Gabriel Is No Angel

by Wendy Haley

  Before he could react, she flung the door open and stalked out. By the time he’d paid for the taxi, she’d disappeared inside. He cursed under his breath.

  “Take my advice, pal,” the driver said. “You’ve really got her cranked. Let her cool off.”

  “What makes you the expert?” Gabriel demanded.

  “Hey, I been married four times. If anybody knows when to lay low, I do.”

  With a grunt, Gabriel added five dollars to the fare and got out of the car. The taxi zoomed away.

  “Four marriages,” Gabriel muttered. “Sheesh!”

  He glanced down at his watch. Three hours until his shift was over. There was no point in spending the time sitting in his car when he could spend it aggravating Rae. She’d certainly gotten more than her fair share of aggravating him.

  Whistling under his breath, he took the stairs two at a time up to her third-floor office. The door was locked. Okay, he’d expected that. He knocked softly.

  “Go away,” she said, her voice muffled by the door.

  “Come on, Rae,” he called.

  “I’ve got work to do.”

  He took a deep breath, controlling his temper with an effort. Oh, she was very good at this aggravation thing. “Open the door.”

  “Do you have a warrant?”

  “Damn it, Rae—”

  “If you don’t have a warrant, you can go straight to—”

  “I took the express there the moment I met you!”

  Her response was a silence so cold he could feel the chill all the way out here. He resisted the impulse to knock the door right off its hinges. Damn, but she’d gotten to him. Every primitive instinct he’d known about—and a few he hadn’t—was rampaging through him right now.

  He stared at the door a moment longer, then forced himself to walk away. Not because he wanted to, but because he didn’t trust himself. Maybe distance would give him some perspective.

  Rae opened the blinds and watched him walk out to his car. Lordy, Lordy, but that man could move. He sauntered along with long, catlike strides, looking more male than ought to be legal. And boy, did the females respond! One woman nearly split her power suit trying to keep him in sight.

  What was that nasty little feeling poking into her stomach? It felt cold and clammy and decidedly green. “I am not jealous,” she said aloud. “I’ve never been jealous in my life.”

  She returned to her computer, plopping into the chair with perhaps more force than was necessary. But it didn’t take long for her to become enmeshed in the puzzle of tracking down Peter Smithfield.

  Her mouth curved in a mocking smile. She didn’t need to pound the pavement to find Peter Smithfield. With her computer, the Internet and a little creative thought, she could find almost anything, anywhere.

  MacLaren-based annoyance nagged at her while she logged on, while she connected with the database containing all the vacation rentals in the area. Her mind conjured up the memory of that business-suited woman turning to ogle MacLaren. That green, queasy feeling settled in Rae’s belly again.

  “Probably the pickles,” she muttered.

  The sun eased down toward the west, painting a glorious banner of red and orange across the sky. This was Rae’s favorite time of day. Whenever the weather allowed, she’d jog home. Today was perfect, and she slipped into the sweats she’d brought with her.

  Of course, Gabriel would be waiting.

  But like mosquitoes, potholes and rattlesnakes, he could be ignored. She hoped.

  Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she jogged downstairs and out into the street. Gabriel’s Taurus sat in the same spot it had been in all day. He leaned back in the seat, one tanned, sinewy arm hung out the window. As her gaze moved to his face, he pulled his sunglasses off and smiled at her.

  It wasn’t fair, she thought. She’d always considered herself a strong woman, but one glimpse of those eyes turned her insides molten. It didn’t matter that he was an arrogant so-and-so, or that his smile was feral enough to belong to Shere Khan.

  “Get thee behind me, temptation,” she muttered.

  She moved off down the sidewalk. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Gabriel reach to adjust the mirror to keep her in sight as she approached.

  He eased into gear, keeping pace with her as she ran. She glanced up and down the street, wishing she’d had the foresight to take a taxi. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one anywhere in sight.

  “Want a ride?” he called, steering with one hand.

  “Go away,” she retorted.

  “Hey, you could hurt my feelings.”

  “If you had any,” she countered.

  He chuckled. “That’s what I like about you, Rae. No wishy-washy cooperation, no coddling of my fragile male ego.”

  “I don’t think your ego needs a whole lot of help,” she said. “Hey, what if I cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die promise not to leave my apartment until morning?”

  “Ahh...no,” he said. “You might as well get used to me, honey-child. Because until this case is over, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together. A lot of time.”

  She resisted—barety—the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Instead, she put her nose in the air and kept moving. He idled along beside her, grinning like the Devil himself.

  A van pulled up to the curb, blocking Gabriel’s lane.

  “Hah,” she muttered.

  Gabriel, however, was not so easily vanquished. He merely slapped his portable blue light onto the roof of his car and turned it on. The van moved.

  “Smart aleck,” Rae muttered.

  She, like a complete idiot, was jogging along in her oldest sweats with an attention-grabbing police escort flashing alongside. She’d be lucky if this didn’t make the eleven-o’ clock news.

  Gabriel tried to keep his attention on the road, but he had to admit that Rae was definitely distracting. None of those prissy parachute-silk or Spandex running clothes for Rae. No, she wore a pair of battered running shoes and well-worn sweats that clung to every luscious curve of her body.

  And oh, man, could she move. He’d never thought of running as sexy before. But he was captivated by the unconscious efficiency of her pace, the fascinating flex of her smooth female muscles and the eye-popping sway of her ample breasts with every step she took.

  He wasn’t the only guy who noticed, either. Rae didn’t seem to see the men who turned to watch her once she’d passed. But Gabriel did, and it set up a clamor of emotion in him. Primitive emotion. Unfamiliar emotion. To say it simply, he didn’t want any other men looking at her.

  “Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” he asked.

  “Positive.”

  He became fascinated with the thick, curly ponytail that bounced with every step she took. It was obvious that she didn’t realize how beautiful she was. She’d cultivated being tough and independent, and had forgotten about being a woman.

  And that, he thought, was the most fascinating of all.

  “This is the strangest kind of surveillance I’ve ever heard of,” Rae said, although she knew silence would have been safer.

  “True,” he agreed. “But we aim to please. Whatever the situation requires, that’s what we do.”

  “You’ve got to sleep sometime.”

  “True again,” he said. “But then somebody else will watch you until I come on duty again.”

  Rae shot him a glance. Cops, she thought. She’d intruded in their precious bureaucratic bailiwick, and they were determined to make her life miserable because of it.

  “The only thing I insist on,” he continued with a grin, “is that I’m the only one who gets to arrest you.”

  “What’s the matter, Detective? Have they passed a law against jogging, and you want to lock me up again?”

  Hell, yes, he thought, he’d like to lock her up. He’d like to lock her up and keep her all to himself until he figured out finally and completely why she affected him the way she did. Why did he feel that strange tenderness for her? Sure, he
wanted her in the most elemental of ways. Desire. Passion. Those, of course, he’d been familiar with since he turned thirteen. But this blind, driving urge to know her down to her soul was new to him.

  Things ought to be simpler, he thought. Then he laughed. He’d been a cop too long to think that things could ever be simple. Rae Ann Boudreau wasn’t going to be just a beautiful woman he wanted to experience; of course, she had to be involved up to her eyeballs in a case that could be the destruction of his career.

  And she wasn’t going to get in his car simply because he wanted her to.

  “Come on, Rae,” he called. “I’ll take you to dinner.”

  Rae’s breathing changed, grew swifter and more shallow. She told herself it was the exertion of running. She told herself it was anything but the prospect of spending more time with Gabriel MacLaren.

  “Are you trying to bribe me, Detective?” she asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Well, I’m incorruptible.”

  She turned her face toward him, and her ponytail fanned out behind her. Gabriel was possessed by a vision of her lying on a bed—no, his bed—that glorious chestnut mane spread across the pillow, her eyes heavy lidded with passion. Incorruptible? He hoped not.

  “Rae—”

  “The answer is no,” she panted. “Whatever it is you have in mind, no.”

  After that, Rae maintained a determined silence. He drove along beside her, tenacious as a pit bull, flashing that dratted blue light whenever anyone threatened to get in front of him.

  Rae’s apartment building loomed ahead, its white-frame walls turned orange by the setting sun. She sped up slightly, anxious to reach the haven it offered.

  But Gabriel wasn’t about to make it so easy. He zoomed past her as she turned onto the sidewalk leading to the entrace. She knew he was going to park. If she could just get in ahead of him...

  “Forget it, Rae,” he said, jogging past her with a fresh, bouncy stride she couldn’t hope to match after the mile run she’d just completed.

  She wasn’t even shocked that he’d all but read her mind. They’d been on the same wavelength from the beginning.

  He held the door open for her, his gaze clear as crystal and as guileless as a baby’s. The snake. Rae held her head high as she went past him. He sped past her again to ever so solicitously press the elevator button for her.

  “What a gentleman,” she snarled.

  “I was taught manners, honey-child,” he replied.

  Rae opened her mouth to say something scathing, but the elevator doors slid aside and she found herself standing in front of Marlene Britton, the worst gossip in the county. Maybe the whole continent. If there wasn’t any gossip to be had, Marlene invented it. Rae, being single—and worse, uncooperative—had been the focus of her attention for years.

  Mrs. Britton swiveled her head to look from Rae to Gabriel and back again. Not a single hair stirred with the movement. “Rae, dear!” she exclaimed. “And with a man! I see that you’ve finally decided to end your self-imposed celibacy!”

  How typically Marlene, Rae thought with an inward grimace. The amazing thing was that she prided herself on her manners, and was quick to point out anyone else’s lapse.

  “Actually,” Rae drawled, pinning the bleached-blond busybody with a look that should have freeze-dried her instantly, “he’s not a man. He’s a cop. He arrested me, and is now delivering me to home-bound probation.”

  Marlene’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a moment.

  “What...what did he arrest you for?” she finally managed to ask.

  “Prostitution,” Rae said.

  “So much for celibacy,” Gabriel muttered, fighting to keep from laughing. It was obvious that Rae didn’t like this woman, and equally obvious why. He should let her handle it.

  Then he stepped forward. Rae might not care about her reputation, but he did. What am I saying? that oh-so-rational cop’s voice whispered. Chivalry? From a vice cop? A week ago, he would have said that chivalry was as outdated as the nickel phone call.

  “She’s teasing you, ma’am,” he said, ignoring the hoots of laughter that cynical voice left in his mind.

  “Oh, really?” Marlene asked, arching well-plucked brows.

  “Really,” he said.

  “Are you a police officer?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Her steel gray eyes homed in like tracking devices. “And did you arrest her?”

  “The only woman I’ve arrested recently was a Jane Doe,” he replied without cracking a smile. “We get lots of those.”

  “Ah.” She swung around to glare at Rae. “Darling, you really ought to stop playing these silly games. You know we only want to see you hooked up with a nice man.”

  Rae let her breath out with a hiss. “Who said he’s a nice man?” she retorted, stalking into the elevator.

  Gabriel thrust out a long arm to keep the doors from closing.

  Slipping into the elevator with Rae, he slapped his hand over the Door Open button. “You must forgive her, Ms....”

  “Marlene to you,” she said, batting her lashes at him.

  “Ma’am. Don’t hold it against Rae that she doesn’t tell you anything about her personal experiences. She’s had a real hard life, and she’ll be the first to admit that she has difficulties with opening up to people.”

  “Some people,” Rae snarled.

  “But I plan to change all that,” Gabriel continued.

  Malice creased the Britton woman’s face, and he knew this encounter would provide gossip fodder for weeks. Suddenly gripped with an irresistible wash of pure devilment, he let go of the button and swept Rae against him in one swift motion.

  Rae drew a breath, ready to protest. As she did, he claimed her mouth in a kiss that shocked her so badly she forgot to close her eyes. The last thing she registered as the doors snicked closed was Marlene’s astounded, openmouthed stare.

  “Hey,” she gasped, pushing him to arm’s length. “What—?”

  “Shut up,” he said. “I’m protecting your reputation.”

  “What?”

  Gabriel didn’t give a damn whether he made sense or not. This had begun as a joke, but he was damned serious now. All the powerful, confusing emotions she roused in him had come to a head, and he only cared that she was finally in his arms.

  “Look, MacLaren—” she began.

  “You talk too much,” he said.

  He leaned closer, fascinated with a tiny dimple at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes registered his nearness, echoing the sizzle of arousal that he felt toward her. He watched as her mouth softened, her lips parting as though to invite his kiss. No man in his right mind, he thought, would pass up an opportunity like this.

  He’d always had good reflexes.

  Wrapping his hand around her ponytail, he fitted his mouth to hers. She tasted like heaven. He tilted his head, seeking greater contact as he slipped his tongue deep.

  Rae sighed as he slid his free hand up her back, spreading his fingers wide in a gesture both tender and possessive. No one had ever touched her like this. No one had ever made her feel like this, hot and cold and shaky all at the same time.

  She sighed again as he ran his tongue along the tender insides of her lips, then traced the edges of her teeth. Desire ran wild through her body.

  This isn’t me, she thought dazedly. I don’t react this way, I don’t, I don’t. But she did. Everything inside her had turned to fire, and every leaping flame, every rushing tingle of arousal, had Gabriel MacLaren’s name on it.

  Reality went spinning off. For this moment, caution didn’t exist, nor did restraint. There was only Gabriel. Rae met his tongue boldly with hers, inciting him, inciting herself. His sigh was as helpless as hers had been, as fraught with passion.

  She slid her hands upward along the hard male muscles of his chest and shoulders. Winding her fingers into his thick dark hair, she held on while he took her on a magic-carpet ride of sensation.

  “Wow,�
�� he murmured, coming up for air.

  Rae sank her fingers deeper into his hair. “You talk too much.”

  Gabriel wasn’t about to waste time disputing that. She was lush and curved and as passionate as he could have imagined, and all he wanted to do was kiss her again. Slipping his arm around her waist, he lifted her more closely against him.

  The elevator chimed to announce their floor. Still holding her against him, Gabriel jammed his thumb on the Door Close button.

  “Now, where were we?” he muttered.

  But Rae’s bubble had popped. She sprang away from him, frantically smoothing her hair. There was no smoothing her emotions, however. Shock and dismay mingled with the sweeping tide of desire still coursing within her.

  “Open the door,” she said.

  Gabriel studied her with narrowed eyes, damning the limitations of the situation. He wanted privacy, and Rae. If they’d been anywhere else...

  “Rae—”

  “Don’t say anything,” she said. “This is embarrassing enough.”

  “What’s embarrassing about a kiss?” he asked.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Haven’t you heard the term ‘conflict of interest’?”

  “Yeah, but this—”

  “Is.”

  “Damn it, Rae.”

  “Open the door.”

  Gabriel’s gaze drifted down to the Emergency button. It ought to take a couple of hours to get them out of here.... But a couple of hours alone in an elevator with an amorous Rae Ann was a completely different prospect from being trapped with Rae Ann in her present mood.

  With a muttered curse, he lifted his thumb from the button. The doors snicked open. Rae strode out into the corridor, then turned to look at him. Resentment darkened her eyes, but he couldn’t miss the flicker of desire heating the shadows.

  Something important had happened here. He knew it. She knew it. But Rae was nothing if not stubborn, and she wouldn’t have admitted it if it had been printed on her forehead.

  “You can’t make it go away by pretending it isn’t there,” he said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she retorted.

  He smiled. “Your lips are swollen.”