Ultimate Sins by Lora Leigh Page A

house indicated no more than a four-foot crawl space beneath the house.
    â€œInteresting.” Crowe gazed around the open, though cluttered basement. “Believed in saving everything, didn’t he?”
    If the antiques were any indication, more than three generations had been storing their cast-offs down here.
    â€œNo kidding,” John agreed. “The attic is worse. You can’t even walk around up there, let alone figure out where to look for anything in particular.”
    The basement was far smaller than the house above it and, if he wasn’t mistaken, laid out a bit oddly.
    â€œStay away from her, Crowe.”
    Well now, hadn’t that just been thrown out of the blue, Crowe thought, amused.
    Narrowing his eyes, he gazed out at the basement for long seconds before he finally turned back to the other man.
    â€œThat’s not your decision to make,” he reminded the deputy. “And even if it were, it wouldn’t do you any good, John. Don’t try to stand between me and Amelia, because I promise you, I won’t stand for it.”
    John’s lips thinned, his gaze turning cold. “You don’t have a choice. You used her to draw Sorenson out of hiding, and I don’t appreciate that. I won’t let you use her again, no matter the reason. She doesn’t deserve it. And by God, you don’t deserve her . Not anymore. Not the man you’ve become.”
    Crowe nodded as though considering the warning before smiling mockingly. “There’s where you’re fucking wrong,” Crowe assured the other man, letting him see the full, blazing determination that filled him. “I do deserve her. I deserve her far more than you even know, John. And if you think I’ll let you stand in my way, then you’re wrong.”
    â€œDammit, Crowe—”
    Crowe turned on him slowly, forcing back the humanity it had taken him years to find again after leaving the military.
    The man John saw now was the stone killer he had been then. The killer John knew existed in his past.
    *   *   *
    â€œYeah, I know what you are,” John sneered. “I may have not reached your level, Callahan, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t invited there.”
    Crowe let his lips tilt further. The operation he was part of was so much higher than the invitation this man had been given, it was laughable.
    â€œAn invitation is one thing,” Crowe said softly, “the years of training afterward is another. Don’t think you can take me on, John. Your association with my uncle won’t save you. He should have warned you of that.”
    â€œBut has anyone warned my sister about you?” The air around the deputy sizzled with fury. “And isn’t she just a little innocent for you? Find a woman with enough experience to handle that ice your heart has become.”
    â€œShe can handle it just fine,” Crowe promised him, wondering how pissed Amelia would get if he punched the bastard in the face. “Now let’s end this little pissing contest before one of us says something you may regret.”
    The hard line of John’s jaw tightened furiously as he let his anger rule him rather than using it to strengthen him. Maybe, Crowe thought, John should have accepted that invitation just for the training that went with it.
    â€œThe grudge is what I worry about,” John snapped, the gray-blue of his gaze sparking with charged energy. “What will that grudge dictate where Amelia’s concerned, Crowe? She’s Wayne’s daughter. She was raised by him, she worked with him. Try to tell me you’ll ever trust her enough to let that ice around your heart melt for her, and I’ll call you a liar. The only reason you’re here now is because she’s that final snub you can give Wayne by actually getting into her bed rather than just letting him believe that was where you were.”
    â€œAnd I’ll be there,