[Harlequin] - Kylie Brant - Captured Hearts (txt), Ksiazki, txt, ebook, pdf

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Captured Hearts by Kylie BrantShe went to bed alone — and woke up handcuffed to a sexy stranger!Chapter: | 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 20|Chapter 1:Bailey Reed woke from a dreamless sleep to find herself in the middle of a nightmare.The impersonal motel room was still dark, but she was no longer alone in it. The man stretched out on top of her was evidence of that.It was the weight of him, the heat, that had awakened her. For a frozen slice of an instant she stared into the stranger’s eyes, immobile. A moment later comprehension flooded through her with a dizzying rush, fueled in equal parts by terror and rage.She heaved beneath him, her limbs a flurry of defensive moves. He was ready for her. A hand clapped over her mouth even as she filled her lungs, and he easily dodged her sharply raised knee. He wasn’t as fortunate at evading her swift right jab. She landed a smart clip to his nose that had him muttering an inventive curse.“Geez, lady, give it a rest, will you?”She had no intentions of obeying. Even as he spoke, she was sinking her teeth into the hand covering her mouth and clamping down with vicious satisfaction.This time his invective was a bit more imaginative and a lot more vehement. He wrested his hand free and used it to yank hers above her head. “Go ahead and scream the place down,” he growled, even as she prepared to do just that. “You’ll just bring in security, who’ll call the police. You want to do things that way, it’s okay by me. But the senator wanted to give you a chance to handle this quietly.”Her screams tangled on her tongue, before sliding silently down her throat. She went still. “The senator?”“Senator Lloyd Parker.” She might not be able to see the stranger’s features clearly, but there was no missing the mockery in his tone. “You remember him, don’t you? Your employer for the past five years?”Bailey moistened lips that had gone suddenly dry. Her earlier fears that the man was a rapist, or worse, were no less intense than the panic spiking inside her now. “Who are you?”“The name’s Luke Sutton. I’m a private investigator Parker hired to find you and haul you back to D.C.”“Parker hired you?” She whispered the words, wished she didn’t believe them. Wished she hadn’t suspected all along that the senator had to be behind the chain of events that had sent her fleeing from the city. The last fragile thread of hope she’d been harboring snapped.“That’s right. Lucky for you that he wants to keep this whole mess under wraps. But I suppose you were counting on that, weren’t you? Your kind always figures all the odds before going for the big score.”She let the inaccuracy of his statement slide. There was a much more important point to clarify. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”“You know, I thought you might say that. That’s why I came prepared.” He raised his left wrist in the air, and puppetlike, her right wrist rose, as well. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist that you come back with me.”She stared, dumbfounded. Even in the shadows blanketing the room there was no mistaking the dull gleam of the metal chain, nor the bracelets at either end. In disbelief she tried to tug free, only to find it impossible.Bailey was handcuffed to the stranger.…Chapter 2:“Are you deranged?” Bailey demanded.It was obvious from the lethal quiet of her voice that she’d recovered from her momentary speechlessness at being handcuffed to him. Luke awkwardly twisted his body to reach across the bed with his free hand and switched on the lamp beside the bed. “Nope. Just determined to track down one Bailey Reed and deliver her to Senator Parker.” He blinked a little in the sudden glare of the lamp and adjusted it to a softer glow before turning back to her. “Don’t know what kind of name Bailey is for a woman. Sounds more like a man’s...”The rest of his sentence formed a hard ball in his throat and lodged. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, possible to mistake this female for a man. A riot of honey-blond hair tangled around her shoulders. She was glaring at him from narrowed eyes the color of freshly mown grass. Lust punched through his system, startling him with its intensity. It took more effort than it should have to shove it aside.Her appearance shouldn’t be a surprise after all. The senator had given him pictures of her. Luke had noted her attractiveness in the photos, but in a purely detached way. Seeing her in the flesh was something else entirely.And right now there was an interesting amount of flesh to be seen.As if noting the direction his gaze had taken, Bailey snatched the sheet to pull it back up to her shoulders, bare but for the thin straps of her nightgown. “You can’t just break into people’s motel rooms and kidnap them! That’s illegal.”The irony of her words was almost amusing. “Yeah, well, so’s blackmail, honey. But that didn’t stop you from the little scheme you tried to pull on Parker, did it?”Her jaw dropped. “Blackmail?”Luke had to give her credit for her acting ability, although Parker had warned him about that. She’d managed to deceive the senator for five years, and a wilier politician couldn’t be found in Washington. Word was Parker was next in line for the chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee. Positions like that weren’t granted to fools.“You can drop the innocent act. I know what you did, and so do the police. If it weren’t for Parker’s long friendship with your family, there would have been an APB out on you the moment you left his office.”“I never tried to blackmail anybody. And my family lives in Des Moines! They’ve never even met the senator!”His shrug was as casual as his tone. “You can work out the whole thing with the senator. My job is just to get you back to the capital. It’s your call. You can either come with me quietly, or I can turn you over to the cops.”There were too many emotions flitting across Bailey’s expressive face for Luke to identify any one of them. But it was certainly no hardship to try. She pushed the heavy fall of hair back from her face, and his gaze tracked the movement, lingered.“You’re bluffing.” Her words were flat, delivered like a dare. “Senator Parker couldn’t have gone to the police because there was nothing to report.”Luke cocked a brow. “Need proof? I’ve got it in my bag, so you’re going to have to cooperate a bit.” He sat up, tugging at the handcuffs to emphasize his meaning. She gathered the sheet around herself in a belated attempt at modesty, before they moved in uncoordinated tandem across the room.Kneeling in front of his bag, Luke withdrew a manila envelope, and shook out the piece of paper inside. When she gave a single strangled gasp, he gave the paper another glance. The photos of her at the top weren’t the most flattering, but that shouldn’t have come as any great surprise. Police mug shots rarely were.…Chapter 3:“I can’t believe this.” The shock Bailey felt sounded in her voice. “That’s not... I’ve never...”“Apparently it is, and you have.” Luke read the wording beneath the pictures. “Arrested three different times for shoplifting, twice for public intoxication, and, my personal favorite, once for solicitation.” When her body tensed with indignation he raised his free hand warningly. “I wouldn’t advise hitting me again. Next time I won’t be nearly as forgiving.”Bailey clenched her teeth and uncurled her fist. No, Luke Sutton didn’t seem like the forgiving sort. He didn’t seem like a man given to any softer feelings. In his faded jeans, scuffed boots, and long-sleeved black shirt, he looked disreputable and more than a little dangerous. His hair was a couple weeks past needing a trim, its rich brown given to a hint of a wave. The hard line of his jaw was stubbled, angling to a stubborn chin. Regrettably, his straight blade of a nose showed no signs of permanent damage from the blow she’d landed earlier.“You’ve got to believe me. This —” she reached for the paper and shook it for emphasis ”— is fake. I’ve never done anything criminal. I don’t have a record.”His piercing gray eyes were filled with derision. “Parker told me the only reason you haven’t ever spent jail time is because he’s come to your rescue. But you overstepped this time, sweetheart. Even an indulgent friend of the family isn’t going to stand still for a blackmail attempt.”Her mouth went dry. She’d like to believe it was from frustration, but there was panic clawing at her throat. “He must have used some of my ID photos to have this sheet printed. If you’d bothered to double-check, you’d have discovered that it’s phony.”“Really? Then I suppose you’ll be surprised to hear that I had a friend of mine in the D.C. police department run your name through its database.” His smile was completely lacking in humor. “He came up with the exact same information. Am I supposed to believe he’s lying, too?”She sank to the floor in a boneless heap, still clutching the paper.He squatted beside her. “Give it up, Bailey.” He was feeling something uncomfortably close to sympathy. “You screwed up, and you’re going to have to go back and face the consequences. Who knows? Maybe you and the senator will reach some sort of compromise.”She shook her head. “Whatever Parker is paying you, I’ll double it if you’ll let me go. I’ve got some money with me, and more in savings. What will it take?”“I figure you’ve got approximately $800 left from the grand you withdrew before skipping town.” Luke found a flicker of satisfaction at her stupefied expression. “And since that withdrawal depleted your savings, you wouldn’t have money to pay me off even if I was interested. Which I’m not.”... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Tematy