Trouble with the Law Read Online Free PDF

in her case, and realized that now she did.

Chapter Five

     
    Sheriff Mark Taylor sat in his office, trying to focus on the columns of figures in front of him. The rising fuel costs were killing him. In some cities, they were issuing police officers bicycles instead of cars. If the long distances in rural areas hadn’t made it impractical he would have liked to do the same.
    He rubbed his tired eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. Only four in the afternoon, but he was ready to go home. Sleep had eluded him last night, just like it had the night before, and the night before that.
    He’d lain awake every night since he fell victim to bad judgment and sampled the charms of the glamorous woman his deputies had hauled in. Hadn’t his divorce taught him anything? He didn’t want to think about Justine Whitmore. He didn’t want to remember her face, or imagine her slender body writhing beneath his, and he certainly didn’t want to call her.
    His eyes strayed to the chair in the corner, and his pants instantly tightened. Goddamn the woman. Mark shuddered to think what she could do to him in person, if the mere sight of a chair she’d occupied reduced him to a nervous wreck.
    The sharp ring of the telephone on his desk tore him back to reality. “Sheriff Taylor,” he barked into the receiver.
    “What’s this I hear about you casting your tackle in illegal waters?” Gideon Steinberg from the State Attorney General’s office boomed into his ear.
    Mark knew his boss well enough to hear the amusement beneath the gruff voice, but he didn’t get the joke. “My fishing permit is in order,” he replied.
    “Not fishing, you fool. Your dick. It seems you’ve been sticking your rod into some hooker when you ought to have been booking her for soliciting.”
    “What the….” Mark swallowed the curse and inhaled a sharp breath.
    “I have a complaint here from a Mrs. Harper. She says your deputies picked up a woman for immoral conduct, and you released her after you enjoyed her services.”
    “That’s not true,” Mark said, but his words came out on a growl and his chest tightened with worry. “She wasn’t a prostitute. It was a mix-up about rooms at Rob Thornton’s guesthouse.”
    “Did you have sex with the woman or not?”
    “I….” Mark stared at the empty chair in the corner. Even with the anxiety twisting in his gut, the image of Justine in her flimsy underwear sent his blood surging to all the wrong parts of his body.
    “I take that as a yes,” Gideon Steinberg grunted. “I’m sorry, Mark. I have to order an official investigation into Mrs. Harper’s complaint. I can’t risk being seen as a weak leader who brushes corruption under the carpet. You’ll be hearing more soon though the appropriate channels. Good luck.”
    The phone went dead with a click that sounded like a gun being cocked.
    Mark tried to reach deep into his mind for a source of cold fury that he could direct at Justine, or at his own mistake of falling for her feminine charms. The only sensations he came up with were relief, and the slow wheel of excitement that began to turn inside him at the thought of seeing her again.
    It was out of his hands now. The decision had been forced upon him. He had to get in touch with her if he wanted to protect her reputation and his career.
    * * * *
    Justine sat at her desk and watched the traffic crawl on the street below her office, trying to concentrate on the publicity shots in front of her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong with the photographs. The apartment looked immaculate in the background, and she’d chosen the model herself. Now his casual elegance looked all wrong…too tame.
    That was it. The model was too suave.
    An image of the rugged Sheriff Taylor rose in her mind, and with an angry flick of her wrist, Justine slung her pen down over the advertisement. It grated that a whole week had gone by, and he hadn’t done anything to track her down. She hadn’t