Suspicions (The Battling McGuire Boys Book 3) by Cynthia Eden

plenty of money and pull.
    And once, he’d almost had her. At sixteen, she’d thought she loved him. She’d learned—just in time—that Alan wasn’t the boy she’d thought.
    The night my parents died, I was supposed to be with him.
    “I heard that you were going to be working here.” His grin grew even broader. “I was just appointed to the art museum’s board, so we’ll probably be seeing a lot of each other.”
    Her gut clenched at that news, but Ava forced a polite smile. “Oh, really? That’s just—” She broke off, unable to think of a polite lie because
That’s just terrible
wanted to spill from her lips.
    “I’m not the same, Ava.” Alan’s voice deepened as his smile slipped. “I’m not the same jerk I was back then.”
    She lifted her brows. “I don’t remember calling you a jerk.” Hmm...or had she?
    Alan laughed. “Not now, but back then you did. Jerk and plenty of other things—and you were right. I didn’t realize what a total screw-up I was.” His face sobered. “Then...then your parents died. I saw how wrecked you were. Things changed for a lot of people back then.”
    How wrecked she’d been? And she remembered that Alan had tried to talk to her—at the funeral, at school in the weeks that followed. But she hadn’t been able to talk with anyone back then. She’d been walking around in a fog, barely able to get through the days.
    By the time she’d come out of her grief, the whispers had started.
    Did she kill them? Was she in on it?
    And she’d just wanted to run.
    Maybe...maybe it was time she stopped running.
    Isn’t that why I took this job in Austin? Instead of heading up north?
Because, deep down, she’d known that she couldn’t run forever.
    Her spine straightened as she stared at him. “I guess we both changed.”
    “We have.” Alan’s head inclined toward her. “Hey, how about we go out and grab some lunch? We can catch up, and perhaps I can start making up
for being such a fool all those years ago.”
    Ava shook her head. “Sorry, but I have to go back and meet my brothers.”
    He took a step back. “Right. The brothers.” Alan gave a little shudder. “You know, they used to terrify me. I was almost too afraid to ask you out.”
    She laughed at that. “Oh, Alan...they still terrify people.” Then she eased past him.
    “I’ll be seeing you, Ava,” he murmured, and his hand lightly caressed her arm.
    For an instant, she stilled as a shiver slid over her. It wasn’t the same kind of sensual shiver she got when Mark touched her. This was something else. Something...that was almost like a warning.
    Her steps quickened as she hurried away from Alan.
    Ava headed for the front of the museum. Her heels clicked over the marble floor and—
    Mark was there. Striding through the entrance and heading right for her.
    She stopped. Just froze for a second. His gaze swept around the museum, and then his eyes locked on her. It was rather like watching a hunter lock in on his prey. His saw her, his face tightened and then he began to stride right toward her.
    Her breath quickened as she shook out of her stupor and hurried toward him, too. When they drew closer, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
    His lips tightened.
    “Did you follow me?” Her voice rose on that one. No, surely he hadn’t—
    “Some nut broke into my house and threatened you last night.” He yanked a hand through his hair. “So, yes, that made me worry about you a bit. When I found out you were in town—”
    “
How
did you find that out?”
    “Brodie told me.”
    Well, wonderful, they were all tracking her now. That was what she’d feared.
Hello, hyperprotective mode.
    “Since he told me where you were, I guess that means he doesn’t think I’m involved in what happened to your parents.”
    “None of them think
you
were involved.” She didn’t want to talk about his father, not then. “And I don’t need you following me.”
    His gaze tracked over her shoulder. “Is that the