Free DeadlySuspicious.epub by Amarinda Jones

not like I was pregnant.” Though at one stage she thought she may have been. It had been a tense time waiting for one of the sporadically, errant periods she was accustomed to and a sudden weight gain had her panicked. Half of her wanted a baby, the other? Scared. How could she bring a baby into the world as it was now?
    “What?”
    “Nothing.” He knew enough.
    “Did you think you were? Did you want to be pregnant, Denby?”
    No. Yes. I don’t know. Jeez. He makes me crazy. She had once been so caught up in him for such a short, intense moment that her emotions had been heightened at an alarming state of what she would later call her intense stupidity phase. She shifted in her seat. “How long until we get to Cairns?”
    “It’s twenty-something hours from Brisbane to Cairns.”
    They had been on the road for around two hours. It was going to be a long drive. “I need a pit stop.”

    * * * * *
They stopped at a small roadhouse, off the main road, outside the town of Gympie. Sirius watched as Denby jumped out of the car and headed around the side of the service station, where a sign indicated restrooms. He wasn’t surprised she left the car in such a rush. There had been an awkward silence between them after the question about pregnancy had been raised. Sirius wondered what was going on in her mind. That she was angry with him was a given. He should have told her about his involvement in the Committee when he first met her. But he hadn’t. The words had stuck in his mouth when he first met her. She was so beautiful and feisty, he was hooked after their first meeting at the bus stop. While the circumstances of meeting weren’t of the fairytale variety, Sirius was thankful they had. Though, at the time when approached by her father, he had been less than enthusiastic.
    “ Why?”
    “ You are questioning me?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ Who are you to do so?”
    “ I’m my own man and that hasn’t and won’t change.”
    “ Good. I have too many sycophants. As for my daughter, I want to make sure she’s okay. She can be very stubborn and independent. I’m the last person she wants checking up on her.”
    “ Does she need checking up on?”
    “ I’m her father. I worry.”
    Later, Sirius would realize it had nothing to do with fatherly concern or affection. It was all to do with trying to control Denby and forcing her to conform. But, he hadn’t worked that out until it was all too late and she was gone. Her sudden, angry departure from his life had gutted him. That in itself surprised Sirius, as he had told himself, after Penny, he would never let under woman get under his skin. But then Denby had come along and she wasn’t just any woman. She was his future.
    He saw it, felt it, knew it. Spending this short time with Denby, Sirius knew he had to gain back her trust and make her believe in him, and them, once more.
    Sirius got out of the car and headed in the direction Denby had taken. He saw her ahead of him, stopped and standing her ground, fists clenched as if ready for a fight. As he moved closer, he could see three men had bailed her up and were blocking her way. Sirius was all ready to go in and fight them but he also suspected Denby wouldn’t necessarily appreciate that. She was strong, independent and capable. He wanted to see how she handled herself first. He owed that to her. No man should expect a woman needed his help.
    “Where’s your man, little lady?” A tall man with lank, long hair and a greasy beard demanded of Denby.
    Sirius wondered what she and other women had to endure in the Committee legislated world in which they were trying to survive. Being a single woman was dangerous. It wasn’t surprising so many were frightened into unwanted marriages.
    A fat, squat man with a stained t-shirt straining over his beer gut leered at Denby. “Don’t you know you need a man now? It’s the law.”
    Sirius heard Denby sigh and go to step around them. He moved in closer ready to assist her the