On Fire. Carla Neggers
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as if he knew he’d gone too far. “Well, I’ve been as brutally honest as I can be. Forgive me. I’ll see you this evening.”
He started out across the plaza, and Riley shook her arms and hands to loosen up the tensed muscles. Was she that blind to Emile’s faults? Her mother, her father, her sister, her boss—everyone believed his passion and dedication to his work had turned pathological. She was his last defender.
What did Straker think?
“You don’t care what Straker thinks,” she reminded herself out loud.
She went back to her office, packed up her leather tote and made it out to the parking garage before she remembered she’d come in his car. Well, fine. She’d take the T home.
Then she spotted the rusting back end and Maine license plate of Straker’s Subaru in her reserved space. Of all the nerve.
“What’re you doing, quitting early?”
His voice came out of nowhere, echoing amid the concrete. She was so startled she jumped, and suddenly he was behind her, like a mugger who’d been lurking in the shadows. He caught an arm around her middle, steadying her. “Whoa, don’t fall over.” He grinned, his eyes sparkling with self-satisfaction. “I didn’t know I’d have that effect on you. Riley St. Joe, gone weak at the knees.”
“You snuck up on me.”
“I was already here. Gossip in the shark tank had you sent home for the day. I turned my pail of fish over to one of my new buddies and came on up.” His arm lingered on her middle; she could feel his thick fingers on her side. “I figured it’d slip your mind I’d done the driving.”
“Straker, you can let go of me now.”
His arm didn’t move. She tried not to nestle into it, sink into him and let him absorb all her frustrations and fears. “You won’t faint and fall over?”
“No.”
“Throw up?”
He was enjoying himself. His arm was warm across her back, strong, unexpectedly reassuring. She sucked in a breath. “No.”
“You know,” he said close to her ear, his fingers digging just a little deeper into her side, “I think you’re the first human I’ve touched since I got out of the hospital. I’ve wrestled with a few lobsters and picked through the tide pools, but you’re the first woman—”
“Are you comparing me to lobsters and blue mussels?”
He grinned and patted her on the hip. “Nope. Not a chance. I kind of thought you’d have thorns. However, it turns out you don’t.” He laughed. “Oops, better let go. I can feel your blood starting to boil. Don’t want to burn myself.”
“Straker…”
He dug into his pocket for his car keys. “Relax. I meant boiling because you’re pissed, not boiling because you want me to do a little more than put my arm around you, although who knows.”
“I know.”
“Uh-huh.” He went around and opened the driver’s door first. “You get sent home for talking out of turn?”
“Henry Armistead doesn’t think I’m neutral where Emile’s concerned. He thinks I’m on Emile’s side.”
“Aren’t you? I am.”
“You’re an FBI agent. You can’t take sides.”
“I’m not here because I’m an FBI agent. I’m here because I’m Emile’s friend.”
“And if I get in your way?” she asked.
“You were born in my way.”
He climbed in and reached over to unlock her door. She debated getting in. She could still take the T. But if she did, Straker would just beat her home. It would accomplish nothing, except perhaps confirm for him that she was out of her mind and out of control, willing, as the saying went, to cut off her nose to spite her face.
Also, he’d assume he’d got to her with his ridiculous comments about boiling blood and that pat on her hip. Which he had, only because she’d had a hell of a day. Otherwise she’d be impervious.
She settled into the passenger seat, her eyes pinned straight ahead. She could still feel the weight and warmth of his arm. Not a good indication of her mental state. She struggled to concentrate on his reason for being in Boston in the first place. Emile. “So you don’t think Emile had anything to do with Sam’s death?”
“I have no idea.”
“But if you’re on his side—”
“That doesn’t mean I have an opinion about what he’s done or hasn’t done. He’s my friend.”
“I guess you have your ‘priorities and obligations’ sorted out.”
He glanced at her, a darkness coming into his eyes and penetrating right through her. “I do.”
Sig painted until she was bleary-eyed and her hand was so cramped she couldn’t open her fingers. She stared at the watercolor paper taped to her big board. Splashes of gold, pumpkin, fiery red, muted burgundy on a full-body wash of autumnal blue. Beautiful. Inspiring. And one or two brushstrokes away from being mud.
She collapsed onto the studio bed, the strain of standing pulling at her lower back. Her eyes burned. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. She tired more quickly. All those hormones.
She didn’t want to think. She wouldn’t think. She would drag herself back to her feet and paint some more. Turn the damned thing into a raging mess. She didn’t care.
The kitchen door cracked open, and her mother said, “Sig, I have work to do. I can’t keep him entertained forever. He’s not leaving until he talks to you.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” She flopped back against the cushions and groaned. “Okay. Send him out.”
Mara started to speak, abandoned the effort and withdrew inside, where, somewhere, she had Matthew Granger waiting about as patiently as an angry, caged tiger. My husband, Sig thought with a pang. The son of a bitch thinks he’s the only one who has problems.
She wrapped a plaid shawl over her shoulders and pulled a thick chenille throw up over her bulging stomach. It was cool enough out on her porch that Matt shouldn’t be suspicious, and he was suspicious by nature. She had no intention of bringing up her pregnancy, telling him she was having twins, when he’d popped in unannounced and uninvited, his only reason for being in Camden obvious. Sam Cassain was dead, and Emile was missing. Otherwise Matt wouldn’t have taken one step in her direction.
The bastard, she thought. The single-minded, self-righteous, self-absorbed bastard.
That’s two quarters for your mason jar, she reminded herself.
“Sig.”
That voice. She shut her eyes. It still could turn her to liquid. It had since she was fourteen, although it was years before she’d realized it wasn’t just his voice that drew her to him.
She looked up as he walked onto the porch. Well, he hadn’t changed. He was handsome as hell and so goddamned rich he couldn’t hide it even when he wore jeans and a sweatshirt. He was fair-haired, blue-eyed, tall, lean and angular. This was the man she’d married. The man she’d loved. The man whose babies she carried.
She summoned all her bravado and ability to lie through her teeth. “Hello, Matt. Excuse me for not getting up, but I’ve been on my feet since dawn. Mom made you tea?”
“An entire pot, yes.”
Good. If all else failed, he’d have to hit the bathroom. “What brings you to Camden?”
She hated how awkward she sounded, how formal. She’d always been able to talk to Matt, even when they were kids and he and his father and