Cupid's Treasure - Mystery of the Golden Arrow Read Free

the park to get there.
    The path through the middle was lit well enough she decided as she started out. I might even ask for a pedicure while I wait for a taxi , she thought as she walked. She hadn’t made it this far without learning how to make lemonade when life dishes out lemons. She trudged forward, skirting a mud puddle. A twig snapped behind her. She glanced over her shoulder at the street light filtering through the tree lined path.
    Snap .
    This time the noise was much closer. Amber turned back around just as a small arrow hit the tree next to her. She jumped. They have found me! She left the path and the light behind, running for all she was worth across the grass, darting amongst the trees.
    Swish !
    She heard the sound of another arrow as it grazed her hair and hit the tree in front of her. She lunged away, only to have another one fly by her shoulder.
    Whoosh !
    She dove for cover and tripped, ending up sprawled across a small mud puddle. Looking behind her briefly, she scrambled to stand and ran into something hard with her head. She spun around and saw a very large man dressed in black step over her with the biggest black combat boots she’d ever seen.
    She felt for her pepper spray and watched as the tread of his shoe went over her head. She pointed the can up and let loose a stream of spray, wondering if she could stop him from squashing her like a bug.
    “What the hell!” he swore as he wiped his eyes. Instead of reacting to the burning spray, he stepped over her and stood facing whatever foe she had been running from. Her glasses had slipped, making the blurred outline of his blonde hair look like a halo with the light filtering through it.
    Great ! she thought. . . . I’ve just pepper sprayed my guardian angel. She wanted to warn him, but was stunned speechless when an arrow bounced off his thigh. Was this guy wearing steel pants? She was dazed, true, and her vision fuzzy, but she would swear that she saw the next arrow bounce off his bare arm.
    Clearly annoyed by the attack, the man in front of her caught the next missile with his bare hand and sent it back like a dart. She heard a grunt from the far end of the park. . . . Okay, maybe he was an avenging angel.
    He looked back at her and knelt down. “Are you alright?”
    She blinked back, unwilling to believe her eyes as his face came into view. She grabbed her glasses that had slipped down her face and rested on her chin. She had an unusual feeling of déjà vu , but surely she’d have remembered if she’d seen him before!
    He waved his hand in front of her face and came closer. “Do you speak English?”
    She adjusted her lenses. The effect of him was worse when she could actually see him clearly. He was too near, too real, and too stunningly beautiful. She swallowed.
    He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small phone. “I need back up at the park next to the library.”
    “ Non! You are serious?” A voice flavored with a French accent came back over the speaker a few seconds later.
    “Augh,” he sighed. “Yeah, Grandpa, we have a shooter.”
    “How is it they find you?” the voice said back. “Do they just jump out of the bushes at you?”
    “As a matter of fact,” her guardian angel replied. “We may also need an ambulance. We have a young female down.”
    “Assistance is on its way,” the voice over the speaker said.
    Her rescuer slipped his phone into the pocket on his thigh and turned back to her. “Are you hurt?”
    She stared dumbly at him while every inch of her responded to his masculine presence. That alone was enough to give her pause. She stared into his blue eyes that were filled with nothing more than concern as he held out his hand to her.
    “Ow!” he said a second later as another arrow hit him, this time piercing his shoulder. He stared at it in shocked surprise before pulling it out.
    “Oh no,” she groaned as sirens sounded. “Not again.”
    He looked back at her, trying to comprehend her words as his