Secret Star by Nora Roberts Page B

was a confident woman in a flame-red suit, her mouth carefully tinted to match. “Well, Lieutenant, we meet in the oddest places.”
    Before she could complete the casual greeting she’d practiced while she tidied her makeup, he took her chin firmly in his hand. His eyes locked intently on hers, probed.
    â€œYou’re a fake.” He said it quietly, stepping closer. “You’re a fraud. Who the hell are you?”
    â€œWhatever I like.” He unnerved her, that long, intense and all-too-personal study with those golden-brown eyes. “And I don’t believe this is the place for an interrogation. I’d like you to let me go now,” she said steadily. “I don’t want any scenes here.”
    â€œI’m not going to cause a scene.”
    She lifted her brows. “I might.” Deliberately she pushed his hand away and started down the corridor. “If you want to discuss the case with me, or have any questions regarding it, we’ll do it outside. I won’t have it brought in here.”
    â€œIt was breaking your heart,” he murmured. “Holding that baby was breaking your heart.”
    â€œIt’s my heart.” Almost viciously, she punched a finger at the button for the elevator. “And it’s a tough one, Seth. Ask anyone.”
    â€œYour lashes are still wet.”
    â€œThis is none of your business.” Her voice was low and vibrating with fury. “Absolutely none of your business.”
    She stepped into the crowded elevator, faced front. She wouldn’t speak to him about this part of her life, she promised herself. Just the night before, she’d opened herself to him, only to be pushed away, refused. She wouldn’t share her feelings again, and certainly not her feelings about something as vital to her as the children.
    He was a cop, just a cop. Hadn’t she spent several miserable hours the night before convincing herself that was all he was or could be to her? Whatever he stirred in her would have to be stopped—or, if not stopped, at least suppressed.
    She would not share with him, she would not trust him, she would not give to him.
    By the time she reached the lobby doors, she was steadier. Hoping to shake him quickly, she started toward the lot. Seth merely took her arm, steered her away.
    â€œOver here,” he said, and headed toward a grassy area with a pair of benches.
    â€œI don’t have time.”
    â€œMake time. You’re too upset to drive, in any case.”
    â€œDon’t tell me what I am.”
    â€œApparently that’s just what I’ve been doing. And apparently I’ve missed several steps. That’s not usual for me, and I don’t care for it. Sit down.”
    â€œI don’t want—”
    â€œSit down, Grace,” he repeated. “I apologize.”
    Annoyed, she sat on the bench, found her sunglasses in her bag and slipped them on. “For?”
    He sat beside her, removed the shielding glasses and looked into her eyes. “For not letting myself look beneath the surface. For not wanting to look. And for blaming you because I don’t seem able to stop wanting to do this.”
    He took her face in his hands and captured her mouth with his.

Chapter 6
    S he didn’t move into him. Not this time. Her emotions were simply too raw to risk. Though her mouth yielded beneath his, she lifted a hand and laid it on his chest, as if to keep him at a safe distance.
    And still her heart stumbled.
    This time she was holding back. He sensed it, felt it in the press of her hand against him. Not refusing, but resisting. And with a knowledge that came from somewhere too deep to measure, he gentled the kiss, seeking not only to seduce, but also to soothe.
    And still his heart staggered.
    â€œDon’t.” It made her throat ache, her mind haze, her body yearn. And it was all too much. She pulled away from him and stood staring out across the little patch of