Gentle Pirate by Jayne Castle Read Free Book Online Page B

arrive?"
    "If you're trying to ask me if I have the slightest idea who would do such a thing, forget it. I've only been in town a couple of months and I haven't had time to make many enemies!"
    "And no dark secrets following you from your previous life?" he persisted with deceptive lightness.
    She looked away from those gleaming eyes and shook her head.
    "No secrets," she said firmly. And it was the truth. The one man who had hurt her was dead. She was safe.
    "Well, maybe the police will have some ideas," Simon said thoughtfully, leaning back to rest his left arm along the back of the couch. The action made Kirsten nervous. Another short move would have that arm around her and then what would she do?
    With an abrupt little jump, she got to her feet and was trying to think of a polite explanation for her behavior when someone knocked at the door.
    "That will be the cops," Simon announced, getting casually to his feet and starting toward the door. "I'll get it."
    "Don't start making yourself too much at home," Kirsten muttered between clenched teeth, but she couldn't tell if he had heard her.
    The police were everything one hopes police will be when one needs them: sympathetic, efficient, professional. But Kirsten could tell when they left an hour later that they were as much at a loss for an explanation as she was. Simon stood beside her in the doorway and watched the patrol car pull out of the parking lot at around two-thirty. Kirsten sighed as the taillights disappeared.
    "I have the feeling this is going to remain one of those unexplained acts of vandalism you read about occasionally in the newspapers," she groaned, making no move to go back inside the apartment. Hopefully, Kendrick would take his cue and leave now. He seemed larger than ever standing next to her.
    "Maybe," he shrugged. "The cops were probably right. If you really can't come up with the names of any suspicious characters, I guess we'll have to let it ride for now." He moved to go back inside.
    Kirsten panicked.
    "Well, thanks for the help in dealing with the police," she began nervously, remaining where she was in the doorway. "It's getting rather late. I'll take care of this mess in the morning…"
    "Good idea," he agreed. "I'm ready to hit the sack, myself." But he didn't head for his car, he continued on into the living room and began fluffing the couch cushions.
    "Close the door, Kirsten. it's getting cold in here," he advised, standing back to eye his handiwork.
    "I'll close it as soon as you're gone," she told him pointedly, beginning to shiver from the cold. He was right. It was freezing outside. She folded her arms protectively around herself and waited.
    "I thought I'd spend the night," he remarked, as if he did it regularly. "This disaster is bound to make you uneasy. You'll feel better knowing I'm out here in the living room. This couch is a little short, though, isn't it?"
    "No!"
    "Well, maybe not for someone your size, but for me it's going to be small." he responded decidedly, nodding his dark head thoughfully. So far he hadn't looked at her, giving his full attention to the matter of his bedding.
    "Simon Kendrick, you are not spending the night here! I want you to leave-at once! Do you hear me? Simon, pay attention to me! I'll call the manager and have you thrown out if you don't do as I say!" Kirsten was furious and no longer making any effort to be polite. She wanted this big man out of her apartment and out of her life! It was getting colder and colder with only the protection of the light yellow dress, but nothing could have induced her to step inside and close the door.
    Nothing, that is except a huge man who was capable of lifting her bodily out of the doorway and well into the hall. Which is exactly what Simon Kendrick did before she could blink an eve. It wasn't fair that a man his size could move so quickly. And it was even more galling that he managed the whole operation with only one hand. She felt completely helpless as that right