Echoes of Murder (Till Death do us Part Book 2) Read Free

we’ve never met so you can rip me a new one all over again? I’ll pass.”
    “I’ve had maybe four hours of sleep in the last two days. I’ve done almost everything for this wedding.”
    The excuse sounded lame, even to her. But it was the truth.
    “Why?” he asked.
    “Why what?”
    “Why take everything on yourself when you don’t even like her?”
    She rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers, determined to keep it together this time. “Isla? Of course I like her. She’s married to my brother.”
    “And you think that makes a difference?”
    “What has she said?”
    He stood. “You gonna tell me what you’re doing here?”
    Reagan crossed her arms in front of her. “In a minute. I want to know what your sister has said about me. Despite what you think, I care about her. I really do.”
    He spread his fingers. “All right, fine. Isla thinks you don’t approve of her, that you feel she’s not good enough for your brother.”
    “How can she possibly feel that way? I’ve done everything I can to help her feel like she’s part of our family. She barely talks to me.”
    “Maybe because she can never get a sentence in without being interrupted by your arrogant mother.”
    Reagan struck him, hard, across the face, a knee-jerk reaction she couldn’t take back. She clasped a hand over her mouth. “Evan, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to …”
    He grabbed her hand, squeezing it until she thought it might snap. The area where she struck him reddened, leaving an impression of four, elongated fingers. He released her hand, walked to the door, and swung it open—her cue to leave.
    Instead of making a swift exit, she stood on the tips of her toes, her lips brushing across his inflamed cheek as she passed him. “I really am sorry, Evan, about all of it. I don’t expect you to believe this, but I just feel ‘out of it.’ I’m not myself right now. I won’t bother you again.”  
    She stepped outside. Evan reached forward, catching her fingers in his hand. He reeled her back until she faced him. “I have to say, I think you’re the one.”
    “What one ?”
    “The one that makes every man realize they’ll never understand women. Ever. And it’s a waste of time to even try.”
    It was possibly the harshest thing any man had ever said to her. She accepted it as penance for what she’d done. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
    “You weren’t like this when I first met you. Why are you so angry with me?”
    “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Let’s leave the past in the past, okay?”
    “It matters to me. You liked me when we first met, and you like me now. There’s a spark between us. I can feel it. So can you. You’re just too damn stubborn to admit it.”  
    Stubborn, and not ready to confess how many times she’d thought of him over the past several months, she crossed her arms in front of her.   
    “Why did you leave?” she asked. “Why did you leave me sitting there, waiting, without saying goodbye?”
    “At the engagement party?”
    She nodded.
    “I didn’t walk out on you that night. I said I’d be back.”
    “No, you didn’t.”
    “I swear to you, Reagan, I did.”
    “If you’re telling the truth, I didn’t hear you.”
    “There was an emergency.”
    “What emergency ?”
    “The girl I was with, Sabine, was a coworker of mine. She’d been having some problems with an ex-boyfriend and didn’t feel comfortable being alone, so I invited her along that night. Sabine’s neighbor called during the party, told her she could see a man inside Sabine’s house. Sabine’s car wasn’t parked in its usual space so the neighbor knew she wasn’t there.”
    “Was it her ex?”
    He nodded.
    “We called the cops,” he continued. “Went to the house. The guy was still there. He was arrested. The point is, after it was all over, I came back. I tried to find you. It was a couple hours later, but you were already gone.”
    “Why didn’t you ask your sister for my