Bad Girls Don't Read online

  “She knows how to slip out of handcuffs,” Owen explained. “She wasn’t really resisting.”

  “Of course she knows how to get out of handcuffs. I taught her myself,” Sister Mary declared with a touch of pride. “A little something I picked up from my civil disobedience training during the civil rights movement.”

  Nathan was speechless, but not for long. “Move aside, everyone!”

  Instead, they all sat down, blocking the door. Then they linked arms.

  “You really should clean the sidewalks better,” Sue Ellen noted with disapproval. “The sidewalks in Serenity Falls are spotless. These are cracked, and there are dandelions in between.”

  “You’ve got five seconds to move or I’ll have you all arrested.” Nathan’s voice was steely.

  “The cell won’t hold us all. It’s barely large enough for one. Besides, think of the paperwork. Do you really want to put yourself through that?” Sister Mary asked him. “Wouldn’t it be simpler to just get those old tickets paid?”

  “She’s got a new ticket.”

  Owen raised his hand. “I’ll pay that, too.”

  “Come on, Nate.” Sister Mary was using her coaxing voice now. “Owen’s arthritis is causing him pain here.”

  “I’m okay,” Owen stoically maintained.

  “Then my arthritis is causing me pain,” Sister Mary stated.

  “I can help you with that,” Angel said, her curly brown hair bouncing. “I’ve got some special yoga moves. We’ll talk later.”

  “This is not a joke, people,” Nathan growled.

  “Of course it’s not,” Angel replied. “Arthritis is a serious matter.”

  Nathan glared at her. “I’m talking about your daughter.”

  Angel beamed proudly. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? A little on the rebellious side, but she has a good heart.”

  “It’s that rebellious side that’s gotten her into trouble,” Nathan stated.

  Skye raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said it was my speeding that got me in trouble. Being rebellious is not illegal.”

  Maybe not, but Nathan knew that the sexual awareness thrumming through him as he held Skye by his side was definitely a very serious offense. He suspected this aggravating, belly-dancing female would shake, rattle, and roll his entire law-abiding world if he weren’t careful.

  Good thing Nathan planned on being extremely careful. He’d spent a lifetime following the rules. Skye had clearly spent a lifetime breaking them.

  Definitely a bad combination . . .

  Nathan needed to regain control of this situation. “Sister Mary and Owen—you two come with me.”

  “What about me?” Skye rattled her handcuffs.

  “We’re all going inside to hash this out,” Nathan stated.

  The sit-in group stood.

  “Not all of you,” Nathan said hurriedly.

  “But you just said . . .” Angel looked confused.

  “For a lawman, he’s not very bright, is he?” Skye noted with a shake of her head. “Or very concise.”

  Nathan refused to rise to the bait. “Sister Mary and Owen, come along with Ms. Wright.”

  Skye blinked with fake innocence. “Do you mean me?” “Or me?” Angel asked. “Which Ms. Wright were you referring to?”

  “The handcuffed one.” Nathan put his hand on Skye’s elbow to guide her forward.

  “You may call her Skye,” Angel told him.

  No way Nathan wanted to be on a first-name basis with this sexy bundle of trouble. Thanks, but no thanks. “The rest of you wait out here. Or better yet, go home.”

  “We’re practicing our constitutional right to gather.”

  “Only we’re going to gather over at the Dairy Queen across the street,” Sue Ellen said. “But don’t think that means we’re not paying attention to what’s going on over here.”

  “I’m not going to the Dairy Queen,” Angel protested. “Sugar is poison. How about some freshly baked yellow-squash cookies instead?” She tugged a bag out of her tote and jiggled it enticingly.

  “Let’s get this circus going,” Skye said, suddenly in a hurry to move inside.

  Five minutes later, Nathan surveyed the threesome before him in his office. Sister Mary and Owen were a natural pairing. Both comforted and served people in their time of need. Skye was definitely the odd one out in this trio.

  “I don’t think you realize the seriousness of this situation,” Nathan sternly told her.

  “Serious? Global warming is serious,” Skye replied. “This is a piece of cake compared to that. In fact, you should be thanking me for saving you from Angel’s yellow-squash cookies.”

  “They are an acquired taste,” Sister Mary agreed.

  Nathan sharply rapped his knuckles on his wooden desk. “People, if we could please focus on the matter at hand here.”

  “Sure. Speaking of hands, do you want these back now?” Skye handed him the handcuffs, dropping them in the middle of his U.S. Marine Corps “Semper Fi” mouse pad.

  “You have a real attitude problem, you know that?” he growled.

  Skye shrugged. “So I’ve been told.”

  “Just tell me what paperwork I have to sign and I’ll do it,” Owen said.

  Nathan hated seeing the respected business owner dragged into Skye’s mess. “Owen, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, this isn’t really your problem.”

  “She’s a friend,” Owen replied.

  “Uh-huh.” Nathan sounded dubious.

  “Get that look off your face,” Skye ordered Nathan. “Owen is one of the good guys.”

  “Who you’re taking advantage of by having him pay for your mistakes instead of taking responsibility for them yourself.”

  “That was my idea,” Owen stoically maintained.

  “Don’t you have anything to contribute to this conversation, Sister Mary?” Nathan asked.

  The nun shook her head and fixed him with a stare. “Not really. You seem to be doing just fine judging everyone’s morals all on your own.”

  “She broke the law.”

  “She’s sitting right here,” Skye reminded him, waving her hand to get his attention. Her movement made her breasts bounce.

  “I haven’t forgotten.” Impossible to do that with her sitting in front of him wearing that belly-dancing outfit. “You’re not exactly the kind of person who fades into the background.”

  Skye grinned and wiggled her shoulders, making her entire body sing . . . and his entire body harden. “Why, thank you, Sheriff. That’s the first compliment you’ve given me. No doubt it will be the last.”

  “It appears you two got off on the wrong foot,” Sister Mary said. “There certainly are a lot of sparks flying here.”

  Nathan’s eyes shot from the vixen-woman’s bustline to the nun’s knowing face. “Sparks?”

  Skye wiggled her shoulders again. Not that he looked at her again. No, he could tell what she was doing by the sound of all those tiny bells chiming as she moved.

  Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. Nathan didn’t remember the author of that quote, but he could sure relate at the moment.

  “Sparks,” Sister Mary repeated.

  “You’re mistaken, Sister.” His voice was curt.

  The sound of a little girl’s screeching voice directly outside his office caught everyone’s attention. “I gotta pee! Right now! I want my mommy with me!” the kid screamed.

  Skye was on her feet and at her daughter’s side in two seconds flat.

  “Skye isn’t dangerous,” Sister Mary told Nathan when he moved to go after her. “Not to the public. Maybe to your peace of mind. But don’t hold that against her, Nate.”

  “You’re trying to make this personal. It’s not.”

  “You haven’t let anything get personal for a long time now, have you?” Her voice was compassionate.

  “Uh, I think I’ll go see about a cup of coffee if that’s okay?” Owen said.

  “Drink it at your own risk,” Nathan told
him with a smile. “But you’re welcome to help yourself. Do you know where it is?”

  Owen nodded. “I saw it when we came in.”

  Once they were alone, Sister Mary looked at Nathan with an expression that reminded him of a bomb-sniffing dog, determined and focused. “It’s just us now, Nate.”

  “Yes, it is.” He perched on the corner of his desk and folded his arms across his chest as he faced her.

  “So what’s this really all about?” Sister Mary demanded.

  “Speeding and driving without proper documentation.”

  “She gets to you, doesn’t she? She gets to most people. Skye isn’t one to sit on the sidelines of life. She’s right there in the middle of the action.”

  “Yeah, I got that.”

  “So what bothers you the most about her?”

  “The fact that she was speeding.”

  “Right. She’s fast. And that bothers you.”

  The nun made it sound like he was attracted to the belly-dancing vixen. “There you go again, trying to make it personal.”

  “And there you go again.” Sister Mary wasn’t backing down. “Putting up barriers. As I said before, you haven’t let anything get personal for some time now.”

  Nathan shrugged. “Law enforcement works better that way.”

  “How about life? Does it work better that way too?”

  Before he could answer, Nathan’s windowless office was suddenly plunged into darkness.

  Chapter Two

  Nathan’s military and law enforcement training instantly kicked in. A slice of light coming through the partially open office door revealed a solitary figure standing there.

  An unidentifiable figure. Not good.

  “Doesn’t the town pay its electric bills?” Sister Mary was asking even as Nathan shot forward, only to run into someone in the dark. Someone with curves and dancing bells.

  Nathan grabbed Skye to prevent her from falling. He was aiming for her shoulders, but somehow his right hand encountered the fullness of her breast en route.

  “Don’t waste electricity,” a child’s voice reprimanded him.

  “Don’t cop a feel in the dark,” Skye told Nathan before shoving him away.

  “What’s ‘cop a feel’ mean, Mommy?”

  “I’ll tell you later.” Skye flicked the lights back on. She hated the fact that the touch of Studly Do-Right’s hand on her breast had shaken her. “My daughter likes to turn the lights off.”

  “Don’t waste electricity, right, Mommy?”

  “Right.” And sexy zings from Nathan’s touch were a definite waste of electricity as far as Skye was concerned.

  She gave him the evil eye, aka the Sicilian death stare, just in case he got any ideas about placing his hands anywhere near her breasts again. But she could tell by the stunned look on his face that he hadn’t planned on groping her in the first place.

  Not that his touch even qualified as a grope. It was more like a quick brush, really. Which made her intense reaction all the more disturbing. What was that all about? She was no prude to go all weak at the knees this way.

  Sister Mary broke the sudden, awkward silence by making introductions. “You already know Angel, Skye’s mother. And this is Toni, Skye’s daughter. She’s four.”

  “You look mean.” Toni gave Nathan a miniversion of the Sicilian death stare. “I don’t like you.”

  “She’s into expressing her emotions.” Angel ruffled her granddaughter’s hair.

  “Like her mother,” Nathan drawled.

  “Absolutely,” Skye stated proudly.

  “I’m sorry if Toni’s yelling upset you earlier,” Angel said, “but she wanted her mommy.”

  Nathan nodded. “Yeah, I got that.”

  “I’ll bet you thought I was going to make a run for it, didn’t you?” Skye directed her challenging comment to Nathan.

  Before he could reply, Owen returned to the room with coffee in hand and an apologetic expression on his face. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve got a funeral I’ve got to prepare for this afternoon, so if we could get the paperwork going here, I’d really appreciate it.”

  Nathan was instantly all business. “How much do you owe on all those tickets?” he asked Skye.

  “Three hundred and ninety-three dollars.” She dug them out of her huge tote bag. “Here, do the math yourself if you don’t trust me.”

  He used the calculator on his tidy desk. “Actually, it comes to three hundred and ninety-two dollars. I’ll tell you what.” He steepled his fingers. “Pay these old tickets and I’ll let you go this time.”

  Angel’s face was serene. “I’m so glad you’re trusting your inner vision on this matter, Nathan.”

  Sister Mary beamed. “Thanks, Nate.”

  Owen’s smile was equally big. “Yes, thank you, Nate.”

  “Aren’t you going to thank me?” Nathan asked Skye.

  Skye gave him the evil eye once again. “Don’t push your luck.”

  “In that case, I hope you’ll consider this experience a warning.”

  Skye smiled sweetly. “I will if you will.”

  “What do you think they’re doing over there at the police station?” Sue Ellen asked between slurps of her Blizzard at the Dairy Queen.

  Algee shrugged. “Sister Mary will make sure they don’t torture Skye.”

  “Do you know how many people are tortured around the world each year?” Lulu asked. “The statistics are on the Amnesty International website.”

  Sue Ellen clucked her tongue. “You’re just a regular Suzie Sunshine, aren’t you?”

  Lulu pointed to her Dark Angel tattoo, one of many tattoos covering much of the skin on her arms. “I’m into dark, not light.”

  “Speaking of dark, I really wish you’d let me do something with your hair,” Sue Ellen replied. “That flat black just doesn’t do a thing for your pale complexion.”

  “Keep your evil Mary Kay hands to yourself,” Lulu growled.

  Sue Ellen didn’t take offense. “Isn’t it interesting how different we all are, yet we’re all friends of Skye?”

  “Yeah, it’s just fascinating,” Lulu drawled.

  Algee stood. “Well, if you ladies don’t need me any longer, I’d better get back to the store.”

  Sue Ellen grabbed his massive arm. “You can’t leave yet. What if Skye needs our help?”

  “With what?” Algee asked. “A prison break?”

  Sue Ellen looked horrified. “You don’t think they’re going to put her in prison, do you?”

  “Do you know how many innocent people are thrown into prison every year?” Lulu asked.

  “No, and I don’t want to know,” Sue Ellen retorted, her voice agitated. “All I care about is Skye. And maybe world peace. Oh, and being the top-selling Mary Kay representative in Pennsylvania someday.”

  “I don’t think you’re supposed to be staging sit-ins if you’re a Mary Kay representative,” Lulu said.

  “Well, I’m not actually selling the cosmetics yet,” Sue Ellen admitted. “It’s just one of the many things on my list of life possibilities.”

  “Did Angel come up with that?” Lulu asked.

  “With selling cosmetics?” Sue Ellen laughed and shook her head. “Heavens, no. You know how she is about that sort of thing. No animal testing, only natural ingredients.” Then, abruptly, “What are we going to do if they arrest Skye?”

  “I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not babysitting Toni the Biter,” Lulu said.

  “I had no idea when I hired you to help out part-time that you were such a wimp,” Algee retorted.

  Lulu shrugged. “That kid is dangerous.”

  “She doesn’t bite as much as she used to,” Algee commented. “You should have seen her six months ago.”

  “You don’t think she’ll bite a cop, do you?” Sue Ellen’s eyes widened as this new thought raced through her mind. “Can they arrest a three-year-old?”

  “She’s four,” Algee said.

  “She’s a menace,” L
ulu said.

  “Yeah . . . she is. Just like her mother,” Sue Ellen said fondly.

  “One more thing before you go,” Nathan told Skye. Angel had already taken Toni outside, leaving Skye alone with the sheriff.

  “What? You want your pound of flesh?”

  He gave her a visual once-over. “You’re certainly showing enough flesh.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “That your outfit isn’t exactly age appropriate.”

  She stood toe-to-toe with him, which meant she had to tilt back her head to give him the Sicilian death stare, but it was worth the extra effort. “Are you saying I’m too old?” Danger vibrated in every word, cautioning him.

  “I’m saying that outfit is much too provocative to wear in front of a group of hormone-crazed teenage boys.”

  Skye actually had a less revealing outfit she normally wore for the sessions at the high school. It was in her car and she’d planned on changing, but had been running late.

  Not that she’d explain any of that to Cop-Man. Instead, she snarled, “Who made you the fashion gestapo?”

  “It doesn’t take an expert to know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

  “You’re right.”

  “I am?” He was clearly surprised by her agreement.

  “It doesn’t take an expert to see that I’m right and you’re wrong.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Explaining that to you would take several hours and, frankly, I don’t have the time. Thanks to you, I’ve totally missed the football session and will have to reschedule.”

  “Thanks to me and Owen, you’re not in jail right now.”

  “And that’s what’s really got your tighty-whities all bunched up in a knot, right? The fact that I’m not behind bars. I’ll bet in a previous life you ran the dungeon in a dark castle somewhere.”

  “Speaking of dark, you really should watch your daughter and stop her from turning off the lights like that.”

  “What’s the matter, Mr. Lawman?” she taunted. “You afraid of the dark?”

  “I’m used to the dark.”

  Something in his tone made her pause. The man had just insulted her kid. Sort of. She should be taking his head off right now, not wondering what had caused the pain she’d discerned in his voice a moment ago.