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“Hours? Oh, please. You’d be lucky to last six minutes. Quit playing, Garth. I have a full day ahead of me. Despite what you think, the world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“Yes, Deputy Birch.”
He dropped the towel at his waist.
She kept her eyes on his face. Not only didn’t he interest her in the least, but she was here in a professional capacity. She was proud of her job and what she did for the community. The good people of her town didn’t pay her to ogle the likes of Garth Duncan.
“No?” he asked, completely naked and holding out his arms at his side. “I’m yours for the taking.”
She faked a yawn.
He laughed. A rich, full laugh that spoke of amusement and perhaps grudging respect. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she found herself wanting to smile back at him. As if they were sharing a connection. As if they had something in common. As if they almost liked each other and might even be almost friends.
Dana turned and walked out of the closet. “Get dressed,” she called as she went.
“What if I have a gun in here?” he yelled after her.
“Then I get to shoot you.”
She crossed to the window in the bedroom and stared out at the view. But she only saw her friends’ faces. The three sisters Garth was trying to ruin. He hadn’t been content to attempt to destroy Lexi’s business or ruin Skye’s foundation. He’d actually tried to kill Izzy. What the hell was she thinking, smiling at him?
Garth was the enemy. He was evil. She was going to put him in prison for a very long time.
Five minutes later he walked into the bedroom. He wore a suit she was sure cost more than she made in a couple of months.
“Let’s go,” she said. “We’ll take my car.”
“I’m calling my lawyer on the way. She’ll meet us at the police station.”
“You can call Congress and God for all I care.” She pointed to the hallway. “Move.”
Instead of heading toward the living room, he moved toward her. For a split second Dana wondered if he had really had a gun in the closet. She reached for her sidearm.
“I didn’t try to kill her,” Garth said. “I had nothing to do with what happened to Izzy.”
“I’m not the one you have to convince,” Dana told him.
“You’re a cop. Look at me, Dana. Tell me if you think I’m lying.” He stared into her eyes. “I didn’t try to kill Izzy. I didn’t cause the explosion. I never went after her at all.”
He was standing too close, she thought suddenly. She wasn’t worried about him coming after her, but she still felt uneasy. What was going on?
Hating to give up the power, she took a step back.
He was lying. He had to be lying. But the voice in her head that warned her when someone was trying to pull a fast one was oddly silent.
“I suppose you didn’t do anything at all,” she said, grabbing his arm and starting toward the hallway. “That you’re completely innocent.”
He only smiled.
He could have pulled away easily, but didn’t, which left her in the uncomfortable position of hanging on to him. She could feel the heat of his skin, the muscles, the smooth fabric of his fancy suit.
“Don’t mess with me,” she growled.
“I didn’t say a word.”
So why did she feel so uncomfortable?
Weakness wasn’t allowed, she reminded herself. Not with him, not with anyone.
“PLEASE TELL ME THEY threatened you before I got there,” Mary Jo Sheffield said as she and Garth walked toward her car. “I’m itching to file a lawsuit.”
His attorney—a fortysomething blonde who barely came to his shoulder—looked determined. She could scent blood with the efficiency of a shark, one of the reasons he’d hired her.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Garth told her as he waited for her to unlock her Mercedes. “They were polite and didn’t notify the press.”
Mary Jo wrinkled her nose. “Tell me someone hit you or threatened to hit you. Tell me they manhandled your cat when they brought you in. I need something to work with here.”
“I don’t have a cat,” Garth said.
“So few men do. Something I’ve never understood. Cats treat their owners with disdain and God knows your gender is constantly falling for women who treat them badly.” Mary Jo grinned. “Sorry. Ignore the rant. So you’re saying I can’t sue the Dallas Police Department?”
“I’m saying I can’t help you make your case.”
“Damn.”
She unlocked her car. Garth slid into the passenger seat.
He’d spent nearly six hours being questioned. Mary Jo had been present for all but the first thirty minutes. He’d been provided with coffee, sandwiches and plenty of breaks. It had been easy…too easy.
Deputy Dana Birch would be horrified if she found out, he thought, enjoying the thought of her screaming at some unsuspecting sergeant for not stringing Garth up by his thumbs and beating him with a pipe. If she had her way, he would be tortured into confessing all and then burned at the stake. Of course if she knew him, she would know torture wouldn’t get him to talk. Fortunately for him, Dana wasn’t in charge of the Texas criminal justice system.
“What about the deputy?” Mary Jo asked. “Deputy Birch. Can I go after her? What was she doing, bringing you in, anyway? She’s not a member of the Dallas PD. She’s from Titanville. There’s something going on there. Maybe I can get her suspended.”
“Leave Dana out of it,” he said as they left the parking garage.
Mary Jo glanced at him, eyebrows raised. “Dana? You know her?”
“We’ve met.”
“Tell me you’re not sleeping with her, Garth. Tell me this isn’t personal.”
He chuckled. It was personal, but not in the way his attorney meant. “We’re not involved or even friends. She’s…”
Dana was his half sisters’ friend. A deputy in the town where his mother lived. She was annoying, stubborn and determined to take him.
“She’s a friend of the family,” he said finally.
“I didn’t know you had family.”
“I’m more the type to have hatched?”
She sighed. “Fine. I won’t sue Deputy Birch. But tell her to stay out of my way. She’s trouble. I’ve had to deal with her in the past. I know the type. She’s honest and loyal. You know how annoying those two traits can be.”
He did. Once he’d believed in them. Lately though, he was more interested in results. An attitude that had cost him a lot but insured the win. And right now winning was all that mattered.
“I have the loan papers drawn up,” Mary Jo said. “Not to keep repeating myself, but you’re totally insane. Jed Titan is never going to accept the terms of the loan. Even if he does need the money, he won’t take it from you.”
“He won’t know it’s me.”
“He’ll suspect.”
“He won’t have a choice. I’m continuing to buy up his company. The shareholders are getting nervous. They know I’m interested, but they don’t know my end game, which is how I want it. Jed has had a lot of bad press lately. The possible treason charges alone cost his shareholders a lot of money as the price dipped.”
Mary Jo glanced at him, then returned her attention to the road. “I find it interesting that the price of Jed’s stock dropped right when you wanted to buy it.”
“Funny how it all worked that way.”
“Tell me you haven’t broken the law.”
“I have in no way violated Securities and Exchange Commissions guidelines or rules.”
“Keep it in the gray area,” his attorney advised.
He’d stepped far beyond that, but not in a way that could be traced to him. Most of his attacks on the Titan family had been more subtle. It kept things interesting.
“What happens now?” Mary Jo asked. “Or don’t I want to know?”
“I go to work and start my day.”
She glanced at him again. “You’re not going to tell me what’s really going on, are you?”
“No.”
She didn’t need to know about his plan to destroy Jed Titan or the fact that Jed was his father. Eventually word would get out. He would be branded the Titan bastard, but by the time that happened, he would own Jed’s ass and everything else. He would have destroyed his father, taken possession of all the old man owned. He would have won.
She pulled up in front of his high-rise condo and parked. She looked at him. “You know you’re my favorite client.”
“I’m your only client.” Mary Jo worked for him exclusively. It had cost several million to get her away from her high-powered law firm, but she had been worth every penny.
“I don’t want to see you in jail,” she said. “You’re scaring me and you know I don’t scare easily.”
“There’s nothing to be scared of.”
She drew in a breath. “Dana’s tough. Tenacious, driven. She’s a lot like you. If she thinks she has something on you, she won’t stop until she gets you. She’s not someone to be taken lightly.”
“She sounds like a worthy adversary.”
“This isn’t a game, Garth,” Mary Jo told him.
He smiled and got out of her car. “Of course it is. Don’t worry—I always come out on top.”
DANA STUDIED THE BLUE fabric of her sofa, not that it interested her, but it seemed far easier to think about slipcovers than deal with the woman sitting across from her. But as the silence ticked on, she was forced to look at her friend.
“It didn’t go well,” Dana admitted, hating to say the words nearly as much as she hated failing. “I took him in and they questioned him for several hours.”
“And?” Izzy prompted anxiously.
“And they got nothing. He was friendly, cooperative and didn’t give up a thing.”
Izzy grinned. “Yes!”
Dana stared at her. “You know this is the man responsible for the explosion that nearly killed you.”
“He’s not,” Izzy insisted, leaning forward in her chair. “He didn’t do it, Dana. I know he didn’t do it.”
“How? Because he told you?”
“Partially. And because Nick believes him.”
Which was the problem, Dana thought, annoyed at the complication. Nick was one of the good guys. He also knew Garth better than anyone.
“I want more,” Dana said stubbornly.
“I want to trust him.”
“Wanting something doesn’t make it so.”
“Neither does denying it.”
“I’ll get him, I swear I will,” Dana grumbled. “I don’t know how, but I’ll come up with something.”
“If he’s guilty,” Izzy said, a warning in her voice, which annoyed Dana. “Only if he’s guilty.”
Izzy was the youngest of the Titan sisters. Lexi, the oldest, had gone through school with Dana, while Skye was a year older than Izzy. They had been raised in wealth and privilege, something Dana refused to hold against them. They were her family. They cared about her and she would do anything for them. Including taking down their half brother.
About nine months earlier, Lexi had encountered some financial difficulties with her day spa. After borrowing money to expand her business, the two-million-dollar note had been called, giving her only twenty-one days to come up with the amount owed. A few weeks later, Skye’s charitable foundation had been accused of money laundering. Their father had faced trouble, as well. His racehorses had tested positive for doping. Through the spring and summer, the situation had only gotten worse, ending with an explosion on the oil platform where Izzy worked. She’d been temporarily blinded by the blast.
The person behind all of it? An angry Garth Duncan.
Dana didn’t care if he went after Jed—the old man had been especially cruel to Garth—but the sisters were off-limits. Not that Garth saw it that way.
“I wish I could arrest him,” Dana said, knowing that putting handcuffs on Garth would make her one happy camper. “Or shoot him.”
“Hey.” Izzy glared at her. “You’re talking about my brother. I know he did a lot of bad stuff, but he swears he had nothing to do with the explosion and I believe him.”
It wasn’t Izzy’s fault, Dana told herself. Izzy had been raised isolated from the real world. She didn’t believe people could be truly bad. Although Dana’s gut kind of agreed with her, which only pissed her off more. She didn’t want shades of gray where Garth was concerned.
“You rich people do love to hang together,” Dana muttered.
