High School Reunion (24 page)
Read High School Reunion Online
Authors: Mallory Kane
He couldn’t stop staring at her. He watched a tear slide down her cheek to come to rest at the corner of her mouth. He wanted more than anything to lean forward and kiss it away.
She held up her hand. “So, now that I’ve humiliated myself, let me get going. I need to get to Memphis.”
He caught her hand and pulled her close enough that he could bend his head and capture the tear on his tongue.
She closed her eyes against the poignant pleasure of breathing in his rain-fresh scent.
“Think there’s any hope for the solid, honorable lunkhead?” he whispered against her mouth.
“I don’t know,” she croaked. “Maybe we can ask him.”
He gathered her into his arms and kissed her deeply and thoroughly. By the time he’d finished, she was flushed and dewy-eyed.
“I love you, Special Agent Gillespie.”
“You do? But it’s only been three days.”
He shrugged and shook his head. “Once I make up my mind, my dad says I can be pretty stubborn.”
“He’s right about that. Oh, Chief Dupree. I love you.”
He pressed his forehead against hers. “Of course you know we’ve got a problem.”
“I was thinking we had more like a couple dozen problems, but I’ll be happy to settle for one. What is it?”
“I don’t know about you—but I want to do this right. You know, marriage, the whole bit. But there’s one huge obstacle.”
She rubbed her forehead lightly against his, but he felt her arms tense.
“What obstacle is that?” she asked quietly.
He leaned back so he could watch her face. He wanted to catch her first unguarded expression when he mentioned the problem. “You’re a big-shot FBI agent in Washington, D.C., and I’m a small town police chief in Dusty Springs, Mississippi.”
To his surprise, Laurel’s face transformed. Her cheeks flamed and she looked happy and nervous and excited all at the same time. “There may be a solution, if you think you could consider relocating,” she said. She looked at her watch. “I wonder if I can switch my plane reservation to a later flight.”
“I don’t suppose you can just cancel it?”
“No. I do have a job to get back to. But before I can leave, you and I have a lot to discuss.”
“Like what?”
“Like that letter and my boss. But m
ost of all—like you and me, Dupree.”
She tossed the car keys onto the front seat of the rental car and threw herself int
o the strong, safe arms of the man she loved.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2558-3
HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
Copyright © 2008 by Rickey Ricks Mallory
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents