Love and Mistletoe Read Free Page A

“And you assumed that
product
was drugs? Despite me not having any history of drug consumption or dealing, being a MacCarthy is sufficient to have the pair of you sniffing around the farm at night, scaring the crap out of us?”
    “Hang on a sec.” He wasn’t letting her derail his investigation that easily. “You and Naomi
were
discussing ingredients and chemicals. The pair of you clammed up lightning fast when I approached the counter.”
    She folded her arms across her chest, elevating her impressive breasts even further. “Naomi and I are entitled to have a private conversation without the local constabulary listening in, but if you’re curious to know what we’re making, you’re more than welcome to sample our wares. Go round to the back door, and I’ll let you in.” With that, she slammed the window shut.
    He bounced on the balls of his feet, darting a glance at Seán. “Have I made a major cock-up?”
    “Come on,” his partner said with a resigned sigh. “We’d better keep her sweet lest she file a complaint with the superintendent.”
    That was the last thing Brian needed. He’d worked hard to convince the super to approve his college tuition in spite of the tight budget. Pissing the man off now would not be a smart move.
    When they rounded the side of the house, light spilled out from the open back door. Sharon stood on the threshold, hands on hips, a sardonic curl to her plump lips. “Come on in, lads. Welcome to our den of iniquity.” Catching Brian’s look of surprise, she added, “Yes, I have read
Gone with the Wind
, Garda Glenn. I can and do read, shocking though that might be to you, especially given that I work part-time in a
book shop
.”
    A book shop he’d accused her of vandalizing only a few months previously…
Damn.
He’d better pray they found something incriminating in the house to warrant tonight’s escapade.
    He wiped his muddy boots on the doormat and released himself from the confines of his thick scarf. A strange smell wafted through the mudroom, teasing his nostrils. It reminded him of something, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source.
    “The kitchen’s through here.” Sharon closed the back door and led them toward a smaller door. “Watch the step on your way down.”
    When they entered the kitchen, the smell was overpowering. It wasn’t unpleasant. Far from it.
But pungent
…
    Naomi Bekele was removing a baking tray from the oven, the beads in her hair jangling with her every movement. She froze when she saw them, her mien wary. If Sharon was no more than average-looking, Naomi was a stunner. Light brown skin stretched over high cheekbones, slim-but-shapely figure, and soulful brown eyes. Brian had always felt he should fancy Naomi and was more than a little irritated with himself that he didn’t. His gaze slid toward Sharon. She was keeping a tight grip on the labradoodle, which was straining to greet the new visitors.
    “He’s a crotch sniffer.” The trademark cheeky grin slid back into place. “Might be more than poor Garda Glenn can take, especially when he’s about to be confronted with the shocking sight of our drug-dealing endeavors.”
    Naomi’s doe eyes grew large. “Our what?”
    “Brian here thinks you and I have gone into business as Ballybeg’s latest drug dealers.” She turned to Brian, catlike. “You don’t mind me calling you Brian, do you? You’ve hauled me down to the station so many times over the years that I feel we’re intimately acquainted.”
    Was it his imagination, or did she place a special emphasis on the word “intimately”? The stab of lust took him unawares. He bit his tongue, remembering all too clearly the humiliation of discovering he’d been wrong to accuse her of trashing the Book Mark last year. He swept an arm toward the stacks of ingredients on the counter. “If you’re not manufacturing drugs, what’s all this paraphernalia?”
    Sharon jerked a thumb at the baking tray. “Bath bombs. Neither an