Free Lie to Me by Angela Verdenius

allure.  One thing she couldn’t afford to forget, though, was that he was one of the Dawson brothers, a troublemaker and up and coming woman abuser like his father.
    “Saw how upset you were,” he said gruffly.
    “Upset?” She blinked.  “I’m not upset.”
    Silent, his head angled to the side a little as he regarded her.
    “I’m not.”  She drew a composing breath.  “What do you want?”
    “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
    “You?”  She couldn’t hide her disbelief.
    “Yeah.”  He shoved his hands into his pockets.  “Forget it.”
    He’d taken no more than a couple of steps away before Ryder’s voice sounded warningly.  “Everything all right out here, babe?”
    “I’m fine.”
    “You bothering her?”  Stopping next to her, his hand came to rest in the small of her back.
    For an instant she felt a fissure of warmth, right before it was doused by the memory of that same big hand resting on his date’s backside.
    It was enough to make her pull away.  “We were just talking.”
    “Really?”  Ryder didn’t take his gaze from Jason.
    He looked from Dee to Ryder and back.
    “Really.”  Dee gave a tight smile to Jason.  “Thanks for the concern, Jason, I’m fine.”
    That caught Ryder’s attention immediately, his gaze snapping to her, sweeping up and down her form as though he had x-ray vision and was doing a scan.  “What happened?”
    “Nothing.”  Annoyed, she straightened her shoulders.  “Don’t you have a date waiting for you?”
    “Yep.”
    Good grief, sometimes the man was a real dimwit.  “Don’t you think you should go back to her?”
    “And leave you here with him?” Ryder snorted.  “I don’t think so.”
    That he was obviously protective of her should have made her feel all warm and fuzzy, instead, she wanted to punch him.  Jesus, how could the irritating man be her protector one minute, then go off and shag his date the next without another thought?
    “Jason was going to see me home.”  The words were out before she could think.
    That had both men blinking, Ryder in shock, Jason in, well, shock.  That probably made three of them, because even Dee felt a little shocky.
    Damn, Simon was right.  Her words were coming back to bite her on the arse.  Big words, big mouth, big arse, it all fit.
    But to back down now would make her lose face, and the hell if she was going to do that in front of Ryder.  Plus he’d want to know why she’d lied and she sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him.  Not in this lifetime.  Not even if she was tortured with her mother’s old bagpipe records.
    “I beg your pardon?” Ryder finally managed to ask incredulously.
    Give credit where it was due, Jason didn’t dob her in, instead, he just watched her silently.
    “I said, Jason’s going to see me home.”
    “Him?” Ryder jerked his thumb in Jason’s direction.
    Call her mean, but it gave her a little bit of satisfaction to see the disbelief in Ryder’s eyes, not to mention the little flare of anger.
    “Oh, haven’t you met Jason yet?” she cooed.  “Ryder, this is Jason Dawson.  Jason, this is-”
    “I know who he is,” Ryder snapped.  “I just can’t believe you’re going home with him.”
    Hands in pockets, not one expression on his face, Jason watched silently.
    “Better believe it.”  Striding forward, Dee linked her arm through Jason’s and smiled up at him.  “Let’s go.”
    Without a word, he walked past Ryder.
    Dee fluttered her hand at Ryder with a cheerful, “See you later, have fun with Rachel.”
    “Dee!”
    Ignoring him, she kept walking.
    There were no more protests but she felt his gaze boring holes into the back of her head.
    The little flutter of glee was welcome, but it slid away when the silence remained unbroken and she found herself almost plastered against the side of a man she normally was only on nodding acquaintance with, mainly because he was so damned unsavoury.  Now, thanks to her big mouth, she