Read Online Present Danger by Susan Andersen - Free Book Online

out of her league.
    “Perhaps I shouldn’t have said what I said,” she told him in a stiff little voice, “but I wasn’t fishing for an offer to be sexually coached, so you can relax. Nor am I harboring any secret designs on your body, and believe me, I’m not looking to trap any man. In fact, the only thing you and I most likely have in common, Mister Ryder, is a deep-seated desire to avoid commitment.”
    Something in her expression made James remember the vicious abuse that had been done to her face, and for the first time, he really wondered about it. What kind of a man could apply his fists to that face? But then she gave him a polite, social smile and he let it slip away, sure he didn’t want to know anyway.
    “Forget what I said about wanting an affair, okay?” she requested in a cool little voice. “It was a stupid thing to blurt out to a man I barely know.” She laughed suddenly, a deep, rich sound. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to have a serious conversation with a person who has an ax sticking out of his head?”
    He grinned at her cockily and tipped an eyebrow again, making the hatchet move.
    Someone pounded on the door and Aunie jumped. “You expecting someone?” James asked.
    “No.” Her eyes were huge as she returned his look. “Except for Otis and Lola, I don’t really know anyone in this town; I haven’t lived here long enough to meet very many people.”
    James noted her sudden tension. He also noticed when she casually palmed a small, sharp pair of scissorsoff the nightstand and slipped them into her back pocket. Frowning, he stuck close to her as he followed her out into the living room.
    She opened her front door cautiously. There was a large man standing on her threshold, scratching his head as he looked down at her. He looked vaguely menacing, with his unkempt hair in need of a cut, his huge barrel chest and stomach. He was wearing a pair of threadbare jeans that sagged in the seat, an old, stretched-out, no-color T-shirt with a faded Harley Davidson logo on the chest, and a ratty denim vest. There was a tattoo of a rose-entwined dagger on his forearm. He looked vaguely familiar, but she was certain they’d never met. Perhaps it was only that he reminded her of pictures she had seen of members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang. She looked up at him uncertainly. “May I help you?”
    “Jimmy here?” He had a surprisingly melodious voice. “Otis’s old lady said he might be.”
    “My brother,” James informed her without enthusiasm when she glanced at him over her shoulder.
    Of course, that was where she’d seen the man before—going into James’s apartment. She opened the door fully, smiling up at him. “Come in.”
    “Thanks.” He lumbered through the doorway. “I’m Bob. Hey, Jimmy.” He stared at the hatchet in his brother’s forehead. “Gawd Almighty, boy, ain’t you ever gonna grow up?”
    “No,” James replied shortly. Hell of a question, he thought sourly, from a guy who—unless he missed his guess—was here either to borrow money or have his younger brother help untangle him from the latest mess he’d gotten himself into. “Aunie, this is my brother Bob. Bobby, Aunie Franklin.”
    “How nice to meet a member of James’s family,”Aunie said with the graciousness that had been instilled in her from birth. “How do you do?” She offered her hand.
    It was swallowed up in his large, meaty grasp. “I’ve had better days, little lady. But it’s nice meetin’ a pretty little thing like you.”
    “We’ll get out of your hair, Aunie,” James interrupted. “C’mon, Bobby; let’s go down to my apartment.”
    “Thanks for the help with my lamp,” Aunie said, and then blushed when she remembered how unnecessary his help would have been if she had used an ounce of common sense and changed the bulb when it burned out.
    Bob grinned at the high color in her cheeks, misinterpreting its meaning. Aunie saw him elbow James as they started