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“Is that so?” His gaze shifted from skeptical to seductive in the time it took for her to inhale and register how really great he smelled. What irresistible fragrance was he wearing? And why were bad boys always so attractive, sexy, and desirable?
His current expression matched the one she’d worn first thing after she’d gotten to work and been falsely accused of wrongdoing. She’d let her hot-blooded anger guide her to this difficult point.
Now she was all fired up with no authority or might to make Zane do what she wanted.
All the people who’d been milling around in the Western town and staring at their discussion suddenly gathered much closer, forming a tight circle around their little drama. She hadn’t thought through how she’d get him to the local jailhouse if he didn’t cooperate.
Why had she thought he’d simply go with her?
She’d let her volatile emotions loose to run free, and they’d brought her here to this moment. It was a suddenly difficult place in time that had not been very well thought out. She really needed to calm down a bit.
Her anger faded with the stark realization she was out of steam. She released his wrist slowly, but didn’t completely let go. She thought about what she’d say next. Nothing intelligent came forth.
From the crowd came a lone voice. “Are you going to put up with her lies about you, Zane? Maybe you should arrest her! Clap her in handcuffs, and take her to jail!”
The people surrounding them suddenly laughed and clapped. Several others joined in, chanting, “Arrest her! Arrest her!”
This situation was not going anywhere close to how she planned it. She started to take a step back, but he was faster.
In a move she didn’t even see coming, but should have, Deputy Zane Washburn twisted his hand completely away from her fingers, and grabbed her two wrists in his large hand. One second later, he slipped a set of realistic-looking handcuffs off the back of his belt, pulled her forward without any effort whatsoever, and clapped her in irons before she could even think to make a move to stop him.
“Wait just a minute. You can’t do this to me,” she said heatedly. She tried desperately to pull away. All day her greatest fear had been that she’d be arrested and hauled away in handcuffs. Staring down at the metal circling her wrists put Abby in the panicked place she’d feared all along.
The deputy then leaned his face next to her ear, and whispered seductively, “Watch me.”
Growing up on the poor side of town that she had, seeing criminals clapped in handcuffs and hauled away had been a regular occurrence in her childhood. It was also a lifestyle she didn’t want to perpetuate.
She’d sworn to herself long ago to make a better life for herself. And she had. She’d worked hard and sacrificed a lot to get to where she’d gotten. It hadn’t been easy. And in one single instance, someone had ruined her whole hard won life.
Abby had thought that person was Zane, but now she wasn’t so sure. He truly didn’t seem to know what she’d been talking about. Or he was even more clever of a con artist than she’d initially thought. Perhaps that was the reason she was now restrained.
Zane clasped the chain between the cuffs, sidled behind her, wrapping one beefy arm around her chest to subdue her, his hand resting along her collarbone. His chest warmed her back. Everywhere his body made contact with hers a rapturous tingle erupted. He then pushed her toward the building that had Jail House in painted-white, wooden letters across the front.
To the crowd he said, “You’re under arrest for disorderly conduct in a public place, and also for calling me a bunch of names I didn’t like.”
“I’m not disorderly, and the names are true. You need to face up and answer to what you did,” she whispered heatedly. Each step closer to the jail pushed her heart beat higher and higher. She couldn’t decide if it was because of the scrumptious way Zane smelled or the fear of possible incarceration.
He leaned close, the breath from his words tickling her ear when he murmured, “I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who needs to face up and answer to what you did. I’d also suggest that you settle down.” She hated that the mere sound of his whispered words made a spike of appreciation race down her spine. Being pressed up against him wasn’t actually a chore. His body was a work of art, and contact with him made her libido stand up and take notice.
