Free Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2) by Carole Mortimer Page A

yesterday.” The man, seated at one of the barstools in the kitchen when Angel entered the room the following morning, bore a striking resemblance to Gabriel. His dark hair was also the same color, if worn in a longer style. His eyes were a dark, shrewd brown with flecks of jade, rather than Gabriel’s piercing green. “Asher Knight.” He confirmed her suspicion that this was another brother as he held out his hand to her.
    “Angela—Angel,” she corrected as she shook his hand, leaving off her surname altogether. Angela Sinclair was Clive’s wife, and she wanted no part of him, not even his name, after the things she had learned about him last night.
    “Gabriel is taking a shower. He seems…a little the worse for wear this morning,” Asher supplied dismissively. “Coffee?” He stood up to replenish his own mug.
    “Please.” Angel had no idea what to say to Gabriel’s brother. All his family must now know the two of them had once had a relationship, that they also had a son together. “I’m afraid Gabriel’s excess of whisky is my fault.” She sighed as she accepted the coffee mug before sitting on another of the barstools.
    Asher grinned, giving him a devil-may-care handsomeness which probably drew women to him like bees to honey. The shiny gold wedding ring on his left hand indicated he had recently married. “Now that you mention it… I haven’t seen Gabriel that wasted for years.”
    Angel groaned. “Exactly what have I involved you all in, Asher?”
    “Ash,” he invited as he settled back on the stool opposite her. “We’re a family, Angel. All for one and one for all. It’s been that way since we lost our parents fourteen years ago.” He shrugged at her enquiring glance. “What affects one of us affects all of us. We’re a team. We stick together. Always have, always will.”
    “But this is my problem—”
    “Daniel is family, Angel,” Asher cut in softly. “As his mother, so are you.”
    It had been so long since Angel had a family of her own she could rely on. The closest thing she’d had after her father died had been Clive, her father’s friend. And look how much of a genuine friend he had turned out to be!
    “It’s very kind of you to say so, Ash.” She stared into her coffee mug as she swirled the black liquid from side to side. “But you must all be wondering how it is we have Daniel.” She very much doubted, no matter how close the Knight family was, that Gabriel had offered his siblings more than the basic fact of Daniel’s existence.
    “Gabriel assured us it was in the same way most kids are conceived,” Ash teased. “But I’m not averse to hearing all the graphic details if you want to share?” He raised expectant brows.
    Angel chuckled tiredly at his teasing as she shook her head. It was impossible not to feel as if she knew this man, when he was so much like Gabriel. “I think not.”
    “Lissa is going to be so disappointed— My wife.” He spoke with pride and love. “She’s consumed with curiosity about you, can’t wait to meet you.”
    “Well, she’ll be waiting awhile longer,” Gabriel announced briskly as he strode into the kitchen.
    His hair was still damp from the shower, and he was once again dressed in one of those expensively tailored business suits he wore to the office. If it wasn’t for the fact Gabriel was a little pale and there were deeper lines etched beside his eyes and mouth, Angel would never have known of his continued overindulgence in the whisky after she went to bed.
    “Angel and I are going to the bank to collect the memory sticks this morning, so that we can get to work on the minutiae of Sinclair’s business dealings. We need to get them unraveled as soon as possible. I’m flying the two of us to Majorca this afternoon.”
    Angel’s eyes widened. “You can fly a plane?”
    “Contrary to popular belief, Gabriel isn’t a superhero, so he needs to use a plane to get from A to B, just like us lesser mortals.” Ash