Read McKnight in Shining Armor for Free Online Page B

running by—”
    “You live around here?” she asked, feeling all quivery inside at the thought that Alec McKnight could be her neighbor.
    He grinned. “No. I decided I needed a change of scenery for my morning run.”
    His gaze ran over her with all the speed of molasses in January, taking in every detail, from the haphazard part in her hair, to the old Vikings jersey that subtly revealed the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra, to the skintight black knit pants that hugged her slender legs like tights, to the rag wool socks that bagged around her ankles. “Andbelieve me,” he said, “this is the best scenery I’ve seen in a long time.”
    As his low, silky voice slid over her in an intimate caress, Kelsie shivered even though she suddenly felt flushed with fever. Her breasts tingled and tightened, her nipples budding against the fabric of her jersey as if Alec had reached out a finger and brushed it against them. The mere thought brought a heavy rush of sensation to other parts of her that had almost forgotten what pleasure a man’s touch could bring.
    She was way out of her league with Alec McKnight. He was obviously an
nth
-degree black belt in the swinging-singles game. It was like going up against a lion armed with a toothpick.
    “How’s the eye?” he asked, mercifully straying from more provocative topics for the moment.
    “Sore.” A slight understatement. Even after a dose of mega-strength aspirin it hurt worse than it looked. She couldn’t imagine why Alec had been eating her up with his eyes the way he had. She’d glanced in the mirror earlier just long enough to decide she looked like a poster girl for a battered-women’s shelter.
    “What’s that you’re holding against it?” he asked, poking cautiously at the bag with a finger.
    “Chopped spinach. It was the best thing I could find. I know it looks terrible, but I look even worse without it. I hadn’t planned on seeing anyone today. Any time you look better with a bag of chopped spinach plastered to your face than without it, you shouldn’t let yourself be seen by anyone outside your immediate family.”
    With gentle fingers Alec peeled the bag away from her face and examined the swollen, bruised cheekbone. “It doesn’t look so bad,” he murmured.
    “Well,” Kelsie said, her eyes locked on the sensual curve of his lower lip, which was only inches away. “I suppose it’s nothing a pound of makeup wouldn’t hide.”
    His forefinger trailed down her cheek and tipped up her chin as he leaned a little closer. One good deep breath from either of them and their mouths would have been drawn together, Kelsie thought, little jets of panic and anticipation zipping through her.
    “How about inviting me in for a glass of orangejuice?” he whispered as if it were a terribly intimate suggestion. Directions to the Metrodome would have sounded suggestive in the tone of voice he was using.
    Kelsie was about to offer him everything in her refrigerator and then some, when an old red pickup truck pulled up to the curb in front of her house and a dozen floppy-eared, brown spotted Nubian goats leapt out onto her lawn.
    “Oh, wow, goats!” Jeffrey exclaimed, pushing through the doorway past Kelsie and Alec. “Can I keep one?”
    A short, round man in bib overalls and a cap that advertised a seed corn company came around the back of the truck and waved, a pleasant smile on his face as if he didn’t realize he’d just set loose a dozen four-legged lawn mowers in a neighborhood where the residents weren’t particularly fond of farm animals. “Morning, Miss Connors!”
    “Mr. Svenson,” Kelsie said with a groan, trotting down the steps. “Didn’t I tell you I’d call if I found any jobs for your goats?” So far the little creatures seemed to be content grazing on her frosty lawn, while Jeffrey wandered through theirranks in his stocking feet, trying to pick out the one he liked best. Kelsie kept one eye on them, waiting for the inevitable