Read Online Truth and Consequences by Linda Winfree - Free Book Online Page B

expression sent an ache through her abdomen again.
    This idea was the craziest she’d ever had. Getting to know him in an attempt to persuade him to open up about the chase and its aftermath. Back in the kitchen, she tossed ice in two glasses and grabbed the pitcher of iced tea. She closed her eyes for a moment. Who are you kidding? You just want to know him, period. He intrigues you, and it’s been so long since anyone did that you’re willing to risk everything.
    She should tell him it was all a mistake, tell him to go. The lab results would come in, the autopsy reports, and they’d have Jim Ed. She didn’t need to do this.
    The truth was she wanted to. Her lungs closed, panic rising in her throat. Her career was all she had left, and she was throwing it away with this crazy course of action.
    “Anything else?” His tenor drawl jerked her from the abyss.
    Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him, sure from his watchful expression that he could see her fear and uncertainty. Feeling raw and exposed, she shoved the glasses at him. “Just these.”
    He stared down at her for a long moment before turning on his heel and striding out of the kitchen. Kathleen sagged against the counter, her heart pounding a sickening rhythm against her ribs. When had everything gotten so out of control?
    * * *
    Kathleen laid her fork down by her plate. A breeze played along the deck, lifting fern fronds, ruffling the edges of Jason’s brown hair. He ate with excellent table manners, but also with the appreciation of true hunger. They’d talked during the meal, of topics far removed from what she knew was uppermost in both of their minds.
    He described some of the far-flung places the army had sent him and asked questions about novels on her shelves. He was sharply intelligent, possessed a quick wit and cut straight to the heart of a topic. Everything she liked in a man.
    She just didn’t want to find it in this man.
    “Why Haynes County?” she asked and watched him freeze.
    He took a sip of his tea and shrugged, and she knew he was giving himself time to formulate an answer. “It’s home.”
    “Jason.” He glanced at her, his green eyes guarded. “That’s not what I asked and you know it. There are other departments. Stanton Reed has been hiring left and right.”
    His mouth twisted in a grim semblance of a smile. “Reed’s looking for knights in shining armor. Let’s just say my background isn’t sparkling clean enough.”
    “But you don’t have to—”
    “Kathleen.” He dropped his fork by his plate, the line of his jaw tight. “I’m no Tick Calvert—you know, local football hero, valedictorian, FBI award recipient. I’m just what I am. A Haynes County boy who didn’t make it so good in the real world. I needed a job and Jim Ed came through for me. I owe him.”
    The words shivered through her. “Enough to lie for him?”
    “I told you. I didn’t see anything.”
    “I know what you told me. I want the truth.”
    “The truth is that I don’t know what happened. I didn’t see it.”
    She sat back. “Would you tell me if you had?”
    “Do you really want me to answer that?” His mouth firmed. He glanced away, then back at her, his eyes the color of a rough sea. “Look, Kathleen, I want to see you again. But you have to take me for what I am.”
    Anger flushed through her. Arrogant son of a bitch. “You’re assuming a lot, aren’t you? This wasn’t a date, Harding. I invited you to dinner because…because…”
    “Let me guess. Because you felt sorry for me and you thought you’d get out of me the information you think I have.” The chair scraped against the deck and he tossed his napkin down. “Thanks for the meal, Palmer.”
    He strode toward the steps. Kathleen shoved up from the table and followed. The idea was get close to him, use him to get inside Thatcher’s operation. Not piss him off and push him away. “Wait.”
    “Why?” He turned on her, color high on his cheekbones. “You