Free Raven on the Wing by Kay Hooper

“Jury? You’d all be
hung
for what you’ve done! And I’d hold the damned rope. Months—
months
—of work down the drain because lover boy here couldn’t resist throwing his weight around.”
    Willingly, Josh drew the inevitable explosion to himself rather than to his lieutenants; he was nothing if not fair, and it had been his fault that they’d probed into her background. He said, “If you’d been honest with me—”
    Raven turned to give him a look that should have shriveled him on the spot. “I didn’t know you from Adam’s house cat,” she snapped, ignoring a choke of laughter from behind her. “And I don’t shoot my mouth off every chance I get.” Belatedly realizing that in fact she was doing just that, Raven fell silent and continued to glare at him.
    Josh looked past her at his friends. “Would you excuse us?”
    Rafferty, the last out the door, glanced back to say solemnly, “Maybe I should stay, Josh. You might need somebody to uphold your rights.”
    Josh lifted an eyebrow at him, holding on to his dignity as much as possible after having been violently labeled a playboy and “lover boy” in front of his men. Rafferty laughed and closed the door softly as he left.
    Looking at Raven and fighting the desire to take her back into his arms, Josh said quietly, “I was trying to reach you just now before you came in.” He nodded toward his absent friends. “They made me realize what I’d done. I’m sorry, Raven. I wasn’t thinking. That fabricated dossier on you just … I almost went out of my mind.”
    Raven turned abruptly and walked to the window, staring out. When Kelsey had summoned her with their emergency code, she hadn’t even bothered to assume a disguise; she had simply switched cars and taken pains to make certain she wasn’t followed. And since Leon was at a board meeting, she’d felt reasonably safe in charging over here to confront Josh.
    She was dressed as she’d been when Kelsey called, in a white silk dress that clung lovingly to her breasts and waist before flowing out in a fullskirt to brush her knees. And she was wearing the makeup for her role, nothing heavy, but a suggestion of catlike mystery slanted her eyes due to soft shadowing, and the planes of her face, expertly contoured, seemed sharpened, curiously exotic.
    Very softly, Josh said, “I could guess the role you’re playing even without the file on you. A woman of mystery, seductive but never seduced. Igniting fire, but never burning herself. Spinning the threads of a web that never catches her.” Abruptly and on a rueful note, he added, “You should meet my sister.”
    Raven ignored the apparent non sequitur. Instead, she thought of his summation of her role, and almost laughed. Judging by the performance she just enacted for his men, she wasn’t as good an actress as Josh seemed to think. Damn him for making her lose control, she thought, but there was no venom in the reflection, not even anger.
    “Raven—”
    “Why couldn’t you listen to me,” she asked,striving to keep her voice even. “Why did you have to probe?”
    “It was too late to stop,” he answered soberly. “We had already been digging into your background. And after I left you at the penthouse, I was so afraid you were in over your head, so afraid you’d get hurt.”
    “I was perfectly safe.” She looked at him. “Then.”
    Josh drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Raven, I’d give everything I have to take back all the probing, to get you out of the danger I’ve put you in.” She was, he thought dimly, looking at him rather oddly.
    “Tell me something,” Raven requested. “Just what is it you believe I’m involved in?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “I believe you’re working with or for someone who wants to put Leon Travers behind bars for good. Probably on charges relating to white slavery.”
    She never changed expression; her professional mask was in place now. “I see. Well, Kelsey seemed to be convinced