MacKenzie's Lady Read Online Free PDF

leaning down to meet her astonished eyes. A battered canvas hat was pulled down over his forehead, shielding his face from the worst of the rain. The rakish angle as it tipped down gave him the look of a movie adventurer. Holly was not surprised that she had no trouble envisioning his swinging across jungle chasms and fording snake-infested swamps.
    "Hi. Remember me?" His voice was the same soft drawl and the eyes that had burned into hers in fantasy now stared at her in reality.
    She swallowed and nodded her head. Yes, she remembered him. Even without the spangled suit, he was unmistakable. Maybe it was the running yesterday that had caused this. She had never heard of anyone hallucinating after attempting to exercise but there was a first time for everything.
    His dark mustache tilted up and she caught the gleam of white teeth. "Having car trouble?"
    "Yes." She had to clear her throat to get the word out. She resisted the urge to touch his strong jaw and thereby confirm his presence.
    His smile deepened and Holly thought she could see a twinkle in his cerulean eyes. "Do you have any idea what's wrong with it?"
    "It?"
    "Your car," he reminded her softly. "Do you know what's wrong with your car?"
    She shook her head, forcing her paralyzed brain to function again. "Baby doesn't like rain. She always refuses to start when it's wet."
    He shivered as a cold breeze blew the rain in under the brim of his hat. "I can't say I blame Baby. Listen, I might be able to fix it, but quite frankly, the idea of peering under the hood in the dark and rain doesn't sound too appealing. My car is parked just across the street. I could give you a lift home if you'd like."
    Holly hesitated. Common sense told her that this was insane. She knew almost nothing about him and what she did know definitely wouldn't serve to nominate him to the PTA board. Her dark eyes studied his face uncertainly. There was something different about that face, but she couldn't quite place what it was.
    His smile deepened appealingly as he sensed her uncertainty. "I can't give you a written recommendation but my mother thinks I'm relatively harmless."
    She made up her mind with customary abruptness. "I'd appreciate a ride." She grabbed her purse and tote bag from the passenger seat and swung her slim legs out as he opened the door for her.
    "Don't you have a coat or an umbrella?" Holly shook her head and then almost jumped out of her skin when he draped his coat around her shoulders. It was a leather aviator jacket, well worn and smelling of a dark woodsy cologne that made her nose twitch. Before she could form a coherent protest, his arm circled her shoulders and he was hustling her across the parking lot.
    His warm, vital presence was almost too much to absorb. She felt surrounded by him—the warm comfort of his jacket draping her body, the heavy weight of his arm around her shoulders, his tall frame sheltering her from the soft rain.
    He unlocked the door of a dark sedan and she sank gratefully into the cozy warmth.
    She turned to look at him as his long legs slid beneath the steering wheel. He started the car but he didn't immediately put it into gear. Instead, he stretched his arm along the back of the seat, his fingers resting mere inches away from her cheek. He tugged his hat off, dropped it onto the seat between them and ran his fingers through his flattened hair.
    Holly's eyes flickered over the blue cotton shirt and faded jeans, noting the scuffed boots that covered his feet before she glanced up into his face again. She wondered if this was haute couture in casual wear for off-duty pimps. If he had been appealing in the gaudy suit, he was devastating—too devastating—in the worn clothing he now wore. Her heart skipped a beat in response to the lazy charm of his smile.
    "How did you know where I worked?" She flushed as soon as the words were out. What if it was just an incredible coincidence that he happened to show up outside her school?
    His smile deepened.