The Lawman Meets His Bride by Meagan McKinney Read Free Book Online Page A

debating, I guess.”
    “Sure took you long enough. Is he cute?”
    The Jeep hit a slight dip, and Loudon’s cheek brushed hers. She felt the rough masculine feel of his beard shadow. She forced herself to keep her tone light.
    “Boys are cute, little sis. Men are handsome.”
    “Well, is he handsome?”
    “Can’t say,” Constance replied reluctantly but truthfully.
    “Woo-woo! Are you still there with him?”

    Constance took a sideways glance at Loudon. He shook his head and mouthed the word, no.
    “No,” Connie whispered.
    “Can’t hear you! We must have a bad connection.” Fuzz backed up Beth Ann’s assessment. “Well, at least the guy wasn’t an ax murderer. I gotta go now. I’m baby-sitting for the Campbells. Later, skater.”
    Constance felt her heart sink as she put the phone away. If anything did happen to her, it was Friday and no one would be likely to seriously worry about her absence until Monday when her business associate, Ginny Lavoy, would miss her.
    Another hazard, she thought bitterly, of having no love life. There was no one to miss you right away.
    “‘Can’t say,’” Loudon repeated, a trace of whimsy mixed with his exhausted tone. “That’s a left-handed compliment if I ever heard one.”
    “I didn’t mean to give you even a left-handed one,” she said, dead hope in her voice.
    Loudon smirked and checked his watch. “Bad news travels fast,” he told her, turning on the radio to catch the top-of-the-hour news broadcast out of Helena.
    The national news came first, the usual litany of political squabbling and natural-disaster news caused by abnormally warm ocean currents. Then the announcer turned to state news.
    “The sound of gunfire erupted today at the Federal Court Building in Kalispell. Quinn Loudon, Assistant U.S. Attorney, literally blasted his way to freedom when U.S. Marshals attempted to place him under arrest. Loudon had appeared for pretrial proceedings stemming from charges of bribery and racketeering.

    “According to witnesses, during the exchange of fire Loudon was wounded in one leg. He successfully eluded officials and escaped from Kalispell. A massive manhunt is presently underway, according to federal prosecutor Dolph Merriday.
    “‘Quinn Loudon has lived a life of deceit,’” Merriday told reporters during a press conference only hours ago, ‘so today’s actions are no real surprise.’ According to Merriday, even Loudon’s superiors at the Justice Department did not realize Loudon’s parents were both career criminals who served long prison sentences.
    “‘We caught him in the act, so he blasted up a courthouse to get free,’ Merriday added. ‘But his kind always foul their nests sooner or later.’”
    The story was over in thirty seconds and the announcer moved on to other news. Constance felt a sudden numbness at the mention of Loudon’s criminal parents. While nothing in the news story actually contradicted anything he had told her, it lent an official—and damning—authority to the notion that he was a very dangerous felon.
    Loudon turned the radio off, cursing softly.
    “Well that flat does it,” he declared bitterly. “The bastards broke the knife off in me this time.”
    Flat does what, she wondered, frightened by the desperation in his tone.
    Loudon lapsed into a brooding silence.
    Lance Pollard was right, he told himself. The case against him was indeed all smoke and mirrors.
    Unfortunately, a cynical proverb he’d learned in law school was also true: No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Smoke and mirrors were enough to convict aman. Well, no doubt Schrader and Whitaker were dancing on his grave already. But damn them, anyway. He wasn’t in it just yet.
    Constance had said nothing. Now, as he fell quiet, the awkward silence became unbearable.
    “Now, at least, I understand your steamroller methods,” she told him. “This is obviously a very big deal if it led the state