When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,18

the little girl in with a tenderness that touched him.

All these years he had felt nothing. Why now? And for a woman who was in more trouble than Harry wanted to know about?

He hovered beside her bed, watching her fall asleep. Watching the rise and fall of her chest, the slight flutter of her eyelashes on her pale skin.

Her cheeks were still flushed from her bath. She smelled heavenly. At least what he thought heavenly would smell like.

He’d never really noticed her mouth before. It was bow-shaped. There was a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and a tiny brown spot, like a fleck of chocolate, just below her left ear.

He wanted to touch her. He felt drawn to her in ways he didn’t understand. But something told him he’d been waiting a lifetime for her.

He joined her on the bed, lying next to her, listening to the steady rhythm of her breathing, content for the first time in seventy years.

Chapter Five

Lorenzo was disappointed when he woke to realize that Jenna was still alive, still had his daughter and his money. Killing her had only been a dream.

Unfortunately, his current situation wasn’t a dream, but a nightmare. Franco was dead. Valencia’s money was gone. And the clock was ticking. Lorenzo needed that money found one way or another. And soon.

He also needed to make sure that if Franco really did have a girlfriend she wouldn’t be talking to Valencia.

Getting up, he pulled a red silk robe over his naked body and went to the top of the stairs, stopping to survey the living room. He’d cleaned up last night. There was no sign of anything out of place—just the way Lorenzo liked it. He couldn’t have gone to bed without sweeping up the glass and scrubbing the blood off the tile.

While he’d taught Jenna to keep his house immaculate, the way he insisted, Alexandria had driven him crazy with her toys and dropping food on the floor at the table. He’d blamed Jenna for not making their daughter behave better.

He had to admit his life was easier without Jenna and Alexandria. But once he had his daughter to himself he would teach her not to make messes. Jenna had always been too easy on the child. Lorenzo saw now that he should have been stricter with both of them.

He went to the drawer where he’d put Franco’s wallet and cell phone—and the plastic gloves he’d worn to remove them from Franco’s body.

Donning the gloves again, he went through the wallet, finding only cash and one gas credit card, in Valencia’s name. No photographs. Nothing personal.

Lorenzo pocketed the seventy-five dollars in cash, thinking what a two-bit thug Franco had been. Didn’t even carry enough cash to buy a decent meal.

Booting up the cell phone, he checked Franco’s phone directory. Only one number in it. Not surprisingly, it was Valencia’s. He checked the list of calls Franco had received. All from Valencia. Sheesh, Franco had no life.

Or at least no life he wanted anyone to know about.

Lorenzo then checked numbers dialed. For a moment it looked as if all of those would be to Valencia, as well. All except one.

He dialed the number, not holding out much hope. A woman answered and tore right in. “Franco. I was worried about you. I waited up half the night for your call.” She stopped. “Franco?”

Lorenzo hit End and put the wallet and cell phone into a plastic grocery bag. He pulled off the gloves and disposed of them in his garbage.

Getting the woman’s address proved easy. The number Franco had called was to a land line. He found her through his computer’s cross directory. Her name was Rose Garcia. She lived on Beacon Hill. While still on the Internet, he called up a map directory and printed out a route to the woman’s house—and ordered a rental car.

Jenna had taken his only form of transportation. The memory did little to improve his mood. Worse, she’d left her car behind—but he no longer had a key for it.

The rental agency promised to bring him a car at once, something big and black.

He then called a towing service. The sooner he got rid of Jenna’s car the better.

Under normal circumstances, he would have had a leisurely breakfast and taken a soak in his whirlpool bath before going out. But thanks to Jenna, nothing was as it should be. Since he couldn’t put off getting to Rose Garcia before Valencia did, he’d be lucky to get