I'll Never Let You Go (Morgans of Nashville) by Mary Burton Read Free Book Online Page B

into the cold and slide behind the wheel of her car.
    He tossed a couple of twenties on the table and rose. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
    She gathered up her purse and coat. “You don’t have to. I’m right across the street.”
    “I’ll walk you.” He helped her on with her coat, opened the front door, and waited for her to pass through before allowing it to swing closed behind them. Across the street, the door to Rudy’s opened and closed. In a rush of music and flashing light, Deidre and her date sauntered out arm in arm.
    Leah envied the couple’s easy manner. Her back stiff, she started toward her car, her pace brisk as she fished her keys from her pocket and pushed the unlock button on the key fob. She opened the door, and he lingered back an extra half step. For a tense moment she thought he might kiss her. Normal women on first dates kissed their dates, right? A kiss, a touch, vulnerability, pain, and death.
    Alex held back a couple of steps. He watched her. Seemed to see fear and accept it as a fact to be filed away under Leah Carson . “Drive safe.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “For what?”
    “I’ve been a real lousy date, Alex. I’m sorry. I’m way out of practice.”
    A small shrug. “No worries, Leah. See you soon?”
    “You don’t have to check up on Tracker every day.”
    “But I will.” The patience humming under his tone coaxed her out of her shell a little further. “You want to go out with me again?”
    Fear hovered around her like a ghost. Stay behind the walls . But something she could not put into words challenged her to reach for more. Elbowing aside gnawing butterflies, she nodded. “I’d like that.”
    “Great. We’ll figure it out.”
    “Perfect.” She drove off, wondering if she’d lost her mind, all the while daring herself not to look in the rearview mirror, knowing he was watching.
     
     
    He sat and watched as his wife stood by her car and spoke to her date. The guy had dark hair and a trim build. A gust of wind had caught, blown back his jacket, and for a split second, the edge of a gun resting on his hip caught the moonlight before the guy tugged the coat’s edge back into place.
    This man was not a beat cop like he’d been. He had the look of a detective. “Moving up in the world, babe. The uniform isn’t good enough for you anymore.”
    Embers of rage, always warm and glowing, flared and flickered into a hot flame. His wife and the guy lingered, staring at each other. A smile flashed on her face, and he knew they’d be seeing each other again.
    “She’s my wife, dick.”
    This close he could see dick’s face. Keen interest sharpened the man’s gaze. No doubt he was thinking about getting into his wife’s pants.
    Irritated, he tore his gaze away and focused on the mission. He studied the text he’d just sent Leah: E MERGENCY AT THE CLINIC . C AN YOU COME INTO WORK ?
    “I might be a regular cop, but I found her number and I’m going to win this chess game, dick.”
    She slid into the front seat, started the engine, and rolled down her window. She glanced up, smiling, nodding, and drove off. Dick got into his car and drove off.
    He started his truck and shifted into first gear. Slowly, he turned onto Broadway and followed it until it branched right and turned into West End Avenue.
    The drive back to his wife’s town house took ten minutes, but of course he knew the way. He’d been watching the house since he’d arrived in Nashville a week before. Many a night in the last couple of weeks, he’d sat in the parking lot across the street and watched her town house. He’d gotten to know all her new habits.
    His wife arrived an hour later and parked in her reserved spot under the street lamp. She hurried from her car up the brick front steps of the town house, unlocked the door, and vanished inside. Lights clicked on, and though she’d already drawn the drapes, he could see her figure pass in front of the sliding glass door before the lights in her