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Excerpt from
T
HE
L
IVING
L
EGEND
by Emma Wayne Porter
“What are you doing here?” David demanded.
Kate watched Patrick ignore the boy completely, closing in on her instead todrop a kiss on her astonished cheek.
“Hi, Kitten.”
She tried to return his greeting, but the sound that came out was more like asqueak.Typical. Patrick had always made her unspeakably nervous. Widelyacknowledged as the rock star of law enforcement, he always seemed to be up tosomething, and always gave the impression he knew something no one else did.Usually, both were true, and Kate believed half the work Patrick wascontracted to do was completely unnecessary. To certain people, his exorbitantfees were worth it for a chance to bend his ear or ask a favor.She must be the only one in their circle who actively avoided him. But then,she was the only one who needed to. For the last ten years,
she’d
been up to
something. She knew something he didn’t, and could never tell him.
A hot glow of fear and shame burned beneath her skin as she inspected him inshort, nervous glances that never quite dared venture above the collar of his black cashmere turtleneck.Why was he here? Had he finally found out the truth?
“Oh, that figures,” David grumbled. “First he busts me, then he paws my girl.”
“You,” Patrick said, pointing at David, “Shut it. She’s not your girl.”
“She’s not yours, either. She dumped you a long time ago.” At two indignantreactions from the adults, the boy added smugly, “Word gets around.”
Kate rubbed her neck and inspected her shoes, certain her face must be
crimson by now. It was bad enough Patrick was here. She didn’t need their historydredged up, too. And when she found out who’d been telling tales, they’d regret it.
Patrick took her elbow and told David, “You wanna take shots at me for
putting you in here, be my guest. But never disrespect your keeper, kid. Especially
when I’m within striking distance.”
Venturing a peek at Patrick’s face, her spine straightened, and even David hadto rethink whatever jab he’d been about to make.
Patrick Mancini was no one to be messed with in the best of moods, and rightnow there was fire in those liquid-black eyes. Had he looked at her that way, shewould have crawled under the nearest solid heavy object.
When he began to haul her back the way he’d come, she didn’t fight him. A
useless endeavor, as she well knew. He had a way of getting what he wanted,rules, boundaries and manners be damned.
And he must want something. He wouldn’t have come here otherwise. Theyhadn’t been able to avoid each other entirely si
nce the breakup, and left alone long
enough, they always descended into the same old argument about why she’d
broken up with him.It was never pleasant for either of them. She hated lying to him almost asmuch as he hated being lied to, so she doubted he would have come here bychoice.What if he really
had
found something out about his mother?That eternal wrench of remorse grabbed onto her and twisted hard while she
hurried to keep up with him, unsure she’d be able to withstand another argument.
She was
tired and caught off guard, and Patrick wasn’t dense. All it would take
was one wrong word, and he’d jump on it. Then she’d have to hope and pray the bad blood between her and Uncle William wouldn’t do her in.
Once inside the walkway leading to her house, she decided this was as good aplace to start as any. Better, in fact. Walking beside him was much easier than
facing him. She asked, “Why are you here?”
“I need a favor.”
That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. Was he holding off until they
were somewhere private before the yelling began?They were halfway down the passage before she realized she might have over-reacted. The only other person who knew the truth had even more reason than shedid to keep quiet.
It was likely Patrick still didn’t know anything. She’d just had such a horrible
few months, and was so paranoid about him learning the truth that she alwaysexpected the worst.
“What kind of favor?” she asked.
“I need David. And I need access to the tactical center.”
“David? I—
but
—”
“It’s an emergency, Kit. There’s a hard drive I need tapped in a secureenvironment, and he’s the man for the job.”
Dragging them both to a halt in the doorway, she kept her eyes on the top
button of his black wool peacoat. “No he’s not. You’ve got computer experts on
your own team, you know. One on every continent.”
“If this were information I wanted spread far and wide, that might be anoption. But it’s not. So I came here where I can contain the situation.”
“Contain? My brother’s in charge of all thirty tac centers.
You think he won’tnotice you messing around in there?”
“If he does, you can cover for me. It’s the best option, Kitten. And David’s anexpert.”
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