Her Irresistible Protector. Michelle Douglas

lips twisted. So much for professionalism.

      Her hazel eyes with their bright points of gold surveyed him steadily. He bit back a curse. ‘Why would I let you do that? Why would I give you the opportunity to warn him we’re on his tail?’

      She leaned towards him and the shape of her lips held him momentarily spellbound. ‘Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?’

      ‘I know Bradford.’

      ‘You always had it in for him—why?’

      ‘He was a drug runner!’

      ‘You had it in for him well before that. For what? Shoplifting a couple of chocolate bars and a bit of petty vandalism? For heaven’s sake, Mitch, those things were a rite of passage where we grew up. You know that as well as I do. I’m guilty of exactly the same things!’

      He clenched his teeth so hard he could feel the pulse at the base of his jaw start to thump. Eventually he managed to unclench them. ‘He was the ringleader who led kids like you and Cheryl O’Hara astray.’

      ‘Cheryl?’ She closed her eyes. When she opened them again her eyes had turned dark and murky. ‘You’re wrong. You don’t know how wrong.’

      Her certainty made something inside him snap. ‘I know he hit you all right!’ The words burst from him like bullets—hard, sharp and lethal. His hands clenched. His gut clenched. Bradford had hit her and the knowledge still made him want to tear the guy apart with his bare hands. How could she still defend him after all this time? ‘I know that mongrel beat you up!’

      Her back stiffened. ‘He most certainly did not!’

      Her hauteur gave him pause, but not for long. He stabbed a finger at her. ‘The first time I saw you after my basic training, you had a bruise on your cheek. A couple of months later, you had a black eye.’ One incident could be shrugged off as an accident. But two? Not a chance.

      Tash folded her arms.

      ‘You had a black eye and Rick had two black eyes, a broken nose and a cut lip.’

      She lifted her chin.

      ‘I asked your father about it. He told me Rick had hit you and that he’d, um...taken Rick to task for it.’

      ‘And you believed him?’

      He sensed the scorn deep inside her. It burned brighter and fiercer until her eyes almost turned green. ‘Of course I believed him!’

      The scorn flared with greater intent. ‘Of course you did.’

      She went to rise, but he caught hold of her wrist, keeping her in place. ‘Are you telling me Rick didn’t hit you?’

      With surprising agility she twisted out of his grip and it suddenly occurred to him that she only remained where she was because she chose to. ‘Of course he never hit me!’

      ‘Then who...?’

      She raised an eyebrow, not even trying to hide her derision. ‘You’re the detective, you work it out!’

      Mitch watched her stalk back up to the cabin. When she was out of earshot, he let loose with a whole litany of curses. What on earth had possessed him to bring her here? What had made him think it a good idea? Why had he thought this would work?