Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,134

look puffy like her daughter’s. Perry ran his hand down the side of Megan’s head, hoping his smile reassured her.

“You don’t have time or energy to worry about me. Nor is it necessary. Go get that bath and relax.”

“You’ll make sure all the girls are in bed? They all have school in the morning.”

Perry wasn’t sure he wanted any of them leaving the house, even tomorrow for school. The hit tonight was personal, and he’d be damned if Peter were given another chance to smooth out his failure tonight.

“Bathtime now, young lady. Your girls are in good hands.” Perry turned her around and pushed Megan into her bedroom, closing her in when he pulled her door shut.

As outraged as he was at Dani for pulling the most stupid stunt of her life, one that too easily could have cost her life, it amazed him how perceptive she was. Kylie would need to watch her ass or a sixteen-year-old would blow her cover. He pondered this, going back and forth between being proud and furious with his niece while turning out Dorine’s lamp when he found her asleep in her bed and then carrying Denise upstairs and putting her in her bed next to Dorine’s.

When he opened Dani’s door without knocking, three incredibly stunning women turned their attention to him. Diane looked tired like her mother, Dani leery, and Kylie’s bright blue eyes were guarded for reasons he wasn’t sure of as he entered and closed the door silently behind him.

The bedroom was so quiet he swore he would hear a pin drop on the other side of the house as he walked into the feminine paradise of pink pillows and white lace. Dani sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed facing Kylie, who relaxed in the wooden rocking chair Megan used to have in the living room and where she had nursed all of the girls when they were babies. Diane was stretched out behind Dani on the bed, her head propped up by her hand.

“We’re pretty sure the man I saw tonight was the bad guy you’re trying to catch with your case, Uncle Perry.” Dani offered the information lightly, flashing him a glowing smile as if she were showing off an A on a report. “I can totally ID him for you. I know exactly what he looks like. Caucasian, brown straight hair, shorter than you, probably less than six feet tall.”

“None of that information is worth you almost losing your life tonight,” he growled, the anger that had burned through him earlier quickly returning. “If that man is Peter, he’s raped, tortured, and mutilated girls in town already. Would you like to see pictures of what he’s done to them?”

Dani shook her head and looked down at her hands, her long brown hair draping over her shoulder and hiding part of her face.

“At least she had the sense to figure out before she got in the car with him that he wasn’t the guy she’d been chatting with online,” Diane said, pushing herself to a sitting position and rubbing her sister’s back.

“Yes, he was,” Kylie and Perry said at the same time.

“That’s the whole problem and what had me terrified,” Kylie added, resting her elbows on her knees while staring at the two girls. “All this time, Dani, you’ve been talking to an online sexual predator.”

“That is just so hard to believe,” Dani said, although she sounded more defeated than defiant now. As she collapsed back on her pillows, her long thick hair fanned around her face, which had at some point been scrubbed free of makeup. Dani looked younger and more innocent than ever. “We did our homework together, talked about the future, our families and our brothers and sisters.”

“If he weren’t as good as he is the police would have captured him already,” Kylie offered soberly.

Dani turned her head, staring at Kylie without saying anything at first. “I swear you’re a cop. I’m going to find a Bible and make you put your right hand on it and tell me you aren’t.”

Kylie’s laughter was melodic. “I would do that for you,” she said easily, pushing herself to her feet. “Tomorrow,” she added. “It’s late and I do believe it’s a school night. I can’t believe your mother hasn’t kicked me out yet.”

“Everyone is in bed or heading there,” Perry announced. “Diane, call it a night.”

Diane didn’t argue with him, but then she seldom did. She gave Dani a quick hug, and her sister pulled