Any Time, Any Place(88)

He rubbed his hands over his forehead, cursing viciously under his breath. "That would be convenient for you, wouldn't it? You'd feel better about lying to me and realizing your father broke up a marriage and a family."

"I'm not going to start trading insults about our parents," she said softly. "Aren't you tired of living your life blaming someone who won't ever be able to give you answers? I'm tired. Tired of the nightmares, and anger, and hate. Don't you realize you taught me there's so much more for us? We don't have to let our parents' past dictate our future. Yes, I started off wanting more information, but every day I spent with you, I fell deeper and deeper. Nothing between us was a lie, Dalton. I fell in love with you."

He just stared at her. She shifted under the sheets, almost wishing he'd be angry. Yelling would be so much better than this icy silence and calculating gaze as he assessed her. "Let me make sure I've got your story straight now," he said, his tone mocking. "You decide to do an undercover operation and spend time with me to gain knowledge about my mother. You try to gather information from my brothers and my family, using me and my interest in you as bait. Were you willing to sleep with me for it?"

She raised her chin, ignoring the cold, hard piece of ice lodged in her gut. He had every right to be angry and cruel. She owed him the truth with no excuses. "No, sleeping with you was never in the plan. You got the job for the bar because you asked for it and were the best. I decided the time we spent together could be useful."

"Useful. I like that word." His gaze flicked over her in disgust. "What were you going to do when you confirmed my mother was a lying, conniving bitch?"

She flinched. "At first, I wanted to restore my father's reputation. After the accident, your family ruined his name, spreading cruel rumors about him seducing and killing your mother. I was destroyed. I had no money or family name, like you did, and couldn't fight back. That's why I ran away all those years, to find myself and heal. I'd always wanted to get revenge by discovering the truth, proving my father was taken advantage of."

"But now you don't believe that."

"No, I don't. I think they were in love. I think there were other things between them we don't know about, but that neither of them wanted to hurt anyone."

"How generous of you to forgive them both. When did you decide your spy games were officially over? Last week? Tonight? A few moments ago?"

"The night of the break-in," she said quietly. "I realized there was much more between us, and I didn't want to sacrifice it for some strange sense of justified satisfaction. I wanted to get to know who you were, separate from your mother. And I did. Dalton, there were never any lies between us in bed, or with my emotions. I planned to tell you."




 

 

Cal remained silent. Dalton took a sip of beer. His breath strangled in his chest, and in that moment, he knew he needed his brothers.

"Raven's father was Matthew Hawthorne. The man who ran away with Mom."

Tristan jerked so hard, red wine sloshed over the rim of his glass and onto his pressed slacks. He didn't even notice. "You're fucking with me."

Dalton shook his head, rubbing his gritty eyes. "Wish I was. I just found out last week. The night she stayed for dinner."

Cal finally spoke up. "What did she say?"

Bitterness leaked through his words. "She was full of excuses. Said she's been haunted for years about her father and the way we talked about him back then. Said she realized who we were the first night in the bar, but she didn't say anything until she decided to use me to gain information."

"Wait. She what?" Tristan asked in shock. "You mean Raven was dating you to get information on Mom? What the hell!"

"What was her plan?" Cal asked quietly. "To confront us? Confront you? What did she expect to find?"

"She said at first she thought Mom was the one who manipulated her father, but now she thinks they were in love. She planned to confront us when she learned Mom was some type of seductress-such a bunch of crap. But then she decided she'd been wrong, and she doesn't believe Mom was at fault. I guess I told her shit along the way that she was filing in her head. I can't believe I didn't see this coming, or make any type of connection. Her father called her Bella-that's how she was listed in his obituary-so that probably threw me off. And to be honest, we were so shell-shocked we never really cared about who Matthew was leaving behind."

"Did she admit she slept with you to gather this information on Mom?" Cal asked gently.

His gut lurched. "No. But she was lying." He studied Cal's face, which reflected calm. "Why aren't you freaking out about this?"