Free Falling Read Free

well. Everything about the woman
screamed money and influence. Her confident bearing and
professional appearance struck Mac as odd, considering her current
actions.
    “The tree is on my property,” Mac ground out.
How dare the woman imply that he didn’t know the boundaries of his
own property. He was an architect, for Pete’s sake. Lines and
angles were his business.
    “Perhaps we need to have second opinion on
the survey,” Alex suggested. She stepped forward then, arms folded
over her chest. Mac didn’t miss the calculating gaze she allowed
him, or the timid peek Emily took around Alex’s shoulder.
    “I can’t believe you aren’t going to put a
stop to this,” Mac said to Gerard, his tone leaving no questions as
to the extent of his unhappiness with the officer’s response.
    “Now see here,” Gerard began. The grumbling
in the crowd grew louder as they closed in on the ridiculous
scene.
    “Phil, don’t let this egotistical tree-hater
speak to you that way,” Free put in, her blue eyes shooting daggers
at Mac.
    “I’ve got your number, lady.” Mac narrowed
his gaze and took a step closer to Free. He stabbed an accusing
finger in her direction. “You’re trying to shift the focus from the
real issue here. This is my tree and I damned well intend to cut it
down.” He punctuated his final words by shaking his finger in her
pretty face.
    Big mistake.
    The next thing Mac knew, Free had grabbed his
hand and clamped down on his finger with her pearly whites. He
belted out a string of profanities.
    “What the hell is wrong with you?” Mac
roared. He clenched and unclenched his hand, trying to relieve the
throb her teeth had generated. She glared at him as if she might
bite him again. He jerked his head in Officer Gerard’s direction.
“Did you see that? She bit me!”
    “Free, you just can’t go around biting people
when—”
    “When they act like jerks,” Free finished for
him, her gaze knifing straight through Mac.
    “Lady, you’re dangerous!”
    Another big mistake.
    She kicked him in the shin, hard. Mac cursed
again. The din behind him increased. He rubbed the spot she’d
kicked. It hadn’t really hurt, just humiliated him further. Mac
derived a great deal of pleasure from her pained yelps. She had
evidently forgotten she was barefoot when she kicked him. She
nursed her right foot in her hands, the action revealing a lot of
one shapely thigh. And something that looked like a birthmark
or…tattoo! She had a rose tattoo on her left thigh; Mac had the
sudden, almost overwhelming urge to reach out and touch it, but had
no intention of risking further violence to his person.
    “If you two are through assaulting each
other, we’ll get on with this,” Gerard said impatiently.
    They responded in unison, with the same
fierce hostility.
    “This is entirely her fault!” Mac insisted.
Free asserted, “This is all his fault!”
    Befuddled, the officer just sort of stared at
them.
    “Why aren’t you doing something, Phil?” Free
poked Officer Gerard in the chest with her index finger.
    “Yeah,” Mac added. “Why don’t you get this
crazy woman off my property?”
    She turned on him then, outraged. “Who are
you calling crazy?” She jabbed Mac in the chest, her neon-green
nail making him feel like a pincushion. “You’re the one who wants
to cut his magnificent tree down!”
    Before she could jab him the second time,
Gerard grabbed her wrist and slapped a metal bracelet around it.
Her eyes rounded in surprise.
    Mac grinned in exultation, but his victory
died a swift death as the officer manacled his wrist and locked the
other half of the handcuffs in place. “What the hell are you
doing?” Mac demanded.
    “Hauling both of you downtown,” Gerard
answered succinctly.
    Mac’s gaze collided with Free’s and for one
instant something electrifying passed between them. Then it was
gone, leaving Mac struggling to regain his equilibrium. The next
thing he knew, Officer Gerard was ushering