Nightfall Read Free Page B

they were
shooting at you,
and not just nearby?”
    “ I’m sure.”
    His jaw tightened. He looked
away and muttered something.
    “ What?”
    “ Nothing.” He took out a
butterfly bandage and positioned it on her forehead. Something had
changed—she could see it in his face. He’d gone from relaxed to
super-tense in about three seconds.
    He stood up. “That should do
it. Phone’s by the fridge there.”
    Holly stood, too. “Thanks.
I—”
    “ Take all the time you need.
I’ll be back in a minute.”
    She felt a jolt of panic.
“Where are you going?”
    “ To check something.” He
pulled the keys from his pocket and moved for the door.
    “ But… don’t you want your
jacket back?”
    “ I’m good.” He grabbed a
camouflage hunting jacket off the chair and then used a key to
unlock a cabinet by the door. Holly saw an array of guns. He took a
pistol off a shelf and turned around. “You know how to use a
handgun?”
    “ Yes, but it’s been a
while.”
    He held it out to her, grip
out and barrel pointed toward the floor. She took the gun and
tested the weight in her hand.
    “ It’s loaded?”
    “ Fifteen rounds.” He closed
the cabinet and reached for the door. “Lock up after me,” he
ordered. “And don’t aim that at anything you don’t intend to
shoot.”

Chapter Three
    Twenty minutes later, Colin
hiked up the steps and stomped on the porch. He needed to get the
snow off his boots and he also needed to give Holly a heads up so
he wouldn’t get his ass shot off with his own gun. He rapped on the
door and it instantly swung open.
    “ What’d you see?” She
stepped back to let him in.
    He looked her over as he
peeled off his jacket. The terrified, blue-lipped stranger he’d
rescued less than an hour ago was long gone, replaced by this
rosy-cheeked woman who looked totally at home in his cabin. Her
dark hair was still out of control, but she’d managed to pick most
of the leaves out. Without the bulky layers, he saw that she had a
nice, curvy body under that T-shirt and jeans.
    “ Well?”
    “ No sign of a shooter,” he
said. “Any brass is either gone or covered in snow.”
    “ Brass?”
    “ Shell casings.” He tossed
his jacket on the sofa. “I saw the mark in the bumper, though. Good
thing he missed.”
    “ Probably because it was
snowing,” she said, looking anxious. “What about my
van?”
    “ You’re going to need a
tow.” Something smelled really good, and he glanced around. Damn,
she’d made coffee. “I called a buddy of mine over at Al’s
Motorworks. He’s tied up right now, but said he’d be out first
thing in the morning.” Colin took a mug down from the cabinet and
poured some coffee. When he turned to look at her, she was watching
him and nibbling her lip.
    Clearly, she didn’t like the
idea of sticking around.
    “ Do you have a trailer hitch
on your pickup?” she asked. “Maybe we could pull it out tonight. I
could help.”
    “ That’s not going to cut it.
You’ve got some kind of engine trouble. The keys were inside, so I
gave it a try. My guess is you busted a fuel line, plus your tire’s
blown and your spare’s not worth crap.” He sipped the coffee. It
was strong and hot, just like he liked it. “You get hold of the
sheriff?”
    She huffed out a breath.
“They patched me through to a deputy. Everyone’s busy, like you
said. I’m supposed to stop by there tomorrow and file a report
about the gunshots.” Her jaw tightened. “He seemed to think I was
imagining things.”
    “ People are pretty private
around here. Maybe he thinks you were trespassing and someone tried
to scare you off.”
    “ That’s not what
happened.”
    Colin nodded.
    “ You don’t believe me
either.” She folded her arms over her breasts. “I did not imagine
this.”
    “ I know.”
    Even if he hadn’t seen the
bullet mark himself, he would have believed her. The fact that she
was driving a white van on the same night as an arms deal—involving
a white van—had