Perfect by Judith Mcnaught

Author:Judith Mcnaught [Mcnaught, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romantic Suspense, Adult
ISBN: 9780743474177
Google: lMNfPgAACAAJ
Amazon: 0671795538
Barnesnoble: 0671795538
Goodreads: 129617
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1992-12-31T11:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 17

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They'd been on the road for fully ten minutes before Zack felt the strangling tension in his chest begin to dissolve, and he drew a long, full breath—his first easy breath in hours. No, months. Years. Futility and helplessness had raged in him for so long that he felt almost lightheaded without them. A red car roared past them, cut across their lane to exit the interstate, lost traction, and spun around, missing the Blazer by inches—and then only because the young woman beside him handled the four-wheel-drive vehicle with surprising skill. Unfortunately, she also drove too damned fast, with the daredevil aggressiveness and fearless disregard of danger that was uniquely and typically Texan in his experience.

He was wishing there was some way he could suggest she let him drive, when she said in a quietly amused voice, "You can relax now. I've slowed down. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't afraid," he said with unintentional curtness.

She glanced sideways at him and smiled, a slow, knowing smile. "You're holding onto the dashboard with both hands. That's usually a dead giveaway."

Two things struck Zack at once: He'd been in prison so long that lighthearted banter between adult members of the opposite sex had become completely awkward and alien to him and Julie Mathison had a breathtaking smile. Her smile glowed in her eyes and lit up her entire face, transforming what was merely a pretty face into one that was captivating. Since wondering about her was infinitely preferable to worrying about things he couldn't yet control, Zack concentrated on her. She wore no makeup except for a little lipstick, and there was a freshness about her, a simplicity in the way she wore her thick, shiny brown hair, all of which had made him think she was in her late teens or very early twenties. On the other hand, she seemed too confident and self-assured for a twenty-year-old. "How old are you?" he asked bluntly, then winced at the brusque tactlessness of the question. Obviously if they didn't catch him and send him back to prison, he was going to have to relearn some things he'd thought were bred into him—like rudimentary courtesy and conversational etiquette with women.

Instead of being irritated by the question, she flashed him another one of those mesmerizing smiles of hers and said in a voice laced with amusement, "I'm twenty-six."

"My God!" Zack heard himself blurt, then he closed his eyes in disgusted disbelief at his gaucheness. "I mean," he explained, "you don't look that old."

She seemed to sense his discomfiture, because she laughed softly and said, "Probably because I've only been twenty-six for a few weeks."

Afraid to trust himself to say anything spontaneous, he watched the windshield wipers carve a steady half-moon in the snow on the windshield while he reviewed his next question for any trace of the tastelessness that had marred his previous words. Feeling this one was safe, he said, "What do you do?"

"I'm a schoolteacher."

"You don't look like one.

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