Read Online Bodyguard/Husband by Mallory Kane - Free Book Online

false cheerfulness as he came up beside her and kissed her quickly. “Who’s this?”
    Holly made herself link her arm with Jack’s. “Stanley, this is Jack O’Hara, my husband. Jack, Stanley Hanks. He takes care of the gym at the university.”
    Stanley nodded, his grin noticeably absent. “Hi, Jack. Nice to meet you. Well, I’d better go. It’s good you’re back, Holly.” His car pulled away from the curb.
    “How the hell did you sneak out of bed without me hearing you?” Jack demanded as Stanley drove away.

    She stared at him. He was dressed in crisp khaki pants and a white shirt. His hair was damp and combed, and his face was as dark as a thundercloud. How could he look so handsome and so angry at the same time?
    “Good morning to you, too,” Holly said to the back of his head as he turned to watch the disappearing car. “Dear,” she added pointedly.
    “We agreed that you would stick close to me.”
    “No. You decreed that I would stick close to you. We didn’t agree on anything.” Holly blotted sweat from her brow, thinking about the irony of their conversation. “And I didn’t sneak out of bed. You were obviously exhausted, because you were so sound asleep, a train wouldn’t have woken you.”
    “The fact remains that you shouldn’t be out here alone,” he muttered.
    “You’d better be careful in public, honey. Mrs. Ross will have it all over town by noon that we had our first argument right in front of her house this morning.” She smiled and waved in the direction of Mrs. Ross’s front porch, where that gray-haired lady stood ogling them.
    “This isn’t a joke.”
    Holly took a deep breath. “I know it isn’t a joke. But if you want to be inconspicuous, you’re not doing a very good job of it.”
    “I’d rather not attract attention, but that’s not my first priority. Your safety is. Listen to me. You cannot go out alone. The killer could be anyone. You could’ve run past him this morning without even realizing it.” He gestured in the direction Stanley’s car had gone, still scowling. “It could be that Stanley guy.”
    She stared at him. “Stanley?” She looked down thestreet, then back at Jack. “Stanley is sweet. He adores the little old ladies in my elderly aerobics class.”
    Jack looked at her sidelong. “From the way he was looking at you, I don’t think it’s the little old ladies he adores. Why wasn’t he on your list?”
    “List? Stanley? I’ve never dated Stanley.”
    Jack’s sharp icy gaze studied her. A memory flashed through her brain, and she felt her face turn pink.
    “Okay, he took me to the prom in high school, but that was only because Brad had injured his ankle. Brad told Stanley to take me so I wouldn’t miss the dance.”
    “So you knew him in high school, and you have dated him.”
    “It wasn’t a date.” She crossed her arms and glared at him, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Mrs. Ross had stepped off her porch onto the sidewalk, probably trying to hear better.
    “When I said I needed the name of every man, I meant every man,” he said tightly, the pending storm back in his expression as he rolled his mug between his palms. “You don’t decide whether to give me the name. You give it to me and I’ll decide.”
    She blew her breath out in an exasperated sigh. “Does that include Sunday school teachers? Baggers at the grocery store? People I smile at on the street? Don’t you understand? This is a close-knit community. I know everybody.”
    Jack scowled. “Be reasonable, Holly. But don’t be careless. It could be anybody.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay.”
    “And you don’t go anywhere without me. Is that perfectly clear?”
    “Yes, sir. But speaking of clear, the clear message your body language and the look on your face aresending is that you’re about to chew me up and spit me out,” she said, forcing a smile to her lips. “People are watching.”
    With an obvious effort, Jack relaxed his features and