Read Online Every Breath She Takes by Norah Wilson - Free Book Online Page B

think she made the erotica writer bit up to titillate him. How humiliating would that be? She’d painted herself into a corner.
    “EMT,” she said, then took a hasty swallow of her coffee. Well, she wasn’t lying. Her knowledge of poison control did come largely from her paramedic experience.
    “EMT?” His forehead wrinkled.
    “Emergency medical technologist. Before I moved to Halifax, I worked with a rural volunteer ambulance service. But then they upgraded, got rid of all the volunteer services in favor of a paid professional corps, and that was the end of my stint. I haven’t worked on people in years.”
    Lauren almost bit her tongue at the last bit, but if he wondered what she did work on these days, he didn’t ask. Instead he gestured toward the cosmetic bag.
    “What do you make of this stash?”
    She pursed her lips. “It seems fairly comprehensive for a young, healthy woman.”
    “Diplomatically put.” He extracted one of the tiny bottles. “Personally I’d say my ex-wife has a honkin’ big drug problem.”
    “She wouldn’t be the first to abuse prescription drugs.”
    “No doubt.” He rolled the bottle in his hand. “But I’ve got a hunch the prescription route wasn’t her first choice.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “I doubt she spent her whole settlement, plus whatever she borrowed from the loan shark, on drugstore highs. I’m thinking she must have developed a taste for the recreational stuff, then turned to prescription drugs when the money ran out. Not that it matters.” He poked the bottle back in the bag with the others. “She’ll be doing without any of it as long as she stays here.”
    Lauren said nothing, merely stared into her coffee cup.
    She heard the legs of his chair scrape across the floor as he pushed back from the table. “What?” he demanded roughly.
    “I didn’t say anything.”
    “You don’t have to.” He snapped up the cosmetic bag, dangling it by its grip. “You think I should give this back to her?”
    The intensity of his gaze reminded her of the angry energy of the Atlantic when the tail end of a hurricane stirred it up. She found it disturbing to watch the ocean then, just as she found it disturbing to hold Cal’s gaze now. But hold it she did.
    “I have the impression you’re planning to hustle her out of town again as soon as this loan shark thing blows over.”
    “Damn straight I will.”
    Lauren strove for the right words. “Underneath her…exuberance, she seems very…I don’t know…emotionally shaky. Do you think it’s fair to set yourself up as her keeper when you’re planning to cut her loose?”
    “Fair?” He pinned her with that gray gaze. “How about just keeping her alive? With a stash like this, we could find her OD’d in her bed any morning. Or she could kill herself pulling somereckless trick like she did yesterday, flying down that bluff.” He pushed his coffee cup aside and blinked. “Shit, what if she hurt someone else while under the influence? It would ruin me.”
    Of that she had no doubt. He’d do everything in his power to keep Marlena safe while she was on his ranch. With so much on the line, he wouldn’t let bad publicity kill his business.
    “Hell, Lauren, I know what you’re thinking, but this isn’t some kind of power trip.” He stood and deposited his empty mug in the sink, then turned to her, his posture rigid. “I can’t give those drugs back to her. Besides the fact I don’t want to see her kill herself, I’d be putting other people at risk every time she put a foot in a stirrup. The ranch…”
    “I understand.”
    “And there’d be no confining her to the house. She’d sooner give herself up to that thug who’s chasing her than to sit around inside.”
    “I know. You’re right.”
    “She’s a good horsewoman, but ripped out of her head on—” He stopped, blinked at her. “Wait a minute, did you say you understood?”
    “I did. You’re right.”
    “I am?”
    “The stakes are high.