Free Cry No More by Linda Howard

his financial base, but she had no doubt True Gallagher would die a multimillionaire. He was determined and ruthless, and he didn’t allow anything to get in his way. Yet from the time he first began enjoying some success, he had been interested in Finders and was one of their steadiest donors.
    She didn’t know how old True was; he could have been anywhere between thirty-five and forty-five. His face was darkly tanned and weathered by long hours in the west Texas sun, his build was still lean and strong. He was tall, about six-three or -four, and possessed of an animal magnetism that women automatically noticed. Sometimes he brought a date to these events, but just as often he attended alone. Since he didn’t have Miss August clinging to his arm, Milla assumed this was one of his stag appearances.
    “Long night?” he asked, a hand on her back urging her to continue to the front of the room and falling into step beside her.
    “Last night was. I hope tonight is quieter.”
    “What happened?”
    She wasn’t about to do a recital of the entire evening. Instead she said, “It was a bad day. We found the runaway we were looking for, but she was dead.”
    “Yeah, that’s tough. How old was she?”
    “Fourteen.”
    “That’s a hard age. Everything feels like the end of the world, and you can’t reason with someone who can’t see tomorrow.”
    She couldn’t imagine True Gallagher ever suffering from teenage angst, or drug addiction, or any other weakness. She was surprised he even knew about them. He was like ironwood, impervious to his surroundings.
    His strength drew her. She enjoyed the not-quite-flirting banter with him, though she was always careful to keep from crossing the line. He was an influential sponsor, and ever letting their relationship become personal would be immensely stupid of her. Business didn’t mix very well with pleasure under the best of circumstances; when she depended in part on his largesse to keep Finders operating, having a brief fling with him would have been a recipe for disaster.
    Besides, right now she didn’t have time for a fling, brief or otherwise. Not only was she incapable of giving her full attention to a romance, her job dictated that she travel a lot. She had tried dating, off and on, since her divorce; if the man was remotely interested in her, he didn’t like the amount of time she spent out of town. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something she would compromise on, period. She had tried having a couple of affairs, only to have them wither from neglect. She had eventually come to the conclusion that it wasn’t fair to either the man or herself to waste his time and hers until the day came when she could devote herself to something other than searching for Justin.
    And in her heart, she knew she hadn’t yet met a man who could measure up to David in her affections. She was no longer
in
love with him—time and life had taken care of that—but a part of her would always love him for the man he was. She didn’t pine for him; she didn’t lie awake at night yearning for him. There was a stark line of demarcation in her life, and David belonged on the other side of the line. But she knew what it was to love, and no one since had kindled that kind of emotion in her.
    True Gallagher was thinking of trying. She sensed it, the way women always know those things. The truth was in the way he touched her—always in a public, proper way—but still
touching
her. He hadn’t yet made the effort to take their relationship further, but the thought lay there, in the back of his mind. She had no doubt he would eventually get around to trying.
    And she would have to find some graceful way of refusing him that wouldn’t harm Finders.
    The gym was rapidly filling, and Marcia Gonzalez, the chief organizer of the event, was motioning to her and True to take their seats. Milla slid into the seat True held out for her, next to the podium, and somehow she wasn’t surprised when he took the