Hazard Play by Janis McCurry Read Free Book Online Page B

him because of my lack of experience.” 
    It was time to net Tess Hazard.
    * * *
    The first time she woke up and looked, her digital clock read one o’clock. She fluffed her pillow and counted sheep. At two-thirty, she turned on her radio. Four o’clock rolled around and she gave up. She rose and mopped the kitchen floor, taking time to scrub the baseboards. Then, she showered and washed her hair.
    She told herself her lack of sleep stemmed from Pyewacket’s determination to stake his claim to her pillow. He had lots of other space on the bed. But, no, the cat wanted to sleep on that particular piece of pillow even though it meant Tess got a nose full of fur. 
    She tried to tell herself she would’ve slept soundly if she’d tossed the space-invading cat out of the room. Hah! And who are you kidding, anyway?  She knew Bailey’s words had kept her awake. Or rather, his asthmatic bail jumper’s health issues.
    Tess pulled on an oversized Green Bay Packer T-shirt and padded barefoot into the kitchen to start the coffee. Whether or not some crook had an attack of asthma and died before Bailey could get him back to Portland had nothing to do with her. The first rule of a nurse’s vacation involved absolutely no sick people. 
    “Meoww?” Obviously, Pyewacket had mastered the question, “where’s my breakfast” in his formative years.
    “I should make you wait until we negotiate where you’re going to sleep. You could stand to lose a few pounds, you know,” Tess sternly rebuked the cat. He ruined the effect by brushing along her legs and purring, which caused her to lean over and pet him. 
    “Some pet owner I am. It’s nice to know I run my house with an iron hand. Next thing, I'll be asking you if I can scoot over any farther in the bed.” Pyewacket flopped over on his side so she could scratch his stomach.
    The sound of the doorbell interrupted her fascinating feline conversation. Who’d be calling at—she looked at the kitchen clock—eight-thirty on a Saturday morning? She went to the front door and peered out the peephole. Bailey, that’s who. She might’ve known. What was it they said about bad pennies? Heaving a deep sigh, she opened the door a crack.
    “Morning. Can I come in?” Looking impossibly fit and awake, he stood on her threshold. Dressed in Levi cutoffs and red muscle shirt, he was gorgeous.
    Tess felt her cheeks warm. “I’m not dressed for company. What brings you here?”
    “You look fine to me. I’m a Packer fan, myself.” 
    There it was again. The killer smile that almost melted the fillings out of her teeth. If he ever knew how he affected her, he’d run for his life. Or he should.
    “Please, Contessa, it’d really help me out if we could talk.” He held up a white sack. “I brought doughnuts.” He took one maple bar out and waved it in front of her nose.
    “What, no low-cholesterol health-conscious bran muffin?” She was determined to be cranky.
    “You know, I thought about that, but something told me you were a coffee and doughnuts type of woman. Besides, I'd rather eat doughnuts. I bought apple fritters, too.”
    Satan in a ponytail stood in her door.
    Gorgeous.
    Seductive.
    Damn it.
    Giving up, she promised herself she’d hit the treadmill for three extra miles today. “Okay, but just for a little while. You’re lucky I started the coffee.” She stepped back and opened the door the rest of the way. She inhaled his woodsy outdoors aftershave as he passed by. Lord, give me the strength to remember this man is a barbarian .
    Bailey headed for the kitchen, but not before he stopped to look at her with suddenly intense eyes. Tess was conscious that the T-shirt covered her only to mid-thigh. And by the flare in his chocolate-colored eyes, he’d noted that fact the minute he’d walked in. Chocolate. She loved chocolate. She wanted to answer his look with one equally heated.  Don’t you dare!
    She blushed, stunned at her wayward thoughts. “Help yourself to the