A Noble Pursuit. Meg Lacey

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СКАЧАТЬ slapped his hand away and stood up. “Nothing hurts. Nothing you can see, anyway.”

      Shay straightened and reached for her arm. “Wait a minute. What do you think you’re doing?”

      “I have to go now.”

      “Go where?”

      “Anywhere.”

      Shay grabbed both of her arms and swung her around to face him. “Hold it. You’re not—”

      “I’ll be fine,” she said through clenched teeth.

      “The hell you will. Look, I’ll take you down to the precinct myself.”

      She tugged her arm away, surprising him with her strength. “No. I can’t let you do that.”

      A jagged flash of lightning split the sky. Shay glanced up, then back at her before grabbing her wrists. “You don’t have a choice.”

      Her eyes abruptly filled with tears and her voice tightened. “No, no, let go. I can’t go to the police. I can’t have that kind of—please let me go.”

      He pulled her close, stroking her tense back. “Shh, shh, it’s okay, it’s okay.” What in the hell was this woman mixed up in? he wondered. Should he tell her he was a cop, after all? Not that he had anything but temporary jurisdiction on one specific case, but still—

      She struggled, attempting to pull away from him. “I have to go. Please, I’ll be okay.”

      Another crack of lightning split the sky, followed immediately by a roar of thunder. “I’m supposed to let you run away into a storm, without knowing who you are? Forget it, lady. I can’t do that. What kind of hero would I be?” The rain started to fall lightly but steadily. All around the area people were running for cover. For a moment, Shay was at a loss. Even if tonight’s tip was proving a waste of time, he was still on the job, and he took his duty seriously. But, like every good cop, he knew when to cut his losses. He glanced toward the street and, with no sign of his quarry in the vicinity, decided to bail out. Then Shay pulled his attention back to the woman in his arms. Staring down at her, he cradled her closer. “I have to take you somewhere.”

      The woman hesitated, then blurted, “Then take me home with you.”

      “Home with me?”

      “Yes. I can stay until the rain stops, and then I’ll go anywhere you want me to go.”

      “That’s not the greatest—”

      She shivered as the breeze whirled around them. “I’m getting cold.”

      “Ah, hell.” Shay looked down at her, trying not to be distracted by the way the wet silk was clinging to her body, outlining every curve. He stripped off his jacket and threw it over her as the rain started falling harder. “Come on, we’ll have to run for it. My car’s on the other side of the park.”

      Shay wrapped his arm around her, tucking her close to his side as they started running. They cut across the grass as the path was now crowded with fleeing people, some laughing, some swearing and some so drunk they were stumbling into each other. A man attempted to grab hold of them to steady himself.

      Shay shoved him away. “Go sleep it off, jerk.”

      “Looks like you’ll be doing the same,” he slurred with a leering glance at Shay’s feminine armful.

      Sudden protective instincts leaped to the fore and Shay had to stop himself from punching the guy. “Get out of here before I arrest you.” The man moved away and only then did Shay realize what he’d said. He glanced down at the woman next to him, only to see a quick smile cross her lips.

      “That was a clever way to get rid of him. I’ll have to use that.”

      Shay chuckled as they continued to cross the wet grass toward the sidewalk. “No one in their right mind would take you for a cop, sweetheart.”

      “Why not?”

      “Because—” Just then the heavens opened, spilling rain in great drenching sheets. Shay grabbed the woman’s hand and tugged her along, running down the concrete walk to the side of an old white Porsche that had seen better days. He dug into his pocket for his keys, swearing when his hand stuck in his wet jeans. Meanwhile the rain was plastering his shirt to his chest.

      Shay glanced at the woman next to him to see how she was doing under his leather jacket. Marginally better, but not much. He managed to grasp his keys and remove his hand without turning his entire pocket inside out, then leaned down to unlock the door.

      Pulling it wide, he began tucking her inside. “In you go, Red.”

      She stopped halfway into her seat. “What did you call me?”

      “Red. I have to call you something.”

      “Why Red? Why not—”

      He ducked his head as a particularly unpleasant gust of rainwater pelted his back. “We’ll talk about it when I get in, okay?”

      She looked up at him, seeming only then to notice how wet he was. “Oh, of course…”

      Shay scarcely heard her “Sorry” as he dashed around the car and slid behind the wheel. He shook his thick hair like a dog coming in from a dunking, and laughed. “Damn, it’s kinda wet out there.”

      The woman stared back at him, looking slightly amazed at his good humor. “Yes, it is.”

      “I’d offer you a towel, Red, but at the moment I don’t have one handy.”

      “I don’t have red hair. So I don’t see—”

      “I thought you liked fairy tales.”

      “I do.”

      “You remind me of Red Riding Hood.”

      “And you’re…?”

      “The hero, what else?”

      She snorted as she lifted her brow to consider him. “You look more like the Big Bad Wolf.”

      Shay grinned. “Hey, you’re starting to remember already.”

      She glanced away. “I…suppose so.”

      “Who knows what you’ll come up with by the time the rain stops?” He glanced through his windshield. “If it stops. This looks ready to settle in for the night.” He reached for the key and started the car, turning on the wipers and the heat. “We’ll have it warm in no time.”

      True to his word, after a moment the car’s heater spat out a blast of warm air that quickly made the small interior feel even more cozy, more intimate. Their shoulders practically touched as they sat in the sports car. They were so close that Shay was aware of everything about her—the rain-sweet smell of her damp hair, the subtle jasmine perfume she wore, the small, perfect pearl drops that decorated her earlobes, revealed when she tucked her hair behind her shell-like ears. He could hear the soft slide of wet silk as she shifted СКАЧАТЬ