Midnight Heat Read Online Free PDF

my even asking you?” Then her tone turned more bitter. “Or am I being incredibly naive to believe the head investigator would simply hand that sort of information over to his lead suspect?”
    Dane didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what
to
say. Why did the idea of telling her everything not seem the terrible mistake logic dictated it would be? Instinct versus logic. Head versus heart. He was beginning to resent how easily she managed to put him in turmoil.
    He turned his attention away from her and pulled another Coke from the cooler by his feet. He lifted it to her. “Thirsty?”
    She shook her head. It was clear she was waiting for him to respond.
    I’m responding, lady, he thought darkly as his body tightened. For the first time in a while, a very long while—maybe ever—his mind was as actively engaged as his hormones. And that was what made her so dangerous.
    The lady expected answers. Even if they weren’t the ones she wanted to hear.
    Dane admired that. He popped the top and downed half the can. He looked back at her, waiting for the burn of the fizz to pass from his throat to his stomach. Maybe a little carbonation would settle it down. Who was he kidding?
    “First, I can’t tell you everything that’s goingon in this investigation. It isn’t procedure.” He held up his hand when she rolled her eyes. “Procedures, I might add, that are in place for a good reason. You know you are the main focus here. But until my report is filed, you have the right to be protected too.”
    “And just what is it I’m being protected from? The truth?”
    “No.” Dane raked his hand through his hair. “Listen, I’d like to believe you. But whether or not I do has no bearing on how thorough a job I do. I’m not in the habit of explaining myself, so you’ll have to take it on faith. I don’t file my report until all the facts are in.
All
of them. Neat, tidy, and no questions. That’s how I like my cases. That way nothing comes back to haunt you.”
    Memories poured through his mind—of his father’s crash, the investigators who had crawled all over the wreckage, looking at every scrap for clues. That they had determined his father hadn’t been at fault had been Dane’s only solace at a time when nothing in his life made sense. He’d understood right then the power of fact, of the tangible. And the very high risk of faith and trust. Not to mention love.
    The fire in her gentled to something more warm, more soothing. She stepped to his desk. “Dane, listen, I—”
    Dane
. Damn if his name on her lips didn’tsound a hundred times better than he could ever have imagined. He cut her off, the words spilling out. “Even if I want to, I won’t always be able to tell you everything, Adria. But what you can always expect and get from me is the truth. I don’t know who leaked to the
Post
that there was more to this investigation. I don’t know what was intimated. But I won’t file my report until I have all the answers.”
    Adria felt his intensity like a living force. It took several moments for his actual words to sink in. To have someone like Dane, a man with such drive and determination, on her side …
    No, she corrected herself. Not on
her
side. Dane was on the side of truth. Which was as good. Better maybe. Because Adria was speaking the truth. She had not been negligent.
    If he was as good as he claimed, and looking at him right now she would even guess he might have understated his abilities, then he’d find proof of that third plane.
    Adria fought down a sudden smile. He had made it clear on more than one occasion what he thought of her side of the story. But that hadn’t kept him from getting swept up in it.
    He’d seized on it. He covered it well, but beneath that controlled exterior, Adria would bet her life—and likely was—that his mental wheels were spinning even faster than hers had. All the questions and inconsistencies werebeing played and replayed, analyzed and dissected, as he