Bane by Brenda Jackson Page B

Sending me away to live with Aunt Rachel widened the chasm between us but we made amends before he died...as best we could, considering everything.” She was quiet for a moment before continuing, “He even told me he loved me, Bane. And I told him I loved him, as well. Dad leaving me the ranch was a shocker because he said he would be selling it to make sure I never had a reason to return to Denver. But after he died I found out he had left it to me. I wasn’t aware he still owned it and assumed he’d sold it like he said he would do.”
    Bane had assumed Mr. Newsome had sold it, as well. Whenever he came home, Dillon had mentioned that the Newsome place was still deserted, but Bane had assumed the repairs needed around the place hadn’t made it an easy sale. But there was something else he’d wanted to tell her. “It’s admirable that you’re working on your PhD, Crystal. For someone who claimed they hated school, that’s quite an accomplishment.”
    “No big deal. Since I didn’t have a life I decided to go to school full-time. All year-round. Nonstop. And when I took a placement test, there were classes I didn’t have to take. My parents were happy that I was focusing on my studies again.”
    And not on him
, he thought, and then asked her the question that had nagged at him since he’d first seen her tonight. “How did you do it?”
    “Do what?”
    “Keep the guys away. You’re a very beautiful woman so I’m sure plenty tried hitting on you.”
    He glanced over and saw the compliment had made her blush. He meant it. She had the kind of beauty he’d never been able to explain with words.
    “The guys stayed away because they thought I was gay.”
    Bane almost swerved into another lane. Placing a tight grip on the steering wheel, he glanced over at her again. “They thought what?”
    “That I was gay. I didn’t have a boyfriend so what else were they to think? The rumor started in college when I refused all their advances, even the guys on the football team, who were in such high demand on campus. They figured if I wasn’t into them, then I must be into females.”
    “Why didn’t you tell them you were a married woman?”
    “What good would that have done with a husband who never came around?”
    He could imagine how she’d felt knowing a rumor was circulating about her. One that was false.
    “I thought about you every day, Crystal.”
    “Did you?”
    He heard the skepticism in her tone. Did she not believe him? He was about to question her when she said, “This isn’t the way to the airport, Bane.”
    “We aren’t going to the airport.”
    “Not going to the airport? And just when did you decide that?”
    “When I noticed we were being followed.”
    * * *
    They were being followed
?
    Crystal glanced over at Bane. “How do you know?”
    “Because although the driver is trying to be inconspicuous, that blue car has been tailing us for a while.”
    “Blue car?”
    “Yes.”
    Her muscles trembled. “The car that followed me earlier was blue. But how would he know to follow you when we’re not in my car?”
    “Evidently someone saw us getting into mine.”
    The feel of goose bumps moved up her neck. “If the person saw us leave that means he knows where I live.”
    “Pretty much. But don’t worry about it.”
    His calm unnerved her. How could he tell her not to worry? It was her home they were talking about. Whoever was after her would probably trash her house looking for something that wasn’t there.
    As if Bane read her mind, he said, “The reason I told you not to worry is because Flip is watching your place for me.”
    She stared over at him. “Someone you know is watching my house?”
    He exited off the interstate. “Yes. David Holloway is one of my team members, who happens to live here in Dallas. His code name is Flipper because he’s the best diver on the team. I contacted him when my plane landed to let him know I was in town. I called him again when I took out your