WINDOW OF TIME Read Online Free PDF Page A

laughed for a brief moment before he saw her lips drop into a frown and wash away any trace of cheerfulness she might have been feeling.
    His mood changed just as quickly. Had he imagined the whole thing? If he had, then why would this agent be so upset about him seeing those men on the staircase? As the time slipped by, Johnny started to seriously doubt his own mind.
    “How’s your head?” he asked.
    “I’m fine.”
    She answered too quickly. He didn’t believe her. It sounded like a functional greeting at a party. You always said fine even if your world had fallen apart. Johnny reached over and flicked his finger sharply against her thigh to get some sort of reaction out of her. Before he had a chance to pull his hand away, Lucy grabbed his wrist, startling him with her speed. It wasn’t what he expected, but he did get her attention.
    “Why did you do that?” she snapped.
    “You just lied to me,” Johnny said, her fingers still wrapped securely around his wrist. He figured he’d ticked her off when she didn’t let him go.
    “Don’t do that again, Mr. Cartwright.”
    “Call me Johnny.” He looked at her blushed face. “I came to you for answers, not to be lied to.”
    Lucy let her hand go slack and leaned her head against the neck-rest, sighing. “I didn’t mean to overreact. And I did lie to you. I do have a headache, and I don’t know why I can’t tell you the simple truth about something so … benign as that. It’s not like it’s a secret.”
    “Check the glove box.”
    Lucy opened the dash compartment in front of her.
    “There’s a small first-aid kit in a red pouch. I have ibuprofen packets inside.” He lifted the armrest compartment between them and took out a metallic pouch with a short straw attached to the outside. “Here,” he said, handing it to her. “This is water. Drink the whole thing.”
    “Okay,” Lucy whispered, following his directions.
    When she had finished, he took the empty packages and put them in a pocket on his door. The deep sigh he heard from Lucy pulled at his heart. From the moment he’d seen her, he’d been attracted to her. Then he’d touched her, and she’d gotten into his mind, somehow. He had to find out why.
    “How long have you been an agent?”
    She didn’t bother to lift her head when she answered him. “Ten years.”
    “Ten years?” Johnny asked quickly. “How old are you?” He didn’t mean to ask so abruptly. When she grinned over at him, he said, “I’m sorry, but you look so young.”
    “I’m twenty-nine.”
    “That means you were only nineteen when the CIA hired you?”
    “Uh-huh. That’s right.”
    “Didn’t you want to go to college first?”
    Her grin slid into a smile that made his heart trip. “I graduated from high school two weeks after I turned sixteen. I jumped right into summer classes and earned my bachelor’s degree in three years.”
    “Wow, that’s amazing. What did you major in?”
    “Criminal Justice.”
    “And you’re not a cop?”
    “No. I had to be twenty-one to carry a gun, so they wouldn’t take my application.”
    “And you became a secret agent instead?”
    “I’m not a secret agent. I’m a courier.” Clutching her purse tight, she said, “What I do is top secret. And the only reason I told you that much is because you saw my ID. I really can’t tell you anymore.” Turning her stare onto his face, she scrutinized him. “How old are you?”
    “I turned thirty last Saturday. My buddies took me out to our usual dive to celebrate.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember what time they brought me home. It was late.”
    “ You home? Alone?” Lucy shifted her line of sight to his left hand. “I noticed that you didn’t wear a wedding ring, but I thought that had to do with your work.”
    “Yeah,” Johnny said as he ran his thumb where his gold band used to be. “Wearing jewelry of any kind is dangerous for a firefighter. When you’re fighting a fire, the flames super-heat the metal