"Joy, Dara - High 02 - High Intensity" - читать интересную книгу автора (Joy Dara)

"Who could that be at this hour?" Zanita stood up and started toward the door.
Tyber effortlessly rose from the floor, quickly overtaking her. "I'll open the door. We don't know who it might be at this hour."
"But Blooey must have let whoever it is in through the gate, so it stands to reason it must be a friend or a relative."
"That's exactly what I'm concerned about."
Zanita stuck her tongue out at his back as he went to open the door.
Tyber stopped and wagged his finger at her. "Shame on you, baby. You know I'm going to catch that tongue later." He gave her a slow smile. "No telling what I'll do with it."
Zanita could feel the flush rise on her face. Tyber had already opened the door, and her best
52

friend Mills was standing there with her mouth gaping. She had obviously heard him.
Mills was packing. Caught by the scruff of his collar was a squirming, black-haired, green-eyed wolf-child. There was only one little boy that Zanita knew who was that beautiful and that defiant.
Cody Mazurski.
The boy looked and behaved exactly like his wild father.
And neither of them apologized for the imposition.
Zanita found her voice first while Mills was recovering from Tyber's outrageousness. "Mills, what are you doing here at this hour? And why do you have Cody with you?"
The name of the wolf-child was enough to snap Mills back to herself.
"Here!" She thrust Cody through the door. "Take him before that god-awful excuse for a father shows up."
Tyber caught Cody, who grinned up at him smugly.
"I swear the two of them have something cooked up between them! The kid keeps showing up at my shop, then claims he has to wait for Gregor to pick him up. Well, not this time!"
Tyber glanced down at Cody, who wagged his eyebrows up and down a la Groucho. At least the kid tried to contain his snicker.
53

Mills ran a shaky hand through her hair. "I've got to goЧhe's liable to show up at any minute, and I'm not in the mood to spar withЧ"
The sound of a motorcycle zooming down the drive came closer and closer.
"Ah, too late, Mills." Zanita commiserated with her friend as Gregor Mazurski, black-sheep brother of staid physicist Stan Mazurski, turned his cycle around in the drive with a spray of gravel. He was off the bike before it had stopped rumbling.
"Hey, Tyber." He strolled up to the porch and rested against the portico.
"Gregor." The men had become good friends since their initial meeting back when Tyber was helping Zanita go after Xavier LaLeche. Both were outlaws in their own way, and they loved Harleys. For men, this was a basis for a blood-brother friendship.
Gregor glanced over at Mills, his startling green eyes flashing with ill-concealed humor. "Why, if it isn't Miss Priss."
It was obvious that Mills was fuming. Zanita had to admit that when Mills fumed, she did look kind of... prissy.
"Why, if it isn't the modern-day answer to the village idiot," Mills shot back.
Tyber gave the thumbs up on that one to Mills.
"Mills, Mills, Mills. Can't believe you absconded with my kid again. What are we going to do with
54

you?" Gregor shook his head and made low clucking sounds with his tongue.
Mills threw him a venomous look.
"You know very well that you left him at my shop. Don't even try and deny it. One of my girls saw your motorcycle turn the corner." Mills didn't think it necessary to add the girl's description of Gregor. Something about him being a real babe ... She exhaled noisily. "Why you two persist in tormenting me, 111 never know."
Cody's lower lip jutted out as if on cue. "You don't like me, Mills?"
Mills was instantly contrite. She adored Cody, but that was beside the point. "Of course I like you, Cody! This has nothing to do with whether or not I like you."
"What exactly does it have to do with?" Gregor leaned against the door frame and purposely baited Zanita's friend.
Zanita snickered. Mills's family roots went back to pre-revolutionary days. She was not going to be flustered by one tall, gorgeous, green-eyed man.
Zanita was not disappointed. Mills put her hands on her hips and stared the miscreant down. "I am not talking to you. The only thing you've ever done in your life worth anything as far as I can see was producing this boy!"
"Really." Gregor bent closer over the porch railing, resting his chin on his arm. He smiled
55

wickedly up at her. "That's good, because I can make a bunch more just like him." He gave her a "wanna see?" expression.
Mills shared a disgusted look with Zanita and stormed past him, heading to her car.
Gregor and Cody watched her every move until she was out of sight, far down the drive; then as one they turned and gave each other the high five.
"Why do you torment her like this, Gregor?" Zanita was smiling.
"Because she's tormentable." He grinned back at her, gave Tyber a half wave, took his son, and left.