There Goes the Groom Read Online Free PDF Page A

out. Still, he did have nice lips.
    Stop looking at his lips, you fool. He arrested you!
      “It’s procedure,” he said, then gave her shoulder a pat. “It will be returned to you when you leave.”
    Marci  pursed her lips and tugged at the ring, but she’d been crying so hard her finger must have swollen.
    “Really?” he asked.
    “Honestly,” she said, “I always break out in a rash and my hands swell when I’m upset.”
    This time his look reeked of impatience and disbelief. He took her hand and yanked so hard the ring came off, but her knees buckled and she squealed from the pain.
    “Sorry.”
    Marci shook her fingers to relieve the sting. “You should be. You almost broke my finger.”
    He dropped the ring into an envelope. “Now the earrings and any other jewelry.”
    Oh, no…Not the diamonds Paul had given her. Or that ankle bracelet.
    And surely not her belly button ring…
    But he reached to remove the earrings himself, and she jerked away. “I’ll do it.” She pulled the posts through her lobes and shoved them into the bag. Then she hiked up her skirt and foot and unfastened the ankle bracelet. His eyes pierced her, his darkening almost to a sultry black as she dropped it in his hand.
    He was enjoying this way too much.
    She was not going to divulge that she had the belly ring. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. “If you lose my jewelry, I’ll sue the police department.”
    “Sure you will.” A chuckle rumbled from him as another guard appeared for the envelope holding her belongings, and her heart sank as her diamonds disappeared. Fudgecake. She might need to hock them for bail money.
    “Let’s go,” the chuffy guy who’d taken her mug shot said.
    A nervous cough caught in her throat as he pushed her through a set of heavy metal doors. For a brief second, she had the insane urge to call for the detective.
    Not that he cared about her. He thought she was guilty!
    The doors clanged shut behind her with such a bang that she couldn’t help but startle. The guard’s wheezy, smoke-scented breath rattled in the air, the smell of sweat and other body odors swirling around her.
    The first hints of fear crept through her as they walked down the dark hallway. She had the uncanny sensation that she was in a horror film being led to slaughter.
    “Where are you taking me?”
    “To a holding cell. Detective Muller will call for you when he’s ready.”
    Marci shuddered. She didn’t know which was more disturbing. The thought of sitting in a cell or facing that man’s dark, condemning eyes again.
    He thought she’d helped steal from his little grandmother!
    How could he think such a thing?
    He didn’t even know her.
    A sliver of hope swirled through her. That was it. She just had to talk to him and explain that he was wrong. Even with that hot temper and those piercing accusatory eyes, he was still a man. He had to have a rational side to him hiding under that big brawny body somewhere.
    She just had to find it.
    Feeling marginally better, she sucked in a sharp breath as the sound of voices wafted toward her. Then a group of cells slipped into view. Three on each side.
    The three on the left held male prisoners. The first cell held two teens who looked stoned out of their minds. They were singing and banging on the bars as if they were drums. A heavy guy who looked like a Sumo wrestler sat on the floor in the second one, his eyes closed. Either he was asleep sitting up or in the midst of some heavy meditation. A homeless looking drunk who reeked of booze and pee hung onto the bars of the third, his eyes blurry looking.
    “Hey, bride!” he yelled. “Need a husband?”
    Marci grimaced.
    The three cells on the right were obviously designated for the women. The first cell held two hookers with overdone make-up and tattoos that looked as if they’d been done by an amateur. She needed to tell them about her tat artist.
    The second cell held a woman who had to weigh three hundred pounds.