Tempted by Fate Read Online Free PDF Page A

him with that gaze that saw everything. “Thinking is not the same as believing. In this, you need to believe.”
    He believed, all right—that the white-haired woman was knee-deep in murder.
    Lita threw her hands in the air. “
Ay, por Dios.
” Shaking her head, she wandered into her apartment, muttering to herself.
    Ramirez waited until she was inside before ascending the back stairs. He loved his grandmother with his whole heart. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. But when she got one of her ideas in her head, his frustration knew no bounds.
    He let himself into his house. The back door opened tothe light, airy kitchen. The first level also had a large living room, his media room, and a bathroom. Upstairs was the master suite and a spare bedroom and bath.
    Ramirez locked the door and trudged up to his room. He’d done much of the remodeling himself, which meant it’d taken him forever. Usually when he came home, he felt a sense of peace and cleanliness. Today he felt nothing but fatigue.
    Undressing, he only put his clothing away by force of habit. He took a moment to brush his teeth—another habit—and splashed water on his face. His limbs heavy, he pulled the heavy drapes, which he’d bought specifically for the times when he didn’t get to sleep before dawn, and climbed into bed.
    It took him longer than he expected to fall asleep, Lita’s white witch prominent in his thoughts. But finally he dozed off, the sad strains from a flute echoing in his mind.

Chapter Three

    S wirling the cognac in the tumbler, he eyed the liquor. One-hundred-forty-year-old Louis XIII—one of the finest cognacs in the world. But he couldn’t enjoy it, because it reminded him of Lani’s eyes.
    Frustration gnawed at him, dark and roiling, just like it always did when he thought of her. Ungrateful bitch. He’d offered her the world—
his
world. All he’d asked for was that she share hers. But she’d thrown it back in his face. She’d withheld the most important part of herself from him: the powerful part. The Guardian part.
    Then she ran away. Bad enough, made worse when he found out she was pregnant.
    His
child. His daughter.
    Not for the first time in thirty years since he’d discovered her existence, he wondered about her. He had reports, the occasional blurry photo, but it wasn’t the same as knowing her. Lani took that away from him.
    He threw the crystal across the room. The sound of it shattering should have brought some satisfaction but didn’t.
    “Really, Edward. I know you have more money than God, but Baccarat crystal is fine enough for respect even from you. Not to mention that I’m sure the hotel will take exception to destruction of their property, no matter how much you’re paying for this suite.”
    He glanced at Deidre. “A glass is easily replaced.”
    “Are you insinuating that I’m disposable, too, darling?” She stirred from where he left her limp on the couch, stretching her alabaster limbs with a feline purr. “It certainly didn’t seem that way half an hour ago.”
    He gazed down her naked body, at the bite marks he’d left. “You have your uses.”
    She laughed. “My connections or my charms? Or perhaps both?”
    It was through Deidre’s connections that he was able to track Willow. It galled him to know he’d spent twenty years pursuing her with no results. But it made him proud, too—his daughter obviously had something of him in her if she could successfully evade him for two decades.
    Yes, Deidre had proven to be useful in more ways than one. He stared at her now. “Come here.”
    A knowing smile curved her mouth as she ran her hand down the center of her torso and between her legs. “Is this what you want?”
    “No.”
    She arched her brow, but made no move to get up. “You’re thinking about your plan, aren’t you? You took care of her investigator and the mole, didn’t you?”
    “Of course.”
    “Then it’s all in motion. It’s only a matter of time until you