2000 Kisses by Christina Skye Read Free Book Online Page B

has to work hard to make a living. All the same, I don't see how I can help you.” T.J. grabbed his battered Stetson as wind whipped down from the high ridges. His eyes narrowed as he studied the line of thunderheads gathering in the west.
    “Just hear me out, McCall.”
    The cowboy rocked back in his saddle to the squeak of well-oiled leather. “You'd better talk fast. I've got a storm system moving in and three hundred restless cows nudging my tail. Right now they don't look very happy. In a second this cell phone's going to fade out of range and you'll be stuck, since I'm not heading back to town until later in the day. Might be one or two days if this storm holds out.”
    'Til talk fast.” O'Mara's voice hardened. “I'm sending her to you, T.J. Take care of her. If things work out the way I think, she's going to need your help—along with a lot of luck.”
    “Listen, Andrew, I don't have time to—”
    T.J. cursed softly as the answering voice broke into static. Wind whipped pebbles and dust, cutting off his vision just as a nasty-tempered steer named Diablo took a plunge toward a steep dry wash.
    T.J. spurred his mount forward and tried to forget all about Andrew O'Mara and his irritating sister.

    Tess looked up from her map and gave a long, silent whistle.
    A rolling sea of green stretched before her beneath the blazing sun. Low trees and dense shrubs straddled rocky washes on both sides of the highway. To the north and south jagged mountains rose to a blinding turquoise sky. Silence clung to the high canyons and light shimmered on rugged, red rock cliffs.
    Where she was sitting was a long way from Boston. Actually, it was a long way from
anywhere.
    She rolled down her window and gasped. Hot, dry airfilled her lungs, rich with an exotic blend of sage, juniper, and blooming rosemary. So now she knew what the desert smelled like—fragile, exotic, and full of life, a universe away from the carbon monoxide and sea tang of Boston.
    Wind rushed down an arroyo, spinning eddies of sand that hissed around the wheels of her Mercedes. For a moment the road before her was hidden in a veil of pebbles and twigs of dried sagebrush. She slid from behind the wheel and stretched slowly. Her shoulders ached and her new boots were dirty, but she was enjoying the trip more than she'd thought she would. The bright sun and hot weather suited her. So did the sense of high adventure.
    She fingered her jacket guiltily.
    It hadn't been
all
that expensive. Besides, she'd bought it before she'd discovered that the money in her bank account might not be hers to spend.
    But for four days now her brother's suspicions had gnawed at her. She wondered if someone was tracking her right now.
    Impossible, she thought. No doubt Andrew was simply being overcautious. She expected that when she finally reached Almost, there would be a jovial message from him assuring her that everything was fine and she could turn around and head home.
    Out of the corner of her eye she saw something flash behind her in die deserted line of asphalt snaking back into New Mexico. Tess looked back, frowning. Was it a chrome hood ornament? The shimmer of a rearview mirror?
    The uneasiness that had plagued her over the long drive raced into full-fledged panic at the thought that shehad been followed here. But how? There had been no other cars on the road since she'd left the interstate.
    A black RV lumbered out of the whirling dust to the west and swung wide onto the highway. Tess jumped back into her car and locked the doors. She had just started the motor when the huge vehicle fishtailed to a noisy halt in front of her, blocking the road.
    A man poked his head out of the driver's window and shoved back a pair of mirrored sun glasses. “Nice car.
    Tess cautiously lowered the window a few inches. “Er—thank you.”
    “Mercedes Cabriolet. Pretty damned snappy. Must have cost a bundle.”
    Tess fingered the gear shift. She was ready to shoot into reverse when she realized