Nobody's Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

up here. He could have overheard her conversation with Annie and checked the nearest shelters. Annie wasn't hard to find.
    “The man you saw in my shop was no cop,” she warned. How much more should she tell Annie? Should she go upstairs, verify it was Raphael, and have him thrown out on his rear?
    What could he want with the homeless shelter? Any possibility she considered didn't sound healthy to her well-being.
    “Good morning, Mrs. Nicholls,” the smooth baritone abruptly interrupted before she could organize her thoughts. “Easing your guilt with a little charity this morning?”
    Damn him. Double damn him. The grating tone of innocence didn't set her off so much as the use of that hated name. Ignoring Annie's startled reaction, Faith swung around to confront the monster. His physical presence struck her in the face as her nose nearly brushed his flannel-shirted chest. She hurriedly stepped back.
    “My name is
Hope.
And I suggest you leave now.” Which was a ridiculous threat given her head was at his chin level and, despite his leanness, he could probably break her in two.
    “Hope?”
Amusement and disbelief curled his lips. “Faith
Hope
, and this is your charity?”
    She'd heard every form of the joke from the moment she was born and had no patience with it now. “
Charity
is my sister.” She stepped farther back, out of the danger of his solidity. “This is Annie, my friend. I told you before, I have nothing to say to you. Leave me alone.”
    “I just took doughnuts to Joe at the station. Should I call him?” Annie asked with concern.
    “I really don't think Mister …” Faith watched in triumph as he flinched over the hesitation before she chose his fake name.“…
Quinn
, will want that, will he?” She might not know a lot about law, but she could guess a parolee shouldn't be out of state. “I think Mr. Quinn will leave quietly.”
    “And leave you to sprinkle your largesse like bread crumbs while you live off the lives of widows and orphans?” he threwback brashly. “Perhaps your friends would like to know about the source of your benevolence, Ms.
Hope
.”
    “What I own, I earned. I owe no one any explanation.”
    “Earned? I'll admit, living with Tony deserved combat pay, at the very least, but not at the expense of the innocent.”
    Slack-jawed, Annie eased toward her desk. Annie had been her first friend in the city when she'd desperately needed a friend. She didn't want to see that relationship shattered by this vile man's wild accusations. Let the police have him. She glared at him and did nothing to stop Annie's progress toward the phone.
    “Mr. Quinn! Mr. Quinn, will you play with me now?”
    A pigtailed toddler in a threadbare pinafore threw her tiny arms around Adrian's leg. Tears sprung to Faith's eyes at the sight, even as she backed from the scene.
    Adrian crouched and chucked the toddler under the chin. “Why don't you let Sissy read you one of the new books?”
    “’ Cause I wanta play with
you
,” the little girl entreated.
    Throat closing up, Faith gripped her handbag and nodded curtly at Annie. “I have to go. I'll talk with you later.”
    Brushing past the lean man with the child clinging to his leg, Faith hastened down the hallway and out the door to the street.
    She heard his unhurried stride on the pavement behind her as she turned the corner toward her car. Searching frantically through her purse for her keys, she walked a little faster. She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to be reminded of who she'd been and who she'd never be. She just wanted to be left alone to make what she could of what was left.
    A street kid leaned against the driver's side door of her car. She didn't need the hassle right now. She stayed on the curb and aimed for the passenger side.
    “Hey, lady, where ya goin’? I just wanted a ride is all.”
    Maybe that was all he wanted, but the knit cap and the gang tattoos warned that he was more trouble than she had time for. She