Ghost Phoenix by Corrina Lawson Page B

Richard.”
    â€œStellar,” he said again.

Chapter Five
    It was as if he was in the tunnel of a wave, enveloped by a wall of water, with one wrong move meaning a wipeout. This would be exhilarating or a disaster. That was the fun of it.
    Richard grasped Marian’s arm as she pretended to protest and pulled her past the silent, unmoving carousal. He put one hand in his pocket, to signal that he had a weapon to whoever was out there.
    Marian did her part, struggling in his hold but not too hard. Curls fell in front of her eyes as she continued the mock struggle. “It’s a good act,” he whispered in her ear.
    She clenched her jaw tighter. “I’m trusting you.”
    â€œI know.”
    His angel. She was a bit overwhelmed by his presence but not intimidated. Not entirely certain she wanted to be with him, either. A nice challenge. He liked having her close, liked the smell of vanilla that clung to her, liked her intelligence and even her skepticism.
    And her courage. This was not without danger.
    The attack came from his left. He saw the man an instant before fingers clamped down on his wrist, yanking his hand out of his pocket.
    Richard dropped his hold on Marian. She spun around to face them.
    â€œLady, get out of here. I’ll handle this,” the attacker said.
    Richard sized up Marian’s rescuer. The man was nearly his own height, all solid muscle, dark hair, intense eyes and features that hinted at a mixed-race origin, possibly black plus some Asian heritage. Not a spy, he guessed. A soldier, and a good one.
    â€œYour plan worked,” Marian said.
    Richard grinned, wishing she sounded less surprised. “Believe me now?”
    â€œDefinitely.” She looked at the solider, who maintained the tight hold on Richard’s wrist. “Who are you?”
    The man looked from him to Marian and back again. “I’ve been had. Fuck.”
    â€œOnly because you cared about her welfare,” Richard said. “There’s no shame in that.”
    â€œYou used her as a blind to get to me. You Genets don’t seem to give a damn about pulling innocent women into your schemes, do you?”
    That explained where the soldier was from. The Phoenix Institute had opposed Edward’s scheme. They’d been part of his death. Richard curled his hand into a fist.
    â€œI take it you’ve met my brother?”
    â€œOnly his corpse.”
    Richard’s fist shot forward. Whatever else he’d done, Edward had been his brother.
    But before Richard could make contact, his angel wrapped her hands around his chest from behind and pulled him off balance. He missed his opponent by several inches.
    â€œI thought you wanted to talk to him and find out why he was following us,” she said. “I thought that was the point of getting him to show himself. You keep this up, we’ll all get arrested.”
    How dare she? “He doesn’t want to talk. He’s made up his mind about who and what I am. And he insults my brother.” Odd. He hadn’t thought that would matter. But it did.
    The soldier looked around, probably assessing whether someone had seen their altercation. Richard did the same, but so far, if anyone had seen, they didn’t plan to interfere.
    Marian stepped between them.
    â€œLady, you shouldn’t be protecting him,” said the soldier.
    â€œYou were following us. And then when you reveal yourself, you get snide and mention his brother’s corpse. No wonder he took a swipe at you. Hell, I didn’t even know his brother and I wanted to hit you. What’s your deal?”
    â€œI guess it does look bad on my end.” The soldier backed off several paces. “Let me start again. Miss Doyle, right? My name is Daz Montoya. I wasn’t following you, I was following him. We’ve had some trouble with his people and I was assigned to watch and make sure he didn’t cause any more.”
    â€œSo far, all