LITMIR.BIZ

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      “How many?”

      “How many can you afford?”

      Emily chuckled again and shook her head. “You know more lawyer jokes than anyone I’ve ever met. Do you really dislike them so much?”

      “Lawyers? I like ’em about as much as I like Yankees,” Brynn admitted.

      “I always figured lawyers and the police are on the same side.”

      Brynn snorted with disgust. “If I had ten bucks for every criminal who’s lawyered up and gotten off scot-free because some crooked attorney manipulated the system, I could buy a luxury condo at Myrtle Beach.”

      Emily folded her arms on the admissions desk. “But not all lawyers are crooked.”

      “No,” Brynn admitted with a straight face. “Some are dead.”

      “You are so bad,” Emily laughed and shook her head.

      Although Brynn had made her comments in jest, she recognized her prejudice. For the most part, she considered herself fair and open-minded, but attorneys and Northerners pushed her buttons. Where attorneys were concerned, she agreed with the principle that every person was entitled to the best defense possible, but the shady shenanigans of too many un-principled lawyers had left a bad taste in her mouth for the profession as a whole.

      And she hoped Emily wouldn’t get her started on Yankees. They flooded the town every summer, in their big RVs and fancy cars, passing through on their way to summer homes in the nearby mountains. Not that she envied their wealth. They’d probably worked hard for it. What Brynn disliked was their condescension, treating the locals like dim-witted morons from The Beverly Hillbillies, laughing at Southern drawls and taking great pleasure in explaining how much better everything was done up North.

      Two particular Yankees had caused plenty of trouble recently in Pleasant Valley. Ginger Parker, with the morals of an alley cat in heat, had almost ruined Jim and Cat Stratton’s marriage. Ginger had been from New Jersey. And the antiques dealer who’d tried to rip off sweet old Mrs. Weatherstone had been based in Rhode Island.

      Not that there weren’t Southern snakes in abundance, but, at least in a five-county radius, Brynn knew who they were. Strangers, especially from the North, always put her on alert and on edge. If that attitude made her opinionated, it also made her cautious. And she couldn’t be too cautious in her line of work.

      “You don’t fool me,” Emily was saying. “I know you too well. For all your ranting about lawyers and Yankees, you’d be first on the scene if either needed help. And you’d provide it gladly.”

      “That’s my job,” Brynn countered.

      Before she could say more, Dr. Anderson came out of the treatment room and approached the desk.

      “How’s the kid?” Brynn asked.

      The young doctor pursed his lips, then sighed. “He’s in severe respiratory distress. I have him on oxygen and antibiotics. We’ll have to wait and see how well he can fight this off.”

      Brynn’s heart went out to the little boy, so ill without his mother. “How soon before he’s out of the woods?”

      “Depends on how strong he is. Could be a couple of hours. Could be a few days.” The doctor’s solemn expression indicated a third possibility. The boy might not recover at all.

      Brynn felt a rush of sympathy, not only for Jared, but for his father. She couldn’t imagine how Randall Benedict was feeling now, without anyone to stand watch with him over his sick child.

      Her radio squawked and she keyed the mike. “Sawyer here.”

      “We have an accident with injuries west of Carsons Corner,” the dispatcher announced. “I’ve dispatched Rhodes.”

      “Understood,” Brynn replied. “I’m coming in.”

      The Pleasant Valley police department was small, usually manned at night by only the dispatcher and one patrol officer. In bad weather or other emergencies, additional help was needed, and Brynn often had to pull an extra shift. With the police station across the street from the medical center and a clean uniform in her locker, she could report for duty in mere minutes.

      Brynn said goodbye to Dr. Anderson and Emily and headed for her car. But she couldn’t get Randall Benedict and Jared, a worried parent alone in a strange town and his dangerously ill little boy, out of her mind. She turned before exiting the automatic doors.

      “I’ll drop by later to see how the kid’s doing,” she said before plunging into the night and the blowing snow.

      Chapter Two

      The light pressure of a hand on his shoulder jolted Rand out of a deep sleep. He came instantly awake and centered his attention immediately on Jared. The boy, dwarfed by the hospital bed, lay still.

      Too still.

      Terror squeezed Rand’s lungs like a fist, and he couldn’t move from the hard plastic chair where he’d slept. Couldn’t breathe. “My God, he’s not—”

      “Jared’s fine,” a drawling feminine voice assured him. “The crisis has passed. His fever’s broken, and he’s breathing without difficulty now.”

      Relief cascaded through him, and, for the first time, Rand became aware of the woman whose hand still grasped his shoulder. “You’re sure?”

      “Dr. Anderson was just in, but he didn’t wake you. You’ve had a long night.”

      Sunlight filtered through the curtains of the hospital window, and Rand checked his watch—8:00 a.m.

      He stood, leaned over Jared, and placed his hand on the boy’s forehead. The toddler’s color was normal, his fever gone, his breathing easier. The oxygen mask had been removed. Weak with relief, Rand turned to the nurse—

      And saw instead the police officer who’d escorted him into town.

      “You here to arrest me?” His mind, fuzzy from lack of sleep, struggled to make sense of the officer’s presence.

      His question apparently took her by surprise. “Arrest you?”

      “For speeding. I know I was driving like a bat out of hell last night, but—”

      “I just stopped by to check on Jared.”

      She smiled, and suddenly she was no longer an officer but the most beautiful woman Rand had ever seen. Midnight-blue eyes glowed with compassion, and her mouth turned up at the corners in an alluring smile. Even with her auburn hair tucked neatly into a French braid, it appeared thick and luxurious, the kind of hair he’d love to run his fingers through. And its color complemented perfectly the apricot flush of her cheeks and her flawless complexion. Tall—she had to be at least five foot eight—her body filled her navy blue uniform so sensually it should have been against the law. In contrast to the severe lines of her uniform, the faintest hint of her floral scent swirled through the room.

      When he’d rushed Jared into the E.R. last night, Rand had been so frantic with worry that the police officer’s appearance had barely registered. Otherwise, he would have noted those spectacular eyes, like the blue velvet of a moonless summer sky. Even if he hadn’t been distracted, he couldn’t have seen how curvaceous she was. She’d been bundled up in her police parka and a long dress. Long dress? Had she really been wearing one or had his worry-crazed mind played tricks on him?

      “You okay?” she asked.

      He flushed, embarrassed that he’d been staring. “What?”

      “You’ve had a rough night. You should go home and get some sleep.” Her words, slow and sensual, made him think of the heady fragrance of magnolias and steamy Southern nights.

      “I won’t leave Jared alone.” He checked once more to reassure himself that Jared

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