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own, and then a flush of pink colored her
décolletage and rose up the long, lovely column of her throat to paint her
cheeks. She spoke between set lips, and he thought to tell her that it was
criminal to thin that lush bounty, another crime she’d have to pay for in the
end. He’d keep adding them up.
    “Give me the ticket, Sheriff . I’ll pay it like I did all the
others. Help out with your salary.”
    The snide comment nearly made him
smile. He was getting past that wintry demeanor, and the feisty Candace he
remembered was still there after all. Then his brain snagged on something she’d
said. He’d given her two tickets, and that didn’t jibe with her paying all the others.
    “Cody and Jason catch you as well?”
His deputies would be hearing from him. No doubt little Candace had been all
winsome and charming, sweetly taking care of the tab while convincing them not
to tell him . That in itself cheered him, too. Not
so indifferent after all, little miss .
    “Don’t you keep tabs with what’s
going on in your department, Sheriff ?”
He could tell it was costing her, poised on those ridiculous shoes on the
uneven gravel surface. But she stood tall and didn’t give an inch. Time he
asserted his lawful authority.
    “I know enough about what goes on
in my jurisdiction, Miss Grant. Now, assume the position.”
    Ignoring the sudden blinking of
those beautiful eyes, he stepped around the door and into her, reaching out to
grasp a slender bicep. He pulled her toward him and, using her imbalance as an
excuse loop his other arm around her waist, effectively folded her over his
forearm. As he made the turn, she fetched up against the side of the Bimmer,
helpless against his strength and weight, her delectable backside pushing
against his groin. The move made him grimace, as there would be no mistaking
his erection, a fact proven by the way Candace froze and then inched her
buttocks forward. His cock struggled to follow that soft cushion, but he leaned
back and freed his arm to take one wrist, then grasped the other, pulling them
behind her back.
    “What the fuck are you doing?” She
nearly shrieked the question, clearly outraged, and began to struggle.
    He cuffed her without comment, then
leaned to speak into her left ear, the scent of her hair—something floral—nearly
distracting him. “Language, little miss . You’re
racking up the offences.”
    She struggled harder, and he held
her hands steady to save the tender skin on her wrists. “I’m arresting you.”
    “Excuse me?” He allowed her to
straighten and shuffle to face him. That mass of silky blonde hair was in
disarray, some drifting in tendrils around her angry face, and it took a very
real effort to not obviously notice the way her breasts heaved behind the
skimpy cover of her little top. Her nipples were taut little buds poking
impertinently against the fabric, and the evening wasn’t that cool. Hmmm.
    Keeping a careful eye on her,
concerned she might fall, he ticked off his reasons. “Speeding—breaking the
three strikes rule . Failure to signal. Resisting arrest. Assaulting a
police officer. Care to add to that?”
    “What?” Fuming, she obviously tried
to form more words. “Whose rule? I pulled over. There was
no one else around. I didn’t … resisting? Who did I assault?”
    “You can plead your case to the
local judge. That would be me.”
    “What?” A pulse beat in the hollow
of her throat, and she swallowed audibly.
    Finding it impossible to hide his
near juvenile glee at finally being close to her,   alone with her, and believing her anger hid a
far more palatable emotion, he resorted to dipping a shoulder into her midriff,
and straightened to carry her stiffening body back to his cruiser.
    “You’d better put me down, Reese
Murdoch. You’re going to be in a ton of shit when my father gets wind of this.”
Her voice was somewhat muffled by her position, but the indignation came
through loud and clear, and she tried to kick her