He flushed just a little, letting her know that they hadn't exactly been playing charades. Kinley frowned. Had they been taking advantage of someone together? No. Oh. Oh. Were they gay? That was a horrible thought. It was kind of an insult to women everywhere that those two amazing hunks of masculinity would be interested in each other. She would have never guess it, but …
Why did her hot kidnappers have to be gay?
Irrelevant. She forced herself off that mental track. "What did her message say?"
Greg had explained that his first wife had suffered bouts of depression. He'd cared for her greatly, but in the end he hadn't been able to love her enough to save her.
"She sounded scared." Law stared at her, as if willing her to understand. "She said that she was leaving Greg and needed Dominic to call her. She was perfectly lucid and totally scared. She wasn't taking drugs."
"But-"
"The police found her dead twelve hours later, and I know Greg damn well killed her. Carrie was like a sister to me. He's my best friend. I can't just let it lie."
"Greg was in San Francisco when she died. He couldn't have killed her." Dominic's grief was clouding his logic. Kinley might not love Greg Jansen, but she certainly didn't picture him actually killing his wife.
So why was the tiniest part of her relieved that she wasn't going on her honeymoon today?
"What do you know about a man named Vincent Dargo?"
Kinley shivered. He was Greg's head of security. She couldn't stand how he looked at every woman who walked by like she was a piece of meat he couldn't wait to tear into. Brutally. Viciously. "I don't have much to do with him."
"I believe in my heart that he force-fed Carrie drugs that night under the orders of his boss, Greg Jansen."
Law's words painted a brutal picture that made Kinley shudder and wrap her arms around herself. Unfortunately, she didn't have to stretch her imagination to think Dargo capable of that. But Greg ordering him to do it? "Why? Why should I believe you? And why should you care what happens to me?"
He stood up and seemed to fill all the space in the room. "I'm not a gentleman, Kinley, but I'm going to be very honest with you because too many people in your life haven't." He sucked out a harsh breath. "I've been watching you for months."
She took a step back. "You've been stalking me."
"I suppose you'll probably use that word in court. I had to figure out who you are. I had to know if you were going into this marriage as Jansen's partner or his victim. And I figured something out about you."
"Really? I'm sure this is going to be impressive. You don't know me at all. Taking some pictures from a safe distance can't tell you anything about who I really am."
"Talking to you for the last week certainly has."
She froze. What was he saying? Not what she feared he was. Please, no. "I've never talked to you in my life before yesterday."
"Yes, you have." He stared down at her. His voice changed completely, becoming a bit higher and more nasally, the accent flattening out. "You know it. And it wasn't all a lie, Kinley."
Tears of complete humiliation flooded her eyes. "You're Mike."
"It's my middle name, if that helps." The voice was Law's again. All hint of "Mike" was gone.
"It doesn't." She turned away and paced, unable to look at him. "Wow, I'm a complete idiot."
But he'd spoken in a different voice, damn it. And why would she have expected California Mike to be in New York City?
Regardless, she should have known he was too good to be true, but she'd wanted so badly to believe that someone could like her for her. To escape to a fantasyland were a decent guy just wanted to spend time with her, regardless of her name or lineage.
"You are not an idiot! Trusting, yes. But not stupid. And once this whole thing is through, we're going to talk about your bad habit of insulting yourself. I won't have it." His low voice had taken on a sexy growl.
"You must have laughed at me, at how much I told you about myself, the feelings I shared … "
"No, if I laughed at anything, it was the fact that I never talk much. I especially never open up. To anyone. It's why they felt safe having me talk to you."
"They? Oh, you mean the other guys."
"I was supposed to get in, ask a couple of questions, figure you out, and be done. I was not supposed to talk to you for hours, but I couldn't help myself. God, Kinley, when I heard you laugh for the first time, it was like … I could see color in the world. That sounds dumb. Forget it. I'm not fucking good at this. Riley's supposed to handle this part."