Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 2 of 2
Page 57
Her feet finally hit the dirt of Main Street. Chance grabbed her arms and searched her face. “Are you okay? You’re covered with blood. Where are you hurt?”
“It’s Jeremy’s blood,” she said breathlessly. “You have to find Kinsey. She’s in a nearby building. It’s on the right side of the street as you come into town, the store with a long counter running along the back wall. You have to go save her.”
“Sounds like the old mercantile,” Chance said, glancing at Gerard who was already running down the street.
Lily looked back at Chance to find him studying her hands, which she was surprised to see were torn and bleeding from abrasions and imbedded splinters. No wonder they hurt. Pain was good, though. Pain meant she’d survived despite all the odds, despite Jeremy’s pathological desire to erase her from the earth, despite her own misjudgments.
Chance kissed her wrist. “Oh, my darling, darling girl,” he whispered, and met her gaze. There were tears in his eyes. She’d never been so happy to see anyone as she was him but that wasn’t true, she’d felt this same way when she found Charlie in Maria’s car. “Where’s my child?” she asked.
“He’s with my father.”
“I’m so relieved to hear that. Jeremy insinuated he killed your family before he hit Kinsey and shooed away our horses.”
“He was playing head games with you,” Chance said.
“It might have worked if it hadn’t been for Charlie and Kinsey...and you.”
“You need to see a doctor,” he said.
“I need you,” she responded. “And Charlie and a pair of tweezers and some bandages.”
“What happened to Block?”
“I’ll tell you the long story later. The short version is he did his best to kill me but caused his own death instead. I might have contributed to that conclusion.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, and raising her chin, kissed her lips.
She’d been fighting loving him for over nine months, leery of caring more than he did, of being hurt, of losing him because she gave herself to him, not just with her body, but with her heart. And all that meant was that she’d been running, yet again, but from herself this time...from the truth.
And she was done. The truth was she loved him. The truth was she needed him. He could accept those truths or not, his response couldn’t change the way she felt, the way she would always feel about him.
Chance’s and Gerard’s horses were skittish because of the increasing smoke and danced around as Chance led them down the street. Lily took her first real breath of relief as Gerard helped Kinsey walk out of the mercantile. The fact she was on her feet was amazing to Lily, and she felt tears of thankfulness sting behind her nose. Kinsey held out Lily’s coat and Chance took it, draping it around Lily’s shoulders.
Kinsey leaned close to Lily. “Thank you,” she said.
Lily produced a wry smile. “For almost getting you killed? Twice?”
“For helping me,” she said. “For sending Gerard.”
“Your baby,” Lily whispered.
Kinsey smiled and touched her stomach area. “Don’t tell Gerard, though. Not yet.”
“That’s your news to share,” Lily said as her gaze traveled down the street to the flames tearing through the old wood. In a triumph of poetic justice, Jeremy’s body burned in the inferno he’d created.
Chance called his dad who said he would err on the side of safety by topping off the tank in the water-hauling truck and driving the alternate route up to the plateau and across to the ghost town, just in case the winds shifted. He also said he would call the police and all four of them groaned as they anticipated the rash of questions to come.
There was no sign of the two horses Jeremy had released, but they did find a big roan tethered outside of town. “That’s one of our mares,” Gerard said, pausing to help Kinsey climb into the saddle.
“Block must have let the horses out of the field when he stole her,” Chance said. “I never thought to check the tack and see if any of that was missing.”
Gerard climbed onto his horse and Chance lifted Lily into the saddle and climbed behind her. There was no way she could handle reins with her injured hands but his arms provided all the stability she needed.
“I have to tell you some bad news,” Chance said as they rode along. “Elizabeth was killed yesterday.”
“I know about that. Jeremy bragged about shooting her through the forehead. But how did you know?”
“Seth Brighton called. His father had been trying to reach you since realizing the only one in the world who would shoot Elizabeth as she stood at the sink inside her own house staring out at all those dead sunflower plants was Jeremy Block. When he couldn’t get ahold of you, he asked Seth to call me. Then Gerard tried to call Kinsey but she didn’t answer.”
“Jeremy took her phone,” Lily said. “She was out cold in the mercantile.”
“I died a thousand times between hearing that Block was on a murdering rampage and the moment I found you,” Chance added.
“I know the feeling,” she said, leaning her head against his chest. “When he told me he was going after you next, it was as if he nailed spikes into my heart.”
Chance kissed the top of her head. “Just so you know, I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
She turned to look into his dark eyes. “You’re not?”
“No. I’ll marry you if I have to.”
She frowned. “Don’t do me any favors.”
“I didn’t mean it that way—”
“Then how did you mean it? I took care of myself pretty darn good back there.”
“Sure you did. One more minute and you would have been buried under a ton of burning roof.”
“Now just a minute. You act like I go around getting into trouble just so you have to rescue me.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“There’s that ego again—”
He put a finger against her lips. “Just shut up and kiss me, will you please?”
“Oh, what the hell,” she said, and touched her lips to his.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460388389
Cowboy Undercover
Copyright © 2015 by Alice Sharpe
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Kansas City Confessions
Copyright © 2015 by Julie Miller
Agent Bride
Copyright © 2015 by Beverly R. Long
Cowboy Undercover
Copyright © 2015 by Alice Sharpe
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