Page 15 of Top Secret Cowboy


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She swung her glare toward the man wearing the white cowboy hat, then she spotted the sheet draped over the dead driver and quickly jerked her stare away.

Someone had tossed a blanket around her shoulders. Despite it being relatively warm, she huddled inside it, glad of the comforting weight. The sun was sinking out of sight and soon it would be full dark.

At a slamming noise, she searched out Jace again. The dead man was gone, stowed inside the coroner’s van on the way to the morgue. Jace’s broad shoulders faced her, as wide and impenetrable as a brick wall, but she saw he was speaking with two cops. One took notes on a tablet.

She sucked in a breath. Until now, she was in too much shock to realize that she was going to spend the rest of her Monday in a prison cell. That wasdefinitelyJace’s fault. True, he hadn’t meant to shoot the driver, but everyone knew wrestling over a loaded gun usually ended in catastrophe.

She lifted the corner of the blanket and scrubbed it over her face, not knowing whether to cry or vomit up her sushi. Her head ached from the horn blasts of angry drivers who couldn’t see the situation on the road up ahead of them, and somehow the clamor got mixed in with the memory of Jace speaking perfect Japanese back in the restaurant.

How thehelldid she end up here?

She was trying to convince herself this was all a bad dream when Jace swung around and looked straight at her. One of the cops took a step in her direction.

Bronte braced herself for the officer to come over and question her. Then Jace said something to him, and the officer stopped. They resumed their discussion.

Another minute later, the cops walked away and Jace started toward her.

She studied his face. His cheek looked a little swollen, but that was a small injury compared to what could have happened to him. She’d seen that car—and the driver.

As Jace neared her, she noted the concern in his eyes.

She took a step forward on legs that were both wobbly and stiff at the same time. “Do I need to go to the police station and give a statement?” she asked.

He came to a stop in front of her. “No. I took care of it.”

“You took care of it,” she repeated.

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “What about the driver? He was shot and killed. They must need a statement.”

“I told you I handled it. Already gave the report.”

Why was he speaking in terse sentences? What happened to the man who’d chatted his way into being her fiancé?

He placed a hand on her arm. She met his gaze. A thousand questions rattled through her mind, but the biggest thing she noticed about this whole situation was how Jace took charge. Of everything.

“Come with me. We need to stay out of the way so the tow truck can get through. I’m going to make a call to my boss.”

He led her to a spot away from the onlookers but kept her close—close enough to tackle at the first sound of a car backfiring. Now that her driver was dead, Jace jumping on her didn’t seem so odd.

He pulled out a phone and dialed.

Good idea.Maybe she should call someone too.

Rummaging in her purse for a minute, she came out with her device. She didn’t even get it to her ear before it was slapped out of her hand.

Her brand-new phone hit the sidewalk and skidded into the street—right under the tire of a rescue unit.

She let out a cry. “Why did you do that?”

“Trust me. You can’t use that phone.”

She gaped at him, mouth opening and closing like a fish on dry land. She hardly registered the few low, gritty monosyllables Jace uttered at whoever was on the other end of his phone line.

She looked on through a haze of fog, distantly realizing she was in shock.

She didn’t like the way he was glancing around as if looking for another armed man masquerading as her driver. He gripped her by the elbow.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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