Killing Time. Leslie Kelly

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СКАЧАТЬ another woman here. Knowing him, it’ll just reinforce his already bad opinion of me. He’ll think I was trying to draw you into something terribly…unsavory.”

      Her face flushed and her mouth dropped into an O shape. “He wouldn’t think I’d do something like that!”

      “He might. So maybe you should go now,” he told her. Despite everything, he felt touched that she cared enough to try to save his reputation. Even if she’d had to shoot him to do it. Somehow, that made about as much sense as anything else in Derryville.

      “We’ll forget this ever happened. Go home.” Then he said, “Leave the gun.” The prankster and movie lover in him almost added “Take the cannoli,” but he doubted either of the women in the room would appreciate the Godfather reference.

      “I…I would never want my daddy to think such a thing,” Louise said, lost in thought, her voice sounding shocked. Her trembling hand dropped to her side, leaving the gun dangling there, pointing at the floor.

      Speaking of dangling…“Can I please get dressed now?” he asked no one in particular.

      The prone woman in the short white skirt, who’d been pounding her fist on the floor and muttering the word “no” over and over into the carpet, finally looked up at that one.

      Looked up. Direct line of sight. Got an eyeful.

      Then he recognized her face and the bottom dropped out of his gut. “Caroline.”

      “Mick.”

      Louise stared at them both. “You two know each other?”

      Know each other. Knew each other. Oh, yeah. A lifetime ago.

      “Go, Louise.” Mick’s voice was thick, his throat tight.

      Caroline Lamb. Here. In his office. Jesus.

      He yanked his khaki pants off the floor and pulled them up over his hips, more to stall for time and regain his suddenly questionable sanity than anything else. It wasn’t like he was covering up something Caroline hadn’t already seen a number of times. Up close. And personal.

      He began to sweat. Caroline slowly rose to her feet, watching his every move. Louise didn’t budge an inch.

      “I can’t believe you did it,” Caroline said, glaring toward his half-covered body.

      “She was holding a gun on me,” he replied in self-defense.

      “Not that,” she said with derision. Brushing past the wide-eyed Louise, she stalked to stand toe-to-toe with him. Mick felt her anger wash over him as tangibly as a blast of heat. Caroline had always blown over him like a blast of heat. Always. Whether she’d been in a rage, laughing, teasing him or kissing him like they needed each other’s breath to survive.

      “I can’t believe you had that…obscene representation of your own shortcomings tattooed onto your back.”

      He almost grinned, suddenly knowing why she was so ticked off. Then his grin faded. No, Caroline wouldn’t like what he’d done with “her” lamb. But he’d had to do it, had to try to make their relationship mean nothing, seem like nothing. Because it had, once upon a time, meant too damn much.

      “Okay, I guess you two do know each other,” Louise finally said as she inched toward the door, probably seeing by the fury in Caroline’s eyes that an assault was, indeed, about to take place here. But instead of defending him, Louise looked ready to leave him to his fate. She also looked amused.

      “The gun, Louise,” Mick said, unable to keep his stare from drifting back to the face he’d never thought he’d see again.

      He heard a thud, and assumed the gun had dropped to the carpeted floor, but he couldn’t look away from that amazing familiar face long enough to make sure. Then the door clicked shut, leaving him alone in his office with Caroline Lamb.

      She’d changed. Matured. Oh, she was still a knockout, but she’d lost that small-town-girl look that used to make her eyes a little brighter and her smile a little sunnier than anyone else’s. Not that she was smiling now.

      “Great entrance,” he murmured. “Graceful as always.”

      She merely closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath as they both struggled to regain their composure.

      She was really here. In the flesh. Very nice flesh.

      While she got a grip on herself, he took a moment to devour her with his eyes, noting the things that had changed over time and those that had remained the same. It was easy to tell—her image had been burned into his brain since the day they’d met.

      He studied the way her new, chin-length haircut accentuated the sweet curve of her face and the vulnerable delicacy of her neck. Her makeup was designed to accentuate the alluring, vivid blue of her eyes. God, those eyes, such a stunning contrast to her thick, dark hair.

      She wasn’t quite as slender as she’d been in college, but the curves were in all the right places. His college girl had grown into quite a woman. From the top of her chestnut-brown hair, to the tips of her expensive shoes, she screamed totally-in-control female.

      But she wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

      “Yeah, well, I see you haven’t changed much either,” she finally said with a falsely sweet smile. “Why am I not surprised to bump into you after eight years and find you with a woman, naked and displaying your best side?”

      His eyes narrowed. “Used to be you thought my front was my best side.”

      She raked a thorough look across his bare chest and arms, his stomach, the unfastened waist of his slacks.

      Everywhere her gaze touched, his body tightened and grew hot. His reaction to her was instinctive, and had been since the minute he’d met her in his sophomore year of college.

      Somehow she managed to look as though she’d studied him and found him lacking. Which was, he knew, total bullshit. The flush on her cheeks and the way she couldn’t quite control her deep breathing told him her dismissing look was as fake as her perfectly manicured nails.

      Caroline was a nail biter. A blusher. And a heavy breather.

      But she gave it her best shot. Crossing her arms, she managed what would probably pass for a pitying smile. “That was before I got to know you. I’m all grown-up and I’ve figured out that the rear is always the best side of a horse’s ass. The better to watch him walk away.”

      He grinned, unable to help it. Damn, the woman always had been able to throw a good insult. Her prickliness had been one of the things that had so fascinated him in the old days. Because it came in the sweetest, most adorably sexy package.

      “So what are you doing here, Caroline?” he asked, struggling to remain casual and calm, as if his world hadn’t rolled over the minute he’d seen her face.

      She ignored his question. “Are you going to call 9–1-1?”

      He raised a curious brow.

      “A woman just threatened to shoot you.”

      “Yeah, СКАЧАТЬ