Saving Allegheny Green by Lori Wilde Read Free Book Online

beaten.”
    “Scumbag.”
    “I can’t arrest him if your sister won’t press charges. Could you talk to her?”
    “Me?” I laughed. “She never listens to me.” My Lean Cuisine dinged in the microwave. I gazed longingly at the pizza.
    Conahegg opened the box. The aroma of garlic, onions and oregano filled the room. “Have a slice,” he invited.
    Pepperoni. My favorite.
    “Is this a bribe?” I asked.
    “Why, Ms. Green, what you must think of me.”
    If he only knew!
    I took the pizza.
    “Listen,” Conahegg said, his eyes on my face. “The truth is, I wanted to warn you about Marchand. Don’t mess with him. If you see him on your property call me immediately.”
    “Okay.”
    “I mean it.” He laid one hand across the top of mine.
    I froze in midchew. Holy Toledo, what the man could do to me with a single touch. To hell with Dooley Marchand. I was in danger of spontaneous combustion from close bodily contact with Conahegg.
    “Hear me?”
    I swallowed. Hard. “All right.”
    “And tell your sister to watch out for Mr. Hughes’s wife.”
    “Oh? You know about Darlene?”
    Conahegg’s pupils widened. “I know about everything that goes on in town.”
    “I’ll consider myself warned.”
    “Darlene Hughes has been in prison for the last thirteen months. Three weeks ago she was paroled.”
    I hated to ask. “What for?”
    “Assault with a deadly weapon.”
    “Why am I not surprised?” I thought of the hard-eyed, bottle blonde with a penchant for Marlboros.
    “She stabbed Rocky’s last girlfriend in the neck with a rat-tail comb. Be careful, Ally, there’s a lot of unsavory characters hanging around your sister.”
    Be careful? Did that mean he cared? Oh, why was I torturing myself? What was happening to me? I didn’t pine over guys.
    “I know,” I said. Could he tell how I was feeling? Could he read desire in my face? Did he have the slightest clue that unflappable, sensible Allegheny Green was losing her perspective because of him?
    He leaned forward. “Sissy is in over her head.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Drugs.”
    “Oh come on. Aren’t you exaggerating a bit? So she smokes some pot.”
    Conahegg shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s more than that.”
    “I don’t follow.”
    “We had the hospital do a drug screen on Hughes and it came back positive for cocaine as well as marijuana. We also suspect he might be dealing to supplement his career as a musician.”
    “What career? As far as I know he’s never played professionally.” I polished off the slice of pizza, dusted my fingers on a napkin.
    “Exactly. How does he survive?”
    “Mooches off Sissy.”
    “And your sister paints artificial nails for a living.”
    “When she’s in the mood,” I said.
    “Not much money in part-time work like that.”
    I definitely didn’t like where the conversation was headed. “My sister is not involved with drug dealers.”
    “How do you know that for certain?”
    I didn’t want to dwell on my sister and her problems. Atleast not with Conahegg. I wanted to eat pizza and gaze into his granite-gray eyes and imagine what it felt like to be held in those strong, masculine arms. Great. Since when had I been reduced to romance-novel fantasies?
    “How’s Tim?” I asked, changing the subject.
    “Tim?”
    “You know, the naked guy you hit with your squad car.”
    “He posted bail.”
    “That was quick. Who sprang him? He’s broke and he doesn’t have much to do with his own family.”
    Conahegg shrugged. “I’m really not at liberty to discuss it.”
    “Oh.”
    So much for our chummy little conversation. I thought he’d come to see me but apparently he’d only been pumping me for information about Sissy and Rocky. Disappointment turned the pizza crust to sawdust in my mouth.
    Conahegg got to his feet. “Enjoy the pizza.”
    “I will,” I responded, feeling irritated with him. If I have to choke down every last bite.
    He stopped at the door. My treacherous heart