Free The Law of Desire by Gwyneth Bolton Page B

front of a black SUV, she straightened her dress and contemplated running off again.
    “Don’t even think about it, Minerva.” He opened the door and nodded for her to get in. Her name rolled off his lips with a hint of a threat but there was something else underneath.
    A hint of sexiness? Seduction? What the heck was it about the way this man says my name that gives me the chills? I’m talking sweet, achy, makes me feel so good chills… The way Lawrence said her name could make her grow to like, hell even love, the quirky name.
    She folded her arms across her chest and stood there.
    “Get in.”
    Who did he think he was? Just because he saved her life a couple of times did not mean he was all of a sudden in charge of her. The last time she checked she was a grown-ass woman. However, as grown as she was, the only thing she could think of to do was stamp her feet and yell that he was not the boss of her.
    Real mature…
    She bit back a huff and got into the SUV. At the end of the day, she didn’t have anywhere else to go and as annoying as the overbearing detective was, he seemed to be the only thing between her and danger. She wasn’t one of those too-stupid-to-live chicks in the movies who went looking for danger or turned down help when she needed it.
    She decided: she had to stop fighting him, but she didn’t have to like it.

Chapter 6
    S o she was just going to sit there and not say a word to him the entire ride?
    Well, fine.
    Lawrence wasn’t about to beg her to talk to him. In fact, if she was going to make one of her little smart-ass comments or tell one of her lies, or try and convince him that she really didn’t know who was after her, then he would rather she not say a word.
    Yeah. He could deal with the silence. It would give him plenty of time to think about what it was about this woman that had him going against all his normal reflexes. Why was it that merely seeing her made him want to pull her in his arms and see how those sweet pouting lips of hers tasted? Or how come he had an almost instinctual desire to protect her and look out for her? And darn if his desire for her wasn’t making him…
    No, to hell with silence!
    He did not need to face those questions yet. And besides, they might go away.
    Or maybe they weren’t really all he was making them out to be.
    Just as he reached to turn up the radio, they lost the station. It was the only thing he hated about the drive to the Poconos. About forty minutes into the drive down Interstate-80 the good radio stations were gone. He flipped the CD changer on and darn if everything he had in it wasn’t slow and smooth R & B. He certainly didn’t need mood music, so he turned it off.
    She was just going to have to talk to him.
    “Why are you being so quiet?”
    She didn’t say anything.
    “You know, believe it or not there are lots of other things I could be doing with my time rather than trying to look out for a ungrateful chick who may or may not be telling the truth.”
    A suck and a hiss was her only response.
    “Minerva…” He paused when he sensed that she had turned to face him. He stole a quick glance and found her eyes pinned on him. “Minerva, this will go a lot easier if we at least try to get along. I’m really not that bad of a guy once you get to know me. And I would really like to get to know the truth about you. So why don’t we try—”
    “What makes you think there is anything more to know about me? You found out about my juvie record. You know about my brother’s murder. You have been a freaking shadow in my life for the past three months. You know that there are people after me—”
    “Yeah, but I don’t know who is trying to get you—”
    “Neither do I! Why don’t you believe me? You don’t even know me and yet you have painted me as some kind of lying crook. I resent that. I resent you. And I refuse to keep trying to convince you that I’m innocent. If we can’t find anything else to talk about then I’d prefer