CHASING TROUBLE

“Damn and double damn!” The curse came from inside the kitchen even as Caroline crept stealthily down the hallway and saw the door was slightly ajar, allowing her to look into the kitchen through the narrow crack between the hinges of the door. She pressed herself urgently back against the wall as a dark-clothed figure moved across the brightly lit room.

Of course the man was wearing dark clothing; didn’t all burglars? Caroline drew in a deep breath, the shaking fingers of her left hand tightening about the brass ornament even as she reached out with her right hand to push the kitchen door inwards. She stepped inside the room, her blue gaze intent as she quickly scanned the kitchen, looking for the location of the intruder.

“Who the hell are you?”

Caroline was so shocked to hear the harsh but melodic voice coming from behind her that as she turned the brass ornament slipped from between her fingers.

“Ow!”

Straight onto the burglar’s foot, she realized, as the man turned his back on her to bend down and grasp the top of his boot, where the heavy ornament had obviously landed, with painful results, before dropping to the tiled floor and rolling well out of Caroline’s reach.

She looked around for another weapon to defend herself with, and very quickly realized that the burglar stood between her and that block of sharp knives. The book she had been reading! Caroline had forgotten it was still tucked under her arm, but she grabbed it now and proceeded to hit the man repeatedly over the head with it.

“What the fuuucck-!” The man straightened and turned, before reaching out to grasp both of Caroline’s wrists and hold her hands up and away from him, well out of hitting distance. “Will you stop attacking me, woman?” he growled.

Caroline became very still, eyes wide as she stared up at him. It was the man from the book she had been reading! Or at least he looked so much like him. The same narrowed and glittering black eyes. The same shoulder-length, silky dark hair. The same harshly sculptured face; prominent cheekbones, a hard slash of a nose, chiseled lips set in a grim line, and a square, determined jaw. The same very tall and lithely muscled body, completely dressed in black… The same predator?

For the first time in her life, Caroline fainted…

_________

“Well, that was certainly different!” Nicholas Connelly drawled derisively, as the woman he had picked up in his arms and then carried to the sitting-room sofa finally began to stir and regain consciousness.

She was a tiny woman, probably aged in her late twenties, and a whole foot shorter than him at only a couple of inches over five feet. She had long, auburn hair, a creamy, heart-shaped face; delicate cheekbones, a short, straight nose, a full bow of a mouth, and a small pointed chin that could be raised determinedly if she felt so inclined. As it had been earlier, when she had attacked him-first with a brass ornament and then with a book, of all things!

Her eyes, as they opened, were a deep sky-blue, and surrounded by the thickest, darkest lashes Nicholas had ever seen, he discovered as she sat up abruptly on the sofa to look across at him with the apprehension of a startled deer.

“Why are you still here?” she breathed warily.

“Why am I still here?” he repeated incredulously.

The woman moistened dry lips. “You had plenty of time to get away when I-when I…”

“Swooned?” Nicholas suggested mockingly.

“Fainted!” A dark frown appeared between those blue eyes. “A perfectly normal reaction to being attacked by a burglar!”

Yes, that chin could definitely be very determined when this woman wished it to be! The bristling stance of that slender body beneath her slightly over-large cotton pajamas also attested to her indignation. Nicholas had never particularly cared for the idea of women wearing pajamas, preferring the woman in his bed to wear either nothing at all or something feminine in silk. Except this woman somehow managed to wear unflattering blue cotton pajamas and still look sexy!

Maybe it was the way the material only hinted at the curves beneath? Or could it be that the pale blue material made her eyes look bigger and bluer? Whatever it was, his little attacker was one very sexy package. So what was she doing here?

His mouth tightened slightly. “Perfectly natural,” he acknowledged. “Except for two things. Firstly,” he bit out harshly as she raised questioning brows, “Im not a burglar. Secondly,” he continued, when she would have interrupted him, “You were the one doing the attacking. As evidenced by my bruised foot and battered head!”

Caroline felt the warm color in her cheeks. She had attacked him. Firstly by dropping the ornament on his foot, and then by hitting him with the book.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

The same book that now lay open across one muscled, denim-clad thigh! As if he had been reading it while waiting for her to regain consciousness. Oh, good grief…!

Her chin rose defensively. “I very much doubt that the police will be too interested in my efforts to defend myself considering that you are the one who broke in!”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” the man taunted. “I’ve seen several cases in the newspapers recently where the burglar was given compensation for being attacked by the owner of the house he had just broken into.”

Caroline had seen the same newspaper reports-and she questioned the sanity of the legal system!

“There’s also the fact,” the man continued relentlessly, “That I didn’t break in.”

“You-”

“I unlocked the door into the kitchen by using the key from under the third flowerpot to the left on the windowsill outside,” he explained.

What key under the third flowerpot to the left on the windowsill outside? More to the point, how had this man known there was a key under that particular flower pot in the first place?

“Have you been watching the house?” she gasped accusingly.

“Casing the joint, you mean?” he said scathingly.

“Yes!” Caroline glared at him indignantly, hating even the thought of someone-this man!- watching the recent daily comings and goings of the members of the household before attempting to break in.

“Interesting thought.” He nodded. “This house is certainly remote enough; there isn’t another house for miles. The spare key was conveniently left under a plant pot outside. No dog to bark at unusual noises in the night. In fact, no real security to talk of. At least none that’s actually active at the moment.”