Evidence Of Attraction. Lisa Childs
had a bigger engine than her little sedan. He was able to speed enough that he caught up with her.
Despite not having brakes, she managed to steer around a corner. The street onto which she’d turned had fewer houses. But it went downhill, so she was gaining speed.
And she had no way to stop.
Hart would have to stop her before the car went even faster. Or she would die for certain.
He pressed harder on his accelerator and crossed over the center line so that he was next to her. She glanced out her window at him. Her eyes were wide with fear, her face so pale that her freckles stood out even more than usual.
She gripped the wheel tightly.
He gestured at the gearshift. If she could get the vehicle into Neutral…
He clicked the power button to lower his passenger-side window.
She lowered her window. “I have no brakes!” she yelled.
“Neutral,” he yelled back at her.
But the loud blare of a horn might have drowned out his command. Just a short distance ahead of them, a semitruck had backed out of a driveway and was blocking the street. If she hit it head-on, she was certain to die.
So he jerked his wheel and smashed into the side of her car. Metal ground against metal, screeching as it scraped together.
Maybe it wasn’t just the screeching metal he heard. Maybe it was Wendy screaming because her mouth was open as she stared at him in shock.
He’d had no choice, though. He had to get her off the road and out of the path of that truck. He wrenched the wheel even harder, crunching the side of her car as he pushed it off the road.
Her tires hit the curb before the car jumped the sidewalk. He breathed a sigh of relief that she was off the street, until he saw where she was heading—straight toward a tree.
A massive oak with a trunk wider than her little car. He swerved over the curb, too, trying to get between her and the tree. But he was too late.
Her car struck the trunk of the oak, wrapping itself around it. Another horn blared—this one was hers as her body slumped against the airbag that had exploded from her steering wheel.
Had he saved her?
Or killed her?
“What the hell did you say?” Parker exclaimed. Then he pulled his cell phone away from his ear and stared at it.
He could not have heard his sister correctly. Nikki was one of the guards he’d posted outside Wendy Thompson’s parents’ house; he’d borrowed her from his brother Cooper’s team. Maybe their cell connection was faulty.
“What happened?” he asked, seeking clarification.
“I don’t know,” Nikki replied. “First they were kissing…”
Parker groaned. “No…”
Hart was only supposed to pretend to be her boyfriend. They weren’t supposed to really become involved. Of all his bodyguards, Parker had thought Hart, who’d barely survived his short marriage, was immune to the temptation of mixing pleasure with business.
Sure, he was aware that Wendy Thompson had had a crush on Hart when he’d worked for River City PD, and while that was useful for their cover, Parker had never expected either of them to actually act on it.
“The kissing might have been for her parents’ benefit,” Nikki speculated. “They were not very discreetly watching them through the front window.”
His heart thudded heavily with dread. “So did they see what you just told me happened?” He was still hoping that he’d misunderstood. That she couldn’t have said what she had…
But then Nikki repeated it. “Him running her off the road?”
Parker groaned again. So he had heard his sister correctly the first time.
“They couldn’t have seen it,” Nikki said. “It happened a couple of miles from their house. Lars is still sitting on their place and the Thompsons haven’t made any attempt to leave. They must have not even heard the crash.”
Crash. Parker flinched.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “How did they get from kissing to separate vehicles and…?”
What? A road rage incident?
“After the kissing, she jumped in her car and took off,” Nikki told him.
To do what? Report Hart to him or to the chief? This was bad. Very bad.
“It didn’t take long to figure out, from the way she was driving, that her brakes must have gone out,” Nikki said. “Hart was right there. I think he tried to force her off the road so she wouldn’t hit the truck. But…”
“But what?” Parker asked.
“She hit a tree instead.”
Parker shot up from his desk and cursed. “Oh, my God. Is she okay?”
“I don’t know,” Nikki said. “I radioed Hart and he claims he’s got it handled.” But she obviously doubted his abilities. She didn’t know Hart Fisher like Parker did, though.
“If Hart says he’s got it handled, he does.” Parker wasn’t sure if he backed his friend out of loyalty, though, or because he actually believed what he was saying. Hart Fisher had been a good cop—so good that he’d made detective right before he’d quit the force.
Since Parker had hired him, he’d proved to be a damn good bodyguard, too.
Until today.
Today, instead of protecting his principal, he might have put her in more danger.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.