When Somebody Loves You Read Online Free PDF Page B

that opened onto Pearl Street.
    He squeezed through with her and deferred to his original argument. “Don’t tell me you didn’t schedule in dinner.”
    The autumn air had a crisp bite to it as it hit her full in the face. Her reply had a bit of a bite too. “I’ll grab a sandwich at home.”
    “Then I’ll drive you.”
    She rounded on him. “ Will you just stop!” she shouted, then realized what he’d accomplished. He’d gotten to her. She couldn’t let that happen. Worse, she couldn’t afford to let him know he had the capability.
    A gust of wind skittered up the courthouse steps, tumbling a swirl of fallen leaves in its wake as she appealed to him once more. “Look, you are wasting your time and mine. Just let it alone, okay?”
    The same wind that chased the leaves and played havoc with her skirt gently ruffled his dark hair away from his face. Startled again by his sheer physical perfection, she forced her gaze over his shoulder, aware as she did so that he was studying her with a deep frown.
    “I guess you’ve had a long day,” he said in a tone suggesting both concern and acquiescence. “You don’t need me to make it any longer.”
    He lifted a hand to her face and without hesitation or request carefully tugged a windblown strand of hair from the corner of her mouth.
    She flinched reflexively, though there was nothing frightening about his touch. Nothing repelling, no aggression. It was surprisingly gentle. Surprisingly nice.
    “January?” His eyes, when she met them, were full of questions. “Are you all right?”
    Unnerved by the effect he had on her, she could only nod.
    “Come on, then. I’ll walk you to your car.”
    “Really, that won’t be necessary,” she said, and reached for her briefcase. His cool gaze met and held hers as their fingers touched and then tangled on the leather handle.
    The contact was far too potent. She felt a tingle that should have been fear, but wasn’t. She felt a wonder that shouldn’t have been, but was. In that moment, she knew only one thing with undeniable certainty. She had to get away from him.
    Fighting the urge to snatch the briefcase out of his grip, she held on stubbornly.
    With considerable reluctance he finally let go.
    “Good-bye, Mr. Hayward.”
    Before he could voice another protest, she hurried down the steps to the curb. At that moment she would have sold her soul to the devil if he would only have gotten her a cab.
    The devil wasn’t about to deliver. Not today. Not at this hour.
    The traffic was thick and steady. Checking her watch, she groaned, then swore softly. She’d probably end up standing there for an hour before she even saw a cab, let alone got one to stop.
    The sound of slow, confident footsteps behind her ended any feeble notion that Hayward had left her alone, or that the devil wasn’t afoot after all.
    “Forget where you parked your car?” he asked.
    “I never said I had my car.”
    “You never said you didn’t,” he said, clearly as pleased as punch that he’d caught her in a lie of omission.
    “I’ll get a cab. I’ll be fine.”
    “You’ll be old,” he countered with an easy smile, “before you get a cab in this town.”
    There was nothing she could say to that. She was already calculating the time it would take to get home. It added up to too much. But when she calculated the risk of being alone in a car with him, she decided she’d take her chances and wait for the cab. Maybe, if she ignored him, he’d go away.
    Sure, she thought, and cowboys rode cows.
    As he stood beside her, she was aware that he was quietly but obviously amused.
    “You’re really very good at this, you know,” he remarked as they watched a steady stream of cars speed by.
    She exhaled slowly, her patience near its threshold. “Good at what?”
    “Executing a brush-off.”
    “If I’m so good, why isn’t it working?”
    “Damned if I know,” he said, as if his own persistence amazed him. “I guess I just never learned to