Peter looked at her.Felt the warmth of her hand radiate through the icy rage consuming him.
Indeterminate.
Trust me.
Not hurt.
Do your job.
Fuck.What the hell was going on?
“Detective Thomas?”
Jackie Huddart’s voice sounded above him and he blinked, turning from Yolanda’s hypnotic blue gaze.“Yes?”
Huddart looked down at him from the top stair, conspicuously ignoring Yolanda’s less than professional contact.“Command has located the stolen Jag, Detective.A unit’s on its way.”
Something scratchy pricked at Declan’s neck.He opened his eyes—slowly—staring up into the dim shadows of a barn roof.Dusty cobwebs laced the beams, crisscrossed the framework in such plenitude the scattered gardening equipment hanging from the rafters almost seemed choked by the silken threads.He frowned.Where was he?
He moved slightly, waiting for an onslaught of agony in his side.Nothing.Just the scratchy prickling on the back of his neck and a strange, not entirely unpleasant numbness in his limbs.He rolled his head to the side.Hay.Lots of hay.
Why didn’t you smell it, Dec?
His frown deepened.He should have smelt it.
You should also be in pain, but you’re not.
The last thing he recalled was looking into Regan’s beautiful, stubborn face as they were driving north.Then…
He sat up, cold dread smashing into him like a wrecking ball.Regan.Christ, if she was hurt…
“How are you feeling?”
The wind burst from Declan’s lungs in a relieved whoosh.He twisted on the hay and looked up into Regan’s smiling green eyes.“Jesus, love.Thank God, you’re okay.”
She smiled, leaning back against the stack of hay bales behind her, crossing her slim ankles, her legs looking longer than ever from his low position.“No thanks to your driving.You know you pretty much totaled a two-hundred thousand dollar car?”
“Bugger.I liked that car.”He moved slightly, waiting for burning pain to stab into his gut.It never came.In fact, he felt good.Better than good.His senses were a little numbed, but apart from the soft fuzziness…Suspicion stirred in his chest.“What did you do to me?”
A cheeky grin played over her lips, making his heart skip a beat.“The farmer here has quite a supply of Rimadyl in his cupboard.”
“Which is?”
“A mild painkiller.Vets use it often on injured animals.”
Declan cocked an eyebrow at her, choosing to ignore the mention of vets.“And he just gave it to you?”
She shook her head, green eyes twinkling.“You’re not the only one capable of breaking and entering, Paddy.Remember?”She pushed herself from the haystack, dropping into a graceful crouch before him, her running shorts riding higher on firm butt cheeks he seriously wanted to squeeze.Tender fingers touched his temple, worry replacing the mirth in her eyes.“You know, I wanted to kill you earlier,” she murmured, looking at something above his right eye.A dull throb was the only clue as to what she studied, but there was no pain.Just that fuzzy numbness.“As I was dragging your ass from the car and across the field getting here.Do you know how many cow-pats I stepped in?”
Her fingers trailed down his jaw, her thumbs tracing the swell of his bottom lip, making his body stir and his groin twitch.
“But now you’re conscious, now you’re looking at me with those storm-cloud eyes…Killing you seems such a waste.There are other things I want to do to you.”She leant forward, coming closer—as if to place her lips on the very spot her thumbs caressed.But then she stopped, a very small frown creasing her forehead.“But I can’t,” she whispered.“Not yet.”
She shifted away from him and everything in the way she moved told Declan she was about to rise to her feet.About to walk away from him.
No, he thought.Not without explaining that “not yet”.Not without that kiss.
He reached for her hands, his own a blur of preternatural speed… until they jolted to a sudden halt.What the?—
