Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

reimbursement for my trouble. Plus, by keeping the bad guys away, they're also keeping other reporters off my back. It's giving me a chance to get my story done before granting interviews to anyone else."
    "How badly were you hurt?"
    He shrugged, again ignoring her worried expression. "The bullet grazed my scalp and gave me a slight concussion. I was unconscious part of yesterday, while all the red tape was getting fucked up. Today, I've got a hell of a hangover, made twice as bad by the damn depositions, to say nothing about your little contribution. They've offered painkillers but the first one knocked me out for the night and left me groggy for hours this morning, so I turned them down today." He rubbed his temple a bit more. "The worst damage seems to be to my hair. It's going to look pretty strange until it grows back in where they shaved it."
    "I was wondering what had—" She had started to smile but then cut herself off and looked at the floor again.
    David lifted a few sheets of paper until he found the card with Senior Agent Quick's home phone number on it. "From everything you told me, it sounds like Frampton or Frankowicz might be next on the killer's agenda, and it could happen any time. Frampton probably would have been better off staying in jail for a while."
    Without waiting for a response from her, he called Quick and gave him just enough information to convince him to race to the hospital room with recording equipment. "He'll be here within the hour," David told Holly after he hung up, then turned his attention back to the computer monitor, effectively demonstrating that her presence was no longer a distraction.
    "David?"
    He kept his eyes on the monitor. "What?"
    "Does the end justify the means?"
    That caused him to look up and deepen his frown. "Am I supposed to understand that?"
    "My conscience needs to know. Was risking your life and getting shot worth the story?"
    "Absolutely," he answered without hesitation. "Although I may have felt differently had the bullet struck an inch to the right. What about you? Were your means justified?"
    Holly thought of the sweet revenge and feelings of power she had expected to enjoy, and wondered where they were now. Instead, she had crippling fear, a guilty conscience, and a vacuum in her chest where her heart used to be. She replied to his question honestly. "No."
    "Too bad. You worked hard enough for it."
    Every snide comment he made was like another dash of salt on her fresh wound. She felt bruised and battered.
    Like a victim.
    Again.
    What had happened to her resolution that she would never permit anyone to make her feel that way again? David had caught her off guard, with her heart exposed, but she could piece it back together, in time, as she had before.
    As he put his mind back to work, she kept talking to herself, rebuilding her inner strength, reminding herself that she had never expected anything permanent to come of their relationship. It was only the frightening situation she found herself in that had blurred her reasoning. With each positive affirmation, she sat a little straighter in the chair and lifted her chin a bit higher.
    She had set out to use him for her own purposes, but he was the one who had pursued her. Had it strictly been her sex appeal, or had there been more to his dogged determination? Now that she was calming down, she replayed some of the things he had thrown at her when she first walked in. Reality dawned.
    He had been checking on her. Why? Because he had seen her go up to Erica Donner's suite while he was lying in wait in the hotel lobby.
    "It was all for a story, wasn't it?" she accused, her self-control returning by the minute. She saw the acknowledgment in his eyes, though he said nothing. "You bastard. How dare you call me a liar and act so self-righteous? I may have intended to use you, but it was for your skills as a reporter, and I was certain you would be rewarded with a good story for your efforts."
    As it all became clearer, her own anger mounted, until she could no longer remain seated. She saw him about to defend himself and cut him off. "Don't. There's no way you can justify what you did to me. I would have been satisfied if we had just become friendly acquaintances. But it wasn't enough for you to befriend me to get information on Erica Donner. No, you had to possess me, body and soul, until I couldn't withhold anything you demanded of me."
    Her eyes glittered with new awareness. "Well, congratulations. You got