For His Eyes Only by T C Archer Read Free Book Online

cold and wet touched her hand. She recoiled, her eyes snapping open. “What the—” A beast of a dog, a German shepherd, nuzzled her hand.
    “ That’s quite a compliment,” Cole said, rubbing the dog above its collar. “Lancelot doesn’t like just anyone.”
    “ He’s magnificent.” Jesse buried her fingers in the plush black fur on the back of his neck.
    A fierce intelligence gleamed through the canine’s dark eyes. She was instantly captivated. He regarded her with a calm, self-assured manner which said he understood her infatuation and would tolerate it.
    “ Is he yours?” Jesse asked.
    “ No. He belongs to Charlie.”
    She paused in her massage of Lancelot’s neck and looked up to find Cole staring.
    “ What were you doing in New York?” he asked.
    A strange tremor rippled through her. Maybe it was the way his deep blue eyes remained fastened on her, or the way he asked the question as if he knew her that made her want to keep him up deep into the night as she rode him until they both exploded. His fingers would be warm and sure around her waist as he slammed her down on him over and over. She jerked from the erotic picture. If they were anywhere but here, anywhere but now…
    Jesse returned her attention to the dog. “The less you know the better. It’s too bad you happened by when you did.”
    “ Afraid I’ll cramp your style?”
    She couldn’t help a chagrinned laugh. “Chances are you saved my life, despite your efforts to the contrary.”
    “ Hey!” he said.
    She met his gaze. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me, but—”
    Lancelot twisted his neck to the right and let out a low woof.
    Jesse riveted her attention onto the window Lancelot stared at. She looked back at Cole. “Where is everyone, patients, nurses?”
    “ We’re the only ones here. Charlie is the resident, on-call at the hospital today. The office is closed.”
    Lancelot woofed again.
    Jesse swung her legs over the edge of the bed and gave Lancelot a quieting pat on the head as she stood. “Shh, boy.”
    The dog’s attention remained fixed on the window.
    A chill ran up her spine. “Dammit, Cole.” She crept toward the window, wincing as the stitches in her leg pulled at her flesh. “It never occurred to you taking the Starfire was a bad idea?”
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TEN
    Jesse stopped beside the window.
    “ I suppose I should have left you to bleed to death?” Cole demanded.
    An unexpected hint of savagery laced his voice. She looked across the bed at him. His face was impassive, and Jesse decided she had misread what was probably fear.
    “ Leaving me would have been the wiser of the choices. How long has Rayburn been gone?”
    “ About fifteen minutes.”
    Jesse carefully turned back a corner of the curtain and peered outside. Shrubs hid three quarters of the window from outside view. She looked past the shrubs and across an open expanse of manicured lawn to a two story, brick colonial with a sunroom.
    “ That’s Rayburn’s house?”
    “ Yes,” Cole replied.
    Lancelot growled. Jesse looked at him, but he didn’t acknowledge her. His attention had shifted to the door opposite the window.
    “ What’s outside the door?” she asked.
    “ A hallway. There are two other examination rooms, a bathroom, then the waiting room.”
    “ How many doors leading into the building?”
    “ Two.”
    “ I assume the good doctor doesn’t believe in weapons?”
    “ Only those.” Cole motioned to the surgical instruments.
    “ Well, well.” She cast last glance at the seemingly deserted yard before releasing the curtain. “Those might come in handy.”
    She crossed to the tray. Several pieces of unused gauze lay in a pile. Lancelot trotted to her side as she snatched a bit of gauze and quickly wiped blood from a wicked looking blade.
    Jesse held up the instrument. “What is this?”
    Cole shrugged. “Charlie used it to probe your shoulder for bullet fragments.”
    She grimaced and dropped the dirty gauze on