Passionate Investigations Read Free

Tanya have always butted heads,”
she said when he didn’t expand on the comment. “Tanya is strictly by the book.
She keeps the ramifications and politics of the information she deals with as
her top priority. You’ve always struck me as a wizard to whom the truth—good or
bad—is the most important aspect. You don’t mind whose feet you step on,
whether supposedly important people get hurt or how you get the answers, you
just get them.”
    Rob nodded.
    “That’s a fair assessment. The differences between your
sister and I have been known from the start of our working together. But lately
there has been more…tension than usual.”
    “Why? What’s changed?” Zahra asked, genuinely curious.
    Once again Rob hesitated before seeming to pick his words
carefully.
    “In the last few months there have been some discrepancies
with our information. Everyone is starting to feel the strain from it. Tell me,
Zahra, do you think for the right cause or under pressure Tanya could
be…underhanded?”
    The sensual way Rob spoke her name had Zahra’s heart
pounding faster. She could drown in those wild, alluring green eyes. Struggling
to not let her emotions overcome her common sense, it took her a second to
register his question about her sister.
    “Tanya?” she repeated with a chuckle. “Underhand? Circe, no.
I can’t think of anyone more rule-abiding than her. Why?”
    “If everyone instantly dismissed any thought of corruption
about your sister, don’t you think that would make her being able to get away
with such actions even more likely?”
    Zahra frowned, not at all liking where Rob seemed to be
going with this.
    “Let me be really clear on this,” she replied heatedly. “My
sister and I have our differences and I’ve stooped to my own fair share of name-calling,
especially when we were kids. Tanya is a lot of things, I won’t call you on
that. But in no way is she dirty, corrupt or anything other than the
straightest arrow and most lawful witch I know. Are we clear on that?”
    “You wouldn’t even consider the possibility?”
    “Not for a second.”
    “If this were anyone other than your sister, surely you’d
have to admit that since she’s the least likely to be suspected that would
automatically make an excellent cover?”
    “People become the usual suspects for a reason,” Zahra
pointed out firmly. “If someone lies, cheats or steals once then they’re far
more likely to repeat that action. I agree I’m biased to be defensive of Tanya,
but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong, either.”
    “People change,” Rob insisted in a quiet tone.
    Zahra took a deep breath and calmed herself down. There was
no need to get into a spirited debate with the sexy wizard. Tanya’s ethics and
history clearly spoke for itself.
    “I agree,” she said. “Just because someone makes a mistake
once doesn’t mean they should be forever tarred with that brush. But I know my
sister, Rob. She lives and breathes the rules. It’s always been her following
the ‘right’ path and me driving my father crazy. I don’t really know what
discrepancies you’re talking about, but believe me, Tanya would no more do
something underhand than she would shave her head or dance naked down the
street.”
    Rob grinned at that, and Zahra had to smile in return. The
thought of Tanya stripping off her power suits and doing a shimmy for all to
see was insane. Neither could Zahra ever imagine her conservative sister doing
something outrageous to her long, straight, always perfectly coiffed blonde
locks. It was amusing. Her words broke the gathering ice and dispelled most of
the tension that had crept between them.
    “I trust you, Zahra. I’m just not convinced—” Rob’s words
cut off as the high-pitched trill of feminine laughter cut across the gardens.
Rob’s gaze snapped up and behind her.
    Before Zahra could turn around and see anything, he had
wrapped an arm quickly around her shoulders and dragged her further into the
privacy