Page 21 of Hot to Trot

Adam stared at her. The censure in his eyes burned making her chin droop slightly. But she refused to be shamed. She had every right to protest the removal of the book from the shelf. She wasn't misguided or irrational. She was... she was... patriotic.

Which meant she possessed the right to speak out. To protest. To chain herself to the flagpole or other unmovable objects.

She wasn't trouble or a drama queen. She was a champion of the cause.

She was-

"Get the bolt cutters, Jared. We'll cut her out of her handcuffs and then put her in ours," Adam said.

-about to be arrested.

Scarlet was going to jail.

CHAPTER SIX

PULLING AWAY FROM THE CURB of the library, Adam aimed the car toward the station and snuck a peak in his rearview mirror at the woman in the backseat. Color suffused Scarlet's cheeks and the dark red hair escaping her ponytail clung to her sweaty neck. She wore no makeup or jewelry. Only a halter top that showed the lacy straps of a camisole, shorts, and a pair of flip-flops. He was almost certain the crazy woman hadn't even bothered with a bra, something that made his mouth go dry to think about.

''Are you cool enough?" he asked, pointing the air vents toward the steel-mesh barrier that separated them.

"Huh?"

"Cool enough?"

She nodded. "You are quite solicitous. Most police officers don't bother with the comfort of their prisoners."

The wordprisonerssounded harsh in his ear. It wasn't as if she were Roy the Can Man, whom Adam sometimes picked up for ransacking curb-side garbage cans, or the occasional rowdy rig hand he cuffed at the local bars such as Cooleys or the Rocking Rooster. None of his former passengers had beenmouthwateringly hot. None had made him think about the naughty things he really shouldn't be thinking about.

“Well, I wouldn't want you dying of heatstroke on my watch. Couldn't handle the flack we'd get over that."

She sighed. "Such concern."

He swerved around Clyde Riggs's toy poodle. Picking up the CB, he buzzed the station. "Hey, Roz, put in a call to Clyde Riggs. Bruiser's out for the third time this week. Tell 'em next time they're getting a ticket."

"Ten-four, Captain," Roz's voice squawked over the static.

"Oh, the dangerous life of an Oak Stand police chief," Scarlet drawled.

He nearly flushed at her sarcasm. Sure, his job wasn't dangerous, but it could be. If Bruiser bit ankles. "Yeah, it's a rush."

She snorted. It was cute. "So am I, like, the biggest bust you've made so far?"

"Nah, we busted the kids who stole Bud Henry's pig statue yesterday. Pig-statue thieves trump disorderlies every time."

He glanced in the mirror again. Scarlet managed to smile."So that's what I've been arrested for? Being disorderly?"

"Officially, you have three charges against you. Disturbing the peace, unlawfully gathering, and resisting arrest."

"I didn't resist," she said.

He eyed her in the rearview again. She looked worried. She should be.

"When you handcuffed yourself to the flagpole, technically you resisted arrest."

"But I didn't know I was going to be arrested. That was before the fact, so technically I didn't resist."

"We'll let the judge decide." He heard her slump against the vinyl seat. "There was no cause for the drama. There arebetter ways to get what you want than handcuffing yourself to a flagpole."

''Like handcuffing myself to a bedpost?" Her voice was mocking but that didn't stop the hot flash of desire from broadsiding him.

---