Free Her Risk To Take by Toni Anderson Page B

does to a big man who beats up small women.” His arms felt like they were being pulled from their sockets. Christ, if someone didn’t come help soon they were going to drop the bastard whether they wanted to or not. Finally he heard the sounds of booted feet. Other hands reached out and hauled Henriksson over the top of them, dragged him farther onto the roof, and cuffed him.
    Cal rolled away from the edge and stared up at the pewter sky. Suddenly, Sarah was standing over him. Hands on hips, looking like a dream come true. Tall black boots, and a red dress that clung to every curve and had come a little askew in the tussle. His eyes traveled up her legs. Even in her white coat she looked hot. Dear god, he was lying there surrounded by twenty law enforcement officers and getting a hard-on just looking at her.
    “Forgive me?” he asked quietly.
    She looked like she wanted to tap her foot. “Ready to go public with our relationship yet, Landon?”
    He came up onto his knees, looked around at a couple of deputies who’d probably break out the cuffs on him next. They were grinning. He looked back at Sarah. “Reckon I just did.” Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him. Rolled her so she was lying beneath him. He brushed her hair away from her face. “I love you, Sarah Sullivan.” He kissed her slowly and tenderly, relishing the contact. “You deserve someone a million times better than me, but if you really want me, let’s get married.”
    She smiled at him then, but her eyes narrowed. Uh oh.
    “ Let’s get married? ” Her brows climbed sky-high. He obviously wasn’t forgiven yet. “After you saying you didn’t love me last night and then spending the whole night carousing around town?”
    Carousing ? He was having a tough time looking away from her lips, which matched her dress. She’d dressed to kill today, and she was killing him. “I was in a holding cell all night.”
    Her eyes swept the deputies, and they both had the sense to look away. “I see.”
    Her blue gaze was direct and clear when it came back to him. “There’s a ring in the jeweler’s window, white gold, lots of tiny diamonds encrusted in a circular setting. Come home with that and maybe we’ll talk.” She pushed him off her and sashayed to the stairwell, every eye on her as she walked away. They’d already escorted Henriksson away in cuffs.
    Cal sat up, feeling bruised and battered, but something inside him was bursting open—hope and sunshine even though it was a bitterly cold day. He yelled after her. “You’re a little hard to impress, you know that, Dr. Sullivan?”
    “Well, if you don’t give it a try, I will,” said one of the deputies with a grin.
    Cal laughed. Because Sarah didn’t want the deputy. She wanted him . He was finally getting it, after a lifetime of being denser than the resident mule on the ranch, something was finally getting through his thick skull. He. Deserved. To. Be. Happy. And so did she.
    Nat held out his hand and pulled Cal to his feet. “She’s stubborn.”
    Cal scratched his head. “I need to go get that ring.”
    “Damn right,” said Nat.
    Sheriff Talbot appeared on the roof and hitched his belt. “I need you two to come down to the station—”
    Cal shook his head. “I need to get to the jewelers before it closes—”
    “Too bad. You were involved in the apprehension of a gunman. What in the hell were you two doing up on the roof anyway?” Talbot eyed him, as if only just remembering he’d left him on the side of the road not twenty minutes ago.
    For the first time ever, Cal got in Talbot’s face. The fire inside him burned through the reserve he usually wore around the lawman. “Look, Sheriff , the woman I love could have died up here today, no thanks to you. She told me I need to go buy her diamonds, so I’m goddamned going to buy her diamonds.”
    Talbot squinted and ran his tongue over his teeth. “I’ll take it under consideration, but for now, you’re