Damned If You Don't by Linda J. Parisi Read Free Book Online

recognized the hurt in his gaze. “What the hell is going on?”
    How much did she tell him? While her entire psyche wanted to pour itself out to him because of the sheer stress of the situation, he was still the enemy.
    “It seems your friend betrayed you because of what I have in my possession,” she answered.
    “What are you trying to tell me?” Jack asked her, his tone low and filled with disbelief.
    “That he’s going to try to retrieve it.”
    “That’s his job,” he fired back at her.
    Morgan nodded. “Yes. But there’s a flip side to that. He’s not going to care if you stand in the way.”
    She watched him frown and rub his face with his hands. Then he leaned back in his seat to look out the window. And no matter how good his discomfort felt at the moment, it had no bearing on what was going to happen next. Because no matter which way she visualized the past, she was still a wanted woman on the run. And no matter which way she visualized the future, everything had just gone from bad to worse, allowing her to come up with only one end result. Dr. Morgan McKenzie was a dead woman.

Chapter Six
    Morgan sat bolt upright in the seat, nostrils flaring to catch each delectable pheromone he exuded. Exhausted, she must have dozed off for a moment. Then she realized what woke her up.
    She’d have to have a talk with her nose later.
    He gave her a sort of half smile, looking no worse for wear while she felt like she’d been run over by a Mack truck. He couldn’t shutter his gaze fast enough though, and she saw the desire there. Half-awake and half-asleep, her body betrayed her, yearning for the fire, the incredible sensation of fulfillment. He’d awakened feelings deep inside, broken open a dam of tightly held emotions. As a scientist, Morgan wasn’t allowed the luxury of feelings. She’d been taught to think, deduct, and reason.
    Jack had changed all that.
    Morgan didn’t know whether to be grateful or furious. Could one enchanted evening really alter a person that much?
    Her mind filled with a picture she’d seen in a zoology text—a chrysalis—a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. He’d broken open her cocoon and given her the ability to fly free. That might, just might, keep him alive when they stopped.
    “Easy, kitten.”
    Her gaze must have narrowed, because his half smile fled, and yet her heartbeat soared from zero to sixty in less than three seconds, a new land-speed record. To hide her reaction to him, she turned away to look out at the landscape speeding by them. A new wave of motion sickness ruined what mood was left inside her.
    “Call me Morgan. Better yet, make that Dr. Mackenzie. You have no right to call me kitten anymore.”
    “All right, Morgan. But this isn’t about me, anymore. It’s about you.”
    She snorted in disgust, hugging herself to keep from going after him again. “Nice of you to understand that.”
    “Not too long ago, I screwed over my best friend and partner to save your sorry ass. I even let you sleep. The least you could do is try to be a tiny bit grateful.”
    “Grateful? You want me to be grateful?” She tucked her hands in tight and told him to go do something anatomically impossible.
    Obviously that got his nuts in an uproar. “Listen, Morgan. And listen well,” he bit out. “You’re going to have a hard time trying to explain to your employer why you’re not a thief.”
    That was the least of her problems at the moment.
    “They didn’t hire Sam to play games.”
    No kidding.
    “Now, Sam made it seem as if this job was on the up-and-up, but obviously it’s not.”
    Tell me something I don’t already know.
    “The people who want their property back obviously want this all on the hush-hush. That’s why Sam didn’t bring in the police.”
    Tell me something I really don’t already know.
    “But if they have to drag in the authorities, I’m getting a real bad feeling they will. Just remember it’s not always innocent until proven guilty. So