Free Nothing to Fear by Karen Rose Page A

start spouting like a geyser. He didn’t let go. If anything, he pulled her closer.
    “It’ll get infected.” It was the barest of murmurs. Another shiver arced across her skin.
    “I’m . . . I hate needles,” she confessed.
    His chest moved again, this time in silent laughter. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.” He let her go and she wished he hadn’t. “Sit and eat,” he said quietly and slid onto the vinyl bench on his side of the table. “It appears you’ve been here at least once or twice before,” he added wryly, pointing to her place where a plate of steaming French fries sat waiting, and Dana instantly regretted having chosen this shop. It was so close to the bus station, she came here whenever a bus was arriving later than scheduled. She never had enough cash for more than a plate of fries and a Coke, so that’s all she ever ordered.
    Dana glanced over at the counter where the coffee shop owner stood grinning. Fifty-plus and man-hungry, Betty’s eyes moved lasciviously over Buchanan before turning to give her the thumbs-up sign. Buchanan just smiled politely at the busybody and gave her a crisp military salute.
    Dana rolled her eyes and sat down. “Pay no attention to the woman behind the counter, Mr. Buchanan. She’s been committed three times just this year.”
    His brows lifted as he liberally salted his eggs. He shot a curious glance to where Betty sat openly staring, agog. Not that Dana could blame her, really. “Oh, yeah?”
    Scowling, she squirted ketchup on her plate. “No. She’s just nosy.”
    Buchanan smiled and Dana drew another gulping breath at the sight. The man was going to give her heart failure. Even with a rumpled suit and unshaven cheeks the man was gorgeous enough to take the breath of any woman with a pulse. And Dana found she definitely had a pulse, which at the moment was scrambling to beat all hell.
    “Well, I figured you must come here fairly often even before she brought the fries,” he said, spearing his fork into his steak. “When we came in and you went straight to the rest room, she marched over here and gave me grief about the blood on your face. I had to tell her what happened before she would let me sit down. But I think she likes me now.”
    Dana glared at Betty who just beamed. “Please, let’s just change the subject.” She dunked her fries and watched him consume huge quantities of food, like he hadn’t eaten in days. “So why were you in the bus station at five-thirty in the morning?”
    “Um . . .” He swallowed and patted his lips with the napkin, which of course drew her eyes to his mouth. It was a very, very nice mouth. Very nice lips. “Business.”
    “What kind of business?”
    “I have a security consulting business.”
    Dana frowned. “Securities—like stocks and bonds?” If he was an investment banker, she was the Queen of England. No investment banker had shoulders like his.
    He shook his head. “No, like secure networks. I help companies make their computer systems as hack-proof as possible. I also set up video surveillance and along with my partner, Clay, assist in training their security guards.”
    She regarded him thoughtfully. Well, that made more sense, now that her mind was working a little more clearly. “So do you normally call on potential clients in the middle of the night wearing a rumpled suit and two days’ beard?”
    He coughed. “Observant, aren’t you?”
    “Normally, yes.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “So why couldn’t you describe the guy that knocked you down in there when the security guard returned empty-handed?”
    Dana met his gaze head-on. “I did.”
    “Um-hmm. Tall, twenties, no eye color, brown hair. The old lady who screamed gave a better description and she wore glasses as thick as my thumb.”
    The truth was, Dana didn’t really want the guy caught, because then she’d have to go to court and admit why she was in the bus station to start with. She would have if the lady had been hurt