were you convicted of?”
If she already knew, she wasn’t letting on. “Possession, with the intent to sell.”
Still no judgment on her face. “Were you a dealer?”
He had to tread carefully here. If she was, as he suspected, Joseph’s eyes and ears on this trip, and if she was going to report back every word he said, he didn’t want Joseph to think he was going to try to horn in on his business.
“From time to time I’d sell stuff.”
“Why?”
“For the money, of course.”
“What did your sister think of that?” she asked.
To make his cover story easier to remember, Antonio had given Michael the same five brothers and one sister that he had. “She hated it. Unlike me, she’s pretty much of a straight arrow.”
“Like my brother.”
“Exactly.”
“You said you were young and stupid,” Ruby commented. “Does that mean you’ve reformed your ways?”
He chose his words carefully and for the greatest effect. “I like money, Ruby. Like I said earlier, it’s my number-one need. Truth is, I’d do most anything to get it. I just won’t be stupid enough to get caught again.”
“I see,” she said slowly.
“You sound disappointed.”
“Why should I be disappointed?”
That’s what he wondered.
Chapter 4
“Who lives out in the middle of nowhere like this?” Michael groused as the truck hit a dip in the dirt road and gave an alarming bounce.
“An eccentric millionaire tired of the lights and noise of the city, that’s who,” Laura replied, holding on to the dashboard for dear life.
They had been driving along the narrow, winding and extremely bumpy road for more than fifteen minutes. On either side of the road stood tall trees that blocked most of the sunlight, tangled bushes—many with nasty-looking thorns—and a profusion of wildflowers. While the wildflowers were beautiful, and despite the No Trespassing signs posted at regular intervals, she still felt like she was in the middle of an overgrown jungle without a guide to see her safely through to the other side. She wouldn’t be surprised if, any minute now, they encountered a group of lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my.
A stray branch brushed along the side of the truck, and she saw Michael wince. In all likelihood, it would need a new paint job by the time they returned to Pittsburgh, and probably new shocks, as well. Heaven knew how Joseph was going to get his fleet of moving vans down this road.
“I understand needing to get away,” he said, “but did he have to escape this far?”
“If he had simply moved to the suburbs,” she pointed out, “people wouldn’t have labeled him eccentric.”
Laura knew the true cause of his distress, and it had little to do with the remoteness of their destination or the pounding his truck was taking, although he could be pretty weird about the vehicle. Two hours earlier he had spied a wriggling canvas bag by the side of the road. When they had stopped to investigate, they’d found two puppies inside.
At the sight, Michael had sworn furiously, then launched into a diatribe directed toward the soulless creatures who had abandoned the puppies along the side of the road, where they would either starve to death or be hit by a car. He had also insisted that he and Laura find the nearest humane society. He didn’t care how far out of their way it took them.
It was a side of him Laura hadn’t imagined existed, and it fascinated her. It also touched her deeply. She knew she would forever carry a picture around in her head of the way he had laughingly allowed the puppies to climb all over him and lick his face and hands. There was something terribly appealing about a man who got upset over a couple of puppies. An ex-con who loved animals. She supposed it was the gangster equivalent of the hooker with a heart of gold.
“You couldn’t keep them, Michael.”
He didn’t pretend not to understand. “I know.”
“You travel too much, work too many hours.”
“I know.”
“The shelter will find them a good home.”
“I know, Ruby.”
“But it doesn’t make you feel better.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
They hit a series of dips, and the truck began bucking like one of the crack addicts she’d wrestled to the ground early in her career with the NYPD. Michael’s arm shot out, pinning her securely against the seat. It wasn’t until he had brought the truck to an abrupt halt and she looked down that she realized his hand was cupped securely around her right breast.
For one breathless moment, she simply marveled at how smooth the skin of Michael’s hand seemed. Yet there was nothing weak or lazy about it. His fingers were long and extremely capable looking; his nails clean and neatly trimmed. She had never realized before how beautifully sculpted a man’s knuckles could be.
Then reality dawned, and Laura came to her senses. “Uh, Michael.”
“What?” He was staring at the terrain in front of them and sounded distracted.
“Your hand.”
“What about it?”
“Would you mind removing it from my…from me?”
An impatient twist of his head brought his gaze to hers. She looked pointedly down. Comprehension filled his eyes, along with an expression akin to horror. Michael snatched his hand from her body as if the contact burned.
“Sorry about that,” he mumbled, his cheeks taking on a ruddy hue. “When we hit those bumps… All I can say is, it was an automatic response.”
“I know, Michael.”
“I just want you to know I didn’t mean to…I had no intention of…I would never just…”
She gritted her teeth. Would it have been so awful if he had meant to touch her that way? Not that she wanted him to. Not by a long shot.
“I know, Michael.”
It wasn’t the warmth of his hand against her breast that unsettled her so. There had been nothing sexual in the gesture, just as there had been nothing sexual in her response to it. It was the protective nature of his reaching out to her that rattled her far more than if he had simply groped her.
She’d told him that her father had been undemonstrative and cold. But that was the story she had concocted for Ruby, to explain Ruby’s behavior. In truth, Laura’s father—and her mother—had been warm, caring
