Chapter One
Officer Rick Chandler brought his patrol car to a stop in front of a quiet house on Fulton Street and exited with caution. Yorkshire Falls was a small upstate New York town, population approximately 1,725. The crime rate was low in comparison to the big cities and folks possessed vivid imaginations. Case in point, the last major crime spree had centered around a panty thief with Rick’s younger brother Roman as the town’s most popular, if absurd, suspect.
Lisa Burton, the woman who’d placed the 911 call this afternoon, was a middle school teacher not prone to exaggeration or fright and though Rick didn’t anticipate trouble now, he took nothing for granted. A preliminary check of the grounds told him everything was secure so he approached the front yard and strode up the bluestone steps. The door was shut tight and he knocked loudly. The shades on the side window ruffled as wary eyes peered out.
“Police.” He announced his presence. The sound of unlatching locks followed until the door opened a crack. “It’s Officer Chandler,” he said, keeping his hand on his gun as an instinctive precautionary measure.
“Thank God.” He recognized the homeowner’s voice. “I thought you’d never get here.”
Lisa’s breathless, husky tone didn’t come as a shock. For all her schoolteacher conservativism, Lisa, he’d learned, had the hots for him. She’d made sexual overtures before and though Rick didn’t want to think she’d call the police unnecessarily, her seductive voice had him clenching his jaw. “You reported a disturbance?” he asked.
The door swung open wide. He stepped inside—with caution at first—because she still hadn’t come out from behind the protection of the solid oak door.
“I reported a need for police presence.” She kicked the door closed behind him. “I reported a need for you.”
His gut told him there was no cause for procedural safeguards and he released his hold on his holstered gun. But he remained wary and as he inhaled, his instincts were proven right. A heavy perfumed odor surrounded him and every male defense mechanism he possessed kicked in. He coughed, gagging on what he assumed was meant to be a potent aphrodisiac. It was potent all right but the woman who’d made the phone call was doomed to disappointment. The only thing that was going to be turned on were the lights.
He hit the switch on the wall at the same time Lisa stepped into view. He ought to be surprised by her appearance but figured he was too jaded by recent events. The plain-looking schoolteacher had transformed herself into a daring dominatrix. From her thigh-high black leather boots to her fitted leather bustier, up to her wild, dark, kinky hair, her getup shouted take me now, on the floor, against the wall, it didn’t matter.
Rick shook his head. Though he already knew the answer, he asked anyway, “What the hell’s going on?”
She propped her shoulder against the wall and assumed a sultry pose. “That should be obvious by now. You’ve turned down every ordinary woman’s offer in town, including mine. I’m about to change that. Despite my day job and normal appearance, I can be most untraditional.” She crooked a red painted fingernail his way. “Come let me show you my props.”
A raised eyebrow was the most Rick could manage in response. Then he heaved a healthy sigh, certain of only one thing. His meddling mother, Raina, was behind Lisa’s continued, less-than-subtle attacks.
Raina had vested every woman with the notion that her middle son would settle down if only he found someone special, someone who’d keep him entertained. Lisa, like many other females in town, had obviously taken his mother’s words to heart. Though Raina was right in thinking Rick appreciated uniqueness, she was wrong believing he’d ever marry again, let alone have children. Given his past experience at the altar, his mother ought to know better.
Why put his heart on the line to be trampled when he could enjoy the vast array of women out there with no hurt involved? Though his playboy reputation was highly overrated, it was a fact he enjoyed women. Or he had until the Yorkshire Falls female population had launched their all-out attack on his bachelorhood.