Careless Rapture Read Free

He never talked about her to anyone. Especially not to some
brat used to getting her own way. Jackie didn’t interact with men, she studied them and used their weakness against them,
and he’d just given her one of his. He clenched and unclenched his
jaw. He wouldn’t be one of those men who fell under her spell. He
refused to be enchanted by those bright eyes and charming smile.
Then again, she’d never really smiled at him. He shook his head,
frustrated. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to work with her. She
could work with Mack or go elsewhere since she didn’t have the
sense to leave it alone. But she’d do well to stay away from
him.
    Nearly a half hour later he returned to the
office, hoping she was gone. She wasn’t. She still sat in her chair
as though he’d hit the pause button when he’d left. He masked his
surprise and dropped his coat over the chair. He sat behind his
computer.
    “I can’t afford to fail,” she said in a
tight, little voice.
    Clay glanced up. “I’m sorry?”
    “I can’t afford to fail. My job is all that I
have to prove myself.” She stood and walked to the window. “I’ve
been bouncing from here to there all my life and HOPE is the only
place where I am in charge. I have real responsibilities. I’m in
charge of people’s lives and I take that seriously.” She turned to
him with a rueful grin. “I know you think I’m spoiled, perhaps
you’re right. Older brothers don’t give you a chance to prove
yourself and nobody has ever had to depend on me.” She walked over
to his desk. “At HOPE people do and I will do anything in my power
to make sure they are safe. Just for a while, their suffering will
ease. I want to be an
    inspiration to them and let them see that
since I have made it, so can they.” She leaned on the desk and met
his eyes. “I will not sit around while a nameless bastard tells my
clients to give up on life, that nobody loves them except him, and
to trust no one outside of his community.” She took a deep,
steadying breath. “I need an investigator. It doesn’t have to be
you or your partner. You could give me the name of another agency.”
She gripped her hands into fists. “Or if you don’t want to do that
then just tell me what to do. Show me the way. Give me the tools
and put me on the right path so that I won’t waste anybody’s time
but my own.”
    Clay sat back and silently swore. He hadn’t
expected that. A tantrum perhaps, maybe some tears or even a
well-executed pout. Not such a solid, quiet conviction. Conviction
was something he understood very well. It would be easier to send
her away, probably smarter, too. However, no one had ever accused
him of that. He looked at her earnest face, trying to convince
himself that she wasn’t weaving her magic on him, that he had come
to the decision on his own based on a quick reassessment of the
situation. “All right.”
    Her eyes brightened. “You’ll help me?”
    “Yes.”
    She came around the table and hugged him. “I
knew it.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You scared me
for a minute. But I knew you couldn’t have been as heartless as you
seemed.” She pushed some papers aside and sat on the desk. “We’re
going to work well together.”
    He cleared his throat, trying to recover from
her enthusiastic response. “Yes, well, don’t get too hopeful.”
    “Oh, I know. You don’t have to warn me
twice.” Jackie jumped down. “I am just so happy. I know you’ll be
able to find him for me.”
    His partner, Mack O’Donnel, came in, saving
him from any reply. Mack stood five-eleven with a body made of
mostly muscle and a grin that could be both beguiling and
threatening. Forty-five his next birthday, he sported no gray in
his thinning blond hair that kept his youthful gray eyes and smooth
skin from looking too boyish. A thick, ugly pair of reading glasses
stuck out of his shirt pocket. “Hello,” he said in a tone he
specifically used when in the presence of a pretty