A Man Like Morgan Kane (28 page)

"What you're saying is that Anne Marie is doing just what I did, risking everything for love."

Loud voices and a thundering crash directly across the parking lot grabbed Morgan's immediate attention. Instinctively he shovedBethanybehind him and surveyed the scene. A small group of people, mostly men, made a semicircle around two young guys squaringoff against each other.

The black-haired youth with his back to them looked familiar. James Farraday! Crouched andreadyto attack. Damn that boy! What kind of mess had he gotten himself into with these tough-looking characters? Morgan wondered.

"It's James!"Bethanygasped as she peered around Morgan's side. "Oh, God, look! There's Anne Marie and Melanie."

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Morgan's heart stopped beating for a split second when he saw Anne Marie standing to one side of the semicircle, a terrified look on her face. The pint-size redhead grasping Anne Marie's hand had to be Melanie Harden.

"I don't like the look of this," Morgan said. He'd been in his share of fights over the years. As a boy and as a man. As an untrained civilian and as a skilled warrior.

He retrieved his phone from his jacket, handed it toBethanyand repeated the number for her to call. "Get in touch with Hal Varner and let him know we've found James."

When Morgan took a tentative step forward, she grabbed his arm, halting his advance. "What are you going to do?"

What was he going to do to? This wasn't a combat situation where the kill or be killed motto held true.

This was a street fight between two equal, unarmed participants. He thought it best not to interfere, to let the boys fight it out, as long as no one was in any real danger.

He could easily whisk Anne Marie and Melanie away, but he thought the girls should witness the fight.

Maybe it would scare a little sense into them.

"Please, don't do this," Anne Marie yelled. "Just let Melanie and me leave. We don't want to go with you and your buddies."

James's opponent, a lean, wiry teenager with curly brown hair, leered at Anne Marie, his lips curving in a cocky smile. "Hey, baby, if your boyfriend wins this fight, you and Red there can leave with him.

Otherwise, you two are going with us."

"She's not going anywhere with you, B.J." James snarled, baring his teeth in a show of deadly defiance.

Bethanyfinished her brief conversation with Hal Varner, then slid Morgan's phone into the pocket of her dirty, wrinkled cotton slacks.

"Do something, Morgan, before they start fighting."

Bethanystarted to walk around Morgan, but he caught her wrist and jerked her backward. "Right now, this is James's fight."

"What are you saying? Surely, you don't intend to allow those boys to beat each other to a pulp, do you?"

Before Morgan could reply, B.J. let out a blood-curdling yell and went into a typical karate stance. Not to be outdone, James repeated the action. With hands, arms and legs in motion, the two young men began an uncoordinated battle dance that resulted in little more than evasion tactics. Apparently both boys knew a few karate moves, but it took only a few seconds for them to exhaust their limited repertoire of skilled maneuvers.

Apparently tired of getting nowhere fast, B.J. charged, tossing the first punch, but James dodged the blow and quickly retaliated with a right cross. B.J. staggered backward, but recovered and came at his sparring partner again, this time landing a blow to James's midsection.

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Anne Marie cried out, but when she tried to rush toward James, Melanie restrained her.

Bethanypulled against Morgan's hold on her, but when he clamped his hand down on her shoulder, she stopped struggling and glared at him. "I want you to stop them," she told him. "Now!"

"Not yet," he said.

Both boys were breathing hard, panting as they tried to stare each other down. Then they went at it again, James getting in several hard punches and one quick, adept move that sent B.J. to the ground.

"Now end it,"Bethanysaid.

"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?"Bethanyasked 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.

Bethanywatched 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."

Bethanyrushed 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.

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"What about you and James?"Bethanyasked.

"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,"Bethanywarned. "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.Bethanyled the girls toward Melanie's car. Morgan waited untilBethanyand 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

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"
I
t's them!" Anne Marie ran to the front door and swung it open wide. "They're here."

Bethanyrushed behind her, as anxious as her daughter to see Morgan and James, to have them home safe and sound.Bethanywalked 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 caressedBethany'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,Bethanysaid 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."

Bethanywasn'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,"Bethanytold James. "Come on in. You both look exhausted."

She gazed into Morgan's cool gray eyesand for a brief instant they exchanged apoignant look.

Bethanyknew 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 ofRedMountain?

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

Inthat one moment, asshe watchedMorgan's visualassault and Seth'sretreat, she realized that Morgan was once again questioning Seth's guilt or innocence. With James eliminated asasuspect, 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 nearlyfour 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."

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

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

"I hope they do, too,"Bethanysaid. "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."

Bethanysaw the tears glimmering in her daughter's eyes and knew the agonyher child felt. Love rejected was like a mortalwound, the pain almostunbearable. James was trying to do the right thing, the honorable thing, butin doing so, he was breaking Anne Marie's fragile young heart.

James walked inside, nodding halfheartedlyat Seth as he passed him on his way through the foyer.

Reaching out, Seth patted him on theback, thensteppedaway from the front door andwaited for the others to enter thehouse.James took the stairstwo at a timeinhis haste to go upstairs.Bethanysuspected he would stop by Eileen's room and check on her.

Bethanywrapped 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 toBethany. "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 ofBethany'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."