Iris Johansen - Dark Summer

Silence. "What's happening there? You sound as if you were in the thick of something. Did I interrupt?"

"I wish." He asked again, "What's going on? Trouble?"

"A little. Not Danner. But the security guards around this estate are keeping me running from place to place. I can't keep a good eye on Addie. Can you pull them off me?"

"If I can think of a way. The situation is delicate."

"Don't try, do it. You won't let me get rid of them myself, so it's up to you."

"Thanks a lot."

"You're the one who set Addie up here. Now deal with it."

"What a bossy bit of goods you are."

"That's what you need." Bridget chuckled. "I've decided that's why I was sent into your life. You've had things too much your own way, you strong-willed bastard. You had to have someone like me around to calm you down and help you grow up."

"I beg your pardon?" he asked with soft menace.

"See, you're even learning politeness," Bridget said slyly. "But you're short on obedience. I'll have to work on that. Now get those security guards off me before we have an incident." She hung up.

Marrok muttered a curse as he hung up, then a reluctant smile curved his lips. Bridget's occasional flashes of puckish humor didn't always come at the right time. She was always her own woman and totally in de pen dent, but she didn't often try to jab at him as she had tonight. Maybe it was a good thing that she no longer seemed to be brooding about Fraser's death.

But that didn't mean she wouldn't be after him tooth and nail if he didn't do what she asked. Bridget might think he was too strong-willed and lacking in diplomacy, but he'd been walking a fine line with Addie's guardian. Now he either had to think of a way to keep the status quo or establish a new base.

Whichever route he decided to take, it had better be quick.

"YOU WERE DOWN THERE Along time. Almost three hours." Marrok was sitting in the rocking chair at the far end of the porch when Devon started up the steps. "I was wondering if you'd decided to cling to old friends in the middle of the storm."

Devon tensed. She had hoped she wouldn't have to face Marrok tonight. Talking to Nick and Janet had quieted and distracted her. She didn't want to be plunged back into the haze of sensuality that had shaken and disturbed her. "I'm not in the middle of a storm."

"No? I am." He made a face. "And I'm not talking about shi'i'go . I want this storm. I want to drown in it, burn in it." He saw the almost imperceptible change in her demeanor. "Yes, I'm being shallow and immature and selfish. Ask Bridget, she'd agree with me."

"As far as I know, Bridget isn't here to ask anything. Good night, Marrok."

"Stay. I didn't sit out here waiting to launch an attack on that front." He leaned back in the chair, and his face was once more in shadow. "I want to know about Lester Enright."

She stiffened and then vehemently shook her head. "Good night."

"For God's sake, talk to me. I was going to play it cool and let you keep your blasted privacy, but I can't do it. It's eating at me. You know everything there is to know about me. I need to know about Enright."

"Why?"

He was silent, then burst out, "It's bothering me, okay? Lincoln gave me the bare bones, but I need you to fill in the blanks."

"Lincoln told you about Lester in that dossier?"

"Not at first. I told Lincoln to go back to the well after I saw Enright on CNN."

"And that's why you wanted me to leave you alone with Lincoln? You wanted to question him about me?"

"Among other things."

"Why? It's none of your damn business."

He scowled. "I didn't like Enright."

"So you were trying to get something on him?"

"Maybe. And later when I mentioned him, I didn't think you liked him that much either. So tell me why you don't like him. Tell me why he lied."

"You tell me why I should confide in you about anything."

"Because Lincoln told me that you filed a restraining order against him a year after you divorced him in San Antonio, Texas. He said that the order was dropped when Enright went before the judge and swore you were having mental problems."

She smiled bitterly. "God knows that was the truth."

"No way."

"There are all kinds of mental problems, Marrok. I was in a deep depression."

"Why?"

She didn't answer.

"Dammit, let me help you."

"It's not your concern."

"Okay, you won't talk?" He leaned forward out of the shadow and she could see the recklessness in his expression. "I'll just go and cut the son of a bitch's balls off."

"Marrok."

"Sounds to me like a good idea. I don't really need to know anything more."

His dark eyes were glittering, his lips tight, and the muscles of his body were coiled and ready to spring. Devon had never seen him look more lethal. "Why are you reacting like this?"

"I'm jealous as hell. And for some reason it makes me crazy that I wasn't there to protect you all those years ago."

"That is crazy."

"Why were you in a state of depression?"

He wasn't going to give up. "I'd lost a child the year before."

He didn't speak for a moment. "Enright's child?"

"Yes."

He was silent again. "That had to be right before your divorce."

"Yes."

"How did it happen?"

Oh what the hell. Just tell him and get it over with. "I'd found out I was having the child, and I was leaving him. I'd been trying to cope with his obsessive behavior, but I wasn't going to make my child suffer. I wanted that baby. He went into a rage and hit me. I ran out of the house and jumped into my car. He followed me and ran me off the road." She tried to steady her voice as the pain of that night came back to her. "I was four months pregnant. I lost the child."

"Bastard."

Her lips twisted. "He thought he was in the right. Lester always thought he was right, and everyone else was wrong. In his eyes I was the one who was at fault. I'd killed his baby, and I had to pay for it."

"Harassment?"

"Ugly phone calls, visits in the middle of the night, demands that I come back to him. He got it into his head that I owed him another child since I'd killed his. Lester can be very clever, very believable, even appealing. It's not surprising that the judge at the hearing thought I was the one who was unbalanced. I was very…" She searched for the right word to describe that nightmare period. "Fragile at that time. I left town after the court hearing, but he found me. He always finds me. But after I bought the practice from Nick, I stopped running. I wanted my life back. Lester showed up in Denver three years ago, but he's been more careful this time. He could see I wasn't that bewildered woman he'd victimized any longer. I can take the malicious phone calls as long as he leaves the people I care about alone. I learned to live with it."

"Why? The answer is so simple. You should have hired a hit man to deep-six the bastard." He shook his head. "No, you couldn't do that, could you? Don't worry. If I decide to step in, you'll never know."

"Marrok, Lester is my problem. I'll handle it."

"Enright is claiming that you're going back to him. What's he up to?"

"I don't know. I don't like it."

"Neither do I. So it's okay if I kill the son of a bitch?"

She sighed. "No, it's not. I'm tired of all this violence. If you want to go out and kill someone, I can't stop you. But not for me, Marrok. Never for me."

"Only for you," he said quietly.

She inhaled sharply. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't look away from him. "I've told you what you want to know. I'm going to bed now."

"Not yet."

"I'm not going to tell you anything more about Lester."

"I'm done with Enright. Well, not yet, but I won't involve you." He paused. "I have another problem I have to solve, and it suddenly occurred to me that I could solve another at the same time." He added harshly, "But, dammit, I don't want to solve it this way. I want my chance at you."