Free Against the Storm1 by Kat Martin Page B

spotted her at the edge of the yard, snapping photos of beautiful flame-colored tulips growing around the base of a huge oak tree. They were almost the color of her hair. He watched the way she moved, with a confidence and ease that marked her as a professional. Why that turned him on, he couldn’t say.
    “Not much,” he answered, but as he looked at Maggie, he was thinking maybe that would change.
    Sayers’s gaze followed his toward the tree and he started to frown. “That isn’t… Jesus, Trace, tell me the redhead isn’t with you.”
    Trace dragged his gaze away, finding it harder than it should have been. “She’s a client. A photographer. Name’s Maggie O’Connell. Matter of fact, I was planning to talk to you about her.”
    “I know who the hell she is.”
    Trace didn’t like the sound of that. “Want to tell me why?”
    Sayers drew him away from the hum of officers and people walking in and out of the mansion. “I shouldn’t say this. I could get in a shitload of trouble, but…”
    “What is it?”
    “She came to us claiming she had a stalker. Said she’d been getting hang-up phone calls, that kind of thing.”
    “That’s right. Go on.”
    “Captain Varner got wind of it. Turns out Maggie O’Connell brought rape charges against his son, Josh, when she was in high school. Josh was arrested. He claimed he was innocent, claimed Maggie was a willing partner. They were both underage or it would have been far worse. As it was, Josh got kicked off the football team and everyone in his school basically shunned him. They called him a rapist and a pervert, stuff like that. It went on for more than a week—until the O’Connell girl admitted she had lied about the rape.”
    “Maybe she was telling the truth and she just got scared.”
    “The boy was completely cleared. They’d been seeing each other for weeks.”
    “Son of a bitch.”
    “She’s one of those women, Trace. She wanted attention and she got it. The charges were dropped and the records were sealed because of their ages, but it still caused Josh and his family all kinds of trouble. And believe me, Maggie O’Connell is still on Varner’s hit list.”
    “Which is why the police aren’t willing to do much more than show up if she calls them.”
    Mark shot Maggie a hard glare. “It’s no secret in the department what happened. Captain Varner doesn’t believe any of that bullshit about a stalker, and neither does anyone else.”
    Trace clenched his jaw so hard it hurt. Mark was the kind of guy who would check the facts, find out the truth. The story about the phony rape accusation was undoubtedly true.
    “She’s a good-looking woman, Trace, but I wouldn’t trust her. Don’t let her get under your skin.”
    Trace reined in his temper, which was beginning to build. “Thanks for the heads-up, buddy.”
    “Hey, man, we’re friends. And you’ve already had more than your share of trouble with women.”
    Trace thought of Carly, remembered the sick feeling in his stomach when he’d found out she was sleeping with half the men in Houston. She was a liar and a cheat. He hated a liar, no matter how beautiful she was.
    He just nodded as he walked away.

Seven
    M aggie was smiling as she stuffed her camera back in its case, nestled it in the backseat and closed the door, then climbed into the Jeep. “How did it go?”
    “Remains to be seen.”
    “Did you tell them about the embezzling?”
    “I told them.” Trace didn’t say more, and the way his jaw was clenched, Maggie didn’t press him. He started the car, slammed it into gear and roared away, slinging her back against the seat. His hands gripped the wheel as if he wanted to tear it out of the vehicle. Whatever had happened, things hadn’t gone well.
    Maggie kept her mouth shut. Better to give him a little space. As they raced toward Houston, far faster than the speed limit, she considered trying again to start a conversation, but one look at Trace’s hard profile and she changed