Unforgiven (28 page)

“Good,” Mayor Turner said. “I’m calling a special session in two weeks. Ruth, make sure the meeting announcement is posted in all the appropriate places, and book the auditorium. Talk to Ms. Wentworth about the A/V setup she’ll need for the presentation. Folks, if you have any questions or ideas, feel free to contact Ms. Wentworth. For any other business, you can contact me, or any of the council members, or Chief Ridgeway.”

Lucas recognized the tone in his voice. Mayor Mitch “Sandbagger” Turner strikes again. What the hell was that crafty old bastard up to?

He’d barely had time to formulate the question in his head before he was surrounded by people with questions about the break-ins, information about suspicious activity occurring down every remote dirt road in the county, and a whole slew of other questions. He glanced past Don Walker’s shoulder at Alana, who was similarly surrounded. Mrs. Battle, the former English teacher who’d come out of retirement to work part-time at the library, stopped to talk to Alana before leaving.

Alana looked over Mrs. Battle’s head, straight at Lucas. Electricity sparked along the invisible connection between them, an involuntary tug of attraction he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

Ever so slightly he lifted one eyebrow at her.
Later?

She gave him a compact shake of her head, just enough to indicate
Not now,
and loosen her hair from its mooring behind her ear. The shiny blond strands slid forward in slow motion, setting off a sympathetic flex of his hand as the nerves remembered the sleek feel of her hair between his fingers, the curve of her hips in his palms.

If secrecy mattered to her, they could work something out. She’d leave in a couple of weeks, which was plenty of time for him to explore every nuance of her blushes. Hell, thanks to the plumbing, they had a good cover story to explain his being in her house.

Based on their chemistry, he had even better reason to be in her bed.