A Vow to Love Read Online Free Page B
Author: Sherryl Woods
little people again, Sam?" Jake demanded, looking Penny up and down approvingly. "You know Ryan hates it when you do that."
"Very funny," Sam retorted, scowling at the whole lot of them.
Penny glanced from one policeman to the other and apparently didn't like what she saw. "Aren't you going to arrest him? Put some handcuffs on him?"
"I doubt that'll be necessary, miss," Ryan said politely. He glanced pointedly at the gathering of neighbors in the hall. Every single door had been flung open. "Maybe we should take this inside, see if we can't straighten it out."
"Good idea," Jake said.
"I do not want this man in my apartment," Penny informed them, trying to block the way. "I want him locked up in a cell so that he can't harm other innocent citizens."
"Oh, give it a rest," Sam snapped as he lifted her aside, then marched over to the unopened bottle of whiskey he'd spotted on the kitchen counter and poured himself a stiff drink. He held up the bottle. "Anybody else want one?"
"We're on duty," Jake reminded him. His gaze narrowed. "Thought you were, too."
"Nope. I'm taking the rest of the day off. I consider it a hazardous-duty benefit."
Penny was regarding them all suspiciously. "What's going on here?"
"Well, ma'am, that's what we'd like you to tell us," Ryan said.
He said it in his most courteous tone, Sam noted. He and Jake made a good team. Ryan soothed, while Jake tended to make suspects quake in their boots without ever opening his mouth. He just loomed over them.
"Sam here is a police officer," Ryan explained softly. "I'm guessing he must have been here on a stakeout. Is that right, Sam?"
"Something like that," he agreed.
Penny's mouth gaped. "A policeman? Sam?" Something that might have been comprehension flickered in her eyes. An interesting shade of red crept up her neck and into her cheeks.
"Sam Roberts?" she said weakly, sinking onto the sofa.
He lifted the glass in her direction. "Nice to see you again."
"Oh, hell," she murmured.
He took considerable satisfaction in seeing her day disintegrate right before his eyes. He figured that made them just about even. Granddad Brandon, on the other hand, still had to pay up big-time.
Chapter 2
P enny surveyed the man standing in her minuscule kitchen from head to toe. Now that he was in the light and fear wasn't clouding her vision, she could see it was Sam Roberts all right. Taller, broader through the shoulders and sexier, if that was possible.
Now she knew why her pulse had skipped at the sound of his voice. She'd heard it often enough in her dreams. That's what came of adolescent fantasies. On rare occasions, they stretched clear into reality to zap common sense.
One thing for sure, his outrageous behavior hadn't changed a bit. He was living up to everything Penny remembered about him from their brief but memorable encounter at the christening of his niece, Elizabeth Lacey Halloran, firstborn in the fourth generation of Hallorans. For an entire weekend he had blatantly regarded Penny as a pesky adolescent, hardly worthy of his attention.
Back then she had chafed at being so summarily dismissed, especially by the first true love of her entire life. The one kiss they shared still burned in her memory. The whole thing had been humiliating and ridiculous. Forever after, she had told anyone who asked that she couldn't stand the smart-mouthed jerk. She'd finally started to believe it herself in the past couple of years. There were times when she couldn't even remember what he looked like.
Well, that much was obviously true, she thought, thinking of the terrible mistake she'd made in that hallway.
Of course, she had also told herself that Sam Roberts's being in Boston had nothing to do with her decision to come to Harvard after years of self-imposed exile from the East. Judging from the way her heart was thudding at the moment, she'd been lying through her teeth about that, too. Apparently some things never changed.
Today, despite his obvious and acute
"Very funny," Sam retorted, scowling at the whole lot of them.
Penny glanced from one policeman to the other and apparently didn't like what she saw. "Aren't you going to arrest him? Put some handcuffs on him?"
"I doubt that'll be necessary, miss," Ryan said politely. He glanced pointedly at the gathering of neighbors in the hall. Every single door had been flung open. "Maybe we should take this inside, see if we can't straighten it out."
"Good idea," Jake said.
"I do not want this man in my apartment," Penny informed them, trying to block the way. "I want him locked up in a cell so that he can't harm other innocent citizens."
"Oh, give it a rest," Sam snapped as he lifted her aside, then marched over to the unopened bottle of whiskey he'd spotted on the kitchen counter and poured himself a stiff drink. He held up the bottle. "Anybody else want one?"
"We're on duty," Jake reminded him. His gaze narrowed. "Thought you were, too."
"Nope. I'm taking the rest of the day off. I consider it a hazardous-duty benefit."
Penny was regarding them all suspiciously. "What's going on here?"
"Well, ma'am, that's what we'd like you to tell us," Ryan said.
He said it in his most courteous tone, Sam noted. He and Jake made a good team. Ryan soothed, while Jake tended to make suspects quake in their boots without ever opening his mouth. He just loomed over them.
"Sam here is a police officer," Ryan explained softly. "I'm guessing he must have been here on a stakeout. Is that right, Sam?"
"Something like that," he agreed.
Penny's mouth gaped. "A policeman? Sam?" Something that might have been comprehension flickered in her eyes. An interesting shade of red crept up her neck and into her cheeks.
"Sam Roberts?" she said weakly, sinking onto the sofa.
He lifted the glass in her direction. "Nice to see you again."
"Oh, hell," she murmured.
He took considerable satisfaction in seeing her day disintegrate right before his eyes. He figured that made them just about even. Granddad Brandon, on the other hand, still had to pay up big-time.
Chapter 2
P enny surveyed the man standing in her minuscule kitchen from head to toe. Now that he was in the light and fear wasn't clouding her vision, she could see it was Sam Roberts all right. Taller, broader through the shoulders and sexier, if that was possible.
Now she knew why her pulse had skipped at the sound of his voice. She'd heard it often enough in her dreams. That's what came of adolescent fantasies. On rare occasions, they stretched clear into reality to zap common sense.
One thing for sure, his outrageous behavior hadn't changed a bit. He was living up to everything Penny remembered about him from their brief but memorable encounter at the christening of his niece, Elizabeth Lacey Halloran, firstborn in the fourth generation of Hallorans. For an entire weekend he had blatantly regarded Penny as a pesky adolescent, hardly worthy of his attention.
Back then she had chafed at being so summarily dismissed, especially by the first true love of her entire life. The one kiss they shared still burned in her memory. The whole thing had been humiliating and ridiculous. Forever after, she had told anyone who asked that she couldn't stand the smart-mouthed jerk. She'd finally started to believe it herself in the past couple of years. There were times when she couldn't even remember what he looked like.
Well, that much was obviously true, she thought, thinking of the terrible mistake she'd made in that hallway.
Of course, she had also told herself that Sam Roberts's being in Boston had nothing to do with her decision to come to Harvard after years of self-imposed exile from the East. Judging from the way her heart was thudding at the moment, she'd been lying through her teeth about that, too. Apparently some things never changed.
Today, despite his obvious and acute
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