Dark Angel (Casteel 2)

doorway, and wait. And when I advanced, she'd begin

to shiver and quake. Sometimes tears would streak her

face. When I touched her she'd fight and scream, but

she knew no one could hear her screams, and in the

end she'd succumb to my lovemaking like the

promiscuous child she was beneath all that angelic

sweetness."

The flat of my palm found his face this time! The sting of my slap left a red stain there. I

curled my fingers and tried to scratch his eyes from

his face!

"Stop it!" he commanded, thrusting me away so

I staggered backward. "I won't have it! I meant never

to tell you."

Again I threw myself at him, striking at his

face. He held me firmly by my shoulders and shook

me until my hair flew wild. "Until I heard your birth

date I didn't count the months. Now I have. Leigh ran

from this house on the eighteenth day of June. And

you were born on the twenty-second of February.

That's eight months. She had lain with me at least two

months off and on, and so, I have to presume there is

a strong possibility that you are my daughter." I stopped flailing my arms in useless efforts to

inflict some further harm to him. My blood drained

from my face. A tingling started behind my ears, and

my knees went weak. "I don't believe you," I said

brokenly. I felt bruised, beaten. "It can't be true. I'm

not Troy's niece, I can't be!"

"I'm sorry, Heaven, so sorry. For you would

have been perfect, the very one to save him from

himself. But I have sat here this evening and heard your story of how Leigh met Luke Casteel, and heard the day of their marriage, and there is no way you can be Luke Casteel's daughter, unless you were born prematurely. Did your granny ever hint that you came