Lisa Childs - Once a Lawman

“What’s my type?”

“You’re beautiful.”

Tessa spun toward him, her mouth falling open at his compliment.

Desire caught in Chad’s chest. He wanted to kiss her. “Vivacious,” he continued. “Reckless.”

“I am not reckless.”

“Your driving record proves otherwise.”

She shrugged. “A few speeding tickets. And I’m not reckless. You don’t know me.”

“You’re wrong,” he murmured as she ground the engine, then peeled out of the ramp with such speed the gate rattled. “I know you, Tessa Howard.”

Dear Reader,

I am so excited to be starting a new series for Harlequin American Romance—CITIZEN’S POLICE ACADEMY, based on my participation in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, Citizen Police Academy. The police department sponsors this program to educate the community about how they operate. I learned a lot, but most of all I developed such appreciation and understanding for how difficult and dangerous a career in law enforcement is. The people who choose these careers are very special.

While the officers in the Lakewood Police Department are purely fictional, I’ve imbued them with some of the sterling qualities of the officers I met in the GRPD. And I can’t wait to give each of these characters the happily-ever-after they deserve.

Once a Lawman is also part of the MEN MADE IN AMERICA miniseries, a yearlong celebration of American heroes. In 2009 look for one book a month that celebrates the hunky American male!

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

Lisa Childs

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Bestselling, award-winning author Lisa Childs writes paranormal and contemporary romance for Harlequin/Silhouette Books. She lives on thirty acres in west Michigan with her husband, two daughters, a talkative Siamese and a long-haired Chihuahua who thinks she’s a rottweiler. Lisa loves hearing from readers who can contact her through her Web site, www.lisachilds.com, or by snail-mail at P.O. Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

A special thank-you to Watch Commander, Lieutenant Mark Ostapowicz, of the Grand Rapids Police Department, for his patience and helpfulness in answering my many, many questions while I was a participant in the Citizen Police Academy and my many questions in the course of writing this book. Any factual mistakes are entirely my fault.

And much gratitude to Kathleen Scheibling for contracting this series of my heart for Harlequin American Romance.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Tessa Howard glanced around the courtroom, crowded with whispering people of all walks of life: elderly, teenagers and young professionals like herself. The knot of tension in her stomach eased. He wasn’t going to show up. I’m almost free.

Maybe taking the time to fight her ticket in traffic court hadn’t been wasted. If the officer who’d given her the ticket failed to show up, the speeding charge would be dropped. She glanced at her watch, the knot of tension tightening again as she thought of the appointments she was missing. While she couldn’t afford the time waiting in court was taking, she could afford another ticket even less.

“Tessa Howard,” the bailiff called her to the bench.

Tessa stood, refastened the button on her suit jacket, and tugged down the skirt that had ridden up her thighs. She swung her straight blond hair over her shoulder. The hair flip, as usual, attracted male attention. From her career in telecommunication sales—and her maternal grandmother—Tessa had learned that a smart woman used her brains and her femininity to get what she wanted. Of course, neither of them had gotten her out of her ticket. Yet.

She drew in a deep breath. After crawling over the other people in her row, she stepped into the aisle and, heels clicking on the tile floor, approached the bench.

“You’re in my court again, Ms. Howard,” the judge commented as she approached. “Speeding?”

“No, sir, I wasn’t speeding. The officer must have confused my car with someone else’s,” she insisted. What was it that Nana Howard had always claimed? A lie well told and stuck to is just as good as the truth.

Her grandmother had freely imparted her sometimes unconventional bits of wisdoms. Nana-isms had probably prepared Tessa more for her career than the marketing classes at Lakewood Community College had.

A smile tugged up the corner of the judge’s mouth, softening the older man’s austere face. “Is that true, Lieutenant Michalski?”

Tessa’s heart skipped a beat. She’d thought she was home free, that the uptight lieutenant had been too busy to make her little court date…

Her pulse quickened as she realized he stood right beside her, his long, muscular body clad in the black uniform of the Lakewood, Michigan Police Department. She tilted her head to see his face.

He’d lost the sunglasses he’d worn the day he had pulled her over, but still she couldn’t see his eyes. He stared straight ahead, as completely uninterested in her as he had been when he’d given her the ticket. She hadn’t been able to flirt her way out of this violation, as she had some others.

“Lieutenant Michalski?” the judge prodded him.

“Ms. Howard’s SUV was the only vehicle within radar range. She was definitely the one speeding.”

“I wasn’t going as fast as you said,” she persisted.

“Eleven miles over the speed limit,” he stated unequivocally—and correctly.

“But eleven miles…” Wasn’t that many over the limit—it certainly wasn’t as reckless as he had claimed it was. She would never drive recklessly. Too many people depended on her.

“Eleven miles over is still speeding, Ms. Howard. The ticket stands,” the judge ruled. “Pay your fine.”

“Your Honor, please,” she beseeched him. “I had a good reason for speeding.” Which she had tried to tell Lieutenant Michalski, but he hadn’t cared.

“So now you were speeding, Ms. Howard? A minute ago you assured me you weren’t,” the judge reminded her.

“But…” She bit her lip and refrained from explaining that her mother’s car had broken down. As the lieutenant had said when she’d offered him the excuse, her mother should have called the Auto Club instead of Tessa.

But Tessa actually had been on the way to pick up her younger brother, Kevin, not her mother. Recognizing an unsympathetic listener, she hadn’t bothered explaining about her teenage brother and that if someone didn’t pick him up from high school, he would disappear for the night, getting into only God knew what trouble.

She doubted the court would be any more sympathetic than the police officer. And she doubted it was a good idea to mention her brother to the authorities at all, especially now. So far he had avoided getting into trouble with the law, and dealt just with school and her for tardiness and skipping classes.