The Cop
Page 19
Theo Angelis still has an adventure—
and a very sexy woman—waiting for him.
And he’s not prepared for either one of them….
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THEO FLOATED ON HIS BACK in the water, enjoying the gentle movement of the waves. Above him the moon and stars crowded the clear night sky. He’d lost track of the number of laps he’d swum, but even though his muscles were weak, his mind relaxed, he hadn’t been able to get Sadie Oliver out of his mind. Sooner or later, he was going to have to figure out why.
He was about to climb onto the dock when the silence was broken by a sharp, staccato knocking sound. Then he heard Bob hit the screen door. Grabbing the dock with one hand, Theo glanced toward the shore. He couldn’t imagine either Kit or Nik knocking on the cabin door. From the angle he was at a tree blocked his view, but he clearly heard Bob bark and launch himself at the door again.
Bob was not the best watchdog. In spite of his size, the dog had the people-loving instincts of a golden retriever and viewed any stranger as a possible source of petting or food and hopefully both.
Staying very still in the water, Theo waited and a moment later saw a figure move around the side of the cabin. He got a quick impression of height—the build was more slender than either of his brothers. He’d left the light on in his bedroom, and when the figure turned to face the window, he had a clear view of a silhouette in profile. Female, he thought. The light wasn’t strong enough for him to see her features, but he made out that she was wearing a skirt.
Annoyance and frustration streamed through him. Following the arrest of his stalker, he’d convinced the group of women who’d been attending his trials for the past few months to stop. And they had. For the last two months, he’d thought that he’d gotten his life back to normal.
But he couldn’t think of another reason why a woman would have come all this way to track him down at midnight. He wasn’t dating anyone. And this woman was too tall to be his sister Philly. Besides, Philly would have walked right in. She and Bob were old friends.
The figure moved back toward the front of the cabin, her knock louder this time. He thought of calling out to her, but didn’t. Instead, moving quietly, he swam toward shore, and once he got his feet beneath him, he walked slowly out of the water. He was still twenty yards away when he saw her open the screen door and walk in. He had to give her points for courage. Bob might be a pushover, but he did have that size thing going for him. To his surprise, he saw her crouch down and speak to the dog, but the sound of the waves behind him muffled her words. Okay, so she had guts and she liked big dogs. But she was still in a place she had no business being. Technically, she was breaking and entering.
She’d already disappeared into the cabin by the time he reached it. Carefully, he opened the porch door and turned sideways to slip in before the hinge creaked.
She’d left the inner door to the cabin open. In the darkness of the kitchen, he could only make out her silhouette as she stood peering out the window in the direction of the lake.
Annoyance streamed through him again. Bold as brass, he thought. Not only had she followed him out here to a place that he’d always considered a refuge, but she’d walked right in. It didn’t help his mood one bit that Bob was sitting at her feet, beating his tail against the floor, evidently pleased as punch at the new visitor. At the very least, Theo figured he owed her a good scare.
He flipped on the light. “What the hell do you think—”
She wirled and her scream blocked the rest of his sentence.
“Sadie?” Since he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind while he was swimming, his first thought was that he’d conjured her up. His second was that in another moment she was going to slip right to the floor. Cursing himself, he strode to her. She’d gone pale as the moonlight on the water. “Are you all right?”
Stupid question when he could see that she was anything but. Taking her arm, he eased her into one of the chairs at the table. Then he moved to the refrigerator, retrieved the bottle of wine he’d opened earlier and filled a glass. She was still trembling when he set it in front of her, so he took the chair next to hers and covered her hand with his to help her lift the glass.
She took a sip and swallowed. Then their eyes met and held over the rim of the glass. He was touching only her hand, and yet there was that intensity, that same connection he’d felt when he’d clasped her hand in the courtroom. Suddenly, Theo knew. Not merely that their paths would cross again, but that she was the one, the one woman for him.
No. Panic shot up his spine, and nerves knotted in his abdomen. He wasn’t ready. He forced himself to take a deep breath as he reminded himself that he still had a choice. The Fates only presented choices.
But as Sadie lifted the glass for another sip, he didn’t remove his hand from hers, and he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. Her lips were parted and moist from the wine. He very badly wanted to taste that mouth. Even as lust curled into a tight hot fist in his stomach, he let his hand drop and eased himself back in his chair. He had to get away before…
Rising, he strode toward the adjoining hallway. “Drink the wine while I change. then you can tell me why you’re here.”
SADIE LET OUT THE BREATH she hadn’t even been aware she was holding and barely kept the wineglass from slipping out of her hand. Very carefully, she set it on the table. Her head was still foggy, still spinning. And it wasn’t merely because he’d scared her. It was because he’d touched her again. All he’d meant to do was steady the wineglass, just as all he’d done in that courtroom was shake her hand.
How was it that each time he put a hand on her, even in the most casual of ways, it was as if he’d touched her all over?
She pressed her fingers to her temples, willing her mind to clear and her thoughts to settle. When she’d whirled to see him standing in the doorway, he hadn’t looked like the Theo Angelis she’d seen in court. He’d looked larger than life, like some god from the sea, his dark hair slicked back, those even darker eyes with that hint of danger. And all that damp, tanned skin. Even now, she was astonished at how much she wanted to touch him, to taste him. More than that, she wanted to devour him.
No man had ever affected her this way. With hands that trembled, she reached for her wine and took another swallow.
She was overreacting. There were too many emotions pounding at her—Roman, Juliana, the walk through the woods. She had to get a grip. She’d come here to ask Kit Angelis to help her. She couldn’t afford to fall apart.
“I’m sorry I gave you a scare.”
Startled, she whirled in her chair to watch Theo pour himself a glass of wine. Then he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a plate of cheese. He was wearing old jeans that had faded at the seams and hem and an equally ancient T-shirt. The general rattiness of the clothes surprised her. Theo had always been so impeccably dressed in his court appearances.
“These are my lucky fishing clothes.”
Sadie’s gaze flew to his face. Could he read her mind? Was she that transparent to him?
His lips curved as he set the plate of cheese between them and sank into a chair. “Whenever I wear them, I catch the biggest fish. My brothers are hoping that one day soon the cloth will disintegrate and fall off me.”
In her mind, Sadie pictured them doing just that—first the T-shirt, the jeans…Was he wearing briefs beneath them? As heat pooled in her center, Sadie ruthlessly focused. She was not going to get anywhere if she continued to imagine Theo Angelis naked.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0262-1
THE COP
Copyright © 2007 by Carolyn Hanlon.
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