Strip

Blurb

Everyone has a secret, but Logan's is darker than most. And it's the one thing he doesn't want the new love of hi life, Kate Malone, to find ut about. His past and her present are dangerously entangled. What will happen if he bares his soul and reveals the past that has held him prisoner all these years?

Too many secrets can destroy any relationship, but when Logan finds himself stripped naked and on he wrong end of a loaded gun, he knows that death would be far preferable than to living a life without Kate Malone.

Excerpt

Logan stopped short as he entered his apartment. The wild-eyed woman stood in front of him holding a small revolver pointed at him. He dropped his briefcase onto the floor, carefully eyeing the woman he'd asked to marry him just days before.

"What are you doing, Kate?"

Hadn't it been only an hour ago he'd spoken to her on the phone and everything had seemed fine? What had taken place between then and now?

"Bastard!" she screamed. "You pretended to be my lover. All you really wanted was to steal more of what doesn't belong to you. Damn you, Logan Callahan. Why didn't you tell me the truth at the beginning? You're fucking associated with the bitch who destroyed my father. My God, she was your lover!"

Logan winced at the pain-filled voice. He should have known it would happen. He'd wanted more time. He took a careful step into the room. This wasn't good. She was right, he shouldn't have kept it a secret, but he'd done it because he knew this was how she'd react. The pain was too new, too fresh. She'd never believe him now.

He'd left it too long. Every day of the last three months he'd known he should have said something. And every day, he'd put it off just a little longer. He'd wanted to cling to the happiness she'd brought into his life. The honest sense of belonging she brought with her. But in his mind he had known it was only a reprieve. One he should have realized he wasn't going to get. She would never understand that he'd been trying to get it all back for her. And then he was going to tell her, once he had proven he really could be her white knight.

She waved the gun. "I said strip. And do it now."

He tried to move closer, but she lifted the gun.

"Kate, let me explain."

"I don't want to hear it. She's responsible for his death. If she hadn't been cheating on him and then forced him through that divorce, he'd never have had that heart attack. He'd have gotten himself to the doctors before it happened and they could have saved his life. And then she took everything. Sold it all and walked away with every penny. You didn't think I'd find out, did you? How you helped her strip him clean of everything, even his pride."

"I wanted to tell you about her myself."

"You wanted to wait until you had me so hooked I couldn't see straight. All your kind want is to fleece people like my father. What do they call your sort? Grifters? How could I not have known what you were?"

"It's not what you think, Kate. I'm not like her."

"Bullshit. I told you to strip. Do it."

Logan figured this probably wasn't the best time to try to reason with his lover. Her righteous anger was in full steam. He began to unbutton his white shirt. He never should have let it get this far. Ten years he'd spent trying to make amends. But it was only the last three months that he'd felt alive. And now it looked like he was going to lose that, too.

Maybe it was time. He'd carried the weight for so many years. He'd accepted the guilt. Every time Nell's name hit the headlines he'd cringed, worried someone would somehow link him to her. He was afraid he'd run into someone on the street who knew his past associations. But none of that mattered now.

Logan shrugged out of the shirt and then yanked his T-shirt over his head.

"What are you planning to do, Kate? I don't think you want to go to prison over this. I'm not the one who hurt you."

Her eyes flashed silver. God, he loved the shade of her eyes. Her hair rich, shining sunlight that he loved feeling brush over his body.

"You're not the one who hurt me?" Her words were soft-spoken but menacing nonetheless. "You made me fall in love with you. How could you do this to me? You stripped me bare, just like that damned woman did to my father. Just like her. All set to destroy me, too, isn't that right? You knew I had my mother's money, something she couldn't touch. And you wanted that, too."

"That isn't the way it is. You've got it all wrong. Just listen to me."

"I don't want to hear anything you've got to say, Logan. Not anymore." She pointed the gun at his trousers. "Get them off. Underwear, too."