Expecting a Scandal by Joanne Rock

Author:Joanne Rock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-17T17:20:23+00:00

Eight

Eyes gritty from the worst day he’d had on the job since returning to Royal, Vaughn followed Abigail’s car into downtown, making sure she arrived home without incident. She’d tried to wave off his insistence to accompany her into the house the first time she used the new alarm system, but in the end, she’d conceded. He had the feeling she’d only agreed out of concern for the safety of her baby, and not out of any romantic notions about him.

Which was fine. He didn’t deserve for a woman like her to think about him that way when he couldn’t even close his eyes to fall asleep while they shared a bed. But still, after the day he’d had, the knowledge that he’d hurt her added salt to the wounds he felt hours after he’d failed to save a gunshot victim.

In light of all that had gone wrong today, maybe it had been a mistake to stop by Abigail’s work site to see her, let alone follow her home. But after hearing those heart monitors go flat on his nineteen-year-old patient, making sure Abigail was safe had become a priority that somehow carried him through the rest of a gut-shredding shift.

Ahead of him, Abigail’s brake lights brightened. She parked in front of the bungalow as he pulled in the driveway behind her. He would simply walk her to the door, follow the instructions from the security company and make sure she knew how to arm the new system again before he left.

One step at a time. He would find a way to get through this day.

Preferably before the flashbacks started bombarding him, reminding him of other gunshots. Other victims. Other young men he had been powerless to heal.

He closed and locked the door behind him before moving toward Abigail’s car to help her from the vehicle.

“Thank you.” Stepping from the car, she smiled up at him as she took his hand. “You really didn’t have to do this. Brandon talked me through how to use the new alarm today.”

Vaughn couldn’t articulate how much he needed to see with his own eyes that she was safe for the night, so he didn’t try. “Brandon and his brother installed the same system at my house last year,” he explained, walking her past the phlox, daisies and Texas bluebells she had planted on either side of the walkway.

Her skirt had blooms all over it, too, embroidered sunflowers on a blue background. The hem brushed the encroaching leaves of her runaway garden. She was a vibrant woman in every way, her lush curves making him ache to touch her. Hold her. As she reached the new security panel blinking dimly beside the front door, she turned to him. Waited while he checked his phone for the temporary code she was supposed to reset within forty-eight hours.

With a soft beep, the alarm was disarmed, allowing her to open the door.

“But explaining the alarm system was only a small way he helped me today. He has a gift for woodworking.

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