Front Page Affair. Jennifer Morey
in the middle of the road and a man was coming toward her. Large and muscular, he wore a black, long-sleeved shirt with black jeans and boots.
She began to back away but she wasn’t fast enough. He pounced on her, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the BMW.
“Let go of me!” She struggled, her resistance hurting her arm where he held her roughly. He opened the passenger’s door of the BMW.
He was taking her.
She put her foot against the doorframe to keep him from shoving her inside, screaming.
Where was her brother?
Just then, the stranger’s grip vanished and she fell to the pavement. As she bumped her head on the rear fender of her car, she heard gunfire. Scrambling to her feet, she took cover behind her car and searched for her brother and Braden. The stranger was firing at both men. Braden had ducked behind the tree in Lincoln’s front yard. Lincoln lay on the ground, gripping his knee in agony.
The man backed toward her, gun aimed toward the front yard. Arizona moved to the other side of her car as Braden crawled to Lincoln and dragged him to the cover of the tree.
Arizona froze as the man aimed his gun at her. He grabbed her arm again, methodical and sure. Terrifying. Fleetingly, she wondered if this was how Trevor had felt when he’d been taken.
She stumbled as the man yanked her back against his chest and forced her with him around the rear of her car. He put his gun to her head just as Braden emerged from the cover of her car. Somehow he’d made it from the tree to there. She strained to see Lincoln. He must have seated himself up behind the tree.
Something whizzed by her ear, disturbing her hair. She realized it was Braden’s foot when the gun went flying. The man released her to face his opponent. Arizona stumbled with the abruptness of it and landed near the curb on her hands, yelping with the hard, rough contact.
Hurrying to her feet, she saw swinging legs and blocking hands as the two men fought between the vehicles. The gun was on the road behind her car. She started for it as Braden delivered a well-planted kick and the stranger fell closer to it than her.
The man took the gun and rolled to aim it at Braden.
Seeing Braden lunge for cover on the other side of her car, Arizona crawled along the sidewalk as the spray of loud gunfire erupted.
The next thing she heard was the squeal of tires and the revving of a fast engine. Climbing to her feet, she braced herself by the front fender of her car. Braden rose from where he’d crouched in the front as the BMW disappeared down the street.
Lincoln.
“Lincoln!” She ran for her brother, who still held his shot and bleeding knee, leaning against the tree.
Braden was already calling for help.
“I’m okay,” Lincoln said. “Who was that?” He looked up at Braden, who shook his head, still breathing heavily from exertion and adrenaline.
“He was going to take me,” Arizona uttered, unable to believe it. Why her?
“To use you for leverage,” Braden answered her silent question, his face grim but set with resolve.
“For what?”
He only stared at her, having no answer, at least none he would give. Not only was he gorgeous, he wasn’t the kind of man who could be controlled. Neither was he a man who scared easily. His sister was missing and the man who was following him had just attempted to kidnap Arizona. Whatever he wanted, he was willing to go to great lengths to get it. And he believed he could get it from Braden.
Did Braden know what that was? Did he know why his sister had disappeared?
There was no time for her to ask questions. Lincoln needed a hospital and the sound of sirens was approaching.
Chapter 2
Braden watched Arizona pace the emergency room in front of the uncomfortable seat he occupied, chewing her thumbnail. Still in those shorts and colorful top, she had the same effect on him as the moment he’d seen her when she’d opened Lincoln’s door. Grapefruit-sized breasts. Hooker shoes that he would not complain about. Ever. Her legs made him imagine R-rated things.
She stopped when she saw a tall, thin doctor approach wearing a white uniform and rectangular glasses.
“How is he?” Arizona asked anxiously. He got the feeling she was close to her brother.
“Fine. The surgery went well. Give him the night to rest. By morning he’ll be able to go home.”
“Thank God,” she breathed.
Braden stood while the doctor finished explaining Lincoln’s condition. He’d have a long recovery but he’d regain full use of his knee. Lucky.
When the doctor left, she slowly turned to him, weary with relief. But then a new light entered her eyes. Fresh panic.
“We have to get out of here.” She grabbed his arm.
What was her hurry? He stayed where he was.
She gave up with a breath of exasperation, dropping her hands. “Any minute now, the press is going to descend on this place like flies at a food festival.”
“Why?” What would draw the media here?
She cocked her head. “You try being one of Jackson Ivy’s kids and stay out of the news.”
Her father was a famous movie producer. Now he understood her urgency and felt a little of it himself. If he was going to search for his sister, he didn’t need the press announcing his arrival in Tortola. He also wished there was a way to leave Arizona behind. She might attract too much attention. But he had no choice. Someone had gone after her, and the police had nothing to go on. Even if they found something during the investigation of their attack, it would take too long.
He started for the exit. “I would think you’d welcome the press.”
Her pinched brow told him she didn’t understand his meaning. Everything she did was so animated. Was she aware of that?
“The press hounds my family.”
“The way you want to hound my sister. She’s had enough of that already.”
Shock rendered her speechless for a second, and he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “No, I wouldn’t. The kind of news I’m after is different than that, but I understand you not wanting me to do any story. What you don’t understand is I can still help you.”
She wanted to help him? Would she do a story anyway? Was this a way of getting him to let her go with him? He was taking her, but not because he needed help.
Outside, he steered her toward his car. “Why would you want to help me?”
She shrugged “Because I can.”
He looked over her petite frame in her girly outfit. “How?”
Shooting him a lowered brow with eyes full of affront, she said, “However. I can help you.”
“It could be dangerous.” He took in her long, slender legs as she walked beside him. Damn, they were hot.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be going, either. Maybe you should let the police handle it.”
“The police aren’t getting anywhere, and I can’t leave you here.”
“What?”
He stopped at the door of his charcoal-colored Subaru, turning to face her. “Trust me, I’d rather not, but someone tried to kidnap you. What if there’s another attempt? I can’t allow the chance.” And she had no idea how unbending he was on that subject. She could argue all she wanted, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
“My brother won’t like that.” But she looked pleased as could be with