Going to the Chapel Read Free Page B

to forget. He forced his eyes open and frowned, irritated
that Caroline could still evoke such a swift reaction in him. His
gaze darted back to the Porsche. That was a mighty fancy car for a
little girl who hailed from Lucy’s Branch. He supposed that she had
done well for herself. Not that he’d expected any less. She’d
graduated at the top of her pre-med class over in Memphis. Somehow
her attire didn’t quite fit the image he had of a medical
doctor—especially Dr. Caroline Gregory. Chase almost groaned at
just how much of this older, more womanly Caroline was showcased
for his blatant admiration.
    When he’d gotten the call,
what felt like hours ago now, he had fully prepared himself for the
oddity of the whole incident. He had even prepared himself for the
looker, according to the deputy on the scene. But what Chase hadn’t
been prepared at all for was the wallop of intense, raw lust that
broadsided him the moment he laid eyes on the perpetrator. His
deputy had failed to mention a name. Chase tunneled his fingers
through his hair again and heaved a disgusted breath. He thought he
had gotten over the woman long ago. But the fierce jolt of pain
followed quickly by anger he experienced upon recognizing Caroline
blew that theory all to hell. Even the pain and anger couldn’t seem
to quench the fire that still burned inside him for the one and
only woman he had ever loved.
    Her silvery gaze collided
with his and Chase’s gut clenched. Nope, nothing had changed. He
still wanted to throttle her, almost as much as he wanted to kiss
her. Chase forced himself to take the five steps that brought him
within reach of her. He shifted his gaze to the paramedic. “She
check out okay?” He forced his thoughts back to the job, instead of
lacy underwear and sensual lips.
    “ Yeah,” Roger replied when
he looked up. “She’s a little shaken, but nothing to be concerned
about.”
    Chase nodded. “Good.” He
turned to her, but kept his gaze a fraction above those haunting
eyes. “Miss Gregory—”
    “ Don’t be so formal,
Chase,” she chastised softly. The weariness in her voice tugged at
his protective instincts.
    “ Caroline,” he relented,
then ruthlessly squashed the desire to shield her from all
unpleasantries. “I noticed the open champagne bottle in your car.
I’ll need you to submit to a blood-alcohol test.” Her eyes widened
with apprehension, and maybe a little surprise. “It’s standard
operating procedure, Miss—Caroline.”
    “ I told you that I’d been
drinking,” she protested. “I had three or four glasses. But I
wasn’t driving. I was parked.” She turned and pointed shakily to
the rise up the road. “On that little hill. I parked first, then
opened the bottle.” Her last words trembled past those kissable,
pouty red lips.
    Chase’s gaze traced the
path of destruction through the grassy meadow, then moved back to
her luminous eyes. He suppressed the renewed rush of protectiveness
that surged inside him at her vulnerability then and now. Hell, it
was a miracle she hadn’t been seriously injured.
    “ I’ll take that as a yes,”
he said, ignoring the lingering need to console her. Every
irresponsible driver always had an excuse. Even a breathtakingly
beautiful one with who he had once been in love. Cursing himself
for dwelling on the past, Chase shifted his attention back to the
paramedic. “You can handle that?”
    “ Sure.” Roger reached into
his case for the necessary paraphernalia.
    “ Oh, God,” Caroline
murmured.
    Chase caught her by the arm
when she swayed. His body tightened at the feel of her smooth skin
beneath his fingers, and that annoyed the hell out of him. “Maybe
you’d like to sit in one of the cruisers?” he suggested, irritation
with himself making his words curt.
    Caroline blinked, then
shook her head and pulled out of his grasp. “I’m fine. I
just—”
    “ Sheriff, I think you’ll
want to hear this,” Deputy Manning called over the grumble of the
tow