Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,101
and chairs, her glass-topped dining table, taking a sip of the chilled chardonnay.
“Thank you. It’s coming along. I haven’t had much extra time to spend decorating.”
“I guess Sam talked to you,” Annie said. “He told us you went to your parents’ house for Thanksgiving.”
She nodded. “We’d been planning to get together for the holidays.”
“I hope you had a good trip,” Sage said.
“I enjoyed seeing my parents. But I wasn’t particularly good company.”
Sage set her wineglass down on the table. “Because of Ben?”
Claire’s chest tightened at the mention of his name.
“I guess Ben really blew it,” Annie said bluntly, and Claire realized the women knew about Ben’s marriage-of-convenience proposal.
“Ben was just being honest,” Claire finally said. “He wants a mother for his son. I guess he thought I’d make a good one.”
“Ben was just being Ben,” Annie said. “Which means he wasn’t being honest at all. At least not about his feelings. When it comes to his emotions, I don’t think even Ben Slocum knows what’s going on in his head.”
Claire sighed. “Whatever he’s thinking, I can’t do it. I can’t marry a man who doesn’t love me. Not even for Sam’s sake.”
“That’s the irony,” Sage said gently. “I think Ben loves you very much.”
“He’s sick over what happened,” Annie added. “He can’t work. He can’t think. He’s focused his entire attention on Sam just so he won’t have to think about you.”
“That...that can’t be true.”
“Oh, it’s true, all right,” Annie said. “The poor kid doesn’t know quite what to do with all the attention.”
“That’s partly my fault. After what happened, I couldn’t face him. I pretended to be happy the whole time I was with my parents. I wasn’t ready to pretend with Sam.” She looked at Sage. “Maybe you could talk to Ben, tell him I’d like Sam to come over. Maybe he could spend a night this weekend.”
Sage reached over and caught her hand. “None of this is your fault, Claire. Ben’s in love with you. He just doesn’t know how to handle it.”
She started shaking her head but a lump was swelling in her throat. “In a way, I feel sorry for him. He’s built such a wall around his emotions.” She wiped her eyes. Dammit, she was tired of crying over Ben. “I knew what he was like. I knew better than to fall in love with him.”
“Maybe you should just go ahead and marry him,” Annie suggested. “Sooner or later, he’s bound to get his head out of his behind and figure things out.”
She almost smiled. “I’m not sure what Ben feels for me. Whatever it is, I’m not willing to take that kind of chance. It wouldn’t be fair to any of us.”
Annie opened her mouth to argue, but a knock at the door stopped her. Busy night, Claire thought as she got up from the table, walked over and pulled the door open. Two men in dark suits stood on the doorstep, a good-looking Hispanic in his late thirties, and a blond man with a pale complexion and slightly ruddy cheeks.
“Claire Chastain?”
“That’s right.”
The men flipped open their badges. “Houston Police. May we come in?”
Her heart started pumping. “Yes, of course.”
“I’m Detective Castillo and this is Detective Richmond. I’m afraid we have some bad news, ma’am.”
Her hand came up to her heart. “What is it?”
“A man was found murdered this morning. We believe his name is Michael Sullivan.”
She sagged. Detective Castillo caught her, guided her over to the sofa. Sage and Annie both rushed into the living room.
“I’ll get her some water,” Annie said, hurrying into the kitchen then returning, pressing a glass into her trembling hand.
“What...what happened?”
“We aren’t sure yet. The investigation is ongoing. We found your business card in his wallet. There was a note on it that said to call you in case of emergency. We need you to come down to the morgue and identify the body. Can you do that?”
A tight sound escaped from her throat. She managed to nod. Michael was dead. Oh, God.
“While you’re there, we’ll need to ask you some questions. We can drive you or meet you there.”
“I know where it is,” Annie said, taking charge. “Sage and I’ll drive her down.”
Castillo nodded. “All right. We’ll meet you there.” The men left the apartment, and Claire wiped at the wetness on her cheeks.
“I told him it was dangerous,” she said. “Michael thrived on danger. He lived for it. He couldn’t give it up.”
“He was a friend?” Sage asked gently.
“Ex-boyfriend,” Annie supplied, swinging Claire’s gaze in