Part 19 (1/2)

There was something in his heavy voice that alarmed her, and Kristen sat up. ”You know more than you're telling me. This so-called information... You have it already, don't you?” He triedtopull her back against him, but Kristen refusedtobe placated. She scrambled off the bed before he could stop her. ”Tell me, dammit! I deservetoknow what's going on.”

”I've got it on good authority that Salva will be showing up here in a day or two.”

”He's coming?” She mumbled the words, felt a chill race the length of her spine. ”And when were you going to tell me this?” He swung his legs to the floor. ”I wasn't going to if I could help it.”

Furious, she snapped, ”I had a right to know the minute you found out. This is my life. Mine and Amanda's. I have a right to know everything, d.a.m.n you! Everything about who you really are, too.”

”What's that supposed to mean?”

”Don't playstupid. I know about ...about your other job.”

He went very still. ”Just what do you think you know?”

”'Trust me,' that's what you said. 'I'm the right man to trust.' Well, I know your secret, Blu. I know why you could make that claim. Why didn't you trust me enough to tell me?”

”Dammit!” He was off the bed in an instant. ”If you know, then why in h.e.l.l did you let me-” He gestured to the bed. ”We just spent hours there.” He turned his back on her andwentsearchingfor his jeans.Pulling them on, he spun around. ”How did you find out?”

”Your mother.”

”What!” His shock was obvious. ”She told you that I- What exactly did she say?”

”She didn't actually say anything.” Kristen gauged his growing anger, worried now that she'd made a

grave mistake by bringing it up. ”Your mother keeps a sc.r.a.pbook on each of her children. She offered yours to me to look through. There were newspaper articles and pictures. Last year when you got shot saving those kids... Well, it was all in the sc.r.a.pbook.”

He swore. Crudely.

”Tell me why.”

He glanced at her. ”Why what? You seem to know everything. There's nothing else to say, is there?”

The look in his eyes... What was that? He was angry, but there was something else. ”Blu, please. You

asked me to trust you. Can't you just trust me a little? I'm not putting you on trial here. I'm just trying to understand who you are.” When he said nothing, she stomped her foot. ”Dammit, Blu, talk to me!”

”I need some air.” He turned to the door.

”No. No, you don't!” Kristen beat him to the door. As if she had strength enough to keep him her prisoner, she braced her hands on either side of the door jamb. ”You're not walking this time! You're not! Do you hear?”

”I did what I did. I had my reasons. They weren't the best, but I made a decision and I'll live with it. This is as good a time as any, I guess, to have you find out what I am. This will be over in a few days anyway.”

”Over? What does that mean?”

He jammed his hands into his back pockets. ”G.o.d! Get out of my way. I need some air.”

”You'll get your d.a.m.n air when I get what I need,” Kristen insisted.

He gave her his devil's stare.

”That's not going to work on me. I'm not afraid of you. You won't hurt me. It's not in you to hurt me. That other man doesn't exist for me.”

He went still. ”Don't look at me like that. I'm no d.a.m.n hero, like those stupid newspapers claim. You think saving those kids makes everything I did all right? Believe me, it doesn't. My hands are more than just a little dirty, baby. You can't just send me through the wash a couple of times and clean me up like a pair of pants. Don't buy into that newspaper c.r.a.p. I've sent mentothe hospital with broken jaws and busted ribs. I've spilled more blood in the street than you will ever see in your lifetime. The best d.a.m.n enforcer in the city.” He pointed to the bed. ”You just slept with the city's finest, Angel. How does that make you feel?”

”It makes me feel...” Kristen raised her chin. ”I feel lucky, and safe. Even though Salva is coming here, I feel safe with you.”

Her answer stunned him, and he turned away. ”You're crazy.”

Crazy in love, Kristen wanted to say. But she didn't.

He wouldn't accept that from her right now. He was too busy trying to make her hate him. Why, wasn't clear. ”You saved six kids from a fate worse than death. That makes you-”

”Smart.” He spun around. ”There was a fat reward! I did it for the money.”

”So you knew about the reward when you decided to hide those kids and stay with them for four days with a bullet in your leg?” Kristen knew he didn't. The newspaper had written a separate article on one of the kidnapped children. It seemed she was the daughter of a prominent figure out east. He'd offered a sizable reward after the fact.

”Can we get off this d.a.m.n subject?”

Kristen watched him as he began to prowl the small room like a caged animal. ”The paper claimed you went to work for the loanshark to save your father's fleet. It said the duFray Devils were in a financial crisis and that-”

He stopped and glared at her. ”Don't be so naive. I wanted easy money and I found a way to get it.”

Kristen studied him for a moment. His body was tense, his jaw set. She shook her head. ”No, I don't think it was ever easy for you, Blu. I think it bothered you every day, and it still does. Maybe there was another way to get the fleet solvent, I don't know. What I do know, is that it wasn't based on easy money, or a violent man finding his niche.”

He swore again, this time in a string of crude adjectives that scalded the air inside the small room. ”You don't know squat!”

”I know that when you make love to me I feel like a fragile piece of gla.s.s. There is no selfishness, no violence. I don't feel frightened, or ashamed. I know that inside, you are a good man.” Kristen flinched at the depth of pain she saw in his eyes. ”I won't hate you, Blu. I'm angry with you for shutting me out, and not telling me the truth about this and Salva, but I can't hate the man I-”

The sound of a boat moving in fast snapped Kristen'smouth shut. She noticed that Blu didn't seem to be alarmed. ”Are you expecting someone?” He didn't answer, he simply found her clothes and tossed them on the bed. ”Get dressed, then stay here. Don't come up.” Then he turned and left.

* * * On deck, Blu greeted Brodie Hewitt. ”You're early.” ”Curt got away about an hour ago.” ”I thought I said not to let him escape until dawn.That puts everything six hours ahead of schedule.” In the moonlight BrodieHewitt looked like a bada.s.sbiker who hadboughtnine lives and had spent eight.

His premature gray hair, and the age lines around his eyes acknowledged he'd once been either a hard-partying fool, or a man who had seen the dark side of h.e.l.l more than once. ”I know, but the slippery little b.a.s.t.a.r.d hit Mort over the head and took off.”

Blu rubbed his jaw, calculating the change into his plan. ”How is Mort's head?”

”He's got a lump and a nasty headache. He feels like he's let you down. Other than that, he'll live. So now what?”

”It's a given that Curt's going to call Maland and that's what we want. It'll alljust happen six hourssooner than we first planned. We can still do it. This might even be better.”