Her Unlikely Family. Missy Tippens

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      “What did you find out?”

      “He says Lisa may be in Georgia with a guy. Her car’s there, anyway.”

      Josie sat up at attention, then frowned. “The creep took her car. So I assume he’s with someone else.”

      “Took her car? Why didn’t she report the theft?”

      “Lisa wanted to wait. She thinks he’ll bring it back.”

      “Could he have come back for Lisa today?”

      “Well, she was here at dinnertime. But she lit out once she saw you.”

      He breathed in through his nose, trying to control the urge to yell. “You mean to tell me she was at the diner, and while you chatted and stalled, she snuck away again?”

      “No, I—Do you think she could have gotten to that town in Georgia in the three hours since you got here?”

      “I have no idea.”

      She clicked her fingernails on the leather interior, then opened her door. “Let me run and get a phone directory, then make some calls.”

      He reached over her to close the door. “Wait just a moment.”

      Josie, who’d been jerking him around all evening, was trying to make an awfully sudden exit. And now she acted as if she feared Lisa had run away again? Well, he would bet the last dollar in Throckmorton’s Bank that Lisa wasn’t in Georgia with her car.

      “I want you to tell me the truth, and tell me right now,” he said.

      “I have told you the truth. She’s most likely still here. Then again, I’m not positive.” She reached for the door handle. “Let me try to find her and talk her into meeting with you.”

      “No. You’ve had your chance. Tell me where to look.”

      “Come on, Mike, I promised her. You’re putting me in a tough position.”

      “If you think you’re in a tough position now, wait until I have you arrested for kidnapping.”

      Chapter Two

      Think, Josie, think.

      Mike looked so imposing in the dimly lit car. All angles and shadows. If she hadn’t heard from his niece that he was a law-abiding citizen, she would be pulling out her pepper spray right about now.

      She forced a carefree laugh. “Kidnapping? Now you’re being ridiculous.”

      “I’m dead serious. You’re keeping a minor away from her legal guardian.”

      “Okay, I admit I was uncooperative at first. But she’d told me she was eighteen. And, for the record, I didn’t have anything to do with her sneaking out of the diner this evening.”

      With his dark brows drawn together, he glared at her. “You could have told me as soon as you noticed her missing.”

      “She’s not necessarily missing. She said something about having plans tonight. I imagine she’ll show up later either here or at my house.”

      “She knows where you live? Let’s go check there.”

      Josie tentatively touched his forearm, surprised at the warmth against her cold fingers. “I can’t betray her. I promised I’d protect her from you.”

      “Protect?” He jerked his arm away. “What on earth did she tell you? That I beat her?”

      Josie hesitated.

      “Come on. I would never do a thing to hurt Lisa. I just want her safely at school.”

      “Mike, she’ll come around eventually. But right now you need to do what’s best for Lisa.”

      “I know what’s best for my own niece.”

      “I’m not so sure about that.” Before he could argue, she said, “I need time to talk her into meeting with you. Promise me you won’t ambush her, or she may truly run again.”

      He gripped the steering wheel so tightly it was a wonder it didn’t bend. He shook his head and exhaled. “Why are you doing this for a runaway teenager—a stranger?”

      “Because I was in her shoes once.”

      “You ran away?” he said as if surprised.

      “Yep. Twice.”

      “Did your parents find you?”

      “They did the first time. The second time, I had just graduated from high school, so they didn’t do anything about it.”

      As he digested her story, she relaxed against the seat and said, “I guess I should head home and wait. Lisa has about two hours before her midnight curfew.”

      “Curfew? Is she living with you?”

      Forget relaxing. She had almost let that piece of information slip. If she told him yes, he would be sitting on her doorstep around the clock. “She’s been staying somewhere safe. I keep tabs on her. That’s all I’m saying for now.”

      He tried the bending-the-steering-wheel trick one more time. The man oozed tension.

      Of course, she would, too, in the same situation.

      “You know, I hate to sit and wait,” he said. “If you’re wrong about her whereabouts, she could be getting farther away by the minute.”

      “There’s a possibility she’s at the nearby craft school. I’ll drive up there and make sure.”

      He slowly turned his head and stared at Josie with his night-darkened blue eyes. “Why couldn’t you have said that as soon as you came out here?”

      His intensity sent little sparks of awareness along her nerve endings. Which was absolutely crazy. His type usually made her want to shudder. “I had to make sure I could trust you,” she sputtered.

      “Trust, Josie? I assure you, you can trust me.”

      His inflection said exactly what he thought of her. He would understand her wariness, though, if only he knew how a rich, domineering man had let her down before.

      Her conscience pricked her for being judgmental. Lord, help me not to compare Mike with my dad, not to judge him. But most of all, protect Lisa. And please, please, let her be at the craft school.

      

      Josie continued to plead with God as she directed Mike to park at the entrance to the campus. He’d insisted on coming along. As she’d discovered, when Mike insisted, a person didn’t have much choice.

      “Wait here. I’ll walk up and look in the gallery,” she said.

      “It’s after ten. СКАЧАТЬ