Free The Temptation of Laura by Rachel Brimble Page A

throat and he spun around just as the women burst into hysterics.
    One of the young boys who had been playing at the water’s edge now struggled in vain against the weight of the current. His arms flailed and his open mouth took in the murky brown liquid time and again.
    “Goddamn it.” Adam yanked off his jacket and shoes.
    He climbed onto the wall alongside the water and jumped. He sucked in a breath. The temperature was icy cold. Within two steps, its depth reached his torso. The boy sank beneath the murkiness once more. Gritting his teeth, Adam waded through the current and plunged his hands deep. He grabbed the boy’s collar and hauled him into his arms.
    Coughing and spluttering, the boy gripped Adam’s biceps. The lad glanced over his shoulder and his coughing escalated to manic proportions rather than calming as it should’ve done. Adam looked ahead and grinned. A crowd had gathered at the water’s edge. Clearly, the boy enjoyed an audience as much as Adam. He waded back to where he’d left his shoes and then stepped up onto the wall before releasing the boy into his mother’s waiting arms.
    “Oh, Laurence. Laurence, my baby.” She gathered her son close, kissing his sodden hair over and over.
    Adam smiled and shook the water from his hair. “He won’t do that again in a hurry, ma’am.”
    She met his eyes over her son’s head. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
    “You are welcome.” He winked at the boy. “Be safe, little man.” The boy nodded and turned his face into the crook of his mother’s neck. Pretending not to hear his name whispered over and over as it filtered through the watching crowd, Adam sat upon the wall to pull on his shoes, his wet clothes dripping onto the concrete. Goose bumps erupted onto his cold skin, but the discomfort was worth it to know the boy was safe.
    “That was quite the performance, Mr. Lacey.”
    Adam smiled and lifted his head. “Well, thank . . .”
    Laura grinned at him and his heart stuttered. “Laura.”
    Her violet eyes flashed with amusement and her cheeks were flushed. “Is it really necessary to demand an audience’s attention twenty-four hours a day?”
    She held a basket over her arm, her smile wide. Adam stared, mesmerized as her glossy hair flew in tendrils from beneath her hat to lick at her cheeks. He blinked and shrugged into his jacket, his heart thumping uncomfortably. Was it fate that she kept coming unexpectedly into his path? Fate that the sight of her sent his thoughts shooting from his brain to his heart . . . to settle uncomfortably in his groin?
    He stood. “I take attention wherever I can get it in most instances. Yet, leaping into icy-cold water on an October afternoon to save some rascal of a child from drowning is not my idea of fun.”
    She cast her appraisal languidly over his chest before meeting his eyes. “You do look a picture.”
    He laughed as he tried and failed to drag his gaze from hers. “I’m sure I do.”
    The tension escalated as the conversation lapsed.
    Say something. Anything. Ask her to tea. Coffee. Dancing . . .
    “Would you mind accompanying me back to my house so I can change?” He inwardly grimaced. Good job, my friend . Why would she ever do such a thing? “I mean—”
    “All right, then.”
    He stared. “You would?”
    Her eyes grew wide, as though the concurrence shocked her as much as him. She cleared her throat and her cheeks darkened further. “Yes.”
    Adam bit back a smile and straightened his jacket over his sodden shirt. The woman’s pride was unparalleled. He offered her his arm. She looked from his arm to his eyes, her gaze lit with undeniable pleasure. She curled her hand around his forearm and stared ahead.
    They strolled away from the people still carefully watching them. Adam could not dismiss the pride sweeping through him to have such a wondrous woman on his arm as he led her through the crowd toward the steps leading onto the street. Clasping her hand at his arm, he held her