Too Charming by Kathryn Freeman Read Free Book Online

‘Clever move, Mum. You think I don’t know you’re about to interrogate me?’
    Her mother chuckled. ‘You leave your precious daughter in the hands of a man we’ve never heard of and you think you won’t get an interrogation?’
    Sighing, Megan stood up. ‘Really, there isn’t anything going on between Scott and me.’
    ‘Would you like there to be?’
    ‘No.’ Her reply was firm and quick, but it gave her a little jolt to realise it wasn’t entirely true. The man she’d had a glimpse of today – the one that could be lurking behind the glib lawyer with the self-assured good looks – had intrigued her. She’d never have believed Scott capable of patiently teaching a young girl how to draw, not if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. Was it all just part of his charm offensive? First he’d demonstrate his soft side, then he’d start reeling her in? She wished she knew, wished that she didn’t feel like a fish on the end of his bait, flapping around trying not to get caught, but sensing that ultimately it was futile.
    Her mother was looking at her knowingly. ‘It’s about time you started living a bit, Meg. Your father and I worry about you. A young, attractive woman like you shouldn’t be coming home to her parents every night.’
    ‘I don’t. I come home to my daughter. And you know perfectly well I can’t just go out on the town whenever the whim takes me, dating any man who takes my fancy. I’ve got Sally to consider.’
    ‘Consider, yes,’ her mother replied gently. ‘Hide behind, no.’
    Megan winced, but thankfully the arrival of her father and Sally saved her from having to reply. Just as well, because the conversation had all the hallmarks of turning into a full-scale argument: one she’d had with her mother several times over the last few years. Of course it was true that Megan hadn’t really dated, at least not seriously, since Luke had left her over three years ago. A few men had tried to get close to her, including those that had a bizarre fetish for female cops. Pretty soon she’d realised their interest lay solely in getting her into bed. Probably imagining her using the handcuffs. Then there had been the other extreme. The men who, when they’d found out she was a cop, had been totally put off. Intimidated. Sadly no one had fitted into that healthy middle ground: finding her attractive for who she was, and respecting what she did.
    The sad truth was that three years was a long time to be without a stable man in her life. Apparently not long enough for her to forget the joy of being touched, kissed, caressed. Loved. Or the heartbreak of finding out that the loving was all one-sided. That was something she wasn’t in a rush to experience again.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Scott had never been happier to reach Friday afternoon. The week had been a tough one. In between court appearances, he was having a hard time trying to put together a defence for his latest case, Kevin Rogers. Accused of raping a prostitute, Rogers was a belligerent man who Scott couldn’t see any jury warming to. Especially the women. But beneath the aggressive manner, Scott had a strong feeling there was some truth in what the man was saying. It wasn’t hard to understand why the police might, if Rogers was correct, have resorted to some shady practice in order get their suspect put away. Clearly he’d been in trouble in the past, and by all accounts wasn’t exactly up for a man of the year award. Indeed, the prostitutes questioned had all declared he was rough, often hostile and rarely paid up. But being a mean bastard didn’t automatically imply that Rogers had committed rape. At least not in Scott’s book. The man had been charged with a similar crime a few years back, but just before the case came to court the victim had withdrawn her statement. Though the feeling from the prosecution team had been that she’d been leant on, Rogers insisted it was the other way round. That the so-called victim had