Marie Ferrarella - How to Seduce a Cavanaugh

He just assumed it would be the same deal when it came to his current partner. A few weeks would go by—maybe even the two months to which the chief had referred—and then his newest so-called partner would bolt, and he would be more than glad to be rid of her.

But for now, he had a question he wanted answered. “How do you know which division Woodward transferred to?”

“I pay attention,” she answered simply. She waited for Kane to answer her question about which of them would be transferring desks, but that didn’t look as if it was about to happen. She began to doubt he was even listening to her.

In that case, the man had a serious attention deficit disorder. She tried again, since it was obvious that what she considered to be a possible dilemma didn’t seem to have occurred to her new partner at all.

“Okay,” she began again. “Now, do you want to switch desks or should—”

A curt “No” cut her down midsentence. Trying hard not to look annoyed, Kelly tried another approach to pin the man down.

Was he saying no to everything or just to the first part of her sentence? Kelly dug deep for her patience.

“Do you mean no, you don’t want to switch desks? Or no, you don’t—”

Kane cut in as if she wasn’t saying anything—at least nothing worthwhile. “You want me to hire a skywriter? Would that help you understand?” he asked impatiently.

Words rose to her lips that would only fan the flames and turn this into a full-fledged raging forest fire. She practiced restraint—although it was far from easy. She settled for sarcasm.

“No need to go to that expense. Just use your words, Durant. Do you want to move?”

“No,” he bit off. “I don’t want to move.”

There was nothing to be gained by echoing his sentiment and saying she didn’t want to move, either. One of them had to and, apparently, at least for now, she had been awarded the role of the flexible one.

“Okay,” she agreed gamely. “Then I’ll be the one to move.”

Kane wanted to say no to that as well, but he knew he couldn’t, not without consequences. When the chief of ds said he wanted him to give the partnership two months, the man meant two months. So, for now, he was forced to go along with this most unlikely, not to mention unsuitable, coupling.

“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” she asked, employing a cheerfulness she definitely wasn’t feeling. Just for good measure she decided to add, “Wait and see, we’ll have you talking in full sentences in no time.”

Kane’s eyes narrowed as he momentarily glared at her just as the elevator doors opened again, this time on their floor. Kane got out. She was quick to follow him.

“Although,” she continued as if they were actually carrying on a conversation instead of what was mostly a monologue on her part, “there is something to be said for silence, too,” she admitted, carefully avoiding getting on the wrong side of Kane’s dark expression.

She was bending over backward. This was not going to be easy. But then, her late mother had told her more than once that she had the ability to get along with the devil.

The devil, Kelly silently contemplated, turning the thought over in her mind. That definitely would go a very long way toward describing her new partner’s disposition.

Who would have ever thought that the devil was this handsome?

A small smile played along her lips. Who’d known her mother had had the ability to look into the future?

Now all she had to do was prove the rest of her mother’s statement right.

Chapter 2

“Good, you’re back.”

The abrupt greeting came from Captain Lawrence Collins, a ruddy-faced man of medium height who was currently in charge of the robbery division. He’d come out of his office the instant that Kane and Kelly had walked into the squad room.

Kane glanced at the stocky man with his fading red hair, but said nothing in response to his greeting. Clearly, he was waiting for the man to continue.

However, it wasn’t in Kelly’s nature to just sit back and wait when she could just as easily jump into the middle of whatever was going on.

So she did.

“Did you want to speak to us, Captain?” she asked, more than eager to sink her teeth into a case. Her last case had been closed right after Amos’s retirement party and she was itching to get involved in something that could, just possibly, bring her and the sphinx she was assigned to a little closer together.

Probably not, but a girl could dream, Kelly thought whimsically.

“Want to? No,” Collins retorted. The bags under his eyes, Kelly noticed, seemed extra deep today. “What I want is to find some way to retire and enjoy myself the way I’m sure Barkley’s doing right now.” The captain sighed, acting more put-upon than weary. “But that’s not going to happen for another ten years, so in the meantime I get to hand out assignments to hotshots and hope for the best.”

Collins hesitated for a moment. He looked tempted to hand the piece of paper he was holding to her, but after several seconds of what appeared to be deliberation, he turned over the paper where he had jotted down all the pertinent information that had come in and handed it to her new partner.

Just as well, Kelly thought. Durant most definitely had a chip on those big broad shoulders of his, and if the captain had singled her out to take lead on this new case, Durant probably would have felt slighted. He had, after all, been with the department longer than she had. And if it appeared that Collins favored her over Mr. Congeniality, she had a feeling the end result would be less than pleasant.

This way was better for both of them.

“Looks like you two just caught your first case together,” Collins told the pair. “Make me proud,” he added as he nodded at the paper he’d just given Kane. He began to walk away, then stopped in his tracks for a few seconds. “Oh, and, Durant?”

After reading the address written on the white notepaper, Kane looked up and waited for the captain to continue.

“See if you can hold on to this partner for longer than a month, okay? The paperwork that’s generated every time you break up with your partner is hell,” Collins complained as he made his way back to his office.

This time Kane’s eyes slid over the woman who had hurried to catch up to him and was currently standing less than an inch away.

“I’ll do my best,” Kane murmured more or less to himself.

“Do better than that.” Collins apparently had heard Kane’s comment despite the growing distance between them as he walked back to his glass-enclosed office.

To Kelly’s momentary surprise, Kane turned around and walked out of the office again. She found herself hurrying again just not to lose sight of him.

The sooner they got to the location the captain had handed over to Kane, the sooner they could start working on the case.

“Is that your personal best?” Kelly asked him as they went out again.

“Is what my personal best?” Kane asked brusquely. What the hell was she talking about? The woman apparently could jump from topic to topic faster than a frog touching down on a pond filled with burning lily pads.

“A month. With a partner,” Kelly added as clarification since Durant wasn’t answering her and gave no indication he planned to. Not if that disinterested look he’d just sent her way was any indication. “Is that the life expectancy of a partnership with you?” she asked.

Kane shrugged, apparently totally uninterested in her choice of topics or her edification as to his professional habits.

“Give or take,” he finally replied vaguely, aware of the way she was watching him, waiting for an answer. “I don’t keep track,” he added with an air of finality that was meant to close the subject once and for all.