Hot Rebel by Lynn Raye Harris Read Free Book Online

her.
    “I’m sorry, Miss Royal, but you will not see your sister this day,” Cafe Man told her.  
    “Why?” she said, her stomach churning with acid. “Why kill me when all I want is to talk to Emily?”
    “You are a… distraction.”
    She curled her hands into fists and breathed deeply, though she was beginning to feel light-headed. After all she’d been through, all she’d done, this was how it ended? Here, under a bridge in the sand, when she’d been in combat situations repeatedly over the past two years?
    “I saved Zaran’s life two weeks ago.”
    “And he is grateful. If he were not, this would be far more painful.”
    “Emily will never forgive him if she finds out—”
    “She will not know.”  
    The man was infuriatingly calm. He spoke to her like she was a child, and she wished she could strangle him.
    “Good-bye, Miss Royal.” He made a motion to the man with the gun and started to turn away—
    But the man holding the gun dropped to his knees and then fell into the sand with a thud. Cafe Man barely had time to exclaim before he collapsed too. The car’s tires spun as the driver realized what was happening and put the pedal to the floor.
    But then the car careened out of control as glass shattered, and Victoria knew he’d been hit as well. She threw herself onto the sand and grabbed the gun from the man who’d been about to shoot her. Then she started to belly crawl toward a pylon. She might be next, she might not be, but she wasn’t going to make herself into an easy target.
    An engine revved, and she looked up to see a van barreling down on her. Victoria scrambled upright and started to run. The sand sucked at her feet as her shoes slipped and slid, the tiny straps useless to keep them on. But she didn’t have time to stop and unbuckle them.
    Victoria ran, cursing her vanity and swearing she’d never give in to girlish tendencies again if God would just let her get out of this alive. It was a surprisingly unimportant thing to focus on at a time like this, but whatever.
    Yet the van caught up to her in spite of her prayers and vows. Clearly, God wasn’t amused.
    Victoria whirled and took aim, ready to shoot the tires, the driver, anything. But the vehicle slid to a stop, and the doors opened before she could fire. Men in black clothing boiled out of the door, assault rifles drawn and trained on her, surrounding her.
    Victoria kept her pistol aimed at one man, the one directly in front of her. They might kill her, but she was taking one of them with her. The air crackled with danger and electricity.
    And then the man lowered the rifle just enough that she could see his face. It wasn’t a face she’d expected, but relief flooded her at the sight.
    Nick Brandon looked as handsome as always, but he also looked angry, his dark brows drawn low in two slashes over his face. Still, she knew he wouldn’t kill her. She knew it in her bones. She dropped the pistol to her side, but the men still didn’t relax their stances, and she knew they wouldn’t until she was unarmed. She had to make her fingers uncurl from the grip, but she did it, and the gun slid to the sand where it hit with a soft plunk.
    The team of special ops warriors lowered their weapons, but Victoria only had eyes for Nick. The last time she’d seen him, she’d also had a pistol aimed at him. He wasn’t likely to forgive her for that, but right now she almost didn’t care. She was safe, even if she wasn’t entirely certain she would remain that way.
    “Well, hey there, Preacher Boy,” she made herself say, though her teeth wanted to chatter. “Didn’t know I was quite so dangerous you had to bring the entire Delta Force with you. But I’m flattered, I have to say.”
    *   *   *
    Nick couldn’t believe that he was looking at Victoria Royal in a dress. It was white with yellow flowers, and her long red hair hung in a hot, thick mess down her back. It had been sleek earlier when he’d watched her at the cafe. Her