Just After Midnight: Historical Romance by Lori Handeland Read Free Book Online Page B

of muscled chest and arms revealed through the lightweight white shirt the lieutenant wore. Most of the men Megan had been acquainted with were soft and running to fat from sedentary living in saloons and gambling halls. The obvious care Alex took with his body created an unfamiliar stir in the pit of her stomach.
    A cheer from the crowd drew Megan’s concentration back to the race. Alex moved up until he matched step for step with the gambler. The youthful miner had increased his lead to several lengths, while the rest of the runners fell far behind. Some of the men dropped off to the side, walking away from the race in favor of the cold drinks being served from street-side vendors.
    Megan craned her neck to see down the street, and at that moment the three leaders turned the corner and disappeared from view. She settled back with the rest of the crowd to wait until they reappeared at the opposite end of Front Street. Cheers from people on the next street told of the progress of the race.
    Lord, I hope that horrid gambler doesn’t win , she thought.
    All she needed was to spend a day in the heat next to that smell. She could do without the young miner, too, for that matter. She had no desire to fend off his youthful exuberance and groping fingers. Megan looked up the street for the runners, surprised to realize she wanted to see Alex in the lead. Only as the lesser of three evils, she told herself firmly.
    Three runners rounded the corner and the crowd roared. The sun shone into Megan’s eyes too brightly to identify which man led the pack. The excitement of the moment caught Megan. Heat hovered and shimmered above the damp earth as the hoots, stamps, and whistles of the crowd echoed through the open air. She could smell the tension in the sweat and excitement of the multitude of observers. Everyone tilted forward, all eyes focused on the three runners pounding toward the finish line.
    Megan leaned over the railing, hands gripping the wood, eyes straining to see Alex. The three men burst into the shadow of The Celebration and her heart lurched.
    Alex was in second, the gambler in the lead. The miner ran fast on the heels of the Mountie. Alex’s arms pumped as his powerful legs strove toward the finish line. His face was set in concentration toward the single goal of overtaking the man in the lead. Megan’s hands clenched as she chanted under her breath, “Faster, faster, faster.”
    As if he’d heard her, Alex grimaced and shot ahead, close on the heels of the man before him; but the finish line loomed too near. He could never make it.
    Megan wanted to reach out and push him forward the few inches needed to put him in the lead. In the end, Alex did not need her help. With a smile that said he had been holding back his true talent all along, Alex dove past the finish line a second before the gambler, leaving the miner to finish third.
    People surged forward and she lost sight of him. Megan let out the breath she held, and a wave of dizziness rushed over her with the return of fresh air to her lungs. Someone took her arm and led her down the porch steps toward the crush surrounding Alex. The crowd parted in front of her and soon she stood in front of him, unsure of what to do.
    “Your prize, Lieutenant,” said the man who had rung the starting bell.
    Megan’s head jerked up, and her startled gaze met Alex’s amused blue eyes. She opened her mouth to tell them all that she would rather dine with the devil himself than Alex Carson, but before she could utter a sound, the object of her wrath grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her soundly on the lips.
    Every word of fury she had planned to utter flew back down her throat at the touch of his mouth on hers. Alex kissed her hard and long, a kiss of victory more than passion, still the sensations reached all the way to her curling toes. If she had known a kiss could be like this, she would have tried one years ago.
    But when the hoots and whistles from the crowd finally