Trouble with the Law by Tatiana March Read Free Book Online Page A

the guesthouse.
    When the party broke up, Justine bristled with unease. She ought to have been relieved that Mark had charmed everyone, including her boss, but instead it rankled that he fit so easily into her world.
    “I hope you didn’t mind my gate-crashing your event,” Mark said as they walked back toward Academy House. “It made sense to be seen together in public.” He reached for her hand and laced his fingers into hers. Justine tried to tug her hand free, but his hold tightened, and he slanted an amused glance at her. She told herself that for just a couple of blocks it didn’t matter.
    “I didn’t expect you to be so comfortable with strangers,” she said, carefully keeping her voice neutral.
    “I’m an elected county official. That makes me a politician as much as a law enforcement officer.”
    “I didn’t see you as someone interested in clothes.”
    “I’m not.” He steered her around a cluster of people arguing in the middle of the sidewalk. The night breeze had cooled the muggy August heat, and the city felt vibrant, with music pulsing through the open windows of the bars and restaurants, and horns blearing from a line of cars jostling at the traffic lights.
    “You could have fooled me.” She turned to run her assessing eye over his clothing. The soft black leather jacket draped beautifully against his muscular frame, and the white shirt emphasized his tanned skin and dark hair.
    “Someone else chose these for me. She works as a buyer for a fashion chain.”
    Justine’s brows snapped together as she recognized the sharp jolt of jealousy. What was it about Mark Taylor? In one short evening he’d put her through a whole gamut of emotions.
    “Who?” she asked, and hated herself for the display of weakness.
    He smiled down at her. “My sister-in-law.” A knowing look filled his eyes as he raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on the back of her wrist.
    “Don’t,” she said weakly. “This is a crisis situation, not a date.”
    “We might just as well enjoy it,” he said with a lazy shrug of his shoulders.
    They walked the rest of the way in silence. Justine felt her skin tingle as his fingers curled tight around hers, as though he suspected she might try to bolt before they reached their destination.

Chapter Seven

     
    The normally spacious elevator felt crowded with Sheriff Taylor standing beside her. He released her hand and appeared engrossed in the safety notice on the wall. Justine tried to block out the thoughts that bombarded her, but it didn’t work. Nervous anticipation made every nerve in her body throb.
    She closed her eyes and recalled the night they had spent together in the tiny guesthouse room. She had behaved with total abandon, offering herself to the man who was now nonchalantly studying the sign for the maximum number of occupants. She had begged him, urged him on, voiced her needs with impatient demands, and then screamed out her fulfillment. There was no way she could do the same now. Not when she was in her own apartment, back in her orderly life. For God’s sake, she was the kind of woman who drank cocoa before going to bed and telephoned her mother every week. She was not the kind of woman who had sex with strangers, but since of her job required her to put on a sophisticated front, most people didn’t realize the truth about her old-fashioned values.
    Justine blinked her eyes open as the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open. She caught Sheriff Taylor watching her, an amused tilt in one corner of his full mouth. A sudden flare of irritation surged through her as she realized that her apprehension must be posted like a news bulletin over her worried face.
    Easy for him to laugh. A man who slept around was seen as a stud, admired by his peers for the show of virility. A woman who did the same earned nothing but gossip and disapproval.
    “I don’t have a spare bedroom, but the sofa pulls out to a bed,” she informed him. Her nervousness