Read Online Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] by Dead or Alive - Free Book Online

thank-you for saving me from these breeches with teeth."
    "I said I was sorry, didn't I? If I'd realized you'd never seen, never worked a zipper before, I would have—"
    "Done it for me before I screamed for your help?" Remembering the humiliation of having Lori free him while he gritted his teeth against the pain was even worse than the lingering smarting of his flesh—minus a small thatch of hair.
    "Next time you'll know how to do it yourself," she assured him. "Just like the next time you turn on the television—that is, the one I have left—"
    "I will replace what I destroyed," he informed her. "I do have some bit of gold with me. Not much, but there should be ample to compensate you."
    "But I don't want your money."
    "No more than I want your beggar's treatment of me."
    "Beg-beggar's treatment of you!"
    "Call it what you wish, but I am dependent upon your goodwill." He thumped a finger to his chest. "I am a man. I take pride in being the master of my own destiny. Therefore, I can hardly call this state of breathing, and stumbling about as if I've suddenly been rendered blind, living. What you have given me is not life —it is a nightmare beyond belief."
    She jabbed a finger of her own to his chest. "Do you know how lucky you are to be alive? Damn lucky. How many people cheat the grim reaper and get a second chance to enjoy all that life has to offer? Not many, Noble. Not many. And those who do usually consider themselves blessed to smell a flower again, to see a rainbow or a baby's smile. They even give thanks for the simple pleasure of tasting a hot bowl of soup."
    "Have you ever considered taking to the stage?" He stared at her finger then lifted her hand and dropped it with the delicate disdain reserved for a soiled handkerchief. "Given your impassioned delivery of that moving little speech, I do believe you've missed your true calling."
    He smiled. Politely. Her jaw worked back and forth. My, but he was beginning to enjoy himself. Perhaps Lori was right and he might yet be glad for this second chance at life.
    "Know what? I should've left you on ice. Lord knows it wasn't any colder than you are."
    "Oh yes, I agree. You absolutely should have left me there." Lightly, ever so lightly, he patted her grinding jaw. Was that a hiss he heard? He thought it was, bless her. "I believe you are beginning to understand, Lori. You see, despite your good intentions, I can offer you no gratitude for what I am not in the least grateful for."
    "Should I take that to mean you'd rather be dead?"
    "How very astute you are, my dear woman."
    "You jerk," she seethed. "Life is a gift. How dare you spit in its face."
    She snatched up his uneaten bowl of soup, marched to the sink, and dumped the contents down the drain. With a strike of her hand to the wall, a hideous gnashing sound commenced. "This is a garbage disposal!" she shouted over the noise.
    She turned it off, opened a black portal, threw in the bowl, and snapped, "this is a dishwasher! I hope you were watching closely because the next time you can do it for yourself. Same thing goes for the pants, because the next time you get snagged in a zipper I sure as hell won't work it loose for you, you—you—oooohh!"
    Noble savored her outburst with far more appreciation than he had her soup. It fed his need for the familiar, the revenge that flowed in his blood. It also fed his desire for this livid creature, so glorious in her wrath.
    "What a provocative woman you are," he saidwith sincerity. "As much or even more so now as when we were in the tub. By the way, you will return me my gun now."
    "Why do you want it?" she demanded with a nervous tap of her foot. "So you can kill my other television before you blow your brains out?"
    He hadn't thought about that option of escape. It was viable, but he deemed suicide cowardly and a coward he was not.
    The rapid flitting of emotions revealed in her transparent face captivated him, lured him to pause and study her at length. He found it