Free Renegade Alpha (ALPHA 5) by Carole Mortimer

things for her to worry about: her father, the him from six months ago. In the circumstances, it was totally illogical for her to be so angry with the man who was trying to help her. She really had to get control of this irrational anger she felt toward Lijah, and not because he had just threatened her, but because she knew it was the right thing to do.
    It didn’t help her frustration that he was just so damned capable and in control. So much so it made Callie feel totally inadequate.
    In just a matter of hours, Lijah had found out more about her father’s whereabouts than she had been able to do in the whole of the previous week. More than that, he hadn’t wasted any time in flying them both to Washington to continue physically searching for her father.
    So why was she so angry with him?
    Because everything Lijah did made her admire and appreciate him more.
    And she didn’t want to admire and appreciate him.
    She didn’t want to like him.
    She didn’t want to want him.
    Which was where the true problem lay, Callie acknowledged heavily. The physical desire she’d felt for him earlier had returned with a vengeance the moment he stepped out of the cockpit of the plane looking so damned hot and so male. And there didn’t seem to be a damned thing she could do about her unprecedented reaction to him.
    Which was going to make the next few days in his company absolute torture.
    At the same time, she knew she couldn’t have asked for anyone better equipped to help her find her father.
    “I’m sorry,” she mumbled once Lijah climbed in behind the wheel of the car after stowing their luggage in the trunk. “I’m tired and a little cranky.”
    He glanced at her in the rearview mirror as he put the car in gear and drove toward the airport exit. “Forget about it.”
    Callie felt irritated all over again at the ease of his dismissal. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?” He seemed to know where he was headed as he turned left out onto an all-but-deserted country road. It was almost midnight, after all.
    “Georgetown.”
    Callie felt her tension return as she realized she had been right. They were going straight to her aunt’s house.
    Where they might possibly find her father.
    Alive?
    Or dead?

Chapter 6
    As might be expected when her aunt and uncle were away, their town house in Georgetown was in darkness as Lijah parked the car out on the road rather than turning into the driveway itself.
    That darkness didn’t mean Callie’s father wasn’t inside, only that he didn’t want anyone to know the house was occupied.
    Lijah turned in his seat to look at her. “Wait here while I check the place out. Arguing is not an option,” he warned as she was about to do exactly that.
    “But— Don’t you need backup or—or something?” She sat forward anxiously.
    He gave a weary shake of his head. “Television has a lot to answer for.”
    Callie ignored him and persisted. “But don’t you?”  
    “There’s you. And there’s me. I don’t see any backup there, do you?” He looked at her with derision.
    She bristled. “I’m more capable than I look.”
    Lijah gave another sigh. “Like you, I’m tired. All I want to do is check the place out and then go to sleep for eight hours solid.”
    “What about the alarm system?” Knowing her Uncle Jonathan, it would be state-of-the-art.
    Lijah gave her a mocking glance beneath his lowered brow. “Haven’t found a security system yet I can’t break through.”
    “Yes, but—do you have a gun?”
    “Don’t you know it’s illegal to carry a weapon in a country where you aren’t licensed to carry one?”
    “You have a gun.” It was a satisfied statement, not a question.
    “I have a gun.” He nodded.
    “Where?” Callie checked him over. As far as she could see, there was absolutely nowhere for him to hide a weapon beneath the formfitting black T-shirt or jeans. There was that bulge in the front of his jeans, of course—
    “It’s in my boot,”