Angelic Avenger (16 page)

“Okay, fine. It’s my problem. I get it. Do you know anything that might help me keep this from being front page news?”

“Us.”

I glanced over at Ben. He shrugged as he smiled back at me. “I said I needed to start borrowing pages out of your book, so there’s no time like the present, is there? Besides, you need someone at your back. They can’t kill you, but they sure can expedite their destiny. Gavreel will descend on them with the fury of the hounds of hell if they crossed that line.”

“He wouldn’t be the only one. Our dear Bella has acquired several allies where the powers are concerned. Gavreel wouldn’t only have the fury of the hounds; I’ll see them at his back.”

Oh yeah, he could do that. Sometimes I forget how powerful he truly was. I grinned.

“Fine, then. Us. What do you know that can help us?”

“Keep your cougar close and let him squire you about for the next few days to see how strong the idea is in the local communities. The last thing we want to do is turn DeFlores into a martyr. We need to find a way to discredit him so they deal with the problem themselves. It’s the only viable solution. If he’s removed by an outsider, even you, the movement will splinter, but the factions will carry on with more force than the single unit.”

“See,” Ben said with a nudge of his foot on my calf under the table. “I told you he had a plan. And you didn’t want to talk to him. Shame on you.”

As far as plans went, it was genius in the simplicity. Was it even possible? Heaven only knew because I certainly didn’t.

“Okay, okay. I’ll give Craig a call tomorrow. For now, I’m going to bed. You two can do whatever you want to do. I want to close my eyes and forget about the headache for a little while.”

I stood up and pushed my coffee cup to the middle of the table. Ben took the hint and picked it up to carry it to the sink. I stretched as I started toward my bedroom. I was trying for suave, but I knew I’d failed miserably when Foras called after me as I rounded the kitchen doorway.

“Bella, I recommend you keep your cougar close, but a little further away than you managed tonight. You probably want to shower before you crawl in bed with your lover.”

“He’s not my lover,” I groused as my cheeks flamed.

“A problem of circumstance and timing,” he replied without following me.

Yeah, yeah, so it was a technicality. It still wasn’t the truth in the strongest sense of the word. I slipped into my room and stood there, letting my eyes adjust.

Gray was sprawled across my sheets in the total abandon of someone whose soul is at peace. The pale cotton sheets cut down his body and I felt my mouth go dry. He looked like a Greek statue laying there in the moonlight. His abdomen was shaped by a health club membership. Men weren’t born that perfect. The sheet rode low enough on his hips for me to know he’d borrowed a page from the angel’s book of modesty. What was it with men thinking they had a right to be naked in my bedroom without an invitation?

With a shiver, I sat down and gave into temptation. Sliding my hand across his stomach, I watched his eyes blink awake. A sexy smile spread across his face to be chased away by a scowl as he breathed in the scent of Craig, smoke and clubbing.

“Have a good time?”

His voice carried an undertone of hurt dignity and I leaned down to press a small kiss to his chin.

“No. It was work and tomorrow night will be, too. However—” I let my voice drop to a purr, “—if you expect me to climb in this bed with you, you need to rustle up underwear if you don’t have pajamas while I’m in the shower. No naked men allowed.”

“That wasn’t what you said yesterday.”

I cracked up. I couldn’t help it. The man was honestly sulking.

“Gray, I passed out and had to be poured into bed. Foras thought he was guarding my virtue. I certainly wasn’t in any shape to compromise. As soon as I realized he was naked, I gave him hell about it, too. You
heard
part of it, remember?”

He must have realized how he sounded because he smiled in the moonlight. “Boxers good enough?”

“That’s fine. I’ll be right out after a quick shower.”

I started to stand, but his hand caught me and pulled me back against him. He kissed me like I was fragile. I let it go on for a moment longer than it should have before pulling away from him.

“Shower. I need to get cleaned up before I come to bed.”

“I could help.”

“Gee, thanks for the offer, but I’m not quite sure I’m ready for that. There’s a little girl next door who might wake up and come investigate the noise.” I laughed as I blushed, grateful for the darkness.

“There’s going to be noise?” The hope in his voice made me laugh harder.

“Only if you know what you’re doing.”

“Practice makes perfect,” he countered as he threw back the sheet. I jerked my head around in time avoid being flashed. “You know what they say about lawyers. We get tons of practice.”

I closed the bathroom door on his wicked laughter at the corny joke, hating to admit how much I hoped there was some truth to it.

Chapter Fourteen

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I finally came out of the bathroom. I’d done more primping for bed than I usually do for the entire day. I’d dried my hair and dug out an especially nice pair of silk pajamas from the dresser stashed in my walk-in closet which opened into the bedroom and the bathroom. With a final check, I’d come out of the bathroom to find Gray had heeded my request and earned a few extra brownie points by adding a T-shirt to the plaid boxers.

He smiled at me and pulled the covers back. Nerves knotted my stomach as I crossed the room to crawl into bed with him. He tucked me into the curve of his body, kissing my shoulder lightly…and that was all. He was playing the gentleman.

I was disappointed. Okay, I’m perverse enough to admit I certainly had no plans to jump the poor man’s bones with an apartment full of guests including a mini-person. So, don’t ask me why I was getting mad because he didn’t even try his luck, but I was.

“So that’s it. Good night. After the way we left things last night.” There was no question in my voice and I knew I was being unreasonable. I couldn’t help it.

“Yep, pretty much.” He didn’t even sound upset. In fact, he sounded amused and that tripped my temper a little higher.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled away and rolled onto my back to glare at him. He met the look without flinching.

“Bella—” He sighed as he propped his head on his palm. “Last night, I spent the entire evening making sure you wouldn’t regret things if they ended up hot and naked. Tonight? You spent the evening letting Craig crawl all over you. No offense, but when it finally goes that next step between us, I want to know I’m the one you want.”

I started to object, but he laid his fingers against my lips with a smile.

“I know
why
you did it, but I’m egotistical enough not to be satisfied as a substitution for whoever managed to spin you up. When things calm down, it’ll be soon enough. Besides, anticipation and torture make the conquest that much sweeter.”

I was beginning to feel like a city under siege. I frowned at him as I acknowledged his point. If the tables had been turned and he’d come home after spending the evening all over some other woman expecting to get laid, I certainly wouldn’t be accommodating him.

“Fine, be that way.”

I didn’t even bother to keep the sulk out of my voice as I rolled back onto my side with my back to him, not closing the distance I’d put between us. He laughed softly as he tucked me back into his body.

“Oh, trust me when I say, I’ll definitely make it worth your while when the time comes.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Count on it,” he whispered against my neck as he kissed it lightly.

For now, it would have to do. I relaxed into him and listened to his breathing even out with sleep. I’d forgotten how nice it felt to simply be held by someone. The warm weight of his arm across my middle was soothing after the day of shocking revelations.

I don’t remember dozing off, but I startled awake with Ben’s voice softly cajoling as he opened the bedroom door.

“She’s right in here, Lizzy, baby. Granny Dean made me promise never to lie to a lady and especially not to my best girl. You are my best girl, aren’t you?”

“I want to make sure she came home.”

The little girl’s voice wavered with emotion. I remembered my promise to be there when she woke up and realized what she must have thought when she woke up alone.

“I promised, didn’t I, sweeting?” Ben’s tone was light and teasing, but Lizzy was having none of it as she crept through the cracked doorway.

“It’s okay, Ben, I’ve got her.”

With a smile, I lifted up the corner of the covers for her. She needed no more encouragement than that to dart across the floor and scramble up into the bed with us. I was very glad I’d made Gray dress earlier as she snuggled into the line of my body, effectively sandwiching me between them.

“Hey, baby, did you have a bad dream?”

She nodded as she grabbed my arm and hugged it close with her teddy. Not really knowing what else to do, I snuggled her in and hummed softly until the tiny body stopped shaking and drifted back to sleep. I didn’t realize we’d woken Gray until he let his hand slide from where she had pressed it against my belly to my hip. He didn’t say anything as he patted my hip and went back to sleep.

I felt frightfully domestic as I relaxed into the warmth of them. My last conscious thought was that if they thought I was learning how to cook, they were out of their minds.

I was dreaming, but I when I blinked awake at Gray’s groggy voice, I realized I didn’t remember about what. His phone must have been what woke me.

“Hello?” I looked over my shoulder as he rolled onto his back. “Hold on, Maggie. I’m going to put you on speaker phone.”

“Gray? Are you okay? Eddie and Carl wouldn’t tell me anything and I stopped by your house last night to drop off some files and you weren’t home.”

The woman’s voice sounded put out and I looked at him in question. He rolled his eyes and shrugged, not bothering to slide his arm from under my body. Somehow, his hand had worked under my top, resting low on my abdomen. I wasn’t sure if I was glad he didn’t pull it back or not. It certainly was a nice way to wake up, but it would have been even nicer if we’d woken up without company or telephone calls.

“I took a couple of personal days, Maggie. Even I get them.”

“The bad guys let you get personal days?” I couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“You’re not alone.” She sounded surprised, but there was more to it. Pain laced under her words.

Whoever Maggie was, she wasn’t happy to find him in bed with someone else. Uh oh. Something told me there was much more to this than the casual friend or coworker.

“No, Maggie, I’m at my fiancée’s. Her niece came into town for a visit unexpectedly, so we’ve been at her place.”

“Fiancée? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were seeing someone so soon…”

If I thought her voice was flat before, now it was positively lifeless. I raised a brow as her voice faltered. So, Maggie was a former girlfriend or lover.

“Maggie—” he sighed as he closed his eyes, “—do you need something? It’s seven on Saturday morning and we’re not up yet. If it’s not important, can I call you back later?”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. I was hoping we could get together over lunch to go over the Coleman case.”

Well, I’ll say this. She rallied quickly. Grim determination replaced the hurt in her tone.

“Gray, maybe you should take this in the living room.” I made the suggestion as much because the line of the conversation was making me uncomfortable as much as a way to give him a discreet out. Lizzy was still dead to the world, sleeping the sleep of the truly innocent. At the moment, I envied her.

“No, that’s okay, Bella, hon. We’re done. Maggie, Eddie has the lead on the Coleman case now. I turned it over to him before I took my vacation time. You have his phone number if you have something he needs to know. His wife works nights, so they’ll be up early. Catch his cell if you wait until later, though. His son has T-ball on Saturdays. I’ve got to go before we wake up Lizzy.”

“Okay. I’ll give Eddie a call later, then. I’m sorry to wake you. You used to run on Saturday mornings, so I thought you’d be getting in from it.”

“Well, I got more than enough exercise this week, so decided to sleep in for once. I’ll be back in the office around the middle of next week, so if you need anything, get with Eddie.”

Ouch. The implication of that wasn’t lost on either of us, I don’t think. When she replied, her voice was embarrassed and more than a little angry.

“Sure…”

Whatever else she may have said was lost as Gray flipped the phone shut to cut her off. He glared at it and turned it off, tossing it across the room with a muttered curse. He didn’t look at me right away and I realized he was as embarrassed about the call as I was.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m a notorious creature of habit. I always answer on speaker because I manage to drop the phone fumbling around in the mornings, inevitably cutting whoever called off. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Want to get coffee and talk about it?”

Why was I being nice about this? Because he wasn’t truly mine, yet. Now, if his implication had any truth to it the other night, it would be a totally different story. As it was, I had no room for possessive instincts. Yet.

He looked at me with a sigh, pulling his arm out from under me to slide out of the bed. Carefully untangling myself from the sleeping child, I let him take me by the hand to help me from the bed. I led him stealthily from the room. I was momentarily surprised to see the living room empty, but realized Ben might have gone home since Foras was here to keep the bogie-man away.

I hit the on button for the coffeemaker and leaned against the counter while he sat on the table.

“How long were you two an item?”

He glanced at me. “A little over a year.”

“She wanted marriage and you weren’t ready for that?”

“No, I was and am ready for marriage, just not to her.”

Ouch. Now,
that
said a lot. I blinked and looked at him. His gaze was locked on me with a wealth of unspoken promises. They shimmered in the air between us, but I ignored the invitation to turn the conversation to us. Disappointment flashed through him and showed in his gaze. I turned away from him to check on the coffee pot more to have something to do than because I thought it would be full enough for those first few cups.