Navajo Justice. Aimee Thurlo

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      Chapter Two

      Laura took a long ragged breath. The taste of Burke still lingered in her mouth, teasing her. What she’d found in his arms was pure fire. He remained close to her now and she breathed in his incredibly masculine scent. It was a blend of the rugged outdoors and pure danger.

      She sat up slowly, trying to get her bearings. She’d spent years writing about the devastating magic of a man and a woman’s first kiss—but she’d never thought this would happen to her. Now, out of all the places in the world where she might have found that sweet fire, it had happened here on her own front lawn.

      Laura shook her head. She was still daffy from the gas. She was confusing life with the Wizard of Oz.

      “You’re darned tootin’ you owe me,” she answered him at last. “And just to make it even, the day I collect, I’ll take you by surprise.”

      His eyes grew dark and sparkled with the excitement of a challenge. “Anytime.” His voice was like steel and velvet. “I’m a man of honor—most of the time.”

      She laughed. “I’ll remember that.” And everything else that had just happened, for as long as she lived.

      Burke stood and, holding her firmly by the waist, brought her to her feet.

      She gripped his shoulders, enjoying the hardness of his body. For a second their eyes met and she experienced something else that had never happened to her before—she was at a loss for words.

      She was suffering from oxygen deprivation. That was the only answer that made sense. “I need to call the gas company and have them fix that leak. I should also call the police.” Hearing sirens, she looked down the street and added, “Or did you do that already?”

      “I called 911 before I went after you.” As the paramedics drove up, he waved them over.

      It took fifteen minutes for Laura to be checked out and for her to convince the paramedics that she was okay. Fortunately, her vital signs were normal, and the medics didn’t believe she was in any more danger. Laura agreed to see a doctor if any symptoms reappeared.

      During that time the gas supply leading to the heater was turned off inside her home. After signing a release form the paramedics presented, she went to meet the gas company serviceman as he came out her door.

      “I’ve opened every window I could find in there, ma’am, but you should still be careful inside. The connector leading to your furnace is damaged and will have to be replaced, and the furnace itself will need some work. You’ll still smell the chemical added to the natural gas so you can detect a leak, but that will fade pretty soon. The rest…” He shrugged. “What happened in there?”

      “Someone must have broken in and trashed the place. That’s all I’ve figured out so far.” As the man walked back to his truck, Laura looked up and down the block, trying to figure out if the police were coming or not. Giving up on them, she started to go back into the house.

      Just then Burke came up to her. “Can I help?” he asked.

      “I’m going to take a look inside, now that it’s safe. If I remember right, my house was in a shambles. I must have had a burglar.”

      “Let me go with you. And by the way, as a precaution, don’t turn on any of the lights just yet. The gas should have dissipated enough, but there’s no sense in testing it with a spark.”

      As Laura walked into the living room she grasped the full extent of the damage clearly for the first time. All the things she’d loved, that had defined her home and herself, had been tossed onto the floor like trash. She saw her collection of music boxes there, chipped and cracked, some smashed beyond recognition. The small knickknacks that held little value but gave her so much pleasure, like the wind-up toy drummer bear and her collection of mice, had been stepped on, probably not even on purpose. There was so much clutter on the floor it was nearly impossible to pick a path.

      “Why СКАЧАТЬ