McIver's Mission Read Free

Brian,
wondering if there was something more she could have done, something that might
have changed the way things had turned out.
    She'd thought she wanted to be alone, but what she
really wanted—what she needed—was a diversion.
    Shaun McIver was one hell of a diversion.
    He was certainly a pleasure to look at: more than six
feet of well-honed male with sun-kissed golden highlights in his dark blond
hair. His face was angular, with slashing cheekbones and a slight dimple in his
square chin. But it was his eyes that got to her. They were a dark mossy green
with amber fleeks that could take her breath away if
she let them.
    Which she didn't. He might be a beautiful specimen of
masculinity, but she wasn't interested. Not in Shaun McIver, not in any other
man. She'd learned a long time ago that opening herself up to love meant
opening herself up to heartache. Her mother, her stepfather, her
almost-fiancé—everyone who'd ever claimed to love her had hurt her. She
wouldn't make the same mistake again.
    Still, she had no moral objection to sharing a meal
with Shaun, especially when the food was Mexican and she was starving.
    By the time they left the restaurant after dinner, the
temperature outside had dropped several degrees.
Arden
shivered, and Shaun
slipped an arm over her shoulders. She shivered again, but this time it wasn't
from the chill in the air.
    Arden
frowned. She didn't understand her reaction to him. Surely she didn't have any
romantic feelings for Shaun—that was too ridiculous to consider. Maybe it had
just been too long since she'd been with a man. Too long since she'd even wanted to be. In the past several years, she hadn't met anyone who understood the
importance of her career. Even the lawyers she'd dated thought her commitment
bordered on obsession. And there were times, even she had to admit, when it
did. When it had to. Because there were tines when she was the last hope for
the abused women and children who came to her for help.
    Shaun turned automatically in the direction of
Arden
's apartment building.
She'd forgotten that he knew where she lived, that he'd been drafted by Nikki
to help
Arden
move several months earlier.
    "You don't have to walk me home," she
protested.
    "What would Nikki say if I didn't see you safely
to your door?"
    Arden
shrugged but didn't bother to respond as they headed down the street. They
walked in companionable silence, listening to the muted sounds of the evening. Fairweather was hardly a booming metropolis at the best of
times, and by
eight
o'clock
on a Friday evening, this part of the
downtown core was pretty much asleep. A few streets over, people would be
filtering in to the bars and dance clubs, but here everything was quiet. Her
apartment, just a few blocks ahead, would be quieter still.
    "I really should have gone back to the
office,"
Arden
said, wondering if she should do so now.
    "It's Friday night," Shaun reminded her.
"If it's that important, it will be there tomorrow."
    She nodded. He was right, but she couldn't help
thinking that work might help keep her mind occupied, help her push the events
of the day aside—at least for a while. Shaun's company had provided a reprieve,
as he'd promised, but she knew that the haunting memories would come back as
soon as he was gone.
    She turned up the walk to the front door of her
building, his arm dropping from her shoulders as she reached in her pocket for
the key. "I can find my way from here."
    "Is that a not-so-polite way of saying
good-night?"
    "I thought it was polite," she said.
    He smiled, and her heart stuttered. She told herself
the reaction was a result of her exhaustion and not indicative of any
attraction. She almost believed it.
    "It would be more polite to invite me inside for
a cup of tea," he said.
    "I don't have any tea."
    "Coffee, then."
    She didn't really want to be alone, but she didn't
understand why he wanted to spend any more time with her. "Fine. Would you
like to come up for a cup of