Sweet Anger(81)

“Has it been too bad?” he asked gently.

She reached for his hand and held it to her cheek. “Yes. I never thought it would be this bad. Perhaps at first I envisioned it being rather quixotic to spend a night in jail. Perhaps I wanted the attention, the glory. But the reality of it is a debasing thing.

“I’ve been terribly afraid. It’s unreasonable, I know. But I have been. I was scared that by some quirk of fate or some terrible accident I might never get out.”

She sounded on the verge of hysteria. He’d never seen her so shaken. “Shhh, shhh.” He smoothed back her hair with a comforting hand. “I’d never let that happen.”

“But you might not have been able to help,” she argued irrationally. “I’ve been so cold.”

Before he weighed the consequences, he lay down beside her and pulled the blanket over both of them. Making the noises of a small wounded animal, she cuddled against him. Her arms went around his neck like a frightened child’s and she buried her face in his neck.

“I love you, I love you. I’m so afraid. Hold me.”

Her misery knifed through him and he felt it just as keenly. “Oh, God, I love you, too.” He folded his arms around her and held her tight.

But she wanted to get still closer. Her lips found his. He sealed her to him with a fervent kiss. His tongue speared deep into the wet silk of her mouth.

After long minutes, he lifted his mouth from hers. “God almighty, this is insane.” he covered her throat with quick random kisses. “I could strangle you for getting the two of us into this predicament.”

She laid her cheek against his chest. “I deserve to be strangled. I had to make my stand on a reporter’s right to protect his source, but I’ve learned I’m not martyr material. I came face-to-face with the fact that I’m basically a coward. How do convicts stand imprisonment day after day, year after year?”

“Few are as sensitive as you, love.”

“I’m going to do a piece on convicts. I’m going to study their—”

He groaned. “Let’s get you out first before you start thinking about your cellmates and how you can call the public’s awareness to their plight.” He tilted her chin up to peer into her face. “Why didn’t you let the TV station’s attorney bail you out?”

“What would have been the point of all this if I had? The real issue here is the First Amendment. I know you think I’m just a troublemaker, stubborn, and—”

“I respect what you’ve done.” Her eyes widened in surprise and he chuckled. “That’s me the man talking, not the D.A. Me the D.A. is still upset with you. But I love you, Kari Stewart, and all you stand for.” He pressed her head back onto his chest. “Why else would I risk my career by coming in here and holding you like this? They could throw the book at me.”

“Sexual abuse of female prisoners?”

“Something like that.”

She kissed his chin. “I promise not to squeal on you.” They kissed and it was so satisfying that long moments passed before the severity of their situation took preeminence again. “You may have the book thrown at you for a different reason,” she said quietly, recalling the chaos her arrest had caused in the corridors of the police department.

“Your cohorts have already seen to that. I was made out an ogre in the headlines today. And I think you bumped Joan of Arc off the roster of leading lady crusaders. You’ve got a staunch army behind you. They declared me their common enemy and came at me from all sides.”

“I’m sorry, Hunter. Truly I am. I didn’t want this to look like a personal attack on you.”

“Well, that’s a switch.”

She laughed. “What will you do to get back in the public’s good graces?”

“Find out what happened to those babies and return them to their families. I’ve got a gut instinct they aren’t dead.”

“I hope not,” she said softly.

They fell quiet and she listened lovingly to the thudding of his heart beneath her ear. Only minutes ago, this small cell had seemed threatening. Now, with him lying beside her, his arms around her, the chilly gloom had been dispelled. She felt safe and warm and at peace.

“They took my watch. What time is it?”

“Late.”

“You planned this rendezvous, didn’t you? That’s why I’m in a cell block with no other prisoners.”

“Yes, I planned it. I couldn’t let you spend the night in jail alone.”

“How did you explain your visit to Sergeant Hopkins?”

If the grin he smiled down on her was anything like the one he had smiled at the matron, Kari’s question was answered. “She has a romantic nature. I merely appealed to it.”