Lucky Charm by Valerie Douglas Read Free Book Online

was what he should be thinking about.
    There’d been only Matt’s word about the content of the phone call. A trace of the phone call would only have verified a call had been made. Even then Bill hadn’t been specific. He’d just asked Matt to come, to look at something he’d found. What it was even Matt didn’t know. So he’d kept his thoughts and suspicions to himself and begun his own investigation, with Darrin’s consent.
    He’d spotted the tail in San Diego, after he’d tried to check out Bill’s office. He thought he’d lost them when he’d gone to Sacramento, but he hadn’t. The three stooges, he called them. Larry, Moe and Curly. He’d hoped he’d lost them for good with this jump to the East Coast.
    Just the fact that they were there was all Matt needed to confirm that something indeed was going on. If only because they seemed grossly over-qualified for simple security.
    The three last night – Harpo, Chico and Groucho, for want of better names – were a different breed, probably part of Marathon’s standard security. He hadn’t expected them to be nearly so… aggressive. Or that they would set a trap for him. They were only supposed to be building security, little more than Rent-a-Cops. Those boys had been a lot more, and obviously they’d been forewarned.
    Even so, without the Taser and the shot to his head, they should never have taken him. He hadn’t been prepared for the ferocity of the attack and he’d been caught off guard.
    He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
    All his training in the service and since, all his expertise, and three goons had nearly taken him down. All because of his own arrogance, his own carelessness. Would have succeeded in taking him down if it hadn’t been for the woman beside him. It had been an exercise in stupidity. His own. He knew better. He was more than a little disgusted with himself.
    Matt had a pretty good idea what would have happened to him if Ariel hadn’t shown up. Another Bill. Dumped in an alley and written off as a mugging, random urban violence. Even with all his training. Now he knew how they’d taken Bill out. In the service he’d been a step above his old buddy and he’d learned a few more things since. He’d been damned stupid, damned careless… and damned lucky. Lucky that Ariel had turned up and lucky she’d had enough guts to go to bat for him. Literally.
    One thing was certain, though and that was that there was a lot more going on here than even he knew. Given that knowledge, he wasn’t getting her any more involved in this than she already was. He was pretty certain those men hadn’t gotten a good look at her. She’d been quick, resolute and incredibly brave.
    But she was in this as deep as he’d let her go.
    He shook his head. “Thank you for last night, for this but I’d better go.”
    Reluctantly, Matt turned away, pulled his clothes back on.
    Suddenly there was an awkwardness between them that hadn’t been there moments before.
    Ariel watched as he closed up, his eyes going opaque, his expression setting.
    She couldn’t decide how she felt about it. On the one hand, something within her had eased but something else had awakened again. There was an odd pang at the thought that she might never see him again and yet she had no right to expect anything different. He was a complete stranger.
    It’s probably for the best , she decided. She wasn’t certain she wanted to know, really.
    It had been wonderful, though.
    Had time dimmed the memory of lovemaking or had it truly been that good ? She wondered.
    Whichever it was, she was grateful for it. She’d forgotten what it was like to be touched, to make love, to feel that shattering pleasure.
    It was hard not to watch as he dressed or to think of anything else except how beautiful he was. It was almost a shame to cover up those long legs with jeans but he looked so good in them. He had a body for wearing nothing but denim, tight muscles with the dusting of hair rising in a