His Brother's Bride

ht in Boston,” he said, giving her the rest. “But mostly I hated myself for the one brief second during that phone call when I wished him dead.”

* * *

LAUREL DIDN’T SLEEP well that night. Exhausted, numb, she went to bed as soon as she got back to her room. But each time she started to drift off, she startled herself awake with a thought, a movement, a whimper.

She and Scott had had little to say—after having said far too much—and she’d just wanted to escape. From him. From the things he’d said. From the different shadings he’d put on her memories of the past.

She didn’t want him in there, messing with things she’d accepted long ago. Things she’d found places for.

She didn’t want to feel things for him. Like desire. Romance. Love.

She didn’t want him. And she did.

She’d needed to be alone.

At quarter after eleven, she reached for the phone, dialing by the light of the moon shining in the window of her second-floor room.

“Hello?” His voice sounded reassuringly normal. Far away, from another life, but something she recognized immediately.

“Hi.”

“Laurel?”

“Yeah.”

“God, honey, it’s great to hear your voice.”

“Yours, too. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Of course not, I just got in a few minutes ago.”

She’d known that. Shane was usually at the station until after the evening news.

“Where are you?” he asked, his eagerness flattering her battered heart. “Home?”

“No,” she said, stretching beneath the covers, taking comfort in the sensation of the soft, cool sheets against her bare flesh. She’d neglected to buy a nightgown when she and Scott had gone shopping the other day. “I’m in Worcester. William Byrd’s still missing, but we’re finding all kinds of information. We’re just not sure how it all fits together.”

Shane talked to her for a while about the case, adding his own thoughts and suggestions, and though he came up with nothing she and Scott hadn’t already covered, still it comforted Laurel. She and Shane had a lot in common.

“I miss you,” he said.

“I know. I miss you, too.” A lot, at the moment. She missed his predictability, knowing exactly where she stood with him. Shane had always been honest about the fact that he wanted her. That as soon as she gave the word, he’d have her in his bed.

“You don’t know how glad I am to hear that.”

Even while she smiled, a knot formed in her stomach. Maybe she shouldn’t have called. “I think I have an idea,” she said with a chuckle, one that was only a little bit forced. Shane was a very attractive man. Gorgeous, in fact. It wouldn’t be a hardship to sleep with him.

“Have you made any decisions?”

“Maybe.” She wanted to tell him yes, right then and there. That was why she’d called—to lock herself safely in with Shane once and for all. But she wasn’t sure it would be for the right reasons.

She wasn’t sure how she felt at that moment—except betrayed and confused.

And very, very scared.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

IT HAD BEEN A WEEK. Maureen Cooper woke up Saturday morning with a heavy heart. When a child went missing, five hours was the mark after which officials started to consider abduction a possibility. One week of William Byrd missing was more than enough for Maureen to know that something was dreadfully wrong.