Midwife Cover - Cassie Miles Read Online Free Page B

hand on the woman’s trembling shoulders. “What’s his name? ¿Cómo se llamo? ”
    “Miguel.”
    “And your name?”
    “Consuela.”
    In Spanish, Petra asked if there were any other bad guys. Consuela replied that there were only the two, and Escher wasn’t a bad man. He had tried to help her and to save Miguel.
    Petra rose and faced Brady. “She says it was just the two of them.”
    “I’ll take her word for it.”
    She heard police sirens approaching and glanced toward Cole. He had the suspect sitting on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back. “What about Doc and the deputy? Are they okay?”
    “Cole entered the clinic and found them both tied up. The deputy had been knocked unconscious. Doc is taking care of him.”
    “I’m surprised this guy didn’t kill them.”
    “He’s not stupid enough to kill a deputy.”
    Through the trees, she saw the red and blue lights of an approaching ambulance and a police vehicle. As soon as they all arrived, regular police procedure would take over, and she’d be shunted out of the way.
    She’d probably never see Brady Masters again, which shouldn’t have bothered her. The uptight fed wasn’t her type. If they spent more time in each other’s company, they’d surely drive each other crazy. Still, she felt a twinge of regret…and a bit of curiosity.
    “I have a question, Brady. How did you know I’m afraid of fire?”
    “Are you asking me to give away my profiler secrets?”
    “I am.”
    He took her elbow and pulled her aside, creating a bubble of privacy as the ambulance parked. He leaned close. His gaze rested gently on her face, and his voice was just above a whisper as he confided, “When we were at the clinic, you blew out the candle before you left the room. Since you’re a rule-breaker, that precaution seemed out of character, unless you have a fear of fire.”
    “Very observant.” When she smiled at him, he did the same, and she noticed a dimple on the left side of his mouth. “And how did you know I’m from San Francisco?”
    “That was easy. There’s a beat-up orange-and-black Giants baseball cap on the file cabinet nearest your desk.”
    “Of course,” she said. “I wear it so often I don’t even notice it anymore.”
    “I noticed a lot about you, Petra.” As an SUV with the Grand County sheriff’s logo on the side parked behind the ambulance, he stepped away from her. “I might need to contact you again. I have some questions of my own.”
    “You know where to find me.”
    He strode toward the other officers and the paramedics who were helping the mother and baby. Immediately, Brady took charge, issuing orders that nobody seemed to question.
    She wondered if they’d meet again. They seemed to connect on some level. Would he contact her?
    She hoped so.
    * * *
    F OUR DAYS LATER , IT WAS Petra’s day off, and she was still in bed at half past ten. She didn’t want to get up and end a marathon of dreams about Brady.
    Dreams were important to her. Whether they represented fears that bubbled up from the unconscious or were prescient whisperings from magical beings, dreams had a meaning. Why had Brady become the star player in her nighttime dramas? She rolled onto her back, kicked off the forest green comforter and stared up at the ceiling as she considered.
    Most of her Brady dreams were as obvious as a twelve-foot-tall neon sign. They involved kissing and caressing and Brady with his necktie hanging loose and his white shirt unbuttoned. His chest heaved with desire as he stalked toward her, grabbed her and dominated her. Oh, yeah, she knew exactly what those dreams were telling her. I need a lover.
    The last time she had a serious boyfriend was almost a year ago which wasn’t surprising because, as a rule, midwives don’t come into contact with a lot of eligible men. Any halfway decent guy—even an arrogant, obsessively neat fed—was enough to get her motor revving.
    But these weren’t all sexy dreams. In another, she saw