MacKenzie's Lady Read Free Page A

brief glimpse of his face and then one arm caught her around the knees, dumping her over his shoulder and knocking her breathless as he continued out the door.
    Stars danced in front of her eyes and her ears rang as her lungs struggled to function. It wasn't easy, with the pressure of his wide shoulder knocking the air back out of her with every loping stride he took. She didn't have enough wind to protest his cavalier treatment or to demand that he put her down. She couldn't even be too worried about where he was taking her. Ail she wanted was a chance to draw a breath in comfort. The ringing in her ears gradually merged with a high, incessant sound that she vaguely identified as a siren. Before she had a chance to react to this new information, the sound was cut off as her captor made a quick right and came to a halt next to a high adobe wall.
    He bent down and dropped her gently to her feet, and Holly backed away from him as quickly as her shaking legs would allow. The man looked even more disreputable in daylight than he had in the dingy bar. The scar that slashed his lean cheek competed for attention with a rough scrape high on the other cheekbone and an oozing cut on his lower lip. The pristine whiteness of his garish suit was marked by streaks of dirt.
    The smile he gave her might have been intended to reassure, but the thick black mustache and horrible scar combined to give him a ferocious look that made her already overworked heart go into double overtime. Only the brilliant blue of his eyes kept her from trying to dart past him. The eyes held her attention, whether she willed it or not. She took another step back and came up hard against the wall. Her wide eyes stayed focused on his face. She tried to maintain an air of calm control while her thoughts whirled madly around.
    Holly swallowed hard and began to edge her way to the side. He blocked her path out of the narrow alley, but maybe she could dart around him. She refused to consider that it would be impossible to outrun those incredibly long legs if he chose to recapture her.
    "Sorry for the rough transportation. Are you all right?" His voice was a slow drawl. Not a Southern drawl but just a lazy intonation that softened and lengthened his words.
    She nodded and managed a tentative smile. "I'm fine," she told him huskily. Maybe he was going to let her go without a fight. "Thank you for coming to my rescue in there." That was the way to do it, remind him of his good deed. Maybe he'd decide he didn't want to spoil his record. She edged a little farther along the wall and sighed with relief when he moved a step or two in the opposite direction. There was plenty of room for her to get around him now and he didn't show any signs of wanting to harm her.
    Everything was going to be just fine, and she and Maryann would have a good laugh about this once Holly was safely back in Los Angeles.
    "We're all clear. If anybody saw us come this way, they're not telling the local police."
    Holly screamed and spun around, almost losing her footing on the loose stones that surfaced the alley. The new voice coming from directly behind her was totally unexpected. The man who had spoken raised his sandy eyebrows, surprised by her reaction. "I didn't mean to startle you, lady. I figured you must have heard me."
    She shook her head, realizing even as she did so that she had heard him but had been concentrating so hard on the first man that she hadn't really registered the sound of his approach.
    The newcomer grinned at her, and despite the empty space where his front teeth should have been, there was something so boyish in the expression that Holly relaxed slightly.
    "Boy, you sure know how to cause trouble, lady. I thought I was going to end up with six broken ribs when Mac decided to play knight in shining armor."
    Holly's eyes flickered to the other man, trying to imagine him as a knight in armor. The newcomer grinned again, seeing the doubt in her dark eyes. "Believe it or not, lady,