Honor

Honor Read Free Page B

Book: Honor Read Free
Author: Janet Dailey
Tags: Suspense
Ads: Link
balance.
    There were no more shadows. The fixtures in the hall provided even light. He heard nothing except the faint sound of water running somewhere in the building. Linc walked halfway down the hall before he realized that her door was ever so slightly ajar. A thin slice of golden light edged it.
    He tensed. Had someone else noticed it was unlocked and tried it from the outside, then run away just as he’d opened the stairwell door? No telling.
    His hand moved automatically inside his jacket for a weapon that wasn’t there. His fingers brushed the smooth lining of his tux. No gun, no nothing.
    And no sound from inside. Linc shoved the door open.
    He choked as an unseen arm shot around his neck and pressed against his windpipe. Linc felt like someone was climbing his back, fast. He reached up to yank the arm away but in a split second his wrist got grabbed and forced behind his back.
    Gasping, he arched his back until he broke free of the steel-strong hold and—damn. Cracked his head against the door. The pain was blinding.
    He whirled around, dizzy, and swung a fist. Didn’t connect. Something wet slapped his arm ... long, wet, whipping hair. His attacker was on the small side and had ducked the roundhouse punch. He stared at her, collecting his wits.
    “Kenzie?”
    She immediately straightened, standing with her arms akimbo and her clenched hands braced against her hips, her breath heaving in her chest.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snapped. “Did you pick my lock or something?”
    He sucked in air, his throat swelling from the pressure she’d applied, raw on the inside.
    “No. Door—was open. Thought I—saw—” He gasped the words, recovering slowly. “Somebody out here.” He waved at the hall. “Maybe running away.”
    Her green eyes widened. “What?” She moved to look down the hall for herself, both ways. “There’s no one there.”
    “Hope not.”
    She came back in and shut the door hard, then slid the inside bolt into place. “Sometimes it doesn’t latch unless I kick it. Are you all right?”
    “Maybe.”
    Kenzie kept her distance, but came a little closer. He noticed, vaguely, that she was wearing something white and short. “You scared me half to death.”
    He patted her shoulder, which seemed to be bare, for some reason. She smelled awfully good, but it didn’t seem like the right time to nuzzle her or anything like that. At least she didn’t pull away or whack him.
    Reassured by the thought, he stumbled to her couch and dropped down heavily. “Had to come. Too bad I didn’t know your first name.” He looked up at her, still not able to think straight. His head hurt like hell where he’d cracked it. “ B is for—?”
    “Babe,” she replied. “My dad thought it was cute. I can’t stand it, never could. So don’t switch.”
    “Okay, okay. Sorry, Kenzie.”
    “Why are you even here?”
    She seemed more mystified than angry.
    “For a very good reason. I saw the accident on TV.”
    Someone who kinda had it coming, a car thief or a stupid punk, had been taken away on that stretcher. Not Kenzie. She was right here, real as could be. He felt relief wash through him.
    “What accident? You’re not making sense.” She came over and sat beside him, her bare arms folded across her chest.
    Linc took a deep, rasping breath, then another. “Don’t you ever answer your phone?”
    “Not in the shower.”
    He finally figured out that she was wearing only a terry wrap thing tied in a knot above her breasts.
    Shower. Right. So that was why she hadn’t heard him.
    But that didn’t explain why the door had been cracked open. Her explanation—that it had to be kicked to latch right—didn’t do it for him. Kenzie wasn’t an airhead.
    But everybody made mistakes. He’d spent most of the last hour doing just that.
    Ow. He was hurting way too much to form a coherent thought. And he was distracted. The wrap was extremely short, at least from where he was sitting.

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