Jaded Read Online Free PDF Page B

sensual visage. Quite the opposite. It gave him the rugged look of a man who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty.
    She looked down to his hands. Big hands, with long thick fingers. Square fingernails and blunt fingertips. Hands she instantly knew could kill, and most likely had, but just as easily those hands could give pleasure. She trembled. Jade’s instincts screamed that this man was a predator in every sense of the word. And for the briefest of seconds, fear flirted with her confidence. Her instincts, finely tuned and never wrong, tagged him from the moment she laid eyes on him as dangerous on every level.
    “Miss Devereaux, let me clarify why I’m here. A man was murdered. That’s against the law. It’s my job to find out who did it.”
    “Don’t be condescending with me, Detective.”
    “Don’t play hard to get with me. I don’t have the time or the patience.”
    Jade smiled and stood. She hadn’t missed the way his eyes had raked her from head to toe when she’d walked into the vestibule. Or the way they’d kept returning to her chest and legs. While she might have no need for a man other than for monetary reasons, she knew the impact her physical assets had on the opposite sex. And she had no qualms in using them to get what she wanted. But what every man who had the misfortune to cross her path found out too late was that her greatest asset was her brain.
    She warmed at the thought of playing cat and mouse with this man. If he sniffed too close to the truth, she may just have to pull out all the stops. Would he rise to the bait of her body?
    Jade’s thoughts grinded to a halt. The last time she had willingly allowed a man to touch her, had actually wanted it, she had been used and lied to. Her cheeks flamed in remembered shame. Her heart broke that day into a million tiny pieces. Not once had she looked back or down to pick one of them up in any attempt to mend her heart.
    It was a lesson learned young and well. Men wanted one thing from her, and if there was ever going to be another time, it would be on her terms and her terms only.
    Jade watched the handsome detective from beneath lowered lashes. Her belly did a slow roll, the odd sensation one she’d long forgotten. It occurred to her at that moment that she wanted the man standing so close to her to reach out and touch her. She wanted…to feel again.
    Jase stepped closer. The scent of the woman who stood so close was damn distracting. “Was he a member here?” he softly asked.
    “How did he die?” She looked straight at him, her big green eyes open wide, unwavering. Call it gut instinct, but Jase knew at that very instant there were more layers to Jade Devereaux than a giant onion.
    “Did he hurt you?”
    Jade blinked and her cheeks drained of color.
    “Townsend, did he hurt you?”
    Jase caught the rush of relief in her eyes. Who did she think he meant?
    “How did he die?” she asked again.
    “I’ll ask the questions, Miss Devereaux.”
    Jade blinked and her eyes refocused to hard.
    “I think, Sergeant Vaughn, I’ve said enough. If you’ll excuse me.”
    She turned to go, but Jase grabbed her arm. She whirled around, her speed and ferocity surprising him. Now her green eyes blazed like smelted emeralds. He put his hands up and backed up a step. No harm, no foul.
    Effortlessly and instinctively, he changed strategy and attacked from a different angle. “We can do this the easy way, Miss Devereaux: You can tell me all about Andrew Townsend. Or I can get a warrant and open this entire place up and expose your members and their privacy. It’s up to you.”
    “You and I both know for a judge to sign off on a warrant you need stiff probable cause.”
    He grinned. “You’re as smart as you are beautiful.” He stepped closer, but she held her ground. “My techs lifted a blood sample from your parking lot this afternoon, and I’ll bet you dinner it matches Mr. Townsend’s.”
    “I’ll bet you it doesn’t.”
    He extended his