A Stranger to Love by Patricia McLinn

Author:Patricia McLinn [McLinn, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1997-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

A metallic knock jerked Jessa around.

Cully stood in the doorway, propping a shoulder against one side, with a hip cocked insolently out, sunglasses in place and a hint of a grin on his wide mouth.

Jessa’s heart thundered and her throat closed. A reaction to the scare he’d given her. That’s all.

“Sorry I startled you. I came in the front door this time. Rita said to come on back.”

“If you’d come in the back door, you would have set off so many alarms the county would think we’re under attack. And you didn’t startle me,” Jessa lied. “I’m doing paperwork.”

“They’re mostly silent alarms. There’s only one loud one—that’s to scare the real amateurs and make the semi-pros think they’ve taken care of any alarms.”

“I see. Did you come to explain all this?”

“No. Irene Weston asked me to drop by these jellies.” He straightened and she noticed a bag at his feet.

“Thank you.” The jellies, jams and preserves Cambria’s stepmother produced could brighten a whole winter of breakfasts.

“You’re welcome. Irene said she expected you to come for supper last night.”

“I called and told her I couldn’t come.” Jessa guessed he thought she’d skipped dinner with the Westons because he was there, and he was partly right

After the past few days, especially the way she’d tumbled into his arms at the roadside the other night, she’d thought it better to stay away from him.

There’d also been the unpleasant and reminiscent matter last night when she got home from work and found her garbage strewn across her yard. Two of her neighbors were picking it up when she pulled in. An animal, Mrs. Griler had speculated, probably a raccoon, and Red Colback had concurred.

Jessa wasn’t so sure. It had seemed safer not to expose her uneasiness to Cambria’s and Irene’s scrutiny across the dinner table, even without the Cully factor.

He nodded toward the papers covering her desk. “Need help?”

“Not anything anybody can help with.”

“Hey, cops are paperwork experts. And I got my paperwork training at the only place on earth that’s worse—the army.”

She smiled slightly. “I hear it’s pretty bad.”

“Pretty bad? You have to requisition toilet paper—it can’t get much worse.”

That surprised a chuckle out of her. “You’re right. That’s bad. So, why’d you stay in the army so long? You could have gotten out after a short hitch like Boone.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t mind short hair as much as Boone.”

She considered him. He had the kind of face, with its strong planes and pronounced bones, that would look good with a military haircut. An image of Cully’s rangy body in a uniform burst into her head without the least warning.

“There must have been more than not minding haircuts to keep you in the army.”

His face was serious, his eyes intent. “I liked it.”

“Having someone telling you what to do and when to do it and how to do it?”

“Having rules and discipline doesn’t mean you don’t think.”

“What about all the horror stories about getting up early and drill sergeants and regulations?”

“All true. But they have a purpose.

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