Page 4 of The Sinner's Touch

He listened as Bailey introduced him and got his first look at one of the two witnesses. She looked like she’d been crying. Her makeup was a runny mess, mascara making wet tracks down her cheeks. Given what she’d witnessed, it was no wonder she was upset.

Bailey stepped aside, and Kade’s gaze landed on the woman currently staring at him with homicide in her green eyes. They spat so much hatred toward him, he took an automatic step back. It couldn’t be her. Not after all these years. It felt like he’d just been sucker punched in the gut and he couldn’t breathe.

“Agent Kincaid, this is…”

“Angel.” The word tumbled off his lips in a hoarse whisper.

“You two know each other?” Bailey’s surprise paled in comparison to the shock Kade felt upon seeing the best and worst mistake of his life glaring at him.

He barely had time to brace himself before she launched herself out of the chair and straight at him.

“You murdering bastard!”

CHAPTER THREE

It all happened in slow motion. That was the only way Kade could describe it. He saw her jump up, saw her fly toward him. Watched her hand ball up and rear back. And yet it all happened so fast, he couldn’t dodge the first punch. It landed squarely on his chin. Pain ricocheted across his jawline. He’d forgotten how hard his Angel could hit.

He caught her fist before she landed a second punch and pulled her into a tight hold. “Calm down, Angel.”

“Calm down?” Her screech might possibly have burst ear drums. “How dare you tell me to calm down! When I get loose…”

“Kincaid?”

He ignored the questioning tone in Bailey’s voice and nodded to the officers who’d come running. “Everything’s fine.”

“Fine?” The spitfire in his arms struggled harder. “Since when do they let murderers join the FBI?”

“Murderer? What is she talking about?”

Kade felt for Bailey. He looked completely lost.

“He murdered my brother!”

The room went as silent as a grave. Kade’s lips thinned, and he picked her up and started walking, her struggling and shouting for all she was worth. He only stopped long enough toask where the office was. The girl behind the bar pointed in the general direction, and he nodded his thanks as he hauled Angel down the hall.

“What…” The owner stood when Kade walked in, Angel screaming obscenities at him. He had to be in his late sixties, early seventies, with a head of what looked more like white peach fuzz than hair. He reminded Kade of a brawler. He’d bet anything the man had been a fighter of some kind in his younger years.

“Out,” Kade barked when Angel managed to bite him. He was done with this nonsense. She had every right to be pissed at him, but she needed to understand how dire her situation was. A serial killer knew what she looked like, where she worked, and she might very well be his next target. She could be a drama queen later.

“Now, look here, son, this is my office, and I ain’t going nowhere, especially not when you’re manhandling my employee.”

“I’m not manhandling your employee. I’m manhandling my wife.”

“Wife? Angel, what’n the hell is he talking about?”

“I am not his wife!”

The devil in him couldn’t resist, even with the seriousness of the situation. “Now, honey bear, don’t be fibbing like that. You don’t want to have to do a full month of Hail Marys again, do you?”

Angel gritted her teeth and kicked backward, her foot connecting with his shin. He didn’t even grunt. “It wasn’t a real marriage, Kincaid, and you know it.”

“I think the priest would disagree with you.”

The sexy tone of his voice hadn’t changed at all. It made that traitorous part of herself she’d worked hard to tamp downswoon. Damn him. Why did it have to be him? Fate had a sick sense of humor.

“Can we please borrow your office, Mr…?”

“Just call me Pops.” Pops didn’t look convinced, and Angel had a moment of hope that he’d throw Kade out on his ass. “I’m not sure…”

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