Free Longing and Lies by Donna Hill

church, what she believed in, if anything. He pushed those kinds of thoughts out of his consciousness. As Carmen had said while they talked last night, the main thing to remember is that this is about the job. Sure, get to know her , she’d advised, but at the same time you can’t let it cloud what you were assigned to do. And if there is any real vibe going on between you two, there’s always time afterward to pursue it.
    She was right, of course, as she was about most things that had anything to do with dealing with people on a real level. At least through it all she’d maintained that part of her humanity. She had her children, which compelled her to feel, to care about someone other than herself. He didn’t have that. And when his human side dared to make an appearance, he did all he could to stomp it back in place. It was a lonely life, but one that he’d grown accustomed to. It was simply easier that way. It was a lesson he’d learned the hard way. And if there was one thing you could count on when you dealt with Elliot Morgan, you never had to worry about him falling for the same thing twice.

Chapter 9
    A shley didn’t know whether she should feel pissed off, disinterested or totally dissed by Elliot. They hadn’t spent a full day together as “man and wife” and already he was spending the night out. What did that say about her appeal? she wondered morosely. She would laugh at the absurdity of it all, but the truth of the matter was she was actually annoyed. She realized much of it had to do with her lack of sleep. For the better part of the night she kept listening for Elliot’s key in the door. That fact added to her annoyance on top of the other fact that she was up listening for him in the first place! Even in his absence, he was a thorn in her side. Well, her plan was to pluck the thorn and get on about the business of the case. She didn’t care if Elliot Morgan spent every night out. Thatmeant more room for her in the fabulous apartment. Was he with another woman? Don’t even go there , she warned herself. It didn’t matter if he was. Did it?
    Shaking her head to dispel her roving thoughts, she went into her bedroom, retrieved her laptop and set up in the living room. Hunting through her pared-down collection of CDs, she selected Blue Magic’s Greatest Hits , Marvin Gaye Live , Jill Scott, Kem and her new favorite, Chrisette Michele’s Epiphany .
    Settling down, she booted up her computer and opened up the information from her flash drive. Within seconds the list of adoption agencies and fertility clinics appeared on the screen. She began sorting them by geographic area and plugging them into her Google map, which she would sync to her PDA later. There were more than seventy locations to check out and no real way to determine which was more important than the other. Just as she opened another file to get the backgrounds on the parents, she heard the lock being jiggled in the front door. Her pulse began to race and her stomach knotted.
    The front door opened and she heard heavy footsteps walking down the hallway in her direction. She looked a mess, she realized in alarm. She had on a baggy T-shirt and an old pair of sweat pants. She made a move to dart off to her room, but it was too late.
    â€œHello,” he greeted without enthusiasm. His gaze settled on her for a minute and moved away.
    Ashley pretended not to notice him. She studied thefiles in front of her, but couldn’t make out anything that they said.
    Elliot moved farther into the room. He stopped in front of her and looked down at the papers spread out across the table. “Are those the case files?”
    â€œYes, I thought it best that I get started,” she said a bit more sharply than she intended.
    He came around the table and sat down next to her. The manly scent of him rushed to her senses. She tried to ignore him, but she could feel the heat from his body press