Read Online Private Indiscretions by Susan Crosby - Free Book Online Page B

you.”
    â€œI don’t care.”
    â€œYes, you do. Or you would, anyway.”
    â€œYou can’t dictate my feelings,” she muttered, standing.
    He stood, too. “I need to go.”
    He saw her irritation in the way she picked up the tray, which made her fumble the mask tucked under her arm.
    â€œI’ll carry the tray inside,” he said, reaching for it.
    â€œOh, you don’t need—okay, okay.” She reboxed the mask, took a final sip of wine then pointed to a back door. “It leads to the kitchen.”
    There was no sign of Hilda as they made their way through the house to the foyer. He saw a small stack of mail on a chest. She’d arrived at the house with him, so she hadn’t seen her mail yet. He tried to determine if one of the envelopes matched the one Abe had shown him, but he couldn’t tell without thumbing through them.
    In his experience the more specific the threat, the more likely it was to be followed through. This one was specific.
    Talk to me, Dana. Tell me about the threat. Trust me.
    But she didn’t say anything, just looked at him with an expression he couldn’t read. Hell. He wanted to kiss her again. Hold her against him. Help her. Old habits were hard to break, even after a fifteen-year interruption.
    â€œGoodbye, Dana,” he said, turning to leave.
    â€œBye.” A single word uttered with a slight hitch.
    He ignored the way it made his gut clench and kept walking.
    His mood was foul when he got back to his hotel. Twenty minutes later his cell phone rang.
    â€œMr. Remington, it’s Abe Atwater. She got a second letter tonight.”
    He mouthed a curse. “What was in it?”
    â€œA veiled threat this time. ‘I’m waiting for your press conference. I won’t wait long.’”
    â€œWhat did Dana say?”
    â€œShe’s upset, of course. Her husband’s reputation means a great deal to her.”
    Her husband. Sam tended to forget about him. “I’ll call her. But unless she asks me, I’m not getting involved in the investigation.”
    â€œThat’s fair. You’ll let me know?”
    â€œYes.” Sam cut him off then dialed Dana.
    She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
    â€œYou said earlier there was something I should know,” he said, keeping his voice businesslike. “I cut you off. What did you want to tell me?”

Six
    D ana welcomed the opportunity to explain what she’d tried to tell him. She sat on her bed. Her gaze landed on the note she’d just received. “It’s about our graduation ceremony.”
    â€œWhen you wouldn’t talk to me?”
    Sam’s words sliced into her, the pain still fresh after all these years. Until now she could only guess how hurt he’d been. “Harley told me if I even looked at you, he and his friends would make sure you wouldn’t walk again.”
    His silence ratcheted up her anxiety a notch. Finally he said, “You were protecting me?”
    â€œOf course I was protecting you. Why does that seem ridiculous? You’d rescued me from Harley,” she said, bringing the issue into the open. “Then when you told me not to tell the police, I did. And you were beaten up because of it. How could I possibly take the chance that something else would happen to you? How could I live with that?”
    â€œSo instead you made me think you hated me?”
    Dana looked blindly around her bedroom. A chill cameover her, whispering along her skin, raising her flesh in goose bumps. “I did what I had to do.”
    â€œI thought you were stronger than that, Dana. Even then.”
    The accusation in his voice startled her. “Meaning what?”
    â€œIf Harley had followed through on the threat, you could’ve testified. I was safe. Or did you think he would hurt you, too?”
    â€œI didn’t think. I was scared.”
    â€œYou should’ve trusted me. Believed