His Captive Lover (The Thorpe Brothers Series) Read Free Page A

there’s no body, it sounds like you can’t even prove that there’s a murder.  The man might have just left and gone to an island somewhere,” the judge grumbled, obviously wishing he could do the same thing. 
    Tall-Gorgeous-Dude stepped in at that moment.  “Since there’s no body and the prosecution can’t prove that there’s even been a murder, I request that the charges against my client be dropped, Your Honor.”  Mia’s eyes swung from the tall man beside her to the judge, praying with hope that the man in the black robes would agree with this stranger.
    The prosecutor spoke up quickly.  “The current fiancée to the victim swears that the victim wouldn’t disappear.  He’s a principal at the local high school with enormous responsibilities.  And there was a great deal of blood in the victim’s house.  Too much blood for there not to be foul play.  We currently have investigators at Ms. Paulson’s house digging up her back yard, searching for the body.  We are confident that we will find it by mid-morning.”
    The judge considered the opposing arguments and came to a speedy conclusion.  “Since there’s no body, I won’t hold the defendant.  But the case can continue to trial and I’ll let the presiding judge hear whether there’s enough evidence to move forward.  Defendant is released on her own recognizance, but must surrender her passport to the court until trial.”  The gavel banged down and another voice was calling out the next case. 
    Mia felt her arm grasped in a firm, demanding grip and she was pulled out of the courtroom.  She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but she felt the tall man’s body next to hers, felt the trembling start up but for a completely different reason this time. 
    And then she saw Autumn and the tears burst out of her.  “You’re here!” Mia exclaimed and rushed forward, grabbing her friend around her shoulders and hugging her with all her strength.  “I can’t believe this is happening!” she sobbed out. Mia was shorter than Autumn, but only because of her best friend’s love of spike heels.
    Autumn held Mia in her arms and mouthed the word, “Thank you,” to Ash who was still standing behind the slender woman.
    Ash looked down at the two women hugging each other.  The one he’d just been defending was sobbing and he felt only somewhat guilty to notice that the woman looked exceptionally fine in her tight jeans that hugged her bottom so perfectly.  He stood there waiting, wanting to see if the woman looked as good from the front as she did from the back.  She had softly curling brown hair that ended at her shoulders and his fingers actually ached to touch one of those curls.  She was too slender, he thought.  While she hugged Autumn, her shirt pulled against her back and he could see her ribs through the thin material.  She needed to gain a good ten pounds and he wondered if she’d lost weight because of her recent breakup.  He knew women generally either stopped eating when emotionally distraught, or they ate everything in sight.  At least, that was the stereotype.  He actually had no idea if it were true or not, steering clear of women during emotional upheavals.  He preferred the happy, fun and sexy type to the drama queen.
    Mia pulled back from her friend, her worried eyes looking up at her.  “Thank you!” she said with heartfelt sincerity.
    Autumn shook her head as she continued to hold Mia close, still not over the horror of watching her friend come into the courtroom from the menacing holding cells.  “Why didn’t you call me this morning?  I only found out about these ridiculous charges about twenty minutes ago and we had to rush over here to help.  I practically had to kidnap Ash to get him over here in time.”
    Ignoring the reference to the name “Ash”, suspecting he was the tall, intimidating man standing behind her, Mia sighed and looked down.  “I guess I was pretty ashamed.  I don’t know