A Question of Innocence by DeNise Woodbury

Author:DeNise Woodbury [Woodbury, DeNise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Family Life/Oriented, Women's Fiction
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

I got into Marc’s car with every intention of not taking a ride. We were finished.

Unfortunately, he grinned, the car’s heater pumped out fifty degrees, and he smelled like kisses. I avoided thinking about the kisses, mostly. “What do you want?” I asked.

“Me?” Confused, his eyes snapped to the house door and back to me. “I don’t want anything. Your dad said to wait.”

Marc, already under Daddy’s spell, waited, without reason, because Daddy said to.

“You’re here though. Want to take a ride and talk?”

“No.” I was dying to know what they’d discussed over breakfast.

Marc sobered. “Your dad is a remarkable man.”

“I know,” I said.

“Belle, I don’t think you do,” Marc said.

I controlled my instant rage. “How dare you. Just what the hell do you mean?”

“I’ve listened to you apologize about your mom and dad since we met. Belle, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. They came from less than nothing and look what they accomplished?”

“You don’t know where they came from.” Anger flashed through me.

“Yeah, I do. And right now I know more than you do,” Marc said. “Do you want to take a ride?”

Those funny little synapses fire into weird rooms in your brain. I heard Azalea say, “Oh, hell yes, and get lunch out of the deal.” Had I been too quick to condemn? Could he convince me to change my mind? Did he really know something I didn’t? “Okay.”

“Talkeetna for lunch?” Marc said. “A hundred miles would give us plenty of time to work this out.”

“Okay, but if I get pissed off by Willow, you have to turn around. Agreed?” I said.

“No. We go all the way to Talkeetna.”

I stiffened. “I hate being angry and hurt and…”

“Then don’t be. Belle, I want you in my life. Trust me.” Marc backed into the alley and turned toward the highway.

“But you didn’t trust me. I told you to leave my family out of your investigations. You didn’t; you bulled ahead, with no regard to what damage you would be doing to them or me or our relationship. Disregard of such magnitude feels like a lie.” The bile in my throat, the anger I felt when I first figured out he had begun an investigation slapped me in the face again. Blind fury reared up like a striking snake.

Marc paled. “I didn’t lie to you, you didn’t give me a chance to, and I resent any suggestion I would. Annabelle, I won’t grovel even for you. Investigation is what I do. I need to know what may impact my career.”

“But I told you to leave it alone.” My voice edged up toward shrill.

“And I didn’t. When you talked to your dad, did you plan to tell me what he said?”

I paused. “You know my daddy, could you hurt him? Could you hurt my mom?”

“No, but I couldn’t protect them if I didn’t have all the information, could I?” A flush of heat rose in Marc’s face.

“What do you care?” My voice began to rise. “They

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