Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated #3)(11)

“What did you argue about Miss Grayson? Specifically, please.”

Her nails dug into her palms and her heart pounded against her ribs. It was her worst nightmare come to life.

“Bruce…Mr. Livingston, I mean, made a pass at me and I declined.”

It was the truth although she’d left out the ugly backstory.

“And he was angry about that?”

“Yes. Very angry. He grabbed my arm.”

She held up her arm to show off the already visible bruises. Travis’s grip tightened on her shoulder and she could feel the rage radiating off of him.

“I’d like our crime lab guys to get a picture of those bruises if you don’t mind. So what happened after that?”

“He pushed me against a wall and I kneed him in the balls. He said some nasty words and I walked away. That’s it.”

“Good for you,” Travis approved. “Everyone knows what Bruce was like. Talk to anyone, Detective, they’ll tell you that he could be handsy and ignore the boundaries of good taste. I doubt Aubrey was the first woman to have to fight him off.”

Awash in guilt that Travis was defending her when he didn’t know the entire story, she avoided meeting his gaze, looking intently over the detectives shoulder although there wasn’t really anything to see.

“Did anything else happen, Miss Grayson?” Detective Prather didn’t acknowledge Travis’s commentary in any way. “Did Mr. Livingston have any reason, based on your previous relationship, to believe you’d have sex with him?”

“No!” Hell, she wasn’t even having sex with the man sitting next to her and she adored him. “He had absolutely no reason to think that except his own ego. He wasn’t the nicest person in school and apparently he didn’t change much. I kept my distance then.”

“Did you know he was going to be here at the party tonight?” Prather pressed, his eyes narrowed as if he was trying to see through her. He thought she was hiding something. She was of course but not what he believed.

“Again, no,” she said firmly, meeting his gaze directly. “I assumed I didn’t know anyone here this weekend.”


“You didn’t know he had married Martin Guinness’s granddaughter?”

Aubrey exhaled slowly hanging onto her temper by a thread. She understood why she was being questioned but the interview had made a frightening turn.

“Detective,” Travis cut in smoothly. “We want to help you but I’m not sure where you’re going with this line of questioning.”

Prather smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s my job to cover all the bases, Mr. Anderson. If Miss Grayson and the deceased had any prior relationship I’d like to know about it.”

“She told you they didn’t,” Travis shot back. “Are we done here? Miss Grayson has had a rather trying evening. Seeing a dead body and all.”

The sarcasm in his tone was unmistakable and the detective clearly wasn’t amused.

“For now,” Prather conceded, snapping his notebook closed. “Stay close as I’m sure I’ll need to talk to you again. I appreciate your…cooperation.”

Travis stood and gathered her close, his arm a reassuring weight around her waist. “One of your men took my cell number so you can get in touch with us. Come on, Aubrey. You need to rest.”

Blood still pounding in her ears, she allowed Travis to lead her down the hall and into an elevator. As the doors glided shut, he pressed a kiss to her temple and ran his fingers through her hair.

“A hot bath and a strong drink is what we both need. Then I think you and I need to have that talk.”

Everything she’d feared since meeting Travis was coming true. She couldn’t hide what she was any longer and frankly she didn’t want to. She was exhausted keeping up the charade.

She’d tell him everything.





Chapter Seven




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Aubrey sipped at the brandy, its fire warming up her belly and making her fingers and toes tingle. She’d soaked in the bathtub until she was wrinkled like a prune before scrubbing off her makeup and changing into a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt. If she was going to bare her soul to Travis then she might as well be comfortable. It wasn’t like they were going to be a couple by the time she was finished.

He’d be polite and understanding, of course. That was the kind of man he was, but he’d end the relationship just the same. He’d tell her that perhaps things weren’t going to work out between them and then he’d find her another job somewhere in the Anderson holdings.

Like Magellan, she’d be history.

But then she’d never expected anything different. It had only happened sooner than she’d predicted.

She was sitting on the loveseat in the bedroom, her legs curled under her, staring at the television that was currently muted. Anything to avoid looking him in the eye and confessing a multitude of sins.

He sat down next to her and waited, not saying a word, letting her gather her thoughts once again. Finally when she couldn’t take the silence any longer, she broke.

“I never wanted to tell you.”

A gentle smile played around his well-shaped lips. “Clearly. Although I must tell you that unless you’ve killed a homeless man or cheated people in a Ponzi scheme, everything is going to be fine. Hell, even then you probably had a good reason.”