Confer, Lorelei - Deadly Revenge (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read Free

with the person who ran her off the road?

    * * * *

    On the drive to Hickoryville, Dave, suspicious by nature, interrupted Tory’s thoughts. “Do you have any enemies or know of anyone who would want to hurt you? Keep you out of town?”
    “I haven’t been home in two years, and I can’t think of a soul who’d want to hurt me. No one except my family knows I’m coming.” She once again rubbed the back of her neck.
    “I know how it is in a small town. Everybody knows everyone and everything about everybody.”
    “You’re right about that.” She sighed. Yeah, they sure do. What will he think of me when he finds out I’m known as the runaway bride?
    “I know how to do a great neck rub, if you’d like. It really relieves the tension.”
    “I’m fine. Just a little shook up.”
    “Where are you going in Hickoryville?”
    “To my mother’s house on the edge of town. My mom turned the house into the Mountain View Bed and Breakfast, and my room and a bathroom are the last rooms to be converted. So I got my own place for six months, but unfortunately it isn’t quite ready yet.”
    “I’ll take you home to your mother’s and make sure you’re okay. Then you can give me the final directions to my parents’ home.”
    “I’ll write them down so you’ll be able to follow them better,” Tory answered, her head thumping with every beat of her heart. She was eager to get home and lie down. Away from any questions from anyone.
    Tory dug in her purse for a piece of paper, and when she found one she quickly wrote down the directions from her mother’s house to Dave’s parents’ house.
    “Thank you again, Dave, for rescuing me. I sincerely appreciate it. I don’t know what I would have done without your help. I owe you one.”
    “Always glad to help a beautiful woman in distress,” Dave replied as Tory, not sure how to reply, continued to look out the window the rest of the drive home. The roadside vistas definitely looked like spring or early summer, green and blooming.
    Tory and Dave made the final turn onto the street of her childhood home just as the sun set, casting its colorful hues on the mountains. The sight always took her breath away.
    Tory thought about her reasons for coming here, about facing Matt one last time.
    There was no way she could be prepared to deal with Matt. But she knew what she had to do and the task would not be easy.

Chapter 3

    When Tory and Dave pulled into her mother’s driveway, Tory saw her mother, Anne Richards, standing at the front door nervously wringing her hands. The moment Tory stepped out of the vehicle, Tory’s mother ran toward her daughter’s open arms.
    “I’m fine, Mom. Really. It’s just a little cut. Really, I’m fine. This is Dave Miller. He stopped to help me, wasn’t that nice of him?”
    “Thank you.” She turned to Tory. “How is your car?”
    “It had to be towed. Dave, this is my mother, Anne Richards,” Tory said in an attempt to make introductions.
    “Ma’am,” Dave said as he put the last of the luggage on the front porch. “Tory, call me sometime tomorrow or I’ll call you and we’ll work out picking up the rental car.” He started to walk back to his vehicle.
    “Dave, thank you so much for helping me out and giving me a ride home. I don’t know how to repay you for your generosity.” She joined Dave as they walked toward his truck.
    Dave turned to Anne and said, “Bye, Mrs. Richards, nice meeting you.” He opened the truck door and got in, put the window down, and waved good-bye to Tory with a “talk to you tomorrow.”
    Tory joined arms with her mother as they walked toward the house, her luggage waiting on the porch.
    “Let’s soak that blouse.”
    Tory looked at her mother standing tall and willowy, with soft green eyes and long dark hair beginning to show a little gray at the sides. She gave her a hug. Then she looked around at the tall pines, oaks, and maple trees spread across the front yard and especially the