Defensive Action. Jenna Kernan
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Название: Defensive Action
Автор: Jenna Kernan
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Heroes
isbn: 9781474094115
isbn:
“What are you doing?” she yelled as he threw the car into Drive.
The momentum caused by his foot slamming down on the accelerator forced her face into the headrest. A moment later, she spun in place and dropped into the bucket seat.
She aimed a finger at him. “This is my car!”
Technically it was a rental, but it sure was her credit card and her signature on the line that said she wanted to buy the optional liability coverage and damage protection, which was voided if she was not the only driver.
He didn’t look at her and a moment later she saw why. They were rocketing through the night at the sedan that sped toward them. It was like a joust at the yearly Renaissance Faire, except instead of horses and wooden lances, these contestants were using two-ton automobiles. Their opponent was riding the modern-day equivalent of a warhorse and they were astride a borrowed mule.
“Look out!” she hollered, as if he could have missed the oncoming vehicle.
“Seat belt,” he said through gritted teeth.
She understood and panic flashed cold on her skin. He was going to crash them on purpose.
Haley drew the belt across herself with trembling hands and somehow clicked it home. She pressed back into the seat as if the inches she gained would somehow protect her. She glanced at the airbag warning on the dash, afraid she was going to feel the impact firsthand. Her gaze flicked back to the oncoming sedan and she thought she saw someone leaning out the window behind the driver.
The stranger beside her grasped her by the neck and forced her head down as if readying her for crash position aboard a doomed 747. She bit her lip and tasted blood as her upper teeth sliced through it. There was a sound like glass breaking and then a cracking noise that reminded her of the sound the ice in an ice-cube tray made when you twisted it. Bits of glass rained down upon her.
He draped his body over hers as the side window exploded.
Someone was shooting at them!
“Who’s driving?” she yelled, knowing he couldn’t simultaneously drive and lie across her like a fire blanket.
He straightened and she did the same. The window before her was now a mosaic of tiny squares of glass. Wind whistled through four holes in the middle of each circular epicenter of disaster. But the sedan was gone.
She pressed a hand to her heart, feeling it jackhammer. Turning in her seat, she saw that the driver’s window had folded in half, as if cleaved by an ax. Her side mirror dangled from a series of wires and the sedan was behind them on the shoulder.
“Ha. Ha!” she crowed, pointing. “They’re stuck!”
Her hysterical elation ebbed as the sedan’s red taillights flared. The vehicle moved back onto the road and turned.
When she next spoke, she was surprised at the deadpan quality of her voice.
“They’re following us.”
Haley glanced back to the highway and the guardrail that cascaded past her window at dizzying speeds. Then she turned to the shirtless stranger, who was dressed in pants streaked with grease. Blood oozed from the road rash on his shoulder and she wondered if he was staining the upholstery.
The ridiculousness of that worry forced a hysterical laugh from Haley. He glanced from the road to her and she covered her mouth to block out the worrisome sound of her panic-stricken giggle.
He was clean-shaven with dark brown hair cut short enough for her to see the gash on his scalp above his ear. His sooty lashes framed deep brown eyes that took her breath away.
“You okay?” he asked, scanning her with those arresting eyes.
“I don’t think so.” She pointed to the blood that trickled down his forehead. “You’re bleeding.”
His biceps flexed and his pecs strained as he turned the wheel. Haley’s ears buzzed, from fear, she told herself, but the tingling awareness that made her skin pucker was something else altogether.
He had glanced at her for only an instant, yet she was breathless. His attention now on the road, she forced herself to look away from his athletic figure and the skin that glowed a healthy golden-bronze. Her attention landed on the speedometer. Was he going ninety miles an hour on this crummy, poorly maintained stretch of lonely highway?
They spoke in unison.
“That’s too fast,” she said, pointing at the dash.
“Thanks for stopping,” he said, glancing to the rearview mirror. “Do you have something to clear away this glass?”
Only then did Haley glance forward. How could he even see? The front windshield was a web of tiny bits of shatter-resistant glass held together by some clear film.
“I don’t know. Golf umbrella?” She’d gotten it free when opening a bank account despite the fact that she did not golf and that it was miles too big for use on a city street. She had lots of bank accounts now, all over town.
“Great.” He held out his hand. Duct tape still clung to the dark hairs on his forearm.
She scrambled in the seat behind her, past the bags of groceries to the umbrella wedged beneath.
“Is that food?” he asked.
“Yes.” As if she’d travel four to six hours without food, a first-aid kit and a mobile-phone charger.
“Do you have anything to drink?”
She thought of the thermos half full of cold coffee and instead opted for something unopened. A moment later, she returned her backside to the seat holding the golf umbrella in one hand and a bottle of Snapple Grapeade in the other.
He grasped the umbrella first in one hand and used the handle to pound. His muscles corded and relaxed again and again until he’d punched a hole the size of a basketball from the windshield before him. Now wind whistled through the cab.
She held out the Snapple. He lay the umbrella between the seats and took the bottle, holding it for her to open.
Haley tried one-handed, but of course couldn’t make the cap come loose. So she gripped his hand with hers and twisted, feeling immediately sorry because the heat of his hand and the long elegance of his cupped fingers made her insides tighten. The cap popped.
The stranger brought the bottle to his lips and drank, draining the contents in three long swallows. Haley blinked in astonishment. Liquid clung to his lips and a droplet trickled over the shadow of a beard. He captured the escaping fluid with his pink tongue.
A flame of unwanted desire flashed to life inside her. Haley swallowed hard and sat back in her seat clutching one arm around her quivering stomach.
“Would you please tell me what is happening?” СКАЧАТЬ