Haunted: Penance / After the Lightning / Seeing Red. Debra Cowan

arrest. She never should have called Ty and put him in danger. He was David’s best friend; that was probably why he’d flinched, over his friend getting hurt because of her. She should have called 911 instead. Ty hadn’t even been on duty.

      “So you called the police before you went over,” David said, his jaw relaxing a bit as his tension eased. Then his dark eyes narrowed. “How did you know Haylee was in danger?”

      She couldn’t tell him about seeing the little girl’s ghost and risk having David look at her as so many others had. Already he studied her, raising her defenses even more. He couldn’t find out the truth or he’d reject her as everyone else had.

      “You know I suspected abuse,” she explained, hoping that would satisfy his sudden curiosity.

      “Why didn’t you call social services again?” he asked, his dark eyes intent on her face. “Why the police this time?”

      “You know what social services did last time,” she reminded him as bitterness joined her anger, churning in her stomach. “Nothing.”

      This time. Social services had taken her and her sisters away from her mom, and they’d never been in danger despite the unconventional lifestyle they’d lived. But for Haylee, with her sad eyes and fading bruises, they’d done nothing. Of course the child had been too frightened to tell them the truth about her home situation, about how since her mother had died, her father drank too much and beat her. She hadn’t even told Ariel despite how close they’d grown, but Ariel had been able to figure it out. Why hadn’t social services?

      “How did you know something had happened to her?” David persisted.

      She couldn’t tell him how; he would never understand. None of the foster families with whom she’d lived growing up had understood that she was cursed. They’d thought her crazy instead. Some had told her so, others had just looked at her with pitying expressions, like the ones passersby cast at homeless people who ramble incoherently. She’d rather David be mad at her than look at her that way.

      “Stop the inquisition already,” she said, whirling away from him to stalk over to the windows. Through the gauzy white curtains she noticed a van with a satellite dish atop it parked across the street. Obviously they’d been followed. “You’re worse than the reporters.”

      “Son of a bitch,” he said, blowing out a ragged breath as he joined her at the window. “Damn vultures.”

      “Why do you hate the press so much?” Other businessmen might have enjoyed the free publicity. Not David.

      His square jaw tautened as he peered through the curtain. “They’re relentless, with no qualms over invading people’s privacy.”

      And he was all about privacy. But then, so was Ariel. That need was one of the few things they had in common. The other was the attraction that hummed between them even now. Heat emanated from his body as he stood close behind her at the window. Even though inches separated them, it was as if he touched her. She could feel him against her skin, inside her heart.

      “I’ll call my security team, have someone run them off from the Towers.” The high-rise in downtown Barrett that housed both his business and penthouse. He leaned closer, his breath warm against her neck. “I’ll take you there.”

      “No.” She didn’t want to leave her cozy home for the cold, sterile building of glass, metal and marble where David lived.

      “Ariel, you’ll be safer there.”

      “Safe from whom?” The reporters wouldn’t hurt her, at least not anymore, if it had been media coverage that had precipitated her suspension. The man who’d hurt Haylee was dead. The only one who could hurt her now was David. She shivered, uncertain of the origin of her errant thought. Sure, he was intense, but he would never harm her. Physically. If he knew the truth, he might hurt her emotionally. And he was getting too close, asking too many questions about how she’d known Haylee was in trouble.

      The past several years she’d been careful to avoid getting deeply involved with anyone. She’d had her heart handed back to her so many times before that she’d promised she’d never give it away again. But David hadn’t asked for it, he’d just taken it. That was the kind of man he was, stronger and more powerful than any she’d known before.

      “Ariel,” he began, his deep voice soft with patience as he tried again to reason with her. “I have to get you away from the reporters. I don’t want them harassing you.”

      “They’re not the ones harassing me,” she pointed out, turning away from the window.

      He lifted his chin as if she’d physically slapped him this time. “And I am?”

      “You’re not helping. I lost a student, a precious little girl I cared about, and all you’re doing is yelling at me and firing questions at me!” Or was she the one picking the fight? Her anger built, fueled by the nagging fear that he might learn the truth. “Do you care about me at all? Or are you just upset about the press coverage? Are you worried about me or your reputation?”

      David’s face paled as his eyes widened. “Ariel?”

      He wasn’t the only one shocked. She’d never talked to him like that, not once since she’d met him when Haylee had brought them together with a letter. Ariel had had all her students write one to David’s company, requesting a computer donation for their struggling public elementary school. But it had been Haylee’s letter praising her teacher that had compelled David to visit their classroom. That was all it had taken for Ariel to fall for him.

      The blond Adonis with the brilliant mind and generous heart. She’d never met a man like him. He hadn’t wanted any acknowledgment of the donation he’d made—enough computers not just for their small school but for the entire district. He’d only wanted her phone number. She’d given him so much more. Her heart. Now he would probably return it.

      “Is that what you think of me?” he asked, his deep voice vibrating with hurt.

      She pressed her palms to his hard chest as if to push him away, but as always, electricity arced between them, tingling in her veins as her blood rushed. All it ever took was one touch, sometimes just a look, for her to want him. What would she do if she lost him? If he walked away or, worse yet, left her as Haylee had? Fear gripped her, dredging up all the pain from her past. She couldn’t go through that again. Not even for David. “David, I’m sorry—”

      His hands skimmed down her back, pressing her tight against him. Then he tipped up her chin so she couldn’t escape his dark gaze. “How can you think that I don’t care about you? Haven’t I shown you?”

      He had. In so many ways. Not with his wallet—as would be easy for a man of his means—but with his time and attention, something few people had ever given Ariel. He called her, wishing her good mornings and good-nights. He sent her e-mails throughout the day telling her how beautiful she was inside and out, how much he respected her patience to teach little kids, how he couldn’t wait to see her again. Even though he tried showing her how much she meant to him, she still doubted that any man could care about her if he really knew her and knew what she was.

      He deserved the truth. But she couldn’t risk giving him that. Besides rejecting her, besides thinking her crazy, he might think her a danger to herself. He was the kind of man who tried to protect others. What if he had her locked away, as some of her former foster parents had? Her heart lurched with fear and dread, and she blinked back tears. “David—”

      His mouth came down on hers, silencing her. With sipping kisses, he coaxed her lips to open for him. But he only tasted her, his tongue just touching hers, before he pulled back and skimmed his lips across her jaw to the arch of her neck. Ariel bit her lip to hold back a moan as he nibbled, his teeth scraping lightly across her skin. Then he buried his face in her hair, his breath blowing hot and hard against her throat. Ariel shivered even as her blood rushed through her veins.

      His chest rose and fell beneath her palms, tempting Ariel to peel away his black silk shirt to reveal the satin skin