Hot Pursuit by Lynn Raye Harris Read Free Book Online

they touched, his big hand engulfing hers, his palm calloused
in a way that shocked her. He was a Girard—rich, entitled—and he
had a workman’s hands.
    “One dance.”
    Her insides melted a little more. “I’m not
sure it’s a good idea.”
    But what she really wanted to do was say
yes.
    His eyes were bright. “Why not? We’re adults
now, Evie. No one’s getting hurt here.”
    He said it like it was so easy, but was it
really? Wasn’t she still vulnerable on some level? She was down on
her luck right now, feeling like a loser, and here he was, the same
gorgeous, cocky, beautiful creature he’d always been.
    Except, no, he was more than that, wasn’t he?
There was something behind his smile now. Something dark and sad.
Pain flared in his gray eyes and then was gone so quickly she
wondered if she’d imagined it.
    It shocked her. She suddenly wanted to know
what had happened to him. She’d heard about him being held captive
by terrorists. How could he not be affected by something like that?
Of all the things she’d expected Matt Girard to do with his life,
putting himself into danger had not even occurred to her. He had
everything. Why would he want to risk his life that way?
    She remembered when his mother had died. He’d
been twelve. Mama had taken her to the wake out at Reynier’s
Retreat. There were so many people crowding the beautiful rooms of
the mansion. The house was heavy with sadness and thick with grief,
and it had scared her. She’d escaped to run down the wide lawn.
She’d known where to find Matt. He’d been curled inside the hollow
of a tree they’d found a few years before.
    He’d been dressed in a black suit, his dark
hair slicked back carefully, his gray eyes wide and wounded as he
looked up at her. Her heart had lifted into her throat then. She’d
only been eleven, but she’d felt something in that moment that
rocked her world—and would continue to rock her world until she was
sixteen and shattered by his casual cruelty.
    But not that day. That day, she’d slid into
the hollow and sat down beside him. When she’d put her arms around
him, he’d turned his face into the crook of her neck and wept.
    Evie sucked in a breath. How could she walk
away from him now, knowing there was something behind those eyes?
He was hurting again, and she didn’t know why.
    “One dance, Evangeline,” he said softly when
she hesitated. “Make a soldier’s night. I just got back from the
desert a few days ago. I’d like to dance with a pretty woman and
forget about that hellhole for a while.”
    Evie swallowed. “That’s not fair.”
    He grinned. “Because you can’t say no
now?”
    She nodded.
    “Good for me then.”
    “Just one dance and we go our separate ways,
got it?” Because she didn’t want to feel this tangle of emotions
again. This tiny blossoming in her heart that said she was going to
be in so much trouble if she didn’t shut it down quickly.
    “If that’s what you want.” His voice was
rough.
    He took her other hand then, ran his palms up
her arms to her shoulders. Little sparks of sensation swirled in
her belly, lighting her up like the Fourth of July. He pulled her
into his arms right there on the edge of the dance floor.
    Evie braced her hands against his chest,
pressed back when he tried to bring her closer. It was already
overwhelming to be so close to him. To feel his heat and hardness
next to her body.
    To feel everything she’d once wanted so
much.
    “I don’t bite,” he murmured. “Unless you want
me to.”
    “Hardly.” But heat flowed through her at the
thought. Evie closed her eyes. This was insane. Why had she agreed?
It was like she’d stepped back in time and gotten caught in all her
girlish dreams.
    She was in Matt Girard’s arms, dancing with
him in public. Poor Evie Baker and the rich senator’s son. The boy
most likely to succeed and the girl who would never amount to
anything. What a pair.
    She should have refused, no matter how much
she ached