’re tied to it!”

  She gave him a look of contempt. “You think I don’t know how serious it is? Someone tried to run me off the road. That’s the accident, you know, that started my labor and injured my leg. I almost died. Obviously whoever did that isn’t very happy that I survived.”

  Every muscle in his body jerked at the ramification of her words. His heart pounded, his knees locked. She could have been killed. And he’d been thinking the threats against her weren’t physical? “Goddammit, why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

  Her brow lifted. “Trust goes both ways.”

  He let loose with a string of curses that had Mick chuckling and Angel frowning.

  “At first I thought the accident was just that—an accident. I was disoriented for a long time and in a lot of pain after the wreck, not to mention I had a brand-new baby to take care of. There wasn’t a lot of room in my thoughts for suspicions. But then, the phone calls started and I got spooked. Then I had to wonder.”

  “And finally,” he said, his voice low and barely controlled, “you realized you had to have some help. That’s when you came back to Derek. Not because you wanted to, but because you truly had nowhere else to turn.”

  She nodded. “I thought if nothing else, he might be willing to check into things for me.”

  They stared at each other, and Dane read her thoughts. She’d been willing to try seducing Derek to gain the help she needed, to get protection for her baby.

  She had truly despised Derek, and now she felt the same about him. Angel was still very pale, but more collected. Her eyes glinted with raw determination and he knew it was only her concern for Grayson that was keeping her in the same room with him. He had his work cut out for him. “Derek was run off the road. Unlike you, luck wasn’t on his side that day.”

  Angel closed her eyes on a sigh. “You should probably know, someone followed us here today. From the time we rushed out of the apartment until we pulled in the lot, we were followed.”

  Dane hesitated only a second, then stalked to his desk phone and quickly punched out a series of numbers. He waited, but then the office door opened and Alec strolled in, holding up his blinking cell phone. “No need to call me. I’m right here.” Raymond tried to follow him in, but Alec slammed the door in his face.

  Angel sank back against her seat with his entrance, but Mick perked up. “It’s Alec!”

  The dark visage merely nodded in their direction. “I got there too late to find out what was going on until they’d already left the building.” His look was reproachful when he added to Dane, “You left earlier than I thought you would.”

  Again Angel surged to her feet. “What is he talking about, Der…Dane?”

  Satisfaction settled into his bones. Finally, finally she was calling him by his rightful name. “Alec works for me, honey. I’m the one who hired Mick, not a friend. And I’ve had Alec watching you for several reasons. At first, because I thought you might take off before I could figure out what’s going on, whether or not you could give any insight into Derek’s death. But then for your safety when I couldn’t be there.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “So you told him you were spending the night with me last night?”

  Mick made a choking sound and got up to stroll to the other end of the room, pretending to keep all his attention on Grayson.

  Feeling as if a trap were closing around him, Dane tried for a show of bravado. “I didn’t have to tell him. Alec’s good at what he does or I wouldn’t have him working with me. He knew I had gone in your apartment, and he was able to figure things out quickly enough, given I didn’t leave right away.”

  Alec nodded. “That’s about it. Only I didn’t figure on you rushing off so early today or I’d have been there to cover her.”

  “That’s my fault. I made up my mind on what I wanted to do and saw no reason to wait. I should have contacted you.”

  Angel threw up her hands. “Someone should have contacted me!”

  The conference room door crept open and Celia tried peeking in. Her eyes were huge and went immediately to Alec. “Why is he allowed in and I’m not?”

  Dane groaned. The last thing he needed added to the mix was his sister’s curiosity. Alec merely turned away and headed for the door, while Celia quickly started backing out. “Dane?” she called, but Alec kept going until they were both on the other side of the closed door. Dane could hear his sister’s loud and nervous protests.

  “I can always count on Alec to know what needs to be done.” Dane’s smile had no seeming effect on Angel. She glared at him.

  “Honey, there’s a lot we have to settle.” He sat close to her on the couch and pretended not to notice her efforts to move away. “First off, I want you to know that last night was genuine.”

  �
�Spare me your diatribe on last night, Der—Dane. I won’t believe anything you have to say about that.”

  Dane had to trust she’d eventually change her mind, but now wasn’t a good time to push her. Instead, he concentrated on what had to be done. “Tell me about the fire.”

  She did, in totally detached tones that made Dane want to shake her. Didn’t she care about last night? Hadn’t it affected her at all? The way she was behaving now, last night might as well have not happened. The timing was unfortunate, but he’d been counting on it to soften her some when presented with his truths.

  Mick filled in some of the details on the fire, apparently more concerned with it than Angel was at the moment.

  Dane decided he’d make a quick trip by there to check out the apartment himself. Maybe there was a clue that the others had missed. “I’ll pay for the damages and the cleaning, Mick, so that the apartment will be as good as new.”

  “You don’t need to do that. It’s my mother’s building. We’ll handle it.”

  Dane’s respect for the youth doubled. “It’s the least I can do, given all you’ve done to keep her safe.” Seeing that Mick’s pride would force him to argue further, he added, “Angel, you and Grayson can come to stay with me.”

  She snorted. “Not on your life.”

  Inconspicuously drawing a fortifying breath, Dane took his last shot, and prayed she wouldn’t fight him too hard. He knew things were happening too fast, for him as well as her. Without hesitation, he’d gladly taken over his brother’s life, his role in the company. He’d consoled himself with the fact he was trying to find his brother’s killer. Even as he’d walked through his brother’s office and gone through his desk and personal notes, he’d been empowered by the fact that he had a mission, a purpose. But now he was taking Derek’s woman and son, too, for no other reason than he wanted them. Despite all the very real motives he had justifying his actions, he knew the truth, and it was tough to swallow.

  Regret that he hadn’t taken the time to make his peace with Derek squeezed his heart. Still, he had to think Derek would approve of what he was about to do. Regardless of how he’d treated Angel, Dane refused to believe he’d want Angel terrorized, or his son abandoned. Grayson deserved the family name, and the power and protection that came with it.