Page 10 of Dangerous Lover

Caroline knew all about being down on your luck.

There was something about the man, too. Something almost… familiar. Which only reinforced the crazy theory, because of course she’d never set eyes on him before in her life. She’d never even set eyes on someonelikehim before.

None of the men she knew had hands that large and that strong, or shoulders that broad. None of the men she knew moved with an athletic grace and tensely coiled energy, like a blaze that was temporarily banked but could flare into life at any moment.

Not in the military any more, he’d said, but he still had a military bearing—square-shouldered, ramrod-straight back, great economy of movement. And sayingma’amall the time. It was sweet, but not exactly the favored mode of address of men talking to women in the 21stcentury. Obviously, living with a Colonel father had rubbed off on him.

The man she knew best was Sanders McCullen and he was as far from Jack Prescott as it was possible to be. Sanders was tall, though not as tall as Jack, blond, classically handsome and impossibly elegant.

If Caroline had only half the money Sanders spent each month on clothes, her financial worries would be over. Of course her financial problems could be over tomorrow, Sanders made that clear enough, particularly now that poor Toby was gone. If she married Sanders and became Mrs. McCullen, life would go back to what it had been before her parents died. Safe, secure, comfortably wealthy.

On bad days, like this one, with the Kippings gone, the possibility of coming home to a freezing house that would stay freezing until Monday afternoon because the Jerk was the only person on earth who could coax her boiler back to temporary life and he didn’t make house calls on holidays, a Christmas Eve with no sales at all, the prospect of being alone on Christmas day, of all the days in the year—well, on days like this, the thought of marrying Sanders made a lot of sense.

Except, of course, for the minor fact that her skin crawled at the thought of kissing him, let alone sleeping with him again, which just went to show that shewascrazy. Half the women in town wanted to sleep with Sanders.

And now, in a bid to shore up the crazy theory, she’d just given a man she didn’t know her car keys. The only things she knew about Jack Prescott were that he was a stranger in town and he had very little money. Knowing that, what did she do? She handed him the keys, politely, because he’d asked.

How smart was that?

If he stole her car, how could she get home? She’d be stranded here until the weather cleared, with only the weeks-old yogurt, diet Coke and wizenedapple in her small fridge for food. There was no way a taxi would come out in this weather?—

A sharp rap on the window made her jump. A second later, Jack Prescott was back in the room, covered in snow. His long black hair was dusted with white. Even his black eyelashes had turned white. He gave no sign of being cold, however. He gave no sign of even being uncomfortable. He looked exactly as he had before—tough and self-contained.

“Here.” He held out the keys. “I’ve got the car parked right outside.” He was so close Caroline had to tip her head back to meet his eyes. “It’s hell out there so we’ll have to hurry. Are you warm enough in that coat?”

That was rich, coming from someone wearing a leather jacket. “Yes, I’ll be fine.” She shifted her heavy briefcase from one hand to another, surprised when he simply took it from her. He was already carrying his own duffel bag and a suitcase. “That’s okay,” she protested. “I can carry that.”

He didn’t even answer. “Do you need to engage the security system before we go out?”

Security system. Right. Uh huh. As if she had $6,000 to spare for a security system to stave off wild-eyed thieves just slavering to rob her complete collection of Jane Austins and all her Nora Roberts.

“No. I—uh, I just lock the door.” She held up the Yale key. “It’s got a deadbolt, though.”

He just looked at her, dark eyes fathomless, then nodded as he took the key. “Okay. I’ll lock up. If you’ve got gloves, put them on. I left the engine running, so the car is warm. Let’s make it quick.”

He seemed to have just … assumed command. The Army and that Colonel father had really imprinted him.

Still, the idea of having someone else in the car with her in this weather was reassuring. Bad weather terrified her and this weather was off the charts. Her Fiat was temperamental and ornery and disliked being taken out in the cold. Breaking down in the middle of a snow storm was just the kind of thing her car enjoyed doing.

At least she’d have her new boarder with her if the worst happened. Jack Prescott looked strong enough to get the car to Greenbriar by looping his belt around the front fender and pulling, if it broke down on the way.

He had his hand on the door handle, watching her. “Okay?” he asked quietly. Caroline nodded and he opened the door for her. “Let’s go.”

It was exactly like being punched in the face and stomach by a giant, frozen fist. A step outside the door and Caroline couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of her face. The snow was falling thickly, wildly, in great sweeping sheets, punctuated by needles of sleet blown sideways. She couldn’t hear anything above the howling of the wind and the cold penetrated so absolutely, she froze on the spot. Her muscles simply wouldn’t obey her.

Something hard across her back propelled her forward. Her feet scrambled to keep up, slipping a little on the ice coating the sidewalk. She couldn’t even see the car, though she knew the road was only about ten feet away.

A savage gust of wind whipped sleet into her eyes andshe lost her footing. She stumbled and would have fallen if Jack hadn’t caught her. He simply picked her up one-armed, opened the door of the car, settled her into the driver’s seat and closed the door. A few seconds later, the passenger door opened and he slid in.

Caroline tried to catch her breath, pulling in the heated air of the car to warm her lungs.

Thank God itwaswarm in the car. Those few seconds outside had been enough to frighten her to death. She could hardly move except to shiver for long moments. Even through her gloves, her hands were so frozen she could barely feel the wheel.

Caroline clutched the steering wheel, shaken. “My God,” she whispered. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She looked across at the big man quietly watching her. He seemed to fill more than half her small car. “Thank you for getting me here. I don’t know if I could have managed on my own. They would have found my dead, frozen body outside the shop door.”

“No problem.” He ratcheted the car seat as far back as it would go to accommodate his long legs and buckled up. “But we’d better get going. It’s not getting any better.”

No kidding. “Okay.”

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