Rake Wolfes of Manhattan Four - Helen Hardt Page 0,1

most of them had their own. Beatrice always had new bruises on her thighs and back from her abusive boyfriend. Marie had special pancake makeup for her nearly omnipresent black eyes. And Frannie? She had the worst of all. She danced almost every night in constant pain from the five pins holding her right tibia together. Her ex shattered it five years ago, and though you’d never know watching her dance with that toothy smile pasted on her face, she was in agony.

But bills had to be paid, so you do what you must. Frannie danced. Beatrice and Marie danced.

And I danced.

I was the only one with scars like mine. Two perfectly straight cuts above each breast. Over the years they’d faded, but still they stood out like bright red lines to me.

I didn’t let myself think about them much anymore.

Until recently, when two private investigators accosted me in the dressing area after one of last week’s shows.

“Hanging in there?”

I jerked out of my thoughts. Reid Wolfe stood next to me.

He was crazy handsome. Tall and muscular and gorgeous with dark brown—nearly black—hair. But even so…

He looked too much like him.

Like his father. Derek Wolfe. Reid’s eyes were different, though. They were a blue so bright and sparkling it almost seemed too beautiful to be real.

All the Wolfes were gorgeous, and the three significant others weren’t anything to sneeze at either. I felt so out of place. Sure, I had the body of a Vegas dancer, but the rest of me was a huge mess.

“Why do you color your hair?” Reid asked.

I wrinkled my forehead. “What?”

“I’m just wondering.”

“I like it.” I took a sip of champagne.

The answer wasn’t a lie. When I arrived in Las Vegas six years ago, I needed to reinvent myself. Zinnia “Zee” Rehnquist was a blonde. Zara Jones? She had dark hair. Not just dark hair. Jet black. The kind of jet black that said, don’t fuck with me or I’ll kill you with a butcher knife.

It worked fine with my own blue eyes—slightly lighter than Reid’s, and the black hair made them seem even lighter—and my dark brown eyebrows and lashes, colored black with makeup. I was a dark blonde, not platinum by any means.

“You’re beautiful no matter what,” Reid said. “I’d just love to see what you look like with your natural color.”

My stomach clenched. I never let men get close to me. The few times I’d tried had ended in disaster.

“Black hair is who I am now.” I handed him my empty champagne flute. “I should be going.”

“Sure. I’ll take you home.”

“I’m fine. I’ll just hail a cab.”

“Zee,” he said, “I have three limos on call. Already paid for. There’s no reason for you to take a cab.”

Three limos. Already paid for.

Wolfe money.

The Wolfes had so much money that their patriarch could afford to build his own human hunting ground. Unreal.

“He’s dead,” Reid said.

Had I spoken aloud? I hadn’t drunk that much champagne. “What?”

“You had a look on your face.”

“What kind of look?”

He sighed. “It’s the same look I’ve seen on my sister’s face forever. I just didn’t know what it meant until now. You were thinking about my father. About what he put you through. I know the look.”

“Actually, I was thinking about his money. About how you can have three limos on standby for no reason at all.”

“There’s a reason. My family is here in town. We need to go places, so we have cars available.”

“No, you have limos available.”

He smiled. God, he was truly gorgeous.

“Semantics,” he said in a teasing tone.

I shook my head. “Don’t play that card. The Wolfe money was enough to put me through hell. Hell that you people want me to revisit.”

Reid’s smile faded. “I’m not my father. Neither are my brothers or my sister.”

“I know that.”

Now I felt like crap. But wait. Why should I feel like crap? I went through what I went through, and I shouldn’t have to apologize for it. I won’t apologize for it. Someone should be apologizing to me.

Of course, that wasn’t fair. They’d all apologized profusely, even though none of them was at fault.

Reid took a sip of champagne. “My brother saved you that day.”

“I’ve never forgotten that,” I said. So true.

“Then don’t equate the rest of us with our father. We’re not anything like him.”

He was right. Still, I couldn’t help, “Except you’re pretty much a dead ringer for him.”

Reid’s jawline tensed. It went rigid, to the point where his lips trembled slightly.

That wasn’t fair. Not even a