The Night Belongs to Fireman by Jennifer Bernard Read Free Book Online

brought joy into a dire situation.”
    Here they cut to a shot of him cradling Rachel against his chest. It brought the entire experience back to him. He’d been so distracted by how good she felt that he’d forgotten she didn’t tolerate small spaces well. No wonder she’d panicked at the sight of the ambulance. He just wished she’d said something instead of punching him out.
    Ella Joy continued. “Today, the survivors of that terrifying accident are speaking out.”
    The blonde, Cindy, appeared on the screen. Pale but composed, with a small bandage on her head, she sat holding hands with her fiancé. “That fireman is a hero,” she said, shakily. “We have to postpone our wedding a little, but we’re going to dedicate it to him. Without him, it wouldn’t even be happening. And if it’s true that he’s one of the Bachelor Firemen, well”—she managed a smile—“my bet is he won’t be for long. Single girls out there, what are you waiting for?”
    â€œThat’s it.” With a gesture of defeat, Fred tossed the newspaper over his shoulder. Instead of making him look bad, Ella Joy had made him look good. Too good. First a kitten lover, now this. “I’m doomed.”

Chapter 4
    R achel dreamed she was jumping off the tip of a construction crane, but instead of crashing to the ground, she was captured by a soap bubble, like the good witch in The Wizard of Oz . It tickled her skin, which made her giggle and shiver. Then the bubble popped, thanks to the annoying sound of a tinny voice. She woke up instantly. Greta was licking her chin and her phone was playing the ring tone she’d assigned to her father: Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach,” her own private joke.
    She rubbed Greta’s head as she swung her feet over the edge of her four-poster bed, onto the plush pile carpet. When she’d insisted on staying in San Gabriel after college, her father had insisted on buying her the top floor apartment in the most secure building in town. He’d then wired the entire place with motion sensors and hidden cameras. And he’d bought one of the bottom floor apartments for Marsden.
    Yup, that was life as the overprotected only daughter of America’s third wealthiest man.
    Gathering herself together, she plucked her phone off her nightstand. “Yeah, Dad. I’m up.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you call me?” Rob Kessler’s intense, rat-a-tat voice pulsed through her iPhone as if it was impatient with such a flimsy physical tool. It was like being woken by a jackhammer.
    Right away her hackles rose. “Because I’m fine . My friends are fine too. Cindy has two broken ribs and Liza has a concussion and . . .”
    â€œAnd Feather has multiple abrasions, I know. I have my sources at the hospital.”
    â€œSo much for patient confidentiality.”
    Her father let out his trademark harsh bark of a laugh, as if a real laugh would take too much time. Rachel wouldn’t be surprised if her father had hacked into the patient records. When he wanted information, nothing stopped him. As one of the world’s foremost experts on computer security, he knew all the tricks. And he didn’t hesitate to use them when it came to his only child.
    â€œI figured Marsden would fill you in on everything, so why take up your time with a redundant phone call?”
    â€œHe did. But that’s no excuse for not calling me. An agreement’s an agreement.”
    Ever since her kidnapping—which was basically since she could remember—her father had been almost unbearably hyperprotective. She couldn’t blame him. To be helpless in the face of anonymous kidnappers must have been maddening. And then there was the unsettling fact that Rachel’s kidnapper had never been caught or even identified. It was like living with the proverbial other shoe hanging over your head. She tried to