The Alpha Claims A Mate(7)
It suddenly occurred to her that she was still wearing her pajamas and slippers. Should she run inside and change?
Too late. He was already out of the car.
Mortified, she watched as the sheriff walked up the driveway and came around to the side of the house where she stood, cell phone in hand, future in doubt.
He looked her up and down with that perpetual quirk of amusement to his lips.
“Morning, Miss Colby,” he said. “I understand you’ve volunteered to be my assistant for the next couple of weeks.”
Chapter Three
He smelled masculine and earthy, with a hint of some woodsy-scented cologne. His uniform was pressed crisp and clean, the tan polyester molding perfectly to the curves of his biceps. It was obscene how good he looked this early in the morning.
Her pink button-front pajamas were rumpled, and she hadn’t combed out her big mop of red curls after she’d climbed out of the shower that morning. She was wearing bunny slippers. With button eyes and little ears. A gift from Marigold.
I am going to kill Marigold later, she thought irrationally. This is somehow all her fault.
“Absolutely,” she said, pasting a big smile on her face. “The Red Wolf pack of the Upper East Side is happy to assist you in any way we can.”
“You sure you know how to take orders?” He quirked an eyebrow at her skeptically. “Because I need someone who knows how to defer to authority.”
Ouch. He wasn’t going to make this easy on her.
“Your wish is my command,” she said with forced cheer, her smile still pasted on.
“Is that so?” A slow, lazy grin quirked his lips, and she found herself blushing. There was something about the way that he said it, the way he rolled the words around on his tongue, that made it sound like she’d just offered up some kind of sexual invitation and he was delighted to accept.
And she’d be darned if that pulsing hadn’t started up again, directly between her legs. Throb, throb, throb. Down, girl! She mentally scolded her private parts.
As his gaze roved over her rumpled visage, she added quickly “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you. I’ll go change. Would you like me to come meet you at the sheriff’s office?”
“No, that’ll be fine. I’ll wait right here and enjoy some of Miss Imogen’s fine coffee,” he said, nodding at Imogen, who tittered and scampered off to fetch him some coffee. Damn the man, he could even set the hearts of elderly widows to thumping. He was ridiculous.
She ran upstairs, with Marigold following her, and quickly threw on a red dirndl skirt and white peasant shirt with red tulips embroidered on it. Then she stuck her feet into a pair of red espadrilles.
“What should a sheriff’s assistant wear? Does this work?” she asked Marigold desperately.#p#分页标题#e#
“I gaze into a crystal ball for a living. Don’t ask me.”
Ginger quickly ran a brush through her hair, grabbed her purse, and rushed from her room.
“I’ve got extra condoms if you need them,” Marigold added, following her down the hallway. “Do you want to tuck a few in your purse? How about a six pack? He looks like he’s good for at least a few rounds.”
“Shhhh! If he hears you, I will kill you! And are you crazy? I am being punished, not seduced!”
“Sometimes there’s a very fine line between the two. If you’re lucky,” Marigold said with wink.
“She is lucky,” Brenda said as she passed her and Tallulah on the stairway. “I’d assist him any day!”
“You’d assist anyone,” Tallulah sneered. Brenda stuck her nose in the air, sniffed “You’re just jealous!” and stalked off.
“Jealous? He respects me too much to take advantage of me!” Tallulah hollered after her, fingering her gold purity ring.
She turned to Ginger. “He’s just using Brenda for sex,” she confided. “He doesn’t respect her for her mind. Men prefer virgins, don’t you think?”
“Errr…enjoy your dig today,” Ginger said to her. “Hope you find lots of old bones.”
The sheriff was drinking coffee in the parlor, looking out of place and yet perfectly at ease in a floral pattered wing back arm-chair. The house was decorated in early 20th century style, with faded rugs, china cabinets displaying old bric a brac, framed needle-point pictures, and lots of ceramic roosters. The girls from the archeology class were all hovering around the sheriff and giggling; they scattered when Ginger came into the room.