Under Suspicion, With Child. Elle James

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      His hand shot out automatically, grasping her arm.

      “All right, already. I’m not going to jump. I was just going to show you that there is a path down the side of the cliff. If I wanted to go down, I’d walk.”

      Together they leaned over the edge and stared at the thin path that surely only a goat could traverse.

      “I used to take it down to the water to find shells and starfish among the—” Her face paled to gray and she stumbled back against him. “Holy mother.”

      Andrei clasped her shoulders and set her behind him before peering over the edge to the rocks below.

      Lifted by the waves and pushed into the rocks was the body of a woman dressed in white, facedown in the surf.

      Chapter Two

      Of all the stupid times to pass out, Jocelyne couldn’t have picked a worse. But to wake up in the arms of this stranger… Shivers rippled over her entire body. And darn it all, they weren’t shivers of fear.

      A woman was dead at the bottom of the cliffs, for heaven’s sake. Why should she be so concerned about being crushed against a man’s brawny chest and carried away? They were headed toward town. How dangerous could that be?

      She could smell the man’s sweat and it was having an entirely unwarranted effect on her, driving her blood to pump faster, her heart to race and her skin to flush.

      “Put me down.” Jocelyne kicked her feet and pushed with her free hand against the man’s well-muscled chest. The other hand wrapped around his neck to keep him from dropping her on the rocks. “We have to notify the police about that girl.”

      “That’s where I’m headed.” His feet ate the distance between the cliff and town in long easy strides.

      “Look, for all I know you could be the Seaside Strangler.” Her breath caught in her throat as his hand shifted, brushing against the underside of her breast. “Why else would you be out there?”

      “I was jogging.”

      Okay, calm down. No need in upsetting the baby. On the other hand, what did she really know about the muscle-bound man with the soulful dark eyes? So he was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and running shoes. The strangler could dress the same.

      She renewed her struggles. “Put me down before I scream.” With the wind blowing and still on the outskirts of town, she doubted anyone would hear her. But she’d give it her best effort. She dragged in a breath.

      “If I were the Seaside Strangler, would I be carrying you toward town? To the Raven’s Cliff Police Department?”

      Her breath released in a huff. “If you wanted to throw people off your trail, maybe.” As they entered town, the few cars driving along the road slowed.

      Jocelyne groaned. “Put me down. People are pointing at us.” She cupped his cheek and made him look at her. “Please?”

      Something in her voice must have gotten to the Neanderthal and made him pause. “Are you sure you won’t pass out again?”

      She raised a hand scout-style. “I promise.”

      If his frown was any indication, he didn’t quite believe her, but he let her feet drop to the ground, while retaining the arm around her waist.

      “Look, I’m pregnant, not sick. The reason I passed out was that I haven’t eaten breakfast.” She patted his chest. “See? Easy fix. Now let me go.”

      A gaggle of women exiting the coffee shop a block away stopped and stared at Jocelyne and the man in the running shorts.

      “I can manage it from here, Officer.” Jocelyne’s cheeks burned like they had when her classmates pointed and whispered about her mother being a witch, when they made taunts that she was the spawn of the devil. She turned toward the police department, but try as she might, she couldn’t shake the cop’s hand from her waist. “Really, I can walk on my own.”

      “Until we get you to the station, you’ll have to deal with a little help.”

      One of the women leaned toward the ear of another, her gaze following Jocelyne’s progression down the street, her lips moving fast.

      “I don’t like it when people stare,” she whispered through her teeth.

      “I don’t care what they think. There’s a dead woman back there, you passed out, and I’m not letting go of you until we get to the police station.” His jaw could have been carved in granite, ebony eyes staring straight ahead unwavering from his course. That arm was like a steel band, locking her against his rock-solid side.

      Jocelyne’s heart hammered against her ribs. This man was hard, strong and determined. If he were the Seaside Strangler, she didn’t stand a chance. Nor did any other woman. The fact he was a cop, didn’t mean anything. There were such animals as renegade cops gone bad. Her instincts told her he wasn’t bad and he wasn’t the Seaside Strangler, but he also wasn’t letting go of her. The fact that he’d carried her for almost half a mile impressed her. Not that she’d admit it to him.

      A pretty young blonde stepped out of the beauty shop and waved at the man whose hand gripped dangerously close to Jocelyne’s breast. “Hi, Andrei.” Her face crinkled into a pout, her gaze narrowing at the hand around Jocelyne’s waist. “Are we still on for tonight?”

      “Sorry. Something’s come up. I have to work.” He passed her with little more than a glance, hurrying on to the stately brick building that housed not only the police station, but the jail and courthouse.

      All along Main Street, Jocelyne reminded herself that the victim of the Seaside Strangler took precedence over her own embarrassed sensibilities. She could suffer through the inconvenience. Humiliation was a better alternative to what happened to that girl in the waves.

      Once inside the building, Andrei settled her into a chair, with surprising gentleness. “Are you going to be okay?”

      She inhaled the musky scent of male sweat, mingled with a hint of aftershave, and gulped. When he was being nice, he was almost handsome and sexy in his damp clothes, his thighs bulging from beneath his running shorts. “I’m fine,” she lied. “It was just the shock.” Seeing a body on the rocks, on top of being hungry and pregnant had caused her to black out. Having him stand so close, leaning all his bronzed muscles into her vision, just made her dizzier.

      He stared hard at her, his brows drawing together. Had he read her mind? Could he see her reluctant attraction to him? Did he think less of her because she was pregnant and unmarried? She leaned back in her chair, determined to distance herself from him. Why should she care what he thought?

      Her hand moved to the swell beneath her shirt. Because she kept in shape and had gained so little weight, she didn’t look very pregnant…yet. As the next few weeks passed, her condition would only become more apparent.

      “What’s going on?” A bald man perhaps in his midfifties stepped through an open doorway, a coffee mug in one hand.

      The man named Andrei straightened, his face drawn and tight. “Captain, I think we found Angela Wheeler.”

      The СКАЧАТЬ