More Than a Hero. Marilyn Pappano

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СКАЧАТЬ one shoulder. He slammed the door and locked it, then started across the street without so much as a glance in the direction of the office.

      Had she wanted him to look? Wanted him to wonder about her? If she was working, if she was watching him, if she was thinking about him?

      She would like to say of course not, but honesty wouldn’t let her. He was the sexiest guy she’d run across in ages, as well as the most annoying. Under different circumstances, she would certainly be interested in a discreet short-term fling with him. Under the current circumstances, that wasn’t an option, but even so, it would be nice to know that the interest wasn’t one-sided.

      As Norris stepped onto the far curb, Derek West got out of his patrol car and, after waiting for a car to pass, trotted across the street. He went into the courthouse about twenty feet behind Norris. Coincidence? Or was this part of the dissuasion her father had promised Therese? Since he was out of town, he would have called one of his close friends—probably Coy Roberts—to make sure Norris kept his distance from Therese. A little police harassment seemed right up Roberts’s alley.

      She sat there a moment, tapping one nail against her desk, before abruptly rising. “Lissa, I’m going to the courthouse,” she called as she passed through the reception area. The girl popped her head out of the file room in time to watch her leave.

      She crossed the street and entered through the same side door Norris had gone through. There were any number of offices he could have gone to…but she wasn’t looking for him. She just wanted to see if Derek West was.

      The officer was leaning against the wall outside the court clerk’s open door, a broad grin stretching across his face. Voices filtered through the door—Norris’s lower rumble, Martha Gordon’s nasal tones. He sounded angry. She sounded bored. She always did.

      Giving Derek a stern look, Kylie entered the office, then closed the door behind her. Norris, leaning on the counter, glanced over his shoulder. For just a moment something flashed in his gaze. Appreciation? Pleasure? Then he turned back to Martha. “You didn’t even check.”

      Martha quivered from the top of her gray bun all the way down to the sensible support shoes she always wore. “I don’t need to check.”

      “Is there a problem?” Kylie asked, moving to stand a few feet down the counter from Norris.

      “This—” Martha’s gaze traveled over what she could see of Norris, and her entire face tightened “—this person wants to see the trial transcript from the Charley Baker murder case. I told him it’s been checked out, but he doesn’t believe me.”

      “I asked for the file, and she said it’s not here without even checking,” Norris said, his jaw clenched.

      Martha’s face tightened more. If she got any sourer, she would look like a prune. “Why would I waste my time checking when there’s no need? How many requests do you think I get in this office for twenty-some-year-old cases? I can tell you—two. In all the years I’ve been working here.”

      “Who checked it out?” Kylie asked.

      Martha’s shoulders went back. “That’s private information.”

      “Martha,” Kylie chided gently.

      Her mouth pursed, Martha went to the card file on her desk, then returned with an index card, handing it to Kylie. Written there in the woman’s imperious hand was Judge Markham’s name, the date he took the file and the date it was due back—several days past. What was his sudden interest in the file?

      “Have you called to remind him that it’s past due?” Kylie asked as she returned the card to the clerk.

      Martha sniffed haughtily. “I will now that there’s been another request for it.”

      “When you have an answer, will you please let me know?” With a polite smile, Kylie caught Norris’s arm and started toward the door.

      He dug in his feet, pulling her to a stop. “These files are a matter of public record. You people can’t hide them just because you don’t want anyone else to see them.”

      Instead of tugging harder, she squeezed his arm tighter, all too aware of the muscle beneath her fingers that didn’t yield to pressure. “She can’t give you what she doesn’t have,” she said quietly, warningly. “It’s best if you leave now.”

      Throwing a dark look at Martha, who returned it balefully, he let Kylie lead him into the corridor. The instant she pushed the door open, Derek West jumped back a few feet, then tried for a show of nonchalance.

      Norris let her pull him a few feet before jerking his arm free. She missed the contact immediately and at the same time was grateful for its cessation. She didn’t need to be thinking about the silky-coarse texture of his hair-roughened skin or how he radiated heat or how long it had been since she’d experienced the pure tactile pleasure of touching a man even in so casual a way. If she wanted to touch a man, she could find plenty of volunteers—men who didn’t care who her father was, who didn’t have an agenda, who weren’t her adversary. Who weren’t so complicated. So handsome. So sexy.

      “Who has the damn file?” he demanded.

      She glanced at Derek, pretending disinterest. “We’ll talk outside.”

      He glanced that way, too, then grudgingly nodded. They’d reached the door before Derek pushed away from the wall, and had gone down the half dozen steps before he opened the door. Kylie turned to face him. “Don’t follow me.”

      “I’m not following you.”

      “Don’t follow him while he’s with me.”

      “But—” Derek’s gaze shifted from her to Norris, then back again. Comprehension dawned, though he tried to hide it. “Oh. Okay. Not a problem.” With a nod, he returned inside the building.

      Kylie exhaled as she glanced around. They could go to her office or take a seat on a bench in the square. Instead she gestured toward the street. “Let’s walk.”

      They’d made it to the corner before Norris asked, “Are you going to report back to Chief Roberts on everything I say?”

      “Apparently Derek thinks so.”

      “That doesn’t answer my question.”

      They crossed the street and started down the next block. “I don’t report to Chief Roberts.”

      “No, you report to the senator, who shares information with the chief, the judge and the lawyer.”

      She kept her gaze on the storefronts they passed, each smaller and shabbier the farther they got from the square. “I don’t tell the senator everything,” she said at last.

      “But you told him about me.”

      “He called this morning to warn me that you were in town. I told him we’d met.”

      “And he told you…to stay away from me? Or to stay close enough to be able to track my activities?”

      She tilted her head to one side to look up at him, and Jake forgot his question. She was so damn pretty—delicate in a strong sort of way. Her brown eyes were flecked with bits of gold, and СКАЧАТЬ