Читать книгу The Second Sister - Dani Sinclair - Страница 12

Seven years ago

Leigh Thomas gulped the soda her date handed her, looking for a way out. She didn’t know a soul in the noisy crowd and the live rock band prevented conversation even if she’d found someone interesting to talk with. College age and older, everyone seemed to be drinking, openly using drugs and making out. The beer she’d managed to force down was threatening to make an ignoble return and suddenly, her flashy new image seemed downright stupid.

She might look like part of this crowd tonight, but despite the fact that she had raided her identical twin sister’s more daring wardrobe for this outfit, inside Leigh beat the heart of a fairly naive seventeen-year-old. She should never have gone out with Nolan Ducort III.

A party at the elite Pepperton estate had sounded so enticing. The perfect way to change her mousy image. Of course, if Leigh’s mother had still been alive, she would have warned Leigh that Martin Pepperton’s family was out of the country, and that Nolan, Martin and their buddy, Keith Earlwood, all had questionable reputations. But Amy Thomas wasn’t there to warn her, and Leigh hadn’t listened to her sister.

Their mother’s disappearance a few months ago, coming only months after the unexpected death of Leigh’s beloved grandfather, was still tearing Leigh apart. Amy Hart Thomas hadn’t voluntarily vanished right before Leigh’s high school graduation. Their mother was dead. They knew it, they simply couldn’t prove it.

The police tended to agree, but they believed Amy had been the victim of a robbery gone bad. She’d withdrawn a surprising amount of cash for a trip to New York City when she generally used credit cards for everything. Officers were quick to point out that Amy’s fondness for wearing expensive jewelry to complement her designer clothing was something any thief would notice right away. Even her expensive luxury car marked her as a potential target.

Only, Amy Thomas was no fool. She’d grown up wealthy. She knew how to protect herself. Besides, a robbery gone bad didn’t explain why neither her car nor her body had been found. And contrary to the local police chief’s suggestion, there was absolutely no way their mother had run off with a secret lover. The idea was ludicrous.

Leigh took another sip of the soda. Nolan grinned at her and ran his hand possessively down her arm. Leigh shivered. His touch repulsed her. Definitely, going out with Nolan had been a bad mistake. She’d have been better off at home in her room with her customary book in hand, reining in her all-too-vivid imagination. The family estate of Heartskeep was large enough that she would have had no trouble avoiding her father tonight. She’d had years of practice, after all.

But she’d been so tired of thinking and wondering—so tired of stifling sobs for the mother she missed so much. Going out, being with new people, had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Nolan was wealthy and model handsome. His sporty new convertible was the talk of everyone she knew. Even Leigh’s sister, Hayley, had been green with envy when he’d singled Leigh out after they were introduced. Being an identical twin, Leigh was used to guys flocking around her out of curiosity, but it was Hayley they were generally drawn to. Hayley knew how to flirt and tease. Outgoing, friendly and smart, her sister wasn’t intimidated by anything. Everyone always said Leigh was the quiet twin, perfectly content to let her “older” sister take the lead in most things. It was a real coup to have someone more interested in her than in Hayley. Her sister hadn’t been able to conceal her surprise or her disappointment. Hayley had really liked Nolan’s car. She had been quick to point out that Nolan was older and more worldly than other guys Leigh had dated. Which, of course, had made going with him tonight a given.

Now, Leigh sincerely wished she had listened to her sister and her own instincts. She was starting to feel dizzy and strange. Must be the effects of that beer she’d forced herself to drink. All she wanted now was to get out of this house and away from this noisy party. She didn’t like the way Nolan and his two friends kept looking at her.

Hayley would have known exactly how to handle the situation. No—Hayley would never have let herself be placed in this situation. Leigh was out of her depth and sinking fast.

When a boisterous group of people approached, Leigh seized the opportunity to slip away unnoticed. Outside, the humid night air didn’t help the muzzy sensation buzzing inside her head. She felt strange, as if she was melting from the inside out. From one beer? That and the flat-tasting soda were the only things she’d had. Maybe if she’d eaten something today she wouldn’t feel so strange. Reaching out a hand for a nearby tree, she tried to shake off the weird sensations.

“You okay?”

A dark shape detached itself from the side of a parked pickup truck nearby. The spark from a cigarette was ground beneath a large booted foot.

Her heart stopped, then jumped to vigorous life as her gaze traveled up the tight jeans, across the flat abdomen clearly visible beneath the open shirt, to reach his face, carved from the shadows. She knew his eyes were deep gray, with a penetrating stare that unnerved some people. Leigh had always found it incredibly sexy. His wavy dark hair was thick and perpetually in need of a trim—as untamable as the man himself.

She was face-to-face with her own private fantasy come true. Gavin Jarret, bad boy of the county, stood close enough that by simply extending her hand, she could slide her fingers over the hard, flat planes of the exposed skin on his chest.

Tempting.

Very tempting.

Which only went to prove how muddled her thinking had become. Gavin was no boy. He was five years older than her and carried himself with a dangerous air of sensuality that had nothing to do with money, clothes or cars. If this had been the era of the Wild West, he’d have a gun strapped on one lean hip and a hat with the brim pulled low over his forehead. He wasn’t cocky. He didn’t need to be. He moved with the easy assurance of a man who had no need to prove anything to anyone, but wouldn’t back down from a challenge.

Gavin had starred in many of Leigh’s wishful dreams since she’d first glimpsed him working at Wickert’s gas station in town. Rumor had it he’d been arrested, thrown out of several schools, and that he kissed like nobody’s business. She could believe the latter. His mouth fascinated her. Everything about Gavin fascinated her.

He’d been one of the many foster youths her neighbors, Emily and George Walken, had taken on. Everyone told them it was a mistake. Gavin was a loner who liked it that way. Whenever there was trouble, the police came knocking on his door first. But like so many others the Walkens had helped, Gavin had settled down under their guidance. Now he used their place as his home base when he wasn’t away at college.

“Heat getting to you?” he asked.

The slow glide of his words ignited a tingling flame low in her belly. His gaze seemed to linger on her cleavage and the daringly bared expanse of midriff over the jeans that just barely covered her navel. She’d regretted the choice almost immediately after leaving her room earlier that night, but had decided to brazen the situation out. She’d felt naked ever since—especially when Nolan had gazed at her with a predator’s hunger.

Funny, but Gavin’s appreciative gaze had just the opposite effect. It stirred something to life inside her, something daring and exciting and strange. Tipping her head to one side, she smiled up at him.

“It’s terribly hot inside.”

He proffered an open bottle of beer. She’d been so focused on the rest of him, she hadn’t even noticed his hands. They were big, solid hands, with long, tapered fingers.

“Want a sip?”

Her heart fluttered madly. His voice was deep and gravelly. Sexy, like the rest of him. “Sure. Thanks.”

Their hands touched.

Hot and wild, a surge of energy flowed through her. Leigh tried not to shiver at that contact. The pads of his fingers were rough and callused from working at the garage, not baby soft like Nolan’s.

Taking the bottle, she put her mouth where his had been. The sensation was deliciously naughty. From somewhere came the courage to look him in the eye as she took a long swallow. The beer trickled down her dry throat, icy cold.

She sensed approval as his gaze slipped away to travel the length of her throat, then lingered on the swell of her breasts. Her nipples tightened along with the rest of her. A prickly restlessness enveloped her.

The moon skittered behind a wispy cloud, plunging his features into deeper shadow. As she handed him back the bottle, she dared a tiny caress over his knuckles.

Gavin studied her with dark, unfathomable eyes. With deliberate slowness, he raised the neck of the bottle and covered its mouth with his lips. Tilting the neck back, he took a long, slow drink.

Leigh couldn’t tear her gaze away. She followed the path of the liquid down his throat, feeling as if that mouth was on her rather than on the bottle in his hand.

His eyes stared deeply into hers. “Want to take a ride?”

He gestured toward a sleek black motorcycle waiting in the shadows beside the pickup truck.

Her body hummed with energy. The prickling sensation centered itself between her legs, charging her with unbearable excitement. Her fantasy was coming to life. Did she have the nerve to see it through?

She strove to mimic her sister’s easy tone, smiling with false confidence. “Sure. Why not?”

“I don’t have an extra helmet,” he cautioned. “That fancy hairdo of yours is going to get messed.”

“Not if I take it down first.”

The brazen words seemed to have a life of their own. So did her hands as they reached for the clip holding the carefully styled mass of hair on top of her head. His sensual hunger was tangible, bonding them together in the night. He watched every motion through heavy-lidded eyes.

Freed, the golden-brown mass spilled over her shoulders and down her back. Her fingers threaded the strands as he watched. She trembled when his hand came up, reaching out to lift a section and rub it between those long callused fingers. His eyes went darker still, with unmistakable desire.

Leigh couldn’t breathe.

“Come on,” he said abruptly.

She had never been on a motorcycle in her life. Amazingly, she slid behind him as though she’d been doing it all her life.

“Hold on to me,” he told her.

The buzzing in her head was almost welcome as she wrapped her arms around his trim waist. The tingly feeling became a burning ache of need. They took off with a deafening roar.

Hair whipped around her face, tossing streamers behind as they raced along the twisty road. Her fingers tightened spasmodically around him, but she quickly found the rhythm of moving with his body and the bike. Wind whistled in her ears as trees rushed past. Her fingers sought a better grip, brushing his zipper. He was aroused.

Part of her registered that fact in shock, but the shock was quickly overwhelmed by a yearning she had never experienced before. Tentatively, her fingers traced that bulge, feeling it swell and pulse.

A tiny core of sanity screamed in alarm. Her body no longer listened. It was as if she was acting under dictates she had no control over. She pressed an openmouthed kiss against the shirt on his back. The bike swerved slightly as he reacted.

Gavin steered them down a side road. More of a path, really. She had no idea where they were. She didn’t care. Touching him had become a drug of liberation.

They tore up the narrow dirt road, raising a plume of dust around them. Leigh closed her eyes. She slid her hands wantonly over his bare skin. Nothing had ever felt this incredible. He was hard planes and supple skin and she was breathing fast and shallow when he pulled the bike into a copse of trees and stopped. He came off the bike in a smooth motion, then whisked her off before she knew what he was doing. She stood on legs of rubber as he crushed her against his body. His mouth sought hers in a kiss that demanded a total response.

And she gave it, kissing him back with a fervor that astonished the tiny portion of her brain still functioning. She felt branded as his tongue plunged into her mouth, mimicking an action her body seemed to crave. He tasted of cigarettes and beer, with a subtle hint of peppermint, of all things.

It took her several seconds to realize tiny, animal sounds of need were issuing from her throat. She couldn’t get enough of the feel and taste of him. She wanted more. Her body seemed to be catapulting her toward some precipice, demanding that she hurry.

She uttered a small cry of protest when he pulled back. His eyes gleamed, dark and hot and wild like the night. His teeth glinted in the dancing moonlight as he smiled.

“Slow down, baby, we’ve got all the time in the world.”

But she couldn’t slow down. She wanted to scream at him to hurry. Yet the only sound she seemed capable of making was a ridiculous, yearning whimper. He yanked a blanket from his saddlebag and spread it in the clearing. Her brain felt muzzy and disoriented, yet the incredible need continued to build inside her, overwhelming conscious thought.

“You’re going to burn me alive, looking at me like that.”

Yes! Exactly! She was burning with a need only he could satisfy. “Hurry. Please.”

He grinned wickedly. “I intend to do both.”

His mouth claimed hers in a hot, wet duel as he drew them down on the thin blanket. Every fiber of her was on fire. Grass pricked at her skin through the thin material, acting as yet another spur to the incredible tension stretching inside her.

Leigh never felt his deft fingers bare her breasts to the night sky. She was lost in a tidal wave of sensations that pushed her ever closer to the waiting precipice. Then his mouth closed over one nipple. She free-fell in shudders of exhilaration.

Dimly, she heard his sound of satisfaction. “Sing for me, baby.”

She should have been mortified to know he watched her lose control. But he gave her no time to recover. Using that incredibly talented mouth, he set about igniting the fire all over again. Her mouth, the sensitive skin of her throat, nibbling on an earlobe until she quivered. With a low sound of satisfaction, he set a new path with his lips, placing light kisses along her throat, her collarbone, her breast, until he could draw the nipple deeply into his mouth. Her body arched in supplication.

A tiny kernel of sanity watched in stunned amazement as she went completely wild, tearing at his clothing, covering his skin with kisses and tiny nips that elicited surprise and a few startled groans of pleasure. Somehow they were both nude. It was shocking, yet intensely exciting. His lips forged a new path down her tummy and lower still. He paused, his breath stirring the hairs at the junction of her legs, making her moan in anticipation. Then he settled there, his mouth doing incredibly naughty things she’d only read about, until now.

He chuckled as her hands strained to touch him, this incredible, fascinating shadowy shape in the dark. He assumed the role of teacher as he showed her untutored body how to please them both. The wild clamoring filled her once more and she wondered if she’d gone mad.

Finally, he stretched out over her. Butter soft, yet uncompromisingly hard. Their sweat-slicked skin came together and he claimed her with one hard thrust. He swallowed her shocked cry with his mouth. The stab of pain was almost immediately lost in the extraordinary sense of fullness.

She thought she heard him swear, but when she began to move against him, he shuddered and began to move as well, withdrawing, almost completely, only to surge against her once more, faster, harder, perfect.

Leigh was beyond words, beyond thought. She clenched around him, demanding more insistently as she pushed her body against his. With a curse and a groan, he began to move, harder, faster, deeper. The pleasure returned, driving her toward some incredible goal until the world exploded in a pleasure beyond description.

“WAKE UP. Damn it, Hayley, wake up.”

Confused, her mind tried to make sense of the masculine voice and the hand shaking her none too gently.

“I’m Leigh,” she muttered, unable to lift her heavy eyelids. The shaking sensation stopped. She felt the hard rocky ground at her back. Vaguely, she wondered if she’d ever stop trembling.

Gavin cursed again. She should say something, but it was far too difficult to battle the fatigue pressing shut her eyes.

Something wet covered her face. She batted uselessly at the cloth, but hands pinned her arms over her head to the blanket. She blinked as the cloth fell away, trying to make out his features in the dark.

“That’s it. Snap out of it. How much did you have to drink?”

The rough demand reached past the haze. “One. Beer.”

He swore viciously. “Are you lying?”

“Never. Lie. So tired.”

“You’re drugged.”

The words ripped at the curtain fogging her mind. “No.”

“Hell, yes,” he said grimly. “Open your eyes and look at me!”

“Stop swearing!” She blinked open blurry eyes, battling the residual haze shrouding her brain. Gavin was holding her down. She tried to remember why that was all wrong.

“That’s it, fight back.” One hand let her go. Her head lolled to the side. It was so hard to keep her eyes open. His hand slid beneath the tangle of her hair, cupping the back of her head. The tingling sensations were starting all over. There was something incredibly sensual in the touch of that large hand against her scalp.

“Sit up, come on. That’s it. Open your eyes, Leigh.”

She struggled to obey. He was the sexiest man she’d ever seen. “Fantasy man,” she whispered.

Gavin cursed. “We’ll see how you feel about that tomorrow. Here, swallow this.”

A bottle of liquid was thrust to her lips. It clicked against her teeth, but he gave her no chance to protest. Warm water dribbled down her chin, but some of the fluid made it down her parched throat. The water had a chemical taste, like bottled water that had been sitting in a hot car too long. She choked. Her stomach roiled in protest. Feebly, she tried to push aside his hand.

“Drink some more.”

“I’m going to be sick.”

“That’s the idea. We need to get that drug out of your system.”

To her acute mortification, he held her while her stomach made good on the threat. He continued holding her gently even after she was reduced to dry heaves. Almost tenderly, he pulled aside the heavy mass of her hair and rubbed her bare back as if she were a child.

Weak and spent, she let him. Desperately, her brain tried to make sense of it all.

“Take another sip.”

“I’ll throw up again.”

“Swish it around in your mouth and spit it out. Don’t swallow it. I know it’s warm, but it’s the only water I have with me.”

She obeyed, totally ashamed as memory played back the things they’d done. He let her go and fished in his pocket. She heard the crinkle of paper as Gavin unwrapped something and handed it to her.

“It’s okay. It’s a peppermint hard candy. It will take the taste out of your mouth.”

His expression was so sweet she wanted to cry. The candy had an odd taste on her tongue.

“Think you can get back on the bike?”

“Bike?”

Memory trickled past. A wild ride. Wanton need. Her breasts were bare, the nipples hard, but tender and sore. The rest of her body was equally bare. Moonlight peered through the trees overhead to dapple her skin. She focused on his face, horror growing as images ghosted through her mind.

“Did we…? Were we…?”

His features hardened, making her flinch.

“Were we intimate? Oh, yeah, baby. We were as intimate as it gets.”

His finger lightly traced her collarbone. She had a memory of his lips doing the same. Leigh trembled—hard.

“How much do you remember?”

The knot that formed in her stomach threatened to turn her inside out.

“I don’t… I’m not sure.”

Lifting her chin, Gavin forced her to meet his eyes.

“Tell me you weren’t a virgin.”

She lost the battle with her stomach once more. He turned her head in time as her insides twisted in an attempt to escape. Dry heaves wracked her. Gavin swore, but he held her until she finally sagged against his chest, utterly spent. His shirt smelled of cigarette smoke and fabric softener. That he was fully dressed while she was naked made it all the worse somehow. His hands were gentle as he wiped her face, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Let’s get you dressed.”

She tried, but her fingers were useless. He skipped the bra and panties and helped her with her sister’s blouse.

“Can you stand?”

She wasn’t sure. Gavin didn’t give her a choice. Her body still vibrated in reaction to his touch as he slid the jeans back up her legs. Her stomach fluttered helplessly at the feel of his fingers trying to fasten the snap. She stepped into her brand-new deck shoes while he held her so that she didn’t fall over. Tugging her toward the large black motorcycle, he lifted her up, settling her in place.

“Hold on to me.”

A flashback of her hands roaming his bare skin hit her with electric force. Leigh closed her eyes, fighting tears of shame. She didn’t open them until the bike stopped. Helplessly, she gazed at the dark building of Wickert’s garage.

“What are we doing here?”

“I have a key and I know the alarm system. I thought you’d want to clean up before I took you home.”

Home. She had no home. Not anymore. Only an empty house where people waited without hope.

Her stomach knotted. She wanted to cry. His features were harsh. She swallowed her tears, feeling mortified and ashamed.

She barely recognized herself in the mirror of the ladies’ room. Her hair hung about her face in tangled strands. Her eyes were huge dark pits against the ghostly white pallor of her skin. Streaks of mascara gave her a raccoon appearance, and there was more than one dark bruise forming on the skin of her neck. Leigh remembered his mouth there and whimpered. The temperature could have been below freezing instead of the high seventies she knew it to be even at this hour of the night.

Holding the comb he’d thrust into her hand after unlocking the door, she sank onto the dirty tile floor and sobbed until there were no tears left. Shame paralyzed her. How could she go back out there and face him?

He claimed she’d been drugged, but that didn’t matter. Neither did the fact that she’d had a crush on him since she was fifteen. What mattered was that she’d given her virginity to a man who couldn’t even tell her apart from her sister.

Given? She’d practically demanded that he take her.

And that was more demeaning than all the rest.

His knock on the door brought her scrambling to her feet. She brushed at her tear-stained face.

“Are you okay in there?”

“Yes.” It came out as a croak of sound. Her voice was thick from crying. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Do you need anything?”

Her mother. She would have given anything she possessed to have her mother here beside her right this minute.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” she repeated.

Leigh waited until she heard him move away from the door. Splashing water on her face, she used the rough paper towels to rub fiercely at her face, trying to remove all traces of her smeared makeup. Her sister’s blouse was buttoned all wrong and her fingers still didn’t want to cooperate, but finally, she managed that small task. Trying to tame her hair with his comb proved impossible.

She tried not to think about the marks on her skin or the puffy appearance of her lips, or the strange, small ache between her legs and elsewhere. She could smell him on her skin, and still feel him pulsing inside her. And the shaking started again in earnest, because she still wanted him. It was all she could do to pull herself together and exit the ladies’ room.

Gavin came away from the dirty wall with a primitive grace she still found compelling. Worse, a part of her longed for him to pull her into his arms and hold her. She needed to hear that things were going to be okay, that he wasn’t disgusted with her. But he made no move to touch her and his stern expression was angry.

With her?

“Come into the office. I made some tea.”

“Tea?” There was a surreal feel to everything.

“Mrs. Walken claims tea with sugar is good for shock. I suspect we both need a cup. Besides, the coffeemaker’s broken again, so it’s tea or soda.”

“I’m not thirsty.”

“Drink it anyway.”

She was so cold inside, she didn’t think even a gallon of hot tea would help. She’d probably just embarrass herself further by vomiting it right back up. Leigh looked quickly away from the cookies he’d bought from the vending machine.

“Try to eat one. We need to give your system something to absorb besides the drug.”

A protest formed in her head, but she blocked the words before they could slip past. Sipping tea and nibbling on a cookie gave her something to do, a focus other than looking at him.

“What were you doing at that party?”

Leigh cringed. “I went with Nolan.”

“Ducort?” he asked in obvious disbelief. “What’s a kid like you doing with a creep like that?”

Forcing herself to meet his eyes she said simply, “He asked me out.”

Gavin muttered something under his breath. A pulse in his neck began to throb. He looked as if he wanted to hit someone. She cringed. Instantly, his features transformed, softening.

“Listen to me, Leigh, I’m sorrier than I can say about what happened. I swear I didn’t recognize you at first or I would have taken you straight home.”

She swallowed the hurt, refusing to cry in front of him. The old desk chair she’d sat down on squeaked in protest. “Thanks a lot,” she managed to say.

Gavin didn’t seem to hear her. “You are not to blame. Do you understa—”

Leigh stood so fast that the cookies scattered across the desktop. “Don’t you dare patronize me. I’m not twelve.”

“At least tell me I didn’t seduce a minor.”

“It was consensual sex, not seduction,” she told him, shaking from head to toe.

“You were drugged,” he said bluntly. “And you were a virgin.”

“Well, I don’t have to worry about that problem anymore, now, do I?”

Headlights bathed the interior of the gas station. A car was pulling up out front.

“Your sister’s here.”

Horrified, she stared at him. “You called my house?”

“No, I called the Walkens. I wanted advice before we go to the police.”

She gaped at him. “We aren’t going to the police!”

“You were drugged. Don’t you understand? Ducort slipped something in your drink. He intended to rape you. Only, I got to you first,” he added grimly.

For a second she thought she would pass out. Dimly, she heard him opening the door at her back.

“Bad luck for you, huh?” she spit at him. A clamoring anger filled her. “Well, don’t give it another thought. I sure don’t plan to. I’m not going to the police. But if either one of you ever comes near me again, I’ll make you rue the day you were born.”

Gavin stepped aside. Hayley and the Walkens stood in the doorway with mingled expressions of shock and concern. Leigh’s humiliation was complete.

Pivoting, she held her tears in check with fierce effort as she gazed at the man she had dreamed about for so long.

“I will never, ever forgive you for this.”

EIGHTEEN HOURS LATER, Gavin sat in jail contemplating his bruised knuckles and wondering why he’d felt obligated to play the hero. All he had to do was tell the police the truth—and ruin Leigh’s reputation completely.

Besides, what was the point? The cops thought they already knew the truth. An anonymous tip put his bike outside his employer’s house last night. The house had been burgled. Old man Wickert had been struck a couple of times, tied up, then left there to suffer a heart attack. If he died, the cops would add murder to the charge, and Gavin knew the police chief was just itching to do exactly that.

Gavin had been allowed one phone call. He’d used it to call George Walken. He’d elicited a reluctant promise from the man to keep Leigh out of this no matter what. He’d pointed out that telling the truth would only get him in deeper. The cops would claim Gavin had given her the drug and there was no point in dragging her name through the mud. He’d told George’s attorney, Ira Rosencroft, the same thing.

Gavin opened his eyes when his cell door suddenly clanged open. A fresh-faced officer not much older than he was took a step back and waited.

“Let’s go, Jarret.”

“Go where?”

“You need to sign for your things. You’re being released.”

“Why?”

“You like it here so much you want to stay?”

“Did Mr. Wickert regain consciousness?”

Hope filled him. The old man had been a demanding boss, as crotchety as a bear coming out of hibernation. He’d turned grumbling into an art form, but he’d given Gavin a job and a chance when no one else would, and over time, the two of them had come to like and respect each other.

The cop shook his head. “He died about an hour ago.”

“Damn.”

Their eyes met in shared sympathy. Gavin swallowed his grief. “So, why are you letting me go?”

“Your alibi came in. You know, you could have saved us all a lot of work if you’d just told us where you were last night.”

George had promised him! So had the attorney. Gavin scrawled his name on the paper he was handed and stuffed his nearly empty wallet into his back pocket. Livid that one of them had betrayed him, he started walking away. The interrogation-room door swung open.

The police chief stood in the doorway, glaring at a slim figure sitting on the hard wooden chair. She stared back with wide, unblinking eyes.

“You should reconsider,” Chief Crossley growled.

Leigh Thomas rose with the grace of a queen. Her long, golden-brown hair swung halfway down her back. She faced the man with a composure few could have matched.

“No, you should reconsider.” She spoke with quiet force. “I know you don’t like me and my sister, and you don’t like Gavin or the Walkens, but if you let that stand in your way, you won’t solve this murder, either. Gavin was with me last night, and I’ll swear to that in court. There is nothing you can say or do that will change that simple truth.”

She stared him in the eye without flinching. A slip of a girl really, yet she faced that six-foot-five-inch pompous ass with a dignity that shrunk him right down to size.

“You listen to me, girl. If we find one piece of evidence to link Jarret to that crime, I’ll have you up on an accessory to murder charge so fast it will make your head swim.”

“No. You won’t. You’d have to fabricate evidence, and you may be incompetent, but I don’t think you’re dishonest.”

“Get her out of here,” the chief snarled, turning dark angry red. Pivoting, he spied Gavin. “Get them both out of my sight,” he told the young cop standing silently to one side.

Gavin fell into pace beside Leigh. She wouldn’t look at him as they walked outside. Her chin was up, her shoulders back, and she stared straight ahead as she moved. She flinched when he touched her shoulder, and his gut tightened in pain.

“Why did you come here?” he demanded. “I told that lawyer and the Walkens to leave you out of this!”

“They don’t even know I’m here,” she told his shirtfront.

He needed to see her eyes, to know what she was thinking. Did she hate him for what had happened last night?

“Then, why come here today?”

She didn’t raise her head. “Because you were with me when the robbery happened.”

Gavin swore. “Precisely. There wasn’t any evidence against me, just some anonymous phone call. All I had to do was sit tight and they would have released me sooner or later. Don’t you realize what you’ve done to your reputation by coming here?”

That brought her pointed little chin up. She faced him squarely without a flicker of emotion.

“Enhanced it or ruined it depending on who you talk to.” Her shoulders rose and fell. “Want to know how much I don’t care? If I hadn’t come forward, the police would have stopped looking for the real criminal, just like they stopped looking for my mother. Mr. Wickert was a nice old man. He deserves better. Now, take your hand off me before I kick you in the shins.”

Gavin dropped his hand, still trying to read her expression without success. “Are you okay? I mean after last night—”

“After last night, you owe me, right?”

Surprised, he managed a nod. Beyond her, he saw her sister running up the sidewalk toward them.

“If you owe me, then do us both a favor, Gavin. Grow up. Make something of yourself. That bad-boy reputation could have cost you a prison term just now. And you made Mrs. Walken cry. She deserves better, too.”

The words lashed him with their simple truth. “I thought you were supposed to be the quiet twin,” he muttered.

“Leigh!” Hayley called to her.

Leigh narrowed her eyes. “I am. Stick around. My sister will tear a strip off you that will make you wish you were back inside with Chief Crossley. As for last night, forget it, Gavin. I plan to.”

“You won’t forget,” he said softly as she turned to meet her sister. “And neither will I.”