Read Online Never Say Spy by Diane Henders - Free Book Online

grave.  “Getting back to the point of this meeting.”  Helmand sobered immediately, and they both looked to me.
    “It was just a misunderstanding,” I assured them.  “I’m not interested in any arrests or disciplinary actions.  You were both doing the best you could, trying to save my butt, and I appreciate it.  If you’ll forgive me for beating on the good guys, we’ll call it even.”
    Neither man reacted visibly, but the air pressure around our table lightened by several tons.  “No harm, no foul,” Kane replied.
    I frowned.  “Yeah, that’s bothering me a bit.”  A tense pause made me hasten to explain.  “Maybe I should think about some self-defence classes or something.  I was fighting for all I was worth, and I did no serious damage at all.  I barely managed to get away from a guy who was actively trying not to hurt me.  Aydan Kelly, Lethal Weapon.”
    Hellhound chuckled hoarsely.  “Darlin’, if ya did any more damage, they’d be haulin’ me off in the fuckin’ bone wagon.”
    Kane regarded me seriously.  “You did fine.  You escaped from an assailant who was much larger than you.  You hit hard, and then you ran.  Those were the right things to do.  In fact, the only way you could improve on what you did would be to make more noise and try to do as much painful damage as possible.  You should be screaming and scratching.”
    “Screamin’ an’ scratchin’, an’ moanin’, ‘Oh, Hellhound, oh, baby!’” Hellhound added dreamily, batting his eyes at me.
    “You’re out of line, Helmand!” Kane snapped.
    But the ridiculous leer on Hellhound’s ugly face made me laugh out loud.  The sheer relief of being warm and safe had made me giddy, and I couldn’t resist.
    I shook my hair back sensuously and leaned across the table to give Hellhound the full bedroom-eyes treatment.  I made my voice throaty and breathy as I purred, “Oh, Hellhound, oh, baby!  Are you done already ?”
    Kane barked out a guffaw as Helmand’s jaw dropped.  At his look of frozen shock, both Kane and I started to laugh in earnest.  After another moment of paralysis, Hellhound joined in, bellowing like a laryngitic bull while we all convulsed with mirth, blowing off stress.
    When we subsided, Helmand wiped his eyes.  “Darlin’, if ya gimme those big brown eyes an’ say my name like that one more time, I will be done already!”
    It had to be done.  “Oh, Hellhound ,” I breathed, giving it all I had.
    He threw back his head and let out a guttural grunt.  Then he winked at me.  “Darlin’, I’m done for the night.”  He got up and laid a couple of toonies on the table for his coffee.
    “Ride safe,” I told him.
    He looked surprised.  “Always do, darlin’.  Later, Cap,” he said to Kane, and left.  We listened to the Harley erupt to life and roar off into the night.

Chapter 9  
     
    “Why does he call you Cap?” I asked, emboldened by our shared laughter.  “I get the feeling you two go back a long way.”
    “We were in the Forces together.  I dared him to join the army when we were both eighteen, and he couldn’t back down,” Kane responded.
    “So I take it you made Captain.”
    ‘Yes, that was as high in the ranks as I wanted to advance.  The upper ranks have too much paperwork and bureaucracy.”
    I shot him a quizzical look.  “I could have sworn I heard a drill sergeant back in the parking lot.”
    Kane chuckled.  “That would be my dad.”
    I laughed and shook my head.  “I can’t imagine Hellhound saluting anybody.”
    Kane laughed, too.  “He has issues with following orders, as you may have noticed.  He used to keep his nose clean for a while and advance a rank, and then he’d get in trouble and get busted back to Private again.  By the time he got out, he’d made Corporal for about the third time.”
    “How did he ever end up as a private investigator?”
    “I left the Forces a year or so before he did and went into RCMP training.  It was