Lone Star 02 Read Free Page A

here!” she declared triumphantly.
    Ki had a moment to admire the woman’s shapely backside before she straightened up and hurried away. The robber slid out from beneath the cable car, the purse still clutched in his left hand, and that deadly length of pipe still in his right. He was dressed in denim pants and a floppy canvas jacket, and was about five nine, but his wiry body was far from puny. Ki knew that this one would be twice as quick as his larger, lumbering partner, and that would make him twice as dangerous.
    â€œI’ll bash your head in,” the purse-snatcher snarled. “Then I’m gonna do the same for you, lady,” he warned the woman.
    Ki had grown weary of the game. He reached inside his jacket and extracted one of his shuriken throwing blades from the sheath sewn into the lining of his garment. The four-inch, hiltless blade flew from his fingers to pin the pipe-wielder’s loose sleeve to the wood-paneled side of the cable car.
    The pipe fell from the surprised man’s fingers and rolled out of sight beneath the car. Dropping the purse, the little man shrugged out of his jacket and ran off, leaving his garment hanging the way a lizard leaves behind its severed tail.
    Ki wiggled his blade out of the cable car’s paneling, letting the robber’s jacket fall to the floor. He slipped the shuriken back into its sheath, and then bent to retrieve the lady’s purse.
    â€œThank you so much,” the woman enthused. “You have been so kind, so brave—”
    â€œI am glad that I could be of help,” Ki said, bowing slightly. Now that the woman was speaking normally, and not in a series of frightened exclamations, Ki could detect a European accent. The woman’s voice was lilting and quite pleasant, as was the rest of her. She was wearing a tightly fitted, high-necked dress of dark blue velvet. It emphasized the elegant lines of her body. Her hat was cut from the same velvet as her dress, and was perched on her mass of auburn curls. The hat was tipped at a rakish angle that made her look quite cosmopolitan, and more than a bit daring. That daring look was only heightened by the lascivious sparkle in her catlike eyes as she looked Ki up and down.
    â€œI must go now—” Ki began.
    â€œNo! Wait!” the woman exclaimed. “I mean...” Her white gloved hands rose to her rouged cheeks. “I mean... I do believe that with all this excitement, I’m beginning to feel faint.” Her long lashes began to flutter as she swayed toward Ki, falling into his quickly outstretched arms.
    The warmth of her this close to him, and the sweet scent of her perfume, made Ki himself feel like swooning. This close to her, Ki could see the faint crow’s feet around her eyes, and the slightest hint of a burgeoning double chin. She was in her late thirties, Ki reckoned, but still a lovely woman. She had about her that fecund ripeness, that promise of bursting sweetness, that only the most mature, late-summer fruit can have.
    â€œPerhaps my hero would like a kiss in reward for his valor?” she murmured.
    Ki gathered her in his arms, and pressed his mouth against hers. She tasted vaguely of cinnamon; there was a hint of tobacco. Her kiss was heady, as intoxicating as wine. Her thighs, beneath her velvet dress, locked about Ki’s leg. One dainty, white-gloved hand dipped to stroke him, bringing him rapidly erect within the confines of his trousers.
    â€œI wish to thank you more profusely,” she breathed into his ear. “We are alone here. We could slip into one of these empty cars—”
    There was no denying the urgency in her husky whisper, and there was no denying the randy, bucking urgency Ki himself felt in his loins. He swept her off her feet and into his arms, and strode with her toward the pastel-pink Hyde Street car.
    â€œYou are so strong,” she warbled, nuzzling her upturned nose and full lips into Ki’s neck.