The Rivals by Joan Johnston Read Free Book Online

nipples.
    She felt his arms grasp hers, heard him gasp, “What the hell is that?”
    Sarah sat up abruptly. “Oh, God.”
    Only two parties had the number to her pager. Her children. And the Teton County Sheriff’s Office.
    Which was when she realized she’d never called Nate and Brooke to tell them she’d be later than she expected. They were probably worried. Ever since Tom had disappeared, they’d kept close track of her whereabouts whenever she was out of the house. It made her sick to her stomach to imagine that they thought she might have run away—or become the victim of some dire act—too.
    She slid off the bed and went searching for her jeans in the dark, looking for the pager she kept clipped to her belt. She found it and hit the button that lit the caller’s number. She was relieved to see it was the sheriff’s office calling and not her children.
    â€œI left my cell in the truck. May I use your phone?” she said.
    â€œCan’t that wait?” Drew said, leaning across the bed and pushing the tail of her French braid aside to kiss her nape.
    Sarah lowered her head to give him better access and let him kiss her for another moment before she groaned and pulled away. “I’d better call.”
    â€œSure.” Drew turned on the brass lamp beside the bed, revealing the portable phone on the nightstand and the digital clock, which read 8:52.
    Sarah pulled the sheet free and wrapped it around herself. When she turned back to Drew, she felt ashamed, because the bump on his head showed purple in the lamplight. She hadn’t given a thought to his injury. “Your poor head,” she said. “Does it hurt?”
    â€œIt was fine until your pager went off,” Drew said with a wry smile.
    Sarah smiled back as she reached for the phone beside the bed. She took it across the room, keeping a good grip on the sheet with her arms, as she dialed the sheriff’s office.
    â€œIt’s Sarah,” she said to the dispatcher. “What’s up? Oh, no. Not another one. Really? Maybe we’ll have a chance to find her this time. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
    Sarah clicked off the phone and said, “I have to go.”
    â€œWhat’s the rush?”
    â€œA teenage girl has gone missing, the third over the past fifteen months. This is the first one we’ve known about in the first twenty-four hours. In fact, she’s only been gone six or seven hours.”
    â€œIsn’t it a little early to presume something bad has happened to her?” Drew asked as he retrieved his shorts from the floor and began dressing.
    Sarah realized she was either going to have to dress under the sheet—a ridiculous proposition, considering the fact that Drew had already seen her naked—or drop the sheet and put her clothes on. She opted for the latter.
    Sarah couldn’t help feeling pleased at Drew’s gasp as the sheet fell to her feet. She stepped over it, found her panties and bra and put them on, then put on socks, jeans and boots.
    As she dressed, she explained, “If it weren’t for the two other local girls who’ve gone missing, I don’t think we’d be so quick to jump on this.”
    â€œWhy do you have to go?” Drew asked, his arm slipping around her waist from behind, his coaxing mouth on her throat almost making her swoon. “Can’t someone else do it?”
    â€œI was the detective originally assigned to investigate the disappearance of the other two missing girls.”
    â€œThat sounds like a lot of responsibility.”
    Sarah’s lips twisted sardonically. “I’m only in charge because when the first girl disappeared everyone figured it was a simple missing persons case—some girl who’d run away from home. It happens.”
    â€œWhat makes you think the missing girls didn’t just run away?”
    Sarah buckled her belt before she met Drew’s