Dangerous Read Free

here because you want help getting that girl back. Alive.”
    The urge to leave vanished as her anguish resurfaced. She closed her eyes for a moment and saw that photo of her childhood friend Emily that she’d seen at the suburban police department, and all the life drained out of her. The investigating officer had stepped away from his desk for a moment, leaving Emily’s folder there in full view. Her parents had been distracted and Camille had been unable to stop herself from opening it. “Yes. Alive. More than anything. You can help me do that, right?”
    Justus had quit the force to start his own private investigation firm, one that specialized in getting justice for victims or their families when the system didn’t work.
    “Yes,” he agreed. “But you know that may get you into deeper trouble with the department.”
    “I. Don’t. Care. I can’t let it go. Sandy is
my
responsibility.” She should have taken the time to get to know the girl who walked her dog, figured out the teenager might get into her computer. She’d briefly spoken to Gloria Kawecki last night, had learned that Sandy’s computer privileges had been cut off after she’d stayed out after curfew, the reason she’d checked her email on Camille’s computer. “Don’t you see, Justus, I have to find her before it’s too late.”
    Looking over her shoulder, Justus said, “Then you’ll have the perfect investigator for this particular job.”
    Even as he said it, she sensed the presence behind her. Instincts honed beyond what she could explain, Camille felt the quiver along the back of her neck. Her mouth felt dry and her knees went soft, but she refused to show any weakness as she turned.
    Drago Nance stood just inside the office door. His rugged features, countered by dark hair, were all too familiar. She knew every inch of him. She’d slept with him, had spent a whole weekend with him, mostly in bed, telling herself it was just sex, no big deal. A weekend fling, which was so uncharacteristic of herself, as she never had another after Drago—and that had been four years ago, so why was the memory as sharp as if it had been four days ago?
    As incredible as he’d appeared then, he looked even better now. He’d always topped six feet, but he’d been trimmer, less intimidating. The tan T-shirt he wore fit him like a second skin, accentuating every muscle. His unruly hair was longer now, spilling over his forehead, framing those deep blue eyes that had set her heart racing the first time she’d met him…
    She enters the bar looking for Justus to talk about a case, and this hunk gives her an appreciative once-over that curls her toes. “Looking for me?” he asks in a whiskey-smooth voice.
    “Looking for Nance.” Though her eyes roam the area, her pulse rushes. She’s fully aware of being studied.
    “You found him,” he says. “Drago Nance.”
    Justus’s brother. Their gazes lock and she can’t turn away. For the first time in her life, she feels an instant connection…
    Her heart was racing just remembering.
    Trying to dispel his unwanted effect, she choked out, “So you’re a private investigator now?”
    “I have a license and everything. All shiny and new.”
    Camille clenched inside. “Your brother must have some influence.” She didn’t add
after what happened four years ago,
just let the inference hang between them.
    “Justus always has influence. When he chooses to use it.”
    She didn’t miss the puzzling barb.
    Justus backed his younger brother. “Drago served his time.”
    “Did he?” Thinking back to what she knew about him, Camille wasn’t so sure that six months in Cook County Jail had been enough.
    “He’s been working for me for three years now to get that PI license,” he clarified. “He’s good, you can trust him.”
    Trust Drago Nance? Camille thought not. At least not personally. And she wasn’t sure about the case, either. The weekend they’d shared had been all-consuming, so much so that