Our First Christmas

Our First Christmas by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online

Book: Our First Christmas by Lisa Jackson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Lisa Jackson
driving exactly five miles over the speed limit. She glared into the mirror as if willing the driver to back off. The other driver drew closer and closer.
    â€œMarisa?”
    Lucas’s deep voice cut through her worries. “Sorry. Look, I don’t want to sound paranoid, but there’s someone right behind me on my bumper. I’m on Route 290 headed to Fredericksburg.”
    â€œHow close is the car?” His voice had dropped and a low menace hummed under the words.
    â€œFive or ten feet.”
    â€œI’m calling the sheriff’s office and having them send a car in your direction.”
    As much as she didn’t want to sound the alarm bells again, now was not the time to wonder if she’d made a mistake. The car edged closer and in a split second it bumped her back bumper. “He just hit me.”
    â€œWhat?” She imagined him standing and reaching for his gun as he headed for the door.
    â€œHe bumped my bumper.”
    â€œSpeed up.”
    â€œI’m tossing the phone in my lap.”
    â€œKeep me on the line.”
    She gripped the wheel with both hands, the instruments of her dash lit up by the glare of the other car’s headlights. Despite her increased speed, the car caught up to her again. This time it hit her harder. Her car swerved left before she made a hard correction to the right to keep the tires on the road. If there had been another car approaching in the other lane . . .
    Heart hammering, she refused to consider what might have happened. She pushed on the accelerator. Again, more inches separated her from the other car and, again, the gap closed as the stranger matched her speed.
    This time the car cut left and quickly came up on her driver’s side. She glanced over, but shadows obscured the other driver’s face. Before she could think to speed up or slow down, the car jerked into her lane, and this time when she swerved, she couldn’t correct in time. Her car ran off the road, banging over a ditch and plunging along a rocky ravine toward the dry bed of a creek. She screamed.

Chapter 6
    Saturday, December 20, 7:45 P.M.
    Â 
    Marisa’s screams echoing in his memory, Lucas raced from his office to his SUV. He had the sheriff’s office on the radio before he left the Ranger parking lot and shot out orders for Marisa’s phone to be tracked and officers in the area to respond.
    He’d never driven so fast. His mind detailed all the worst-case scenarios as he bounded down I-35 toward the Hill Country exit.
    â€œMarisa! Marisa!” He’d shouted her name into the phone after she’d screamed, but the line went dead. Though the call had been terminated, the phone still pinged a signal from the cell tower.
    The roads out in this part of Texas were flat for the most part, but there were ravines and deep gulches that could easily swallow up a car.
    Damn.
    He’d thought about when he’d seen her emerge from the history department last night. He’d told himself he’d keep his emotions in check and that personal and professional would stay separate. But the instant he’d called her name and she’d faced him, he only thought about peeling off her clothes and making love. He’d gone searching for her in Merida so she could help him with the cipher, but he’d found the lady in white and she’d snagged him hook, line, and sinker.
    This time he would not lose her.
    When he saw the flashing police lights ahead, his stomach lurched. He’d barely put the car in PARK when he got out of the vehicle and raced toward the rescue crews. As he approached, the rescue squad hoisted a stretcher up from the gulch. He studied the steep grade to the ravine, his stomach sinking as he looked at Marisa’s mangled car. Steeling himself, he raced to the stretcher, where he found Marisa.
    Her pale skin was ashen and there was a large gash on the side of her head. The EMTs had bandaged it with a swath of fabric that

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