“—this is not to become a regular occurrence. You are a secretary, not a detective.”
And Kincaid was an ass.
Notthe donkey kind.
“If it wasn’t for me, Miss Groshen never would have given us any information. I believe the words you are looking for are, ‘Thank you, Miss Thorncroft, for your invaluable assistance. Couldn’t have done it without you. Bang up job.’” Eyes flashing, she spun on her heel, her only intent to get as far away from him as fast as possible.
If she’d been paying attention to her surroundings, she would have seen the team of Belgian drafts pulling a heavy cart piled high with crates of milk. But her focus wasn’t on the street she needed to cross, it was on Kincaid. And with anger clouding her vision, she stepped carelessly off the edge of the curb and directly into the path of the oncoming horses.
“JOANNA!” Kincaid’s shout cut through the air like the slash of a whip…
A second too late.
Chapter Fourteen
Joanna stopped atthe sound of her name. Brimming with righteous indignation, she whirled around, ready to give Kincaid a piece of her mind.
“Who do you think you—heavens,”she gasped when she saw the wagon barreling down on her.
The driver pulled frantically on the reins, but the draft horses were too large, their bodies too cumbersome. She willed her legs to move, but they were stuck to the ground. She threw her hands up in front of her face, preparing for the impact…
Out of nowhere, a hard force slammed into her from behind, and she was flung out of the path of the horses with nary a second to spare.Kincaid, her stunned mind barely had time to register before he tucked her against him and they rolled across the cobblestone.
The wagon clattered by, the driver shouting at them as he passed, but Joanna couldn’t hear above the roaring in her ears.
Her entire body was tingling with adrenaline. Blood dripped from a scrape on her elbow and her shoulder ached from where it had struck the ground. But it was Kincaid who had taken the brunt of the impact.
He was stretched out beneath her, his long frame cushioning hers. There was a cut above his right brow. Another on his chin. His spectacles had been knocked askew. She could feel the wild pounding of his heart through his clothes, its erratic rhythm keeping time with her own as she managed to push herself up into a half-sitting position, her splayed fingers filling the narrow gaps in his ribcage.
“You—yousavedme,” she said in amazement. “How did you move soquickly?”
His gaze fell to her arm, and his eyebrows shot together. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing. A scratch.” But if not for Kincaid’s swift actions, she knew it would have been far, far worse. With a tender smile, she straightened his glasses. “There. That’s better,” she said quietly. “You need to be able to see.”
And she needed to have patience.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and stubborn detectives didn’t open their hearts in a week. But theydidrisk their lives to save others, and what more could she ask than that? Maybe Kincaid couldn’t say what he felt for her in words. But his actions had said all that she needed to hear.
“I seeyou, Miss Thorncroft,” he said huskily.
As the world continued on all around them, with no one giving any mind to the couple crouched on the side of the street, he gathered her in his arms.
She tucked her head beneath his chin.
They were two fragments of a whole, clicking into place. Just like a puzzle not yet solved, it seemed they had nothing that connected them together. She was an American bluestocking. He was a British detective. Their paths never should have intersected, let alone become entwined. But then the unsolved part of the puzzle became smaller. And suddenly, it became obvious where the last pieces needed to go.
This was all Joanna wanted. To want, and be wanted in return. To protect, and be protected in return. To love, and to be loved in return.
Her breath caught.
Did sheloveKincaid?
As frustrating as it could be, she loved arguing with him. She loved coaxing these precious moments of vulnerability out of him. She loved the way he made her burn.
If she wasn’tinlove with him, then she was falling.
No, not falling.
