Read One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1) for Free Online Page A

come from. It took her a moment to gather her senses enough to register what he said. When she did, she gave a physical jerk and practically threw it in his direction.
    “What are you going to do?” she asked, praying desperately that he didn’t intend to turn the man over. “You don’t intend to drag him out, do you?”
    Luke swore beneath his breath and glared at her. “Well, I don’t think that leaving him where he is will do anyone any good, do you?”
    She scowled at the impatience in his voice. “No, but shouldn’t we fetch a magistrate or something?”
    “Not until we get him out,” Luke bit out. He didn’t say anything to her but wanted to search the body before the magistrate did.
    Poppy wasn’t prepared to give up though. There was something disturbing about the fact that the stranger didn’t seem inclined to summon help. She studied him closely while she tried to decide whether she should trust him after all. Now that she came to think about it, he didn’t appear to be all that shocked to find a dead body in the park. She was a quivering wreck whereas he was calm and controlled as though it was an everyday run-of-the-mill discovery.
    “What if we pull him out and someone comes along?” Did he realise just how bad it would look for both of them? If he did it didn’t seem to bother him.
    Luke’s patience was starting to dwindle rapidly. “Well, they can go for the magistrate for us then, can’t they?”
    He sighed. It wasn’t her he was really annoyed with. Well, not just her. It was more the attraction he felt toward her; attraction that he was struggling to ignore enough to be able to focus on the dead man she had allegedly just found. For some reason he daren’t consider too closely, the thought of her being involved in the dead man’s demise made him want to hit something.
    Focus on the body, a stern voice reminded him. He forced himself to turn away.
    “I need to get him out of the river so we can find out who he is. The magistrate will need to notify the man’s relatives.”
    “Why not leave it to the magistrate to get him out then?” Poppy demanded. She was panic stricken at the thought of having to touch the body. Unfortunately, it was evident from the disinterest on the stranger’s face that he was going to ignore her.
    Luke sighed loudly and glared at her as he gestured toward the river. “The body is floating away already, isn’t it? By the time the magistrate gets here it could have been dragged into the lake around the corner.” He pointed to the trees behind him. “If it goes in there it could sink to the bottom and never be found again. For the sake of this man’s family, he needs to be hauled ashore, don’t you think? He can hardly climb out himself. Now, are you going to help or not?”
    “It’s not my fault,” Poppy grumbled, wondering if he was always this forceful.  She hadn’t killed the man, or asked for his body to float toward her. There was no need for the stranger to be so put out at her. She hadn’t asked for his help either although secretly she was glad that he had given it anyway.
    Yes you did, a small voice challenged. You screamed at the top of your lungs and he came to your rescue .
    It irked her to acknowledge it but, arrogant or not she was considerably better off with his help than without it. She watched him lean over the river as far as he could and use the stick with considerably more dexterity than she had to lever the body toward them. She watched the muscles bunch beneath his finely cut jacket and tried to ignore the tug of attraction she felt toward him. He was handsome; startlingly so. Even partly shrouded in a fine mist his auburn hair and deep grey eyes were a captivating mix which, when combined with a squarely chiselled jaw and somewhat lusciously curved lips gave him a tousled, almost wild look that hinted at unleased power she suspected she would be better to stay well away from.
    She was abruptly snapped out of her musings when