Woman On the Run by Lisa Marie Rice Page B

the words. He sat slumped in the big chair, his head in his hands.
    “Bernie…” Cooper’s deep low voice was a threatening growl.
    Slowly Bernaldo Martinez turned his head. He stood up as if he were a thousand years old.
    Julia winced when she saw his eyes, the color of the many stoplights she’d distractedly run through in her life. She wondered if it hurt to look out of eyes that red.
    The man was haggard, with a few days’ worth of stubble on his lean, good-looking face. It wasn’t designer stubble, achieved with the use of a special electric razor, but real stubble that came from not shaving for many days. Probably the same number of days he hadn’t been sleeping.
    “Bernie…” Cooper’s voice was, if possible, lower and more threatening than before.
    Martinez ran a hand through his black hair, and then nodded at Julia. “Miss Anderson.” His voice was scratchy and rough.
    “Mr. Martinez.” Julia inclined her head.
    “Listen, Sport.” Cooper hunkered down until he was eye level with Rafael. His voice was gentle again. “Southern Star gave birth last night. Why don’t you ask Sandy to take you to see the foal?”
    “A foal?” Rafael’s face filled with joy, all the tension clearing in an instant. “Yowee!” he screamed, punching the air. Remembering his manners, he murmured a hurried goodbye to Julia, then scrambled out the door.
    Bernie Martinez’s head slowly swung over to Cooper. It looked as if it hurt him to do it. “What was it? A filly?”
    Cooper stood up and pinned Martinez with a hard look. “Colt.”
    “Colt.” Martinez gave a harsh laugh. “Should have known. Not even female horses can stand it here. The Cooper Curse at work again—”
    “That’s just about enough, Bernie.” Cooper’s voice was deep and icy. Julia shivered. She wouldn’t like to have him using that tone with her. It would have shut her up for the next century.
    But Martinez wasn’t impressed. “I’ll bet if we hadn’t moved here, my Carmelita would still be around. I’ll bet—”
    “I said that’s enough!” Cooper’s voice was, if anything deeper and frostier. He stepped towards Martinez with his big hands clenched into fists. Martinez angled his stubbled chin defiantly upwards, daring Cooper to take a crack.
    There was a heavy, musky smell in the air. Julia wondered if it was from all those books or from the testosterone the two men were pumping out. Something had to be done and quickly. Martinez looked like he was barely going to survive his hangover, let alone a few rounds with Cooper. Julia looked again at Cooper’s huge hands, now balled into fists. Probably not too many people would survive a few rounds with Cooper.
    “Well,” Julia said, and rubbed her hands together. “Well, here we are.” She was getting no reaction from the two males in the room so she tried showing a few teeth in a smile.
    Nothing.
    They just stood there, glowering at each other as if she didn’t exist.
    She gave up. Maybe a few rounds would do them both good.
    “Uh, Cooper?” Julia just managed to avoid tugging on his shirt sleeve to get his attention. But that wasn’t necessary. Those fierce dark eyes were instantly focused on her. She shivered again, but not from fear.
    “I…” Julia licked dry lips. “I left my briefcase in the Blazer and there’s some of Rafael’s homework I wanted to show Mr. Martinez. No…” she held up her hand as Cooper started forward. “I’ll get it myself, if you’ll just refresh my memory about how to get back to the kitchen. Or draw me a map.”
    Cooper’s deep voice was gentle again. “Turn right outside the door then seven doors down turn left and follow the corridor to the end, then through the pantry and into the kitchen.”
    Julia was finding it hard to concentrate when he was looking at her so intently. The force field effect was working again. “Seven doors, left, pantry, kitchen,” she said. “Got you.” She turned and walked out the door and looked with