The Devil She Knows by Kira Sinclair

wouldn’t open and tell him to leave. Not this time. Instead, she watched warily as he paced around her domain. This room was her sanctuary, one of the few places where she felt free to explore and create, to be who she really was.
    Long fingers trailed across the bolts of fabric that lined one wall. He picked up a handful of crystals and let them sift through his fingers.
    For some reason, watching him made her body tighten and ache.
    “You said there were things we needed to talk about.”
    He jerked his gaze to hers and then away, but his eyes kept track of her as he continued to prowl through her space. He reminded her of a tiger at the zoo, all sinewy muscle and strength contained behind bars that gave people a false sense of security.
    “I never touched Rose.”
    Whatever she’d been expecting, that hadn’t been it.
    “What?”
    He finally stopped, squaring his body to face her. The room separated them, but she could feel the slam of his eyes against hers. “I never touched your sister, at least not the way you think I did. We kissed a time or two, long before I met you. I was never interested in her. Hell, she was never interested in me. We were too alike to be attracted to each other.”
    “Then...what? What are you trying to tell me?”
    Dev stalked closer, the heat of his gaze tracking down her body before returning to her eyes. “Rose used me. She told everyone we’d slept together because she knew they would believe it. She wanted out of her marriage, Willow. She was desperately unhappy and too young to see another way to escape the situation she’d landed herself in. Marcus was demanding and domineering.”
    “What?” she squeaked. What was he talking about? Marcus had loved Rose. Sure, he’d been a little possessive of his young wife, but he’d been right to worry that her wild streak wasn’t completely gone.
    She would have known if her sister was being abused. Wouldn’t she?
    “He was stifling her. Telling her where she could go. Who she could see. What she could do. He controlled the money. He controlled everything. She tried to leave him, but he wouldn’t let her go. He found her and dragged her home.”
    “Why didn’t she call the police?” Willow’s anger fell off into a choked whisper. “Or me?”
    “The police couldn’t help. He never laid a hand on her, not even when she kicked him out of their bedroom. And what could you have done? You were a seventeen-year-old kid, Willow, with your own worries and life.”
    “But she’s my sister, Dev. I would have helped her however I could.”
    “Yeah, you would have. Which is probably why she didn’t tell you.” He reached out and ran his thumb along the ridge of her cheekbone. “I knew she had a plan for getting away, I just didn’t realize I featured in it until it was too late. She tried to seduce me. I turned her down flat. By then I’d been knocked silly by you, and there was no way I was going to sleep with your sister.”
    Willow sucked in a harsh breath. Her gaze darted around his face, searching for some proof that he was telling the truth. She wanted to believe him but wasn’t sure that was wise.
    Was she blinded by lust and willing to accept anything the slick-tongued man said?
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I was a little preoccupied with trying to figure out where the hell I was going to live. My grandfather kicked me out the minute he heard. Even he didn’t question whether or not it was true. Why would you?”
    “Oh, Dev.” The words came out as a moan. Her chest ached.
    “Don’t you dare.”
    “What?”
    “Feel sorry for me. If I’d done things differently—been less like my dad and more like my grandfather—then maybe...” He shook his head. “But I wasn’t. I pulled every stunt I could. I was angry and desperate to prove to everyone I didn’t care what they thought of me.”
    He looked away from her, but not before she caught a glimpse of his pain. The sight of it extinguished any lingering