Crime & Passion (5 page)

“But why did she get so mad? I didn’t mean to
upset her.”

Brandon captured her other hand and stared
deep into her eyes. “It’s not your fault. I’m sure no one told you.
Donovan Andrews isn’t a nice guy. He’s dated most of the women in
this town and broken their hearts.” He looked toward the back room.
“Lindsey thought she was different. She thought Donovan would
finally settle down with her. They were engaged two weeks before he
called it off.”

Madeline swallowed hard, trying to bite back
her disappointment. She thought she’d felt a real attraction to
Donovan. Even though initially he struck her as a womanizer, by the
time he left her apartment last night she’d hoped for something a
bit different. Obviously he was good at tricking women into
believing he was what they wanted. At least until he moved on to
the next one.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered.

“I hope you didn’t think anything different
was going to happen with him. He’ll break your heart.”

“No. It wasn’t anything like that.” Madeline
shook her head. “I wasn’t dating him. He came by to talk about the
case.”

Brandon grinned. “So, then, you don’t have
plans with him tonight?”

“Of course not!”

“Good.” He released her hands and stepped
back. “I made us dinner reservations for The Carriage House at
eight. Can I pick you up at seven-thirty?”

Madeline raised her eyebrows, shocked. “The
Carriage House?”

It was the most expensive restaurant in town,
and she’d heard they charged a fee if anyone canceled a reservation
without a twenty-four hour notice. Brandon had really gone out on a
limb, since she already turned him down eight times over the last
two months.

Still, Cameron was her past, and she couldn’t
mourn the loss of that life forever. At some point, she had to
start dating again.

Being completely honest with herself, she
knew she would love spending more time with Donovan, even if he was
a player. Something about him intrigued her. However, Lindsey and
Brandon reinforced the fact that Donovan wasn’t boyfriend material.
She needed to stop wasting time thinking about him.

Brandon reached out and grabbed her hand
again. “The Carriage House is really nice. They have great food,
and I promise we’ll have fun. What do you say?”

She nodded. “Sounds great.”

Donovan sat across from Christy, trying to
concentrate on her story. He wasn’t interested in the wild party
she attended last weekend, but he murmured something appropriate
whenever she paused for breath. She didn’t seem to notice his lack
of enthusiasm. He’d tried to steer the conversation to something
they might have in common. Unfortunately, Christy wasn’t interested
in anything to do with the police force, she didn’t like to read,
and apparently anything having to do with world news was a foreign
language to her.

He glanced around the room, wondering if
Christy would ever stop talking. He only half listened as she
concluded the story with the hilarious—to her—recounting of the
inebriated partygoers ringing people’s doorbells and trying to run
away before the owners answered. Of course, they did this while
naked.

Drunken idiots, that’s what they are.

Donovan sighed and leaned back in his chair.
It seemed his glory days of dating college girls were over.
Although he never thought the day would come, Christy made him feel
like an old man, and her party-going lifestyle didn’t appeal to
him. Then again, he turned forty-two last month. Definitely time to
raise his minimum age limit.

“You should really come to the next party
with me. We’d have so much fun.” Christy batted her long eyelashes
and giggled.

Donovan shook his head. It was time to let
her down gently. “I don’t think you’d have fun with me there.
You’re a young, beautiful girl. I think you need a guy closer to
your own age.”

She pouted but didn’t say anything as the
waiter appeared with their food.

“Will there be anything else, sir?” the
waiter asked, refilling their wine glasses.

Donovan raised an eyebrow at Christy, and she
shook her head.

“No, we’re fine,” Donovan answered. “Thank
you.”

Christy took a small bite of lasagna before
looking at him again. “At least tell me we’re having sex tonight.”
Beneath the table, she ran her foot up the inside of Donovan’s
leg.

If she’d smacked him across the face, he
wouldn’t have been more stunned. “What are you talking about? I’m
not having sex with you.”

“Oh, come on. All the women around here know
the program. You don’t like commitment. You go on a few dates, have
sex, and then run away.” Her bare toes stroked his upper thigh,
gently rubbing his crotch. “That’s the way things work with
you.”

What the hell?
Donovan jerked back,
breaking contact with her foot.
Is that really what people
think?

“I don’t know who you’ve been talking to,” he
said, keeping his tone level, “but that’s not ‘the program.’ I may
date a lot, but it’s been quite some time since I found myself in
someone’s bed.” That wasn’t something he liked to admit, but
Christy made it sound like he was some sort of gigolo.

She reached across the table, grabbing his
hand in hers. “Then why don’t I solve that problem for you?”

He couldn’t understand what was wrong with
this girl. He just told her he didn’t want to date again. Did she
really have such low self-esteem?

He disentangled his fingers from hers and
picked up his fork. “Why don’t we eat dinner and then see what we
feel like doing?” He knew what he would be doing. Driving her home
and leaving her at the doorstep.

Christy grinned. “I’m taking that as a
definite maybe.”

Donovan took a bite of shrimp scampi,
deciding to ignore her comment. She’d find out soon enough. The
only woman Donovan fantasized about being in his bed the last
couple days was Madeline, and Christy made a poor substitute.

A prickling of awareness coursed through
Donovan and he glanced at the entryway. As though his thought
summoned her, Madeline entered the room through the cherry wood
archway. A short red dress hugged her voluptuous curves, drawing
attention in all the right places. Donovan watched, mesmerized as
she followed the host. She had on six-inch stilettos, showing her
gorgeous legs off to advantage. They put her head well over that of
her companion, but Maddie carried herself with such pride, it was
hard to notice the man accompanying her.

The host stopped two tables away from
Donovan. Madeline’s date came to her side, pulling out her chair
and ushering her into it.

Donovan’s blood ran cold. He couldn’t believe
it. She was on a date with Brandon Feldman. What was the man up to?
Donovan wasn’t narcissistic enough to think Brandon only dated her
to piss him off. Still, Brandon never missed an opportunity to make
Donovan’s life hell and be a pain in the ass in general. Donovan
understood why Brandon hated him, but that didn’t mean he liked
Brandon being with Maddie.

“Want to feed me a bite of your scampi?”
Christy asked.

Donovan shoved his plate toward her, not
taking his eyes off Brandon as the man rounded to his own chair. He
saw Donovan looking at him and jerked his chin forward in
recognition, smirking.

Damn him!

Christy made an impatient noise in the back
of her throat and tapped his hand.

“You know,” she said when he looked at her,
“for a man hoping to get laid tonight, you don’t seem to be trying
very hard.”

Donovan rested his chin in his palm and gave
her his full attention. “Can I ask you a question?”

She giggled and twirled a strand of dark hair
between her fingers. “Sure.”

“Why sleep with a man who told you he doesn’t
want to see you again? Have you no self-respect?”

Christy’s eyes tightened at the corners. “How
dare you!”

“I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. You’re
a beautiful girl, Christy. We’re not a match, though. I think you
should find—” Donovan stopped speaking as the waiter appeared at
his elbow.

“Is everything satisfactory?”

Christy smiled at the waiter. “The food’s
great, but we need some more stuff. I’m going to get
something
out of wasting my time tonight. Bring us a bottle
of your most expensive wine and one of everything on the dessert
menu.” She lifted her chin, her eyes boring into Donovan’s,
challenging him to cancel the order.

This could be the most expensive pity date
he’d ever been on. “Skip the wine,” he told the waiter. “We have
half a bottle left. Bring her the desserts.”

The waiter nodded and walked away.

“It would have been cheaper to give me what I
really wanted.” Christy folded her arms and settled back into her
chair. “I’m taking the leftovers home.”

Donovan nodded, feeling guilty for hurting
her feelings.

Soft laughter drew his attention back to
Madeline’s table. She’d pulled her long brown hair into some sort
of twist on the back of her head, and Donovan admired the graceful
curve of her neck. Long earrings dangled as she laughed again at
something Brandon said.

Wait a minute? What if that bastard is
trying to use her to get a story?

Donovan lurched from his chair and closed the
distance between him and Maddie. He leaned down to her ear, getting
a faint whiff of green apples from her skin as he inhaled. “I need
to talk to you.”

Madeline jumped and whipped her head to face
him. “Donovan? What are you doing here?”

He looked back at his table. “Same thing as
you, I guess. We need to talk, now, before you say another word to
your date.”

Her eyebrows narrowed. “I’m busy. What do you
want?”

“In private.”

Madeline shook her head. “I’m sorry,
Brandon.” She reached across the table to squeeze his fingers in
hers. “This will just take a minute.”

“I’ll miss you.” Brandon lifted her hand to
his lips, kissing the back of it, though his gaze flicked to
Donovan before he returned his attention to Madeline. “Don’t keep
me waiting long.”

Donovan wanted to snatch her hand away from
Brandon, but took a deep breath to keep his cool. He pulled
Madeline’s chair out for her, and she brushed past him to lead the
way to the front foyer of the restaurant.

She turned to face him. “I can’t believe you,
ordering me to talk to you right now. Talk about rude! I’m on a
date.” She put her hands on her hips. “What’s so important that it
can’t wait?”

The posture drew Donovan’s attention to her
low-cut neckline and visible cleavage. She was such a refreshing
change to the women he’d been dating. Madeline had the kind of body
that could keep his attention for a long time. He couldn’t help but
compare her to Christy, who hardly seemed to have anything to fill
her bra.

“Well?” she demanded.

Seeing the fire in her chocolate eyes, he
realized it might not be the best time to check out her body.
Madeline was seriously pissed off.

“Look, Maddie, I’m sorry to pull you away
like this, but I’m a little concerned about the fact that you’re
dating Brandon Feldman. I thought we should talk about it.”

“You’re concerned about
my
date?” She
looked past him into the dining area. “At least he doesn’t need to
check in with his mommy if he’s going to be late.”

Donovan grimaced. “Yeah, I know, I know.
Christy’s a little young.”

She snorted. “A little?”

Donovan touched Madeline’s shoulder, letting
his fingers linger against her soft skin as he trailed them down
her arm. “That isn’t what I’m worried about. You do know Brandon
runs the town’s newspaper, right?”

She shrugged. “What of it?”

“There are certain details we didn’t release
about Frank’s murder, such as the color and composition of the
rope. Also, no one knows you think you saw some sort of bat in the
person’s hand.”

“Do you have a point?”

“Yeah, of course there’s a point.” She was so
damn argumentative. He didn’t know why that turned him on. “I think
Brandon’s dating you so he can get the scoop. He’s always looking
for insider information, and he’d love nothing more than to screw
up this investigation and make my life hell.”

Madeline took a step back from him, folding
her arms together beneath her chest. Donovan closed his eyes
briefly, trying not to notice the way her breasts jutted toward him
even more.

“So what you’re saying to me,” she said in a
light tone, “is Brandon’s after a story.”

Donovan nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

Her lips pursed and she raised an eyebrow.
“Is it that inconceivable to you that someone might want to date
me? You think a man would only be interested if he could get
something in return for dinner?”

“Wait. That’s not—”

“I know what you want from women, Donovan. I
heard all about it from Lindsey, but I think Brandon is a bit above
using me like that.”

The tight anger across her face stopped any
words Donovan might have said.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’m not
going to ruin your precious investigation. I won’t say anything
about it. For the record, though, Brandon never asked.”

He stepped forward, gripping her elbows in
his hands. “Wait, Maddie, let me explain. I didn’t mean that the
way it sounded.”

“You don’t need to explain anything. Just
leave me alone.” Madeline uncrossed her arms, breaking his hold.
She started to walk away, but threw a look at him over her
shoulder. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll keep it in mind. But,
believe it or not, some people are actually attracted to me.” She
paused and a look of complete disgust covered her face as she
wrinkled her nose. “Not all men are users.”

***

Nearly two hours later, Madeline’s anger
still hadn’t subsided. She followed Brandon out of the elevator in
her building and walked to her door. What made Donovan think he had
a right to interrupt her date? Especially to tell her she was
undesirable. The nerve of that man astounded her...but he had
looked good tonight.