Read Online Melting the Ice by Loreth Anne White - Free Book Online

around her waist and led her down the cobbled walkway toward the Gazette office. “It would just be for a while, until I can figure out what’s going on.”
    “That’s ridiculous.”
    Yet, after her scare this morning, after what he’d revealed at the bistro, she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
    He kept her close with his arm. Solid, fluid strength, guiding her down the path. But what path? Where in hell were they headed?
    “Rex,” she whispered. “I don’t want a bodyguard.”
    “Well, you got one.”
    She slipped out from under his possessive hold and climbed the concrete stairs ahead of him, pushing open the glass door with the White River Gazette logo emblazoned on the front.
    She marched in without holding the door open behind her. She had a photograph of Danny on her desk and she wanted to make sure he didn’t see it. Not now. She didn’t want to have her precious boy play any part in this. She herself couldn’t seem to grasp what was happening.
    “Hey, Hannah. Didn’t expect you in today. It’s been like a train station this morning.”
    She stopped short. “Georgette?”
    Hannah hadn’t anticipated seeing anyone at the Gazette reception desk on this weekend morning, especially not the village gossip. “I didn’t think you’d be in, either.” She turned to motion to the arrogant man in her wake. “That’s Rex.” She didn’t use his last name. She didn’t want Georgette putting two and two together and linking little Daniel Logan McGuire with this man. She had a hunch Al had already made the connection. She sure didn’t need the town windbag to do the same. “I need to show him some archived stories on Amy’s disappearance. Rex, this is our superefficient office coordinator, Georgette.” Hannah started to make for her office down the corridor, anxious to slip that photograph of Danny into her drawer.
    “Archives, huh?” Georgette called after her. “That’s what Al and that freelance writer were after earlier today.”
    Hannah stopped dead in her tracks, spun round to face Georgette. “What freelance writer?”
    “Mark Bamfield. He met Al here this morning.” Georgette chuckled, turning her smile up a few watts for Rex. “And there I was thinking I’d have a peaceful Saturday doing catch-up.”
    “Don’t worry. We won’t disturb you, Georgette.” Rex flashed that sharp white smile of his at the office coordinator, and Hannah felt something twist inside her gut.
    Georgette tilted her chin and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “No problem, Rex. Take as long as you like.”
    Hannah stalked off to her office, leaving Georgette batting her eyes at Rex. So he had a way with the ladies. Little did they know he was a love-’em-and-leave-’em cad who sneaked off in the dark. The sooner they got to the bottom of this business, and the sooner he got out of her life, the better.
    Hannah scooped Danny’s picture off her desk and slipped it into her purse.
    “What’s the big rush?” She heard Rex behind her and jumped. The newsroom seemed to shrink in his presence.
    “Uh, I’m worried that Bamfield…Mitchell whoever, has gotten to the files.” She spoke quickly as she booted up the computer and seated herself in front of the terminal.
    “Well, no amount of rushing now is going to change that.” Rex pulled up a chair and squeezed it in beside Hannah’s.
    He was invading her space again. Her chest felt tight.
    “Perhaps you could shift over just a tad, or do you plan on doing this yourself?” he said.
    She glared at him and edged her chair over an inch. He pulled his seat in, bringing his arm almost into contact with hers. They sat side by side looking at the computer screen as it crackled to life. She could feel it, the intensity, the energy mushrooming warm between them. It raised the fine hair along her limbs in little goose bumps. She rubbed her arms.
    He said nothing. The silence was thick.
    She cleared her throat. “Where do you want to