MacKenzie's Lady Read Online Free

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    "Los Angeles," she murmured absently as she tried to tuck the strap under the edge of her foot to hold it in place. She missed the sharp look Ken threw his friend and then the knowing grin that followed it. He whistled softly to himself. Mac gave him a warning scowl that was completely ignored. Ken continued to whistle "Some Enchanted Evening." The tune seemed out of place in a deserted alley in one of the less enticing areas of Tijuana.
    Holly set her foot back down, giving a pained sigh as the strap promptly popped back out again. "I guess my shoes are going to be a write-off, too. If I ever lay my hands on Jason Nevin again, I think I'll hold him down and pluck every hair out of his beard, one by one." Ken chuckled at her vengeful tone and Mac's face creased in a lazy smile.
    "It's probably safe to leave now. The police must have rounded up their quota of bar patrons." Mac's words gave Holly an oddly unsettled feeling. Of course, she was delighted by the thought of putting the whole embarrassing incident behind her. And she had to keep in mind that no matter how charming Ken seemed and no matter how disturbing Mac was, they were obviously not the kind of people that the average kindergarten teacher needed to list among her acquaintances.
    Her eyes shifted awkwardly between the two men, her next move uncertain. Was she supposed to just walk away? Should she offer to pay them? But she didn't have any money and, somehow, she couldn't picture asking them for an address to mail a check to.
    The silence in the narrow alley grew until she could almost hear herself breathe. In the distance she heard the sound of cars, traffic, people, civilization. All of those things seemed very far away. Nearby she could hear a dog barking. On the other side of the wall, a goat bleated mournfully and a little farther away children laughed.
    She swallowed and gave the two men a strained smile. Funny, she didn't even know their last names. She would never see them again—and she certainly didn't want to see them again, she assured herself—but it was hard to just walk away.
    The children laughed again and her smile grew a little more natural. The familiarity of the high childish sound helped her to regain her balance. "My students would never recognize their neat and tidy Miss Reynolds now. I look like something the cat dragged in."
    "Barroom brawls are a little hard on the wardrobe," Mac agreed quietly. He nodded his head down the alley. "If you go out that way and turn right, you'll hit a major street in about a block. You should be able to find your car from there."
    It was a dismissal. As clearly as the bell ringing at the end of a school day, he was telling her that it was time for her to go home now. It was time to put this frightening incident behind her and go back to the real world. And she did not feel hurt by his tone.
    She nodded briskly, holding her chin high. "Thank you for coming to my rescue. I hope it hasn't caused you any problems." She started to hold out her hand, then realized how absurd the conventional gesture looked and quickly tucked it back behind her skirt. She smiled nervously and forced herself to turn away and walk down the alley.
    She was almost to the corner of the wall when she couldn't resist turning back for one last look at her strange benefactors. Ken raised his hand and gave her a cocky grin. Mac's hands remained in his pockets but the intensity of the look in his eyes remained with her long after she was safely in her car and driving back to L.A.

Chapter 2

    M ac leaned indolently against the wall and let his eyes drift shut, closing out the quiet bustle of the big room in front of him. He must be getting old. There had been a time when just the smell of this room had been enough to make his pulse skip a beat. It had been a long time ago, when he had been new at the job, convinced that he was going to solve at least some of the world's problems.
    He couldn't even dig up much curiosity about being