Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

alerted before. I didn’t recognize it right away, but that’s what he’s doing.†He glanced over his shoulder at her. “You hungry?â€
    She smiled again, this time her eyes lighting up. She’d been upset not wanting her sisters to have to heal her, but she was grateful to Libby. She had felt so unclean, and Libby made her feel whole again, not quite so dirty and used. “Jackson Deveau, you’re going al domestic on me. You real y aren’t such a badass after al .â€
    He grinned at her, a little embarrassed. “I’m a total badass. Don’t you go ruining my reputation around here.â€
    â€œMy sisters are going to uphold it. They get hot under the col ar when you yel at me.â€
    She sounded smug—and teasing. He liked that. It gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He’d always wondered what a loner like him would do with a woman around permanently; now he knew he wanted her with him.
    â€œI’m reading your mind,†she reminded, walking on bare feet into the tiled kitchen. “Tel me about your great plan.â€
    He sighed and picked her up, putting her on the counter beside him as he put away the groceries Inez had brought them. He held up several bags of El e’s favorite dried fruit—tangerine. “That woman is so sweet sometimes.â€
    â€œI never thought I’d hear you say that about Inez. You don’t talk to her.â€
    â€œI talk to her.†He cleared his throat and looked away from her, a faint flush of color rising up his neck. “She brings me groceries sometimes.â€
    â€œWithout you ordering them?â€
    He shrugged and pul ed out the makings for sandwiches.
    â€œJackson.†El e waited until he looked at her. “Why does she bring you groceries?â€
    â€œI don’t know. I tel her it’s not necessary, but she thinks she owes me or something.â€
    She could tel by his color and reluctant tone that he real y was embarrassed. El e moved in his mind. Her eyebrow shot up. “You loaned her money?â€
    â€œDamn it, El e. Don’t say it out loud. No one knows and I didn’t exactly loan it to her. She’s a very proud woman and she helps people out al the time. Too much. She insisted on keeping Frank Warner’s art gal ery open. He’s getting out of prison any day now.â€
    â€œHow could he be? It hasn’t even been a ful year.†El e was shocked. Frank Warner had al owed the Russian mob to use his art gal ery to smuggle in il egal items and launder money. She’d felt a little sorry for him in that he hadn’t known what he was getting into, but through his greed for money, he had al owed a dirty bomb into the country by opening up the smuggler’s route.
    â€œHe was only sentenced to three years and he got time off for good behavior. Inez was very instrumental in his receiving the lightest sentence possible. Frank was huge on charity and helping out the local food drives as wel as the programs for school kids, the shoes, the field trips, and he participated heavily in al the auctions, donating some great works. She worked tirelessly to help him. They’d been friends since grammar school.â€
    â€œHow did you know al that?â€
    He handed her a sandwich and poured the boiling water into the smal teapot. Before El e had come into his life, he didn’t even know what tea was.
    Now it was a staple. Worse, he actual y knew the differences in teas.
    â€œI was doing a drive by her store late one night and found her sitting outside in the back in tears.†He couldn’t help the embarrassment creeping into his tone and in his mind. He glanced at her as if half expecting her to say something.

    El e remained silent, a funny melting sensation in the vicinity of her heart. This was a side of Jackson she never saw. He was such a loner, and acted as if he didn’t want to speak to or get involved with anyone or the community if he could help it, yet she was finding out interesting little stories about him that told her more than he obviously wanted her knowing.
    â€œTo make a long story short, she’d invested a great deal of her own money in the art gal ery, buying in with Warner and becoming partners with him, but the gal ery real y suffered the first few months after his arrest and she was behind a little on her own mortgage payments. The store was