Read Online See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson - Free Book Online Page B

while the Chinooks may have won the battles in the corners, they’d ultimately lost the war. Dallas’s deep offensive lines had taken advantage of every power play and peppered Luc with thirty-two shots on goal.
    This morning no one was saying much. Especially after the ass-ream they’d been given in the locker room by Coach Nystrom. The coach had closed the door on reporters and had proceeded to shake the cinder-block walls with his loud tirade. But he’d said nothing they hadn’t deserved. They’d drawn stupid penalties and paid the price.
    Luc folded the paper and stuck it beneath one arm. He unbuttoned his blazer as Ms. Alcott stepped from the revolving door to his left. The Texas sun bathed her in bright morning light, and a slight breeze played with the ends of her ponytail. She wore a black skirt down to her knees, a black blazer, and turtleneck. Her shoes were flat, and she carried that big briefcase of hers and a to-go coffee. She added to the visual assault by wearing an ugly pair of sunglasses on the bridge of her nose. They were round and green like a fly. Damn, but she was into looking sexless.
    â€œInteresting game last night.” She set her briefcase on the ground between them and looked up into his face.
    â€œYou liked that?”
    â€œLike I said, it was interesting. What was the team’s motto? ‘If you can’t beat ’em, beat ’em up?’”
    â€œSomething like that,” he said with a laugh. “What’s with all the gray and black you always wear?”
    She glanced down at herself. “I look good in black.”
    â€œNo, sweetheart, you look like the archangel of doom.”
    She took a sip of her coffee and said totally urbanely, as if he hadn’t hit a nerve, “I could live the rest of my life without fashion commentary according to Lucky Luc.”
    Or at least she tried for urbane. The bloom in her cheeks and her narrowed gaze behind those ugly glasses gave her away. “Okay, but . . .” He stopped and shook his head. He looked up at the sky and waited for her to take the bait.
    He did not wait long. “I know I’m going to regret this,” she sighed, “but what?”
    â€œWell, I just think that a woman who has trouble getting a man might have better luck if she dressed up the package a little. Didn’t wear ugly sunglasses.”
    â€œMy sunglasses aren’t ugly, and my packaging is none of your business,” she said as she raised her coffee to her lips.
    â€œSo only my business is open for discussion? Your business is off limits?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œYou little hypocrite.”
    â€œYeah, sue me.”
    He glanced down into her face and asked, “How’s the coffee this morning?”
    â€œIt’s fine.”
    â€œStill taking it black?”
    She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye and placed a hand over the lid. “Yes.”

Chapter 4
Good Wood: Jabbing with the Butt End of a Stick

    J ane was almost afraid to glance around her. This morning, looking at some of the Chinooks was kind of like looking at a train wreck. Horrifying, but she was unable to turn away. She sat near the front of the plane across the aisle from Assistant General Manager Darby Hogue, a copy of the Dallas Morning News opened to the sports page in her lap. She’d sent off her report of the previous night’s bloodletting, but she was interested in what the Dallas reporters had to say about it.
    Last night, she and the area sports reporters had gathered in the media room to wait for their chance to enter the Chinooks’ locker room. They’d drunk coffee and cola and eaten some sort of enchilada concoction, but when Coach Nystrom had eventually come out, he’d informed them all there were to be no postgame interviews.
    During the wait, the Dallas journalists had joked with her and shared war stories. They’d even told her which athletes gave