A MAN LIKE MORGAN KANE

by Beverly Barton

  "Now end it," Bethany said.

  "Not yet."

  "Not yet! Then when?"

  One of the men in the semicircle smashed the neck of his beer bottle against the concrete curb, then tossed the jagged glass weapon to B.J.

  "Here, you go, B.J. Let's make this fight interesting. Show the rich kid how we do things down here," the guy said.

  "Now?" Bethany asked in exasperation.

  "Now," Morgan said.

  B.J. grinned wickedly, obviously aware that he had the advantage with a weapon in his hand. James didn't flinch when B.J. eased up off the ground, holding the broken bottle in front of him. Preparing to defend himself, James waited for the first lunge of the deadly sharp glass. But the first strike never came.

  Bethany watched in amazed silence. Everything happened in a split second. If she'd blinked, she would have missed Morgan's assault. Like an accelerated ballet, Morgan entered into the fray and before anyone knew he was even there, he knocked the beer bottle out of B.J.'s hand and spun the boy around and into a choke hold.

  "Morgan!" Anne Marie screamed. "You saved our lives." Jerking free from Melanie, she ran over to James. "I was so scared. Are you all right? Thank God Morgan showed up when he did."

  Bethany rushed toward her daughter. Morgan turned B.J. to face his circle of admirers, letting every man there see how helpless their buddy was. Morgan's jacket had caught behind his shoulder holster and the leather sheath and handle of the shiny Sig were in plain sight.

  "Fun's over, boys and girls. Everybody move along," Morgan told the crowd.

  B.J. grunted, trying but unable to speak. Sweat coated his pimpled face.

  When the crowd didn't dissipate fast enough to suit Morgan, he glared at them, a deadly glint in his eyes. Curving his lips, he snarled silently. Within seconds the parking lot emptied and only six people remained.

  "Bethany, take the girls and y'all get in Melanie's Audi and head straight to your mother's," Morgan said.

  "What about you and James?" Bethany asked.

  "James and I will wait for Hal Varner." Morgan released his dangerous hold on B.J., shoved him toward the flashing neon-lit doors of the Purple Fizz and laughed when the boy came back at him.

  "You got a death wish, boy?" was all Morgan said, but B.J. halted and backed away slowly, then turned and all but ran into the Purple Fizz.

  "Mama, why does—" Anne Marie said.

  "Not one word, young lady," Bethany warned. "You are in big trouble."

  "But why did Morgan call the police? And why did he let B.J. go and not James?" Anne Marie's voice combined an unpleasant whine with a soulful plea.

  "Go home with your mother, Anne Marie," James told her. "You had no business following me down here. This is no place for a girl like you."

  Anne Marie nodded as tears filled her eyes. Bethany led the girls toward Melanie's car. Morgan waited until Bethany and both girls were in the Audi before he turned back to James.

  "Look, Morgan, I didn't invite her down here," James said. "Hell, I don't even know how she knew where I was."

  "I realize that," Morgan said. "Believe me, if I thought you'd brought her down here or invited her, B.J. would never have gotten the first blow."

  James's face paled. "Well, if you know it wasn't my fault that she was down here, why'd you sic the police on me?"

  "Your fight with B.J. has nothing to do with why we're waiting for Hal Varner."

  "I don't understand."

  "Do you have an alibi for where you were between nine and nine-thirty tonight?" Morgan asked.

  "Why do I need an alibi?"

  "Because somebody driving your red Porsche tried to run Bethany and me off the side of the mountain tonight a little after nine."

  "Oh, God… It wasn't me. I swear it wasn't."

  "For the sake of everyone involved, I sure as hell hope you can prove it wasn't you." Morgan's steel gray eyes glinted, his quick, hard perusal frightening in its intensity. "Because if it was you, you'll have to answer to me."

  * * *

  Chapter 13

  « ^ »

  "It's them!" Anne Marie ran to the front door and swung it open wide. "They're here."

  Bethany rushed behind her, as anxious as her daughter to see Morgan and James, to have them home safe and sound. Bethany walked out onto the front porch and eased up beside Anne Marie. Slipping her hand into her daughter's, she squeezed tightly.

  Stars twinkled in the dark night sky. The porch lights illuminated the stone steps, the walkway and several feet of manicured lawn. A cool breeze caressed Bethany's bare arms. She shivered. Dawn was only a couple of hours away.

  She glanced at Anne Marie's tear-streaked face and recognized the look of adoration in her child's eyes as she gazed longingly at James Farraday. Could other people see that look on her own face whenever she stared at Morgan? Maybe for Anne Marie it was only puppy love, only young love, but it was love all the same, and perhaps even more intense for its innocence.

  Morgan's big hand rested on James's shoulder as the two men came up the walkway. Letting out a deep breath, Bethany said a silent prayer of thanks.

  "How's Eileen?" James asked as he climbed the stone steps to the porch. "Does she know the truth? Does she know I wasn't the one who tried to run you and Morgan off the road?"

  "She never believed you did." Anne Marie hurried down the steps, then halted abruptly when she came face-to-face with James. She strained forward, but didn't reach out and touch him. "Grandmother and I knew you couldn't have done anything so awful."

  Bethany wasn't surprised that James's first thoughts had been of her mother. The boy loved Eileen dearly. If he'd been her own son, he couldn't have been more devoted.

  "As soon as Morgan called from the police station and told us that your alibi checked out, Seth gave Mother a sleeping pill and put her to bed," Bethany told James. "Come on in. You both look exhausted." She gazed into Morgan's cool gray eyes and for a brief instant they exchanged a poignant look.

  Bethany knew that Morgan was as relieved as she that James hadn't been the one who'd tried to kill them. But with James no longer a suspect, they were left with a deadly, unanswered question. Who had borrowed James's car and run Morgan and her off the side of Red Mountain?

  Morgan glanced upward from where he stood on the steps, past Bethany and straight at Seth Renfrew, who stood in the foyer, just inside the open front door. Looking back over her shoulder, Bethany caught the odd look in Seth's eyes. Fear? No, not fear. Supplication.

  In that one moment, as she watched Morgan's visual assault and Seth's retreat, she realized that Morgan was once again questioning Seth's guilt or innocence. With James eliminated as a suspect, Morgan was already altering the list, considering the other possibilities. And Seth seemed to be at the top of that list.

  Morgan and Seth stared at each other, an accusation issued and a denial returned. Anne Marie and James gazed at each other, love and comfort offered and reluctantly rejected.

  "It's nearly four o'clock." Bethany's words broke the peculiar silence that hung in the air. "It's been a long, difficult night for all of us. Come on inside."

  Morgan waited at the bottom of the steps. Anne Marie followed James up and onto the porch. He paused momentarily and when Bethany opened her arms, he went into her motherly embrace.

  "I'm glad you weren't hurt tonight." James pulled away from Bethany. "I hope the police find out who stole my car."

  "I hope they do, too," Bethany said. "Perhaps when they do, they'll also find your father's murderer."

  James nodded, then glanced over at Anne Marie. "I'll talk to Anne Marie and make sure she never does something else as stupid as she did tonight. She won't ever again be in danger because of her crush on me."

  Bethany saw the tears glimmering in her daughter's eyes and knew the agony her child felt. Love rejected was like a mortal wound, the pain almost unbearable. James was trying to do the right thing, the honorable thing, but in doing so, he was breaking Anne Marie's fragile yo
ung heart.

  James walked inside, nodding halfheartedly at Seth as he passed him on his way through the foyer. Reaching out, Seth patted him on the back, then stepped away from the front door and waited for the others to enter the house. James took the stairs two at a time in his haste to go upstairs. Bethany suspected he would stop by Eileen's room and check on her.

  Bethany wrapped her arm around Anne Marie's trembling shoulders. "Oh, Mama!" Anne Marie turned, falling into her mother's arms. Crying as if her heart would break—as if it was indeed already broken—she clung to Bethany. "I made such a mess of things, didn't I?" Anne Marie lifted her face from her mother's shoulder. "He doesn't care anything about me. Not that way. I should have known. He—he's always treated me like a kid"

  "Come on, sweetheart. Let's go upstairs and go to bed."

  "I wish I could sleep for ten years and wake up when I'm twenty-five." Anne Marie sniffled as she pulled out of Bethany's embrace.

  She led Anne Marie into the house, pausing momentarily when she glanced at Seth. "Talk to Morgan," she said. "Make him understand that you would never do anything to hurt me or mother or Anne Marie."

  "I'm not sure my powers of persuasion are that strong, my dear." Seth smiled weakly. "Your Mr. Kane doesn't trust anyone, except perhaps you. He's not going to take my word for anything, I'm afraid."

  "Does Morgan think Seth was the one who—" Anne Marie asked.

  "No, of course he doesn't," Bethany said. "It's just that Morgan—"

  "I can speak for myself." Morgan hovered in the doorway, his massive shoulders filling the wide space.

  Bethany gasped. Anne Marie jumped. Seth knotted his hands into fists at his sides.

  "Morgan, you mustn't think Seth is the one who killed Jimmy or that he tried to run you and Mama off the road tonight," Anne Marie pleaded. "If you knew him the way we do, you'd know he couldn't harm anyone."

  "Thank you for that vote of confidence," Seth said. "Now, little girl, you must go on upstairs to bed and get some rest. And so must your mother. Why don't you two take care of each other and stop worrying about me?"

  "Morgan, promise me that you won't be mean to Seth." Anne Marie looked Morgan straight in the eye.

  "All I'm going to do is ask Seth a few questions," Morgan replied.

  "When you finish questioning Seth, I'd like to see you for a few minutes before you go to bed," Bethany said.

  Morgan nodded agreement. Bethany led Anne Marie up the stairs quickly. Morgan turned his attention to Seth, who closed and locked the front door.

  "Would you care for a brandy, Mr. Kane?" Seth asked. "Or perhaps some Scotch?"

  "Scotch will be fine," Morgan said, and followed Seth into the study.

  Seth turned on the light, illuminating the masculine, wood-paneled room. Going straight to the bar, he lifted a bottle of Scotch, poured a liberal amount into two glasses and held one out to Morgan.

  Morgan accepted the glass, lifted the liquor to his mouth and drank slowly, allowing the hard, aged whiskey to slide down his throat, warming a trail to his stomach.

  Standing behind the bar, his drink untouched, Seth looked directly at Morgan. "I'd rather you didn't bother Eileen with a lot of unnecessary questions. I can tell you whatever you need to know."

  "Where were you between nine and nine-thirty last night?" Morgan swallowed another gulp of Scotch.

  "When Eileen found Anne Marie's note, she called my house, but didn't get an answer," Seth said. "Then she called me on my cellular phone. I was out driving around Birmingham. When I'm restless and have a lot on my mind, I often just get in the car and drive for an hour or two, until my head clears."

  "So, you were out just driving around when Bethany and I were run off the road?"

  "I don't have an alibi for that thirty minutes," Seth admitted freely. "It was before nine when Eileen called me and I didn't arrive here at her home until well after ten o'clock. I was all the way across town and traffic was heavy. It always is on a Friday night. So, you see, Mr. Kane, if you can't take my word that I didn't steal James's car and deliberately try to run you and Bethany off the mountain, I'm afraid you'll have to keep me on your list of suspects."

  "Who besides you, Eileen and James knew that Bethany and I were at her house tonight? Someone knew where we were. And the only way they'd know what time we left Bethany's and what route we took was if they waited near Bethany's house and followed us."

  "I'm not sure who else might have known." Seth pondered the question for a moment, then snapped his fingers as he remembered something. "Eileen mentioned that Vivian Crosby had stopped by earlier in the afternoon and had asked about Bethany and how she was coping with the indictment and the break-in at her house."

  "Did Eileen tell Vivian Crosby where Bethany would be last night?"

  "I'm sure she did. Vivian has been very supportive of Eileen since Jimmy's death and Eileen has … well, you know how Eileen loves attention. She knows that Vivian was quite fond of Jimmy, so she'd have no reason to suspect her in his death. Vivian's been stopping by on a fairly regular basis."

  "I'll double-check Vivian's whereabouts," Morgan said. "But according to Tony Hayes, Vivian was at WHNB last night, along with several other members of the Wake Up Birmingham crew, preparing a special tribute to Jimmy."

  "Then Tony has an alibi for that time, too?"

  "Tony had a dinner date, or so he told us. I'll have to verify his story."

  "So, you've narrowed your suspects down to the three of us?" Seth asked. "To Vivian, Tony and me?" Seth lifted his glass of Scotch off the bar.

  "Unless there's someone else out there that we don't know about." Morgan finished off his drink, set the glass on the bar and walked toward the door. Pausing just before exiting the study, he glanced over his shoulder. "Don't be guilty, Renfrew. Please, don't be guilty."

  Seth's face paled. He clutched the crystal glass so tightly that it cracked and broke, splattering liquor over his hand. Morgan walked out of the study, leaving the door open behind him.

  * * *

  Morgan sat down on the top step of the stairs, removed his phone from his pocket and dialed Hawk's private number.

  "Whoever the hell this is, you'd better have a damn good reason for calling me in the middle of the night," Hawk growled into the phone.

  "Who is it?" a feminine voice asked.

  "Hawk, it's Kane. Tell your lady friend that it's business."

  "Your timing is the pits," Hawk said.

  "I need you in Birmingham as soon as possible. Can you be here before noon?" Morgan asked.

  "I'll check in with Dane and then be on my way by sunup. I should be there before brunch."

  "Tell Dane to set a fire under all the investigators digging into Renfrew, Vivian Crosby and Hayes."

  "Will do."

  * * *

  Waiting in Morgan's room, Bethany paced back and forth. The minute she heard his footsteps in the hallway, she ceased her repetitious trek and met him at the door.

  "How's Anne Marie?" he asked.

  "She cried herself to sleep," Bethany said. "Her world has turned upside down the past few weeks and now her heart is broken."

  "James had to do what he did, say what he said." Reaching out, Morgan grasped Bethany's shoulders and backed her into the bedroom. Lifting his foot, he kicked the door closed. "Anne Marie isn't old enough for a love affair. You've got to give James credit for realizing that fact."

  "I know he did the only thing he could, under the circumstances. I just wish Anne Marie didn't feel things so deeply."

  "The way her mother does?" Morgan drew Bethany into his arms.

  She wedged her hands between them, separating their bodies. "Did Seth have an alibi for—"

  "No."

  "He didn't do it. I know Seth, and he isn't capable of murder."

  "Everyone is capable of murder, given the right provocation," Morgan said.

  "Seth would never harm me."

  "Can we leave this discussion for later? Our arguing about Seth Renf
rew's possible guilt or innocence isn't going to change either of our minds. You believe in his innocence. I'm keeping him at the top of my suspects' list, along with Vivian Crosby and Tony Hayes. And as far as I know right now, Renfrew is the only one with a motive."

  "Concentrate your investigation on Vivian or Tony, not Seth!"

  "Let's drop this for now, honey. I'm tired. You're tired. We can discuss this more rationally when we've both had some rest." What he wanted—what he needed—was to bury himself deep inside Bethany, to take her hard and fast and lose himself in the pleasure of possessing her once again. He wanted to taste her sweet lips, to savor the feel of her body wrapped around his.

  Jerking out of his hold, she backed away from him. "All right. We'll talk about this later. I'll leave you alone so you can go to bed." The blood rushed through her body as her heart pounded loud and fast, thundering in her ears. The last thing she wanted was to leave Morgan. She desperately wanted—desperately needed—to make love to him, to give and receive the ultimate pleasure.

  He grabbed her wrist and yanked her up against him. "You're not going anywhere. Not for a long time. Not until I say you can go." Narrowing his gaze, he stared at her with hungry eyes.

  Her stomach quivered. Her hands shook. Caught in his mesmerizing stare, she took in deep gulps of air. Her breasts rose and fell with each labored breath. Her nipples peaked.

  She gasped when he took her mouth in a hot, devouring kiss. Standing on tiptoe, she wrapped her arms around his neck and yielded to the power of her own desire. She could not deny the overwhelming longings that commanded her every action.

  With a haste born of passion, Morgan stripped her clothes from her body, all the while kissing her, touching her, aiding her as she yanked off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt.

  "I want you." He growled the words, his need a wild, burning rage within him. "I want to—"

  Bethany cut off his words of need with a tongue-probing kiss. Clinging to him, pressing her throbbing breasts against his naked chest, she rubbed herself intimately against him.