Guarding Raine Part 40

he said softly.

"Unless you're trying to tempt me to finish what I-never should havestarted upstairs this morning, you'd bette,: give me a little while."Her voice was just as soft."And what if I wanted to tempt you':" He closed his eyes tightly.She had no idea just how much of a temptation she was."Then I'd be an even bigger jerk than ! already am."She looked away, her mouth trembling."Go on now. Get ready to go. We'll be leaving shortly."She nodded shakily, turned and left the room.Itc took a deep breath.A man could be all kinds of a fool, but he wagn't sure he could have been any more foolish than to indulge himself the way he had upstairs.

It wasn't going to make this case any easier.

It wasn't going to make it simpler to do as he'd vowed and stay away from her, reminding himself just how bad he was for a woman like her.

And it wasn't going to make it any easier to lay in his bed, just down

the hall from her at night~ Sleep was only going to get more elusive.

After greeting her father briefly, Raine left the two men alone and went in search of her mother.

Mac closed the door to Simon's office behind her and then turned to look at the older man.

Simon sat behind his desk and leaned back.

"Sit down, Mac. I hope you've got good news for me. Do the police

have any information yet about the lunatic who ran Raine off the road?"

Mac remained standing, surveying the man, and didn't answer.

He couldn't.

Not when his hands itched to punch the man in the jaw for the way he'd

manipulated this situation from the beginning.

And maybe even for more than that.

h.e.l.l, yeah, maybe, he thought savagely, he'd like to get his hands

around Simon's throat for the way he'd failed his daughter all those

years ago, when she'd needed him most.

Impatient at Mac's silence, Simon quizzed, "Well? Has there been a new development, or not?"

Mac strode to Simon's desk and placed his palms on the top.

"Yeah,"

he snarled, leaning across the surface toward the man.

"There's been a development. But I~m the only one it's news to, and

you know why, Simon? Because you deliberately kept it from me when you conned me into taking this job."

Simon never blinked.

"What's on your mind, son? I told you everything I knew, which was d.a.m.n little, I might add."

Mac's-laugh was ugly.

"Except that you forgot the most important detail."

He paused meaningfully for a moment.

"You forgot to tell me that Raine had been attacked eleven years

ago."

The man actually paled.

"How did you... What makes you think" Mac's palms slapped the top of

the desk frustratedly.' "Raine told me, Michaels! But she shouldn't have had to. I shouldhave known, because I should have already had that information. Youshould have given it to me. And to the police! My G.o.d, man, didn't it ever occur to you that the pervert who hurt her before could be a major suspect in this current sick little game?"

"Yes,"

Simon replied sharply.

He'd obviously recovered from his earlier surprise.

"Of course it occurred to me! That's why I've had someone watching himtwenty-four hours a day since I found out about those d.a.m.n letters!"

Mac stared hard at him.

"Tell me."

Simon heaved a sigh.

"His name was--is,"

he corrected himself grimly, "Brian Burnett. He was twenty when he...attacked Raine. He spent four years in prison and then returned toSacramento, where we used to live. Five years ago he moved to L.A. Heworks in a factory."

"Why the h.e.l.l did you keep this from me?"

Mac bit the words out frustratedly.

"Don't you think Burnett was the first person I thought of when I heardRaine was being threatened?"

Simon snapped.

"I didn't go through you and I didn't go through the police, I tookcare of it myself! I hired a man to find him and to see what he's been up to lately.

He's been under constant surveillance. If one thing had pointed to hisbeing involved in this mess, don't you think I would have donesomething about it?"

"What, Michaels? What would you have done? You're not the law, sothere's d.a.m.n little you could do about it. What the h.e.l.l were youthinking?"

"was trying to protect my daughter's privacy!"

Simon shouted.

He struggled visibly to calm himself.

Then he went on in a quieter tone, "There was no reason to hand thisinformation over to strangers. For pity's sake, man, I have many moreresources at my disposal than that detective who's handling thecase."

"You mean money,"

Mac put in cynically: "Yes, I mean money. And the things money canbuy. In this instance it bought me a background check on Burnett andWeekly reports on his movements. What would the police have done?Questioned the man, maybe, and left it at that? If Burnett isn't responsible fOr these threats, I didn't want to take the chance ofmentioning Raine's name to him again. I don't want 'him even thinkingabout my daughter and I sure don't want him coming near her."

Mac was silent.

Simon hadn't changed a bit over the years.

He.

was the same man who'd thought the best way to help Raine get over the

rape was to keep silent about it.

He shook his head.

h.e.l.l, maybe he wasn't giving the man enough credit.

Simon was trying, in his own way, to protect Raine.

And while Mac didn't agree with his methods, he at least could agree

with the intent.

But the fact remained.

that Michaels might have inadvertently put his daughter even more in

jeopardy by not giving this information to Mac and to the police.

"Do you have the reports from your investigator?"

Simon unlocked a desk drawer and withdrew a thick file, dropping it on

the desk.

"Right here."

Mac reached across the desk for it.

Flipping it open, he scanned the first few pages.

Detailed logs had been kept of Burnett's every movement, including the

people he met.