Ice by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

his layers of clothing and the poncho that kept him dry, the wind leached his body heat away and he shivered.
    He’d left the two thermos bottles in the truck. Great. He’d give a lot for a cup of coffee pretty damn soon, but no way was he going back for it. He wiped the wind-blown ice crystals from his face. Maybe Lollipop would have coffee. If she did, it would probably be some flavored shit, but if it was hot he’d drink it.
    That’s assuming she’d let him inside.
    As Gabriel neared the house he pulled his anger in, a little. A lot of years had passed since Lolly had been the spoiled stuck-up brat teenager he remembered. He wasn’t the same, and she probably wouldn’t be either. It wasn’t her fault the sheriff was a control freak where his people were concerned. Most lawmen would’ve been content to assume his constituents could take care of themselves, until informed otherwise. Not Harlan McQueen.
    All the lights in the downstairs appeared to be on, as was one light upstairs, in the front room on the right. There was a Mercedes SUV parked beside the front porch, and behind was an old, beat-up Blazer. He could see Lolly driving the Mercedes, but who the hell did the Blazer belong to?
    Shit, maybe she had some kind of romantic rendezvous going on. What was he supposed to do now? She wouldn’t want to be interrupted, and he sure as hell didn’t want to do any interrupting. His only other option, though, was to walk back to the truck and spend the night there, hoping that there was enough gas in the tank to keep the truck running most of the night so he wouldn’t freeze to death, at the same time praying that he—and the truck—didn’t get crushed by a falling tree limb. So he guessed Lollipop would have to be pissed.
    Tough shit.
    Then he frowned at the two vehicles. That was weird. Why was the Mercedes parked out in an ice storm, when the garage was right there at the rear of the house? Why hadn’t she parked in there, to protect her vehicle?
    Instinctively he switched off his flashlight.
    Before he stepped onto the porch steps, Gabriel slipped into a deep shadow and came to a dead stop. Ice danced around him, peppered his face, stuck to his coat and boots and gloves. Something wasn’t right. He’d spent a long time in law enforcement, albeit the military version, and he’d learned to listen to his instincts. Right now, everything in him was telling him to approach with caution. Maybe there was nothing going on other than some screwing, but he wanted to make certain before he knocked on that door. At the very least, his dad had been wrong about Lolly being up here all alone.
    Keeping to the shadows, Gabriel moved to the end of the porch and up the steps. It was an old wooden porch, and he stepped carefully, keeping to the edge of the planks where it was less likely there would be any squeaks. He didn’t approach any of the windows, but shifted around until he could look past the partially open curtains into the living room where several lights burned, illuminating the man and the woman there.
    The man looked as if he belonged to the truck. He was scruffy, thin, rough-looking, and dressed in clothes that bagged on him, as if he’d lost weight—either that, or they weren’t his. The woman, who Gabriel could only see from behind, was painfully thin herself. Stringy dark hair fell down her back. Faded jeans bagged where her ass should be.
    Lolly’s hair was brown, but had she lost forty pounds, and taken up with a loser? Gabriel surveyed the rest of the room, and his gaze fell on the paraphernalia that was spread across the coffee table.
Shit!
He knew what he was looking at, and his gut tightened. If that was her, she’d started using meth, as well. No wonder she was so painfully thin.
    No way in hell. His dad would have noticed something like that, known if Lolly had gotten into meth. The drug was wreaking havoc all over the country, and even in the military he had to deal with the shit. It turned