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He shouldn’t care

But he did Suddenly, irrationally, he did He didn’t want Madelaine to be his brother’s wife, his brother’s love He wanted her the way she’d always been A brilliantly colored photograph in the sepia-toned memories of his life His and his alone

She stared at hi disappointed, then, very quietly, she said, “You can get as fae the facts” She leaned close, so close he could smell her perfume “You’ll always be Francis DeMarco’s kid brother”

“I forbid you to tell him I’m here”

“Oh, Angel”

At that moment, in that tone of voice, she made his name sound like a curse

Madelaine moved woodenly toward her desk She sat down, her back raed forward, plopped her elbows on the desk, and closed her eyes

It had taken considerable self-control to appear cold and disinterested Of course, discipline was the one thing she had in spades She’d practiced it since her hair was in pigtails—lying, pretending In that big house on the hill, appearances had been everything

Yes, Father, of course, Father Certainly I will

She was a master of such deception, but she’d never quite been able to overco heart, the sweaty palms Any time she had to stand up for herself, she was a wreck afterward

She’d expected Angel to have changedand successful, he should have been surrounded by friends But no flowers or cards or phone calls had co in the hallway, no friend hovering about his bed Nohen push came to shove, he was utterly alone

What did he have now? she wondered Where did his joy co use, free sex, a brawl or two at some seedy tavern, an Oscar noraphs she’d seen of hi camera

In the old days she’d known his soul—or thought she had He’d always been all bluster and anger on the outside, but inside, he hurt as badly as she did She’d knoays that he had a hole inside him, a deep secret place from which he bled She knew it because she had the same hole in her own soul In her it had been born of loneliness and fed by the hard realization that her father despised her Over the years she’d covered it with a sheer, thin wall of glass that ile and easily bruised, but it was some protection at least

With Angel, who knew?

The phone on her desk rang, interrupting her thoughts She reached for it and heard Hilda’s voice “It’s To”