Page 40 of Kiss an Angel

“I am innocent!”

He tossed the whip down on a chair. “Then you won’t mind letting me search you.”

Her gaze flew from one of them to the other, and the cold purpose she saw in both sets of eyes made her feel ill. Regardless of their past history, the two of them were now united against her.

He took a step closer, and she backed against the kitchen counter, the place where only a few hours ago he had kissed her with such passion. “I can’t let you do this,” she said desperately. “We spoke vows, Alex. Don’t turn your back on them.” She knew she was making herself look guiltier in his eyes, but marriages were built on trust, and if he destroyed that, they wouldn’t have a chance.

“Let’s get this over with.”

She moved sideways along the counter. “I can’t let you touch me. Please take my word for it! I didn’t steal the money! I’ve never stolen anything in my life!”

“Stop it, Daisy. You’re only making it worse for yourself.”

She saw he wasn’t going to give in. With a singleness of purpose that frightened her, he backed her against the storage closet.

She gazed numbly up at him. “Don’t do it,” she whispered. “Please. I’m begging you.”

For a moment he froze. Then his palms cupped her sides. While Sheba watched, he drew them down over her waist and hips, then moved up to feel her stomach, her back, the breasts he had cupped so gently in his hands only hours earlier. She shut her eyes in revulsion as he slipped them between her legs.

“You should have believe me,” she whispered when he’d finished.

He took a step away, and his eyes were troubled. “If you didn’t have it on you, why did you fight me?”

“Because I wanted you to trust me. I’m not a thief.”

Their gazes locked. He looked as if he were about to say something when Sheba stepped forward.

“She had plenty of time to get rid of the money. Why don’t you search the trailer, and I’ll look in your truck?”

Alex nodded, and Sheba left Daisy’s teeth began to chatter even though the night was warm. It said something about the relationship between Alex and Sheba that in this matter at least, each seemed to trust the other. Neither, however, trusted her.

Daisy collapsed on the couch and clasped her hands around her knees to keep herself from shaking. She didn’t watch as Alex went through the storage closets and riffled her belongings. A sense of inevitability had come over her. She could no longer remember what it felt like to have her life under control. Maybe she never had. First she’d done her mother’s bidding, then her father’s. Now this dangerous new husband had taken over her life.

The rustling noises were replaced by a heavy silence. She stared down at the worn pattern on the rug. “You found the money, didn’t you?”

“In the bottom of your suitcase, right where you hid it.”

She looked up and saw the bag lying open at his feet. A small pile of folded bills rested in his palm. “Someone put it there. I didn’t hide it.”

He pushed the money into his pocket. “Stop playing games. You’re backed into the corner. At least have the guts to tell the truth and face the consequences.”

“I didn’t steal the money. Someone wants to frame me.” It seemed obvious to Daisy that Sheba was behind this. Surely, Alex saw that. “I didn’t do it! You have to believe me.”

Her pleas died on her lips as she saw the rigid set of his jaw and realized there was nothing she could do to change his mind. With an awful feeling of resignation, she said, “I’m going to stop defending myself. I’ve told the truth, and I can’t do anything more.”

He walked over to the chair across from her and sat down. He looked tired but not as tired as she felt. “Are you going to call the police?”

“We handle our own problems.”

“And you’re judge and jury.”

“That’s the way it works.”

A circus was supposed to be a magical place, but all she’d found was anger and suspicion. She stared at him, trying to see through the impenetrable facade he presented. “What if you make a mistake?”

“I don’t. I can’t afford to.”

She felt a chill of foreboding at the certainty in his voice. Such perfect arrogance was a sure invitation for disaster. A lump grew in her throat. She’d said she wouldn’t defend herself again, but a tumult of emotions dragged at her. Swallowing hard, she stared at the limp, ugly curtains that covered the window behind him. “I didn’t steal the two hundred dollars, Alex.”

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