Witches of Three: Charlene by Temple Hogan Read Free Book Online Page A

warmth and strength. Now that the danger had passed and Geronimo was going to be okay, she could give in to the guilt that assailed her.
    “It’s my fault,” she said, weeping against his shoulder. “I should have followed him out of the car, no matter what he said.”
    Nick rocked her, pressing kisses against her hot, moist cheek and temple.
    “You couldn’t have known,” he murmured, tightening his hold on her.
    “But if I’d been out of the car, with my weapon visible, the punk might not have fired. He would have known he had a good chance of being shot himself.”
    “You followed your senior partner’s instructions—” Nick began but was interrupted by the door being flung open. Ralph Latimer stood in the doorway glaring at them. Charlie pulled in a sharp breath and stepped back.
    “I’m sorry to cry on your shoulder, Captain,” she said as if Ralph weren’t even there. “That wasn’t very professional of me.”
    “That’s okay, Spencer,” he replied, his tone betraying nothing of the feelings between them. “Go home and get some rest.” He turned to Ralph. “Did you want something, Latimer?”
    Ralph looked from one of them to the other, his gaze saying he didn’t know what to believe about what he’d just seen. Charlie made a show of drying her eyes, even managed a hiccup or two as she walked to the door. She thought about giving Ralph a frontal lobotomy to erase his memory, but wasn’t sure that was the right part of the brain. She’d have to look that up. In the meantime, she turned back to Nick.
    “Thank you, Captain,” she said, making her voice as impersonal and straight out of the academy professional as she could. Nick nodded without looking away from Ralph.
    “What was she doing in here?” Ralph asked belligerently.
    “That’s none of your business,” Nick said evenly. “The question is what are you doing in here?”
    Ralph’s gaze darted around, landing on Charlie who still lingered in the doorway, tears drying on her cheek.
    “I’ll come back when you’re not preoccupied,” Ralph said sullenly and stalked off.
    “Latimer.” Nick’s stern voice brought him around. “Next time, try knocking on my office door when it’s closed. Got it?”
    Ralph nodded and headed to his desk. Nick exchanged a final glance with Charlie before going back to his desk. With a last glimpse at Ralph, she walked to the locker room and got her purse before heading out, but she carried the image of Ralph’s suspicious gaze. She tried to shove it away and concentrate on Geronimo’s condition. She went by the hospital and sat at his bedside, but he was too heavily sedated for her to talk to him. He would live, and she liked to think she’d had something to do with that. She’d done more than stop the bleeding and ease his pain while they’d waited for the ambulance, and for that, she was grateful to be a witch with special powers. That brought her back to Nick. She had to tell him the truth about herself. Troubled, she drove home and crawled into the shower.
    She was a failure, a total failure! She stood letting the warm water pummel her while she berated herself. When the water turned cool, she dried herself off then huddled in a heavy chenille bathrobe on her bed, wishing she could reverse time enough that the shooting hadn’t happened. But everyone knew, even the newspapers. The task was too big for her. When the doorbell rang, she knew instinctively it was Nick and hurried to open the door and throw herself into his arms. He held her for a long moment while she fought not to cry again. Then she stepped back and wiped her eyes. His strong shoulders were too tempting.
    “Have you had supper?” she asked. “I could whip up some eggs. It’s all I have in the house.”
    “Don’t bother, we’ll order in a pizza or something.” He took off his coat, draped it over the hall tree and followed her into the living room. Charlie switched on some lights.
    “Are you okay?” Nick asked, his