Wakefield College 01 - Where It May Lead Read Online Free Page B

kissing her tonight.
    * * *
    M ADISON STOOD JUST inside
the outer office and listened to the thud of Detective Troyer’s feet as he took
the stairs with the same enthusiasm most of the students did. She made a face.
He might be in a hurry because it was so blasted hot up here.
    She glanced at her watch and squeaked. She’d spent a lot longer
talking to Troy than she’d expected to devote to the police department liaison,
and the president of the college expected her in his office five minutes from
now.
    She grabbed her handbag and hurried to the ladies’ restroom on
her floor. There she carefully splashed her face with cold water, then patted it
dry with a paper towel. Whatever makeup she’d started the day wearing was
history, but she didn’t want to be beet-red when she sat down with her boss. In
the depths of her purse she found an elastic band and, after brushing her hair,
devised a simple knot on the back of her head that got the hair off her neck
while looking reasonably classy.
    Despite the need to hurry, she paused and looked at herself in
the mirror. Her eyes, she couldn’t help noticing, sparkled with excitement.
Truthfully, she was almost vibrating with it. She didn’t think she’d ever
reacted to a man quite the way she had to John Troyer.
    She would have been crushed if he’d nodded politely and left
without expressing any personal interest in her.
    She permitted herself one small squeal and a bounce before
resuming her dignity. She returned to her office to stow her bag then started
down the stairs to the first floor. It wasn’t the meeting she was thinking about
on her way. It was Troy.
    He was so much more physical than any man she’d been involved
with. Not that he was huge and beefy; he wasn’t, though he was a good deal
taller than her. Maybe six feet, she guessed. Broad-shouldered, with muscles she
couldn’t help but notice. A man’s muscles. Troy wasn’t as lean as a runner. He
was more solid than that. She suspected he could still move plenty fast, and
would have no trouble restraining most suspects once he caught them.
    His hair was a medium shade of brown that the summer sun had
lightened and streaked. By midwinter, it would probably darken. His hint of
stubble had definitely been darker. His eyes, a charcoal-gray, had captivated
her from the moment they met hers. Gray eyes should be clear, like blue ones,
right? His didn’t have any hint of other colors that would make them hazel, but
they were somehow smoky, as if they hid secrets.
    She shivered a little, possibly because the temperature had
plummeted as she descended two floors in Mem, but more likely it was another
symptom of her excitement. Only a few more hours and she’d see him again. Find
out if they had anything at all in common beyond the fact that both their
fathers had been English majors at Wakefield College. Madison frowned, trying to
remember what his father’s profession had been. Hers was a very successful
businessman with an MBA from Harvard. He was snob enough she had no doubt he’d
look at John Troyer with disdain. Dad wouldn’t be able to imagine why she might
want to date a cop. Her father admired success, defined by wealth or acclaim.
She had never been able to envision him as an English major, of all things. She
didn’t even think he read novels anymore.
    To heck with whether Dad would approve, she thought in a moment of defiance. She was sometimes uncomfortably
aware of how much her father’s approval meant to her. She would be very glad to
quit caring. She never earned his unqualified approval anyway. Madison often
asked herself why she bothered trying.
    With some exhilaration, she discovered that she didn’t give a
flying you-know-what whether Dad would like Troy or not. She liked him, and that was what mattered.
    More than liked him.
    Delight rose inside her in a tide that made her want to skip.
Only long practice and the fact that one of the assistant directors of Financial
Aid was coming down the