MacKenzie's Lady by Dallas Schulze

hooky from school, delighted with the slightly illicit freedom. She spun giddily around a lamppost, her laughing face catching the light as she invited him to share her pleasure.
    She gave a startled gasp when his arm caught her around the waist, lifting her off her feet and pulling her against the hard length of his body. One of her shoes slipped off and fell in the gutter to drift unnoticed and unmourned on the small river that rushed along the street.
    She caught a brief glimpse of his eyes, darkly blue and glittering before his mouth crashed down on hers. Her soft moan was lost beneath the hungry pressure of his tongue. Mac's arm was a steel bar at her back, holding her against his frame. His other hand came up to cup the back of her head, tilting her face to allow his mouth better access.
    Desire rose turbulently between them. Holly tilted her head back as his mouth moved gently against her throat, letting the rain fall like a warm benediction on her face. The light from the lamppost created a pool of watery brilliance that encapsulated them in a tiny, private world all their own.
    The short beep of a car horn pulled them apart. Mac's eyes met hers as he let her slide slowly to her feet. Water plastered his hair to his head and sleeked his skin.
    "I lost my shoes." Her voice was breathless.
    He looked down at the one dark pump that lay forlornly on the sidewalk. "So you did. Where's the other one?"
    "I think it went in the gutter. You're all wet."
    "Who's idea was it to dance in the rain?" he asked mildly. He bent to pick up the discarded umbrella and hooked it over his arm. "I think it's a little late for this to do any good. Come on, I'll see if I can find a phone and call us a cab."
    She let him lead her down the street, his arm a welcome weight on her shoulders. "I thought we were going for drinks."
    "I don't think anybody's going to let us in. You don't have any shoes and we both look like drowned rats. Of course, we could always go back to my place for a drink."
    She hesitated, caught between common sense and desire. Common sense won, but not without a battle. "I have to go to work tomorrow."
    "Pity. I was really looking forward to showing you my collection of old bottle caps."
    "I'd love to see them some other time," she murmured softly. The light conversation carried stronger, deeper meanings and her words were a promise.
    His arm tightened around her shoulders. "I'll polish them up for you."

Chapter 5

    T he double date that had started on such a bad note yielded more than a romantic walk in the rain. Maryann did stop suggesting that Mac might be the next worse thing to Attila the Hun. Holly would have appreciated it more if she could have thought that it was because her roommate had discovered just how nice Mac was. Unfortunately, Maryann had simply found a new target. Mac was forgotten in the barrage of ammunition she now aimed against Ken.
    He was a rude, overbearing, egotistical, smart-mouthed male chauvinist and "pig" was too nice a word to add to the end of the list. All Holly's attempts to find out just what Ken had done to deserve such a sweeping condemnation met with Maryann's unswerving assertion that he hadn't done anything; it was just obvious. And if Holly hadn't been so determined to like Mac's friend, she would be able to see for herself his true colors.
    Holly gave up. At least she wasn't being forced to defend Mac. She wasn't going to replace that with defending his friend.
    Besides, there were so many other things to think about. There was less than a month left to the end of the school year and she had to decide what to do with her summer. In the past she had taught in a summer program. This year she had tentatively planned to go to Europe. Her brother had told her that she could use his apartment as a base if she wanted to stay with him and launch her travels from there.
    There was no question of leaving for Europe now, not as long as Mac was still in L.A. She had already written to James and