On Thin Ice Read Online Free PDF

keyboard and a piece of sheet music lay on the bench with another on the floor beside it. Not for looks, he thought. Obviously, she played.
    The rest of the room was an odd mixture of tastes, ranging from a gorgeous Oriental rug covering the hardwood floor, to a piece of modern metal sculpture standing in a corner, to a well-used sofa and easy chair that denied any claim to fashion.
    On the coffee table a glass lay turned over beside an open bottle of wine. That could explain her spaciness, he thought, except it didn’t look like more than a glassful was missing from the bottle. A small horse stood beside the low glass-topped table, wagging its tail and lapping at the pale gold liquid dripping steadily onto the expensive rug.
    No, not a horse. A large, ugly brown and black curly-haired dog.
    “Rocky! Stop that!” Gabrielle tugged on the dog’s collar, but it ignored her and simply swiped at the wine until it was gone. With a plop, the dog sat, its pink tongue darting out to lick the last lingering drops from its snout. “You sot,” she accused.
    Devlin laughed. “What is he? Besides a lush?”
    “A pain in the rear. And he’s a she. Come on,” she said, picking up the wine bottle and glass and starting out of the room. “We’ll eat in the kitchen.”
    Great legs, Devlin thought as he and the dog followed her. Long, shapely—but he shouldn’t be thinking about her legs, however fantastic they were. He needed to think about business. Law, not legs.
    Trouble was, he kept getting distracted. From the moment she landed at his feet in the lingerie shop, Gabrielle had intrigued him. Satin and lace underneath an ultraconservative business suit. The more he learned about her, the more curious he grew. Normally, he didn’t allow a woman to distract him. Gabrielle did it without even trying. He thought about that for a moment. Maybe she was trying. It was a unique approach, if so.
    The dog went out the back door along with Gabrielle’s admonition not to dig. “She ate my sprinkler system last week,” she said by way of explanation. “Puppies.”
    “Puppy?” He took the wine bottle from her and set it on the kitchen table along with the food. “That’s a puppy? You mean she’ll get bigger?”
    Her smile softened the angles of her face. “Not exactly, but she’ll fill out. We had a rash of burglaries a few months ago, and I decided to get a dog. The people at the shelter said she’d be a great watchdog. I must have sucker written on my forehead. So far she’s been worthless. She sleeps like the dead and barks at everything in sight.”
    “You don’t look like a sucker to me.”
    “Only for certain things,” she said.
    He wondered what those were, besides animals. “Maybe she’ll improve with age.”
    “I suppose there’s always that hope.” She sounded doubtful. “Do you want a glass of wine?” Opening a cupboard, she looked over her shoulder at him.
    “Sure. Here, let me get it.” He reached toward the top shelf at the same time she did. Their hands collided, and one of the glasses fell, shattering on the white tile floor.
    “Damn.” Surrounded by a field of glass shards, she grimaced as she surveyed the mess.
    “Sorry.”
    She shrugged his apology aside. “It wasn’t fine crystal. Just one step up from jelly jars.”
    “You’d better let me clean it up. You’re barefoot.”
    “Don’t be sill—”
    He picked her up in midsentence and set her on the counter. Enjoying her startled gasp, he let his hands linger at her waist. Tension shimmered, stretched tightly between them as they stared at each other. Slowly, he became aware of the soft feel of her beneath his hands, of her scent, faintly sultry, luring him closer.
    His gaze dropped to watch her tongue dart out and moisten her lips. Was it an unconscious gesture? He couldn’t be certain, but it sure as hell tempted him.
    He leaned closer, until their mouths were only a few inches apart, and purposely lowered his voice to an intimate