Free Dark Cover (The DARK Files #2) by Susan Vaughan Page A

profession. A man of the world like Nick, with a glamorous fiancée, didn’t really want plain girl-next-door Vanessa. He simply needed distraction from the demons plaguing him.
    Demons, oh yes. She climbed into the four-poster bed. Demons of guilt for what he believed he’d done or not done years ago. What happened in that Somali village ate at him like a cancer.That incomplete confession increased her insight. His anger at his brother’s crimes stemmed from a strong sense of responsibility — and a need to redeem his own honor as well as his family’s.
    Her heart squeezed. If she could banish his demons, she’d be tempted to go to him.But taking him in her arms would be dangerous. It would be wrong. She had to ignore her attraction to him while she acted the fiancée role. And while she spied on him to ensure he didn’t deviate from DARK’s program.
    She punched her pillow and turned over. Chasing sleep was a losing race.
    ***
    Vanessa saw Nick only briefly the next day. She found him in the study on a conference call with New York and London.He punched the speaker button off and growled, “My restaurant supply business is going down the tubes. One disaster after another, and all I can do is delegate.”
    She made sympathetic comments. When his expression softened, she said, “I’ll be working next door on security arrangements for the Friday reception.”
    Leaning against the closed door, she thought he seemed grateful for the cool-down after the night’s heated encounter. He was probably regretting coming on to her. Better all around. Better that they could avoid each other in the house.
    Suspicion. Detachment. No intimacy.
    She pushed off and headed next door.
    Ah, just once, she wanted a man to mean it when he said she looked hot and tried to seduce her. She wanted him to want her, not her undercover persona. She wanted him not to have an ulterior motive, like an introduction to her hotter sister. Or like a detour from his problems in sweaty sex.
    She wanted a man who didn’t already have a fiancée.
    ***
    That night, the DARK cameras and motion sensors recorded no intruders. No burglars, New Dawn or otherwise, attempted to enter through the severed fence.
    On Wednesday morning Snow drove Nick and Vanessa to Markos Imports, where Nick fought another round with the employees about selling the business. Clearly his determination to sell arose from his aversion to anything of his brother’s.
    Later the car took them to the suitably gloomy Georgian structure housing Falstone and Drumm Funeral Home. The authorities had only just released Alexei’s body for cremation, so Nick had to schedule the service. When Snow stopped the Mercedes beneath the funeral home’s portico, Nick hesitated, his hand on the door.
    Snow turned around. “All clear, Mr. M. Unknown vehicle parked down the block, but our guys have them boxed in. If it’s New Dawn, they’re ours.”
    Vanessa recognized Nick’s taut jaw as tension about arranging a funeral for his disgraced brother, not concern about safety.A hand on his forearm offered the only support she dared express.
    To her surprise, he covered her hand with his and gave her an answering squeeze. He opened the door. “Thanks, Snow. This won’t take long.”
    Mr. Falstone, as plush and dour as his establishment, ushered them through a display of cremation urns and caskets. Without a blink, Nick selected one before the funeral director could begin his spiel. Peering at them over his reading glasses, Falstone then suggested an elaborate memorial ceremony, including a choir, orations and responsive readings.
    In spite of Nick’s unusual upbringing — and because of it — family and family honor ranked above almost everything else. He would put his disgraced family member in the ground. He would do it with respect and reserve and hard-won control. To others he’d appear calm and dispassionate. But anger and resentment would churn inside him for a long time.
    She cringed inwardly