Roan by Jennifer Blake Read Free Book Online Page B

exactly where the van had been abandoned, she couldn’t tell it.
    â€œIf the pickup owner finds those two before we do, it will be worse than too bad. We won’t have to worry about your pals anymore.”
    â€œMacho to the max,” she said dryly.
    â€œWe call it taking care of our own.”
    â€œAnd you condone that? Seems strange for someone sworn to uphold the law.”
    His smile was grim. “I didn’t say I condoned it. I just understand the impulse.”
    She shivered in an involuntary reaction to something she saw in his face. Looking quickly away, she said, “Yes, well, I don’t see what all this has to do with me.”
    He stared at her a long moment, then straightened and raked his fingers through his hair so the thick, sun-bleached strands lay in ruffled rows. Finally, he gave a slow nod. “All right. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you were kidnapped….”
    â€œYou mean you believe me?” She swung back to meet his gray gaze.
    â€œI did say for the sake of argument. So we have a van that came from Florida. Is that where you live?”
    She couldn’t admit to that, she thought as she stared at the sheriff. If her stepfather should decide to file a missing person’s report after a few days, the sheriff would be sure to spot it. “I don’t know.”
    â€œWhen were you taken?”
    â€œI’m not sure. Maybe three or four days ago?”
    â€œThat’s a long time. Where were you kept?”
    â€œNo place in particular. At least, all I remember is the van.”
    He lowered his gaze to the mattress a moment, then his lips firmed. “The doctor who examined you says there was no sign of sexual trauma, no indication of intimate activity of any kind.”
    â€œSo much for your bondage theory,” she quipped, lifting a bandaged wrist by way of a reminder, even as hot color flooded her face.
    â€œThat isn’t why I asked.”
    â€œNo? Just curious, were you?”
    â€œIt’s my job,” he said with heavy emphasis. “The fact that you weren’t molested could be important, especially now, with your memory loss.”
    â€œHow so?” she snapped, stung as much by his grimly impersonal tone as at the suggestion for some peculiar reason.
    â€œFew kidnap victims are spared, especially those who look like you. It means you were more valuable if left untouched, or else that the three of you were buddies trying the old scheme of squeezing money from whoever holds the purse strings.”
    â€œI have no need to squeeze money out of anybody, thankyou very much!” The look she gave him should have melted his iron man persona where he stood.
    The sardonic lift of his right brow made the scar at its end more prominent. “You remember that, do you?”
    She’d said too much, and knew it. She had to be more careful. With a moody shrug, she replied, “I don’t know, it was just there.”
    â€œFine.” He studied her for a long moment, then a deep breath swelled his chest, pulling the tan material of his shirt taut across its muscled planes. When he spoke again, it was on a different tack. “So how much ransom were they asking?”
    â€œI’ve no idea.”
    â€œBut they did make a demand of some kind?”
    Phone calls had been made late at night, usually from an open booth located outside a country store or some discount outlet parking lot. Regardless, Tory was almost certain ransom had never been part of the plan. Not that she could say so to the sheriff. With a helpless gesture, she answered, “I don’t know. It’s all so…fuzzy.”
    â€œWho would they have contacted? Who would have had access to enough money to make them think kidnapping you was worthwhile?”
    Censure threaded the words. No doubt he was one of those people who had little use for extreme wealth. He looked like a man who had earned every penny he’d ever