The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [244]
Their gazes met, his curious, hers wary and antagonistic. She looked away. “Where I live,” she said under her breath, “is no concern of yours.”
The officer answered again, disregarding her wishes for privacy. “You know that old farmhouse, out by the water tower? She moved in there.”
The woman glared at the officer, who did manage to look a bit sheepish over his quick tongue. He leaned farther into the car to remove her handcuffs and place her purse in her lap. Jordan stared at her narrow wrists while she rubbed them, feeling his temper prick at the thought that she might have been hurt.
She wore no jewelry—no wedding band.
The officer spared him a glance. “If I remove your handcuffs, too, do you think you can behave yourself?”
It rankled, being treated like an unruly child, but Jordan was too busy staring at the woman to take too much offense. He silently held up his hands and waited to have them unlocked. The woman stared out her window past the officer, ignoring Jordan completely.
“What are we waiting for?” Jordan asked, before the officer could walk away.
“The chief agrees that Sheriff Hudson can deal with the both of you. Our jail is overcrowded as it is, and it’s going to be a late night getting everyone’s phone calls out of the way. Just sit tight. Hudson’s already been called.”
Jordan groaned softly. Morgan had his hands full taking care of Misty tonight. She was laid low with the nastiest case of flu Jordan had ever seen, and with their baby daughter to contend with, Morgan wouldn’t appreciate being called out. Of course, his brother Gabe or one of his sisters-in-law, Honey or Elizabeth, would gladly give a helping hand. But that meant they then ran the risk of getting the flu, too.
Jordan forced his gaze away from the woman and dropped his head back against the seat. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
She shifted slightly away from him, though she was already pressed up against the door. Jordan swiveled his head just a bit to see her. The night was dark with no stars visible, no moonlight. Shadows played over her features and exaggerated her guarded frown. She looked quietly, disturbingly miserable. And she was shivering.
No wonder, he thought, calling himself three kinds of fool. The outfit she wore offered no protection at all from the rainy night air. Though it was September, a cool wet spell had rolled into Kentucky forcing everyone into slightly warmer clothes. Jordan studied her bare shoulders and slim naked limbs as he removed his jacket. It was damp around the collar, but still dry on the inside, and warm from his own body heat.
Aware of her efforts to ignore him, he held it out to her, his gaze intent. “Put this on,” he told her, using his most cajoling tone. “You’re shivering.”
Very slowly, she turned her head and looked at him with the most distant, skeptical expression he’d ever seen on a female face. “Why are you talking like that?”
Jordan started in surprise. “Like what?” he asked, not quite so softly or cajoling.
Her frown was filled with distrust…and accusation. “Like you’re trying to seduce me. Like a man talks to a woman when they’re alone together in bed.”
Jordan couldn’t have been more floored by her direct attack if she’d clobbered him. Totally bemused, he opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
She made a sound of disgust. “You can stop wasting your time. I’m not interested. And no, I don’t want your jacket.”
Taken off guard, Jordan frowned. All his life, women had told him he had the most compelling voice. He could lull a wounded bear to sleep or talk grown men out of a fistfight. At the ripe old age of thirty-three, he’d garnered a half dozen wedding proposals from women who said they loved to just listen to him talk, especially in bed.
But right then, at this particular moment, he didn’t even think about trying to be persuasive. He even forgot that