Her Unlikely Family. Missy Tippens

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СКАЧАТЬ hair is black.”

      “Did you call the police?”

      “A patrol car is on its way now.”

      “Georgia, huh? What about credit-card activity?”

      “None since the day she disappeared.”

      Michael drummed his thumb on the steering wheel. “Okay. Thanks.”

      “I’ll call as soon as we find her.”

      Snapping the phone closed, he watched Josie. She had her legs crossed, foot jiggling. She spun her bracelets around her wrist. Either the woman couldn’t sit still or she was nervous.

      None of this made sense. Was Josie lying? He had thought for sure he was on Lisa’s trail. He prayed he was right.

      “So that call was about Lisa?” Josie asked.

      “It was the P.I. I hired to locate her.”

      “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 СКАЧАТЬ