Protect and Correct Read Free Page B

parking garage, where a sage green Prius waited for them. He opened the door for Brooke to enter, and without a word, reached across her body to grab her seatbelt and buckled her in place.
    “I am very capable of buckling my own seatbelt, thank you.”
    “You are most welcome, Mrs. Doyle,” he answered, ignoring the flippant statement.
    “I have the feeling that this is not going to be a pleasant trip. You are already annoying the hell out of me. Must we drive?”
    “We must. It will give us time to develop our story for when we arrive at our destination,” Collin said, starting the car.
    “And where is that?”
    “Maine. I have a sweet little house there for you to decorate.”
    “Hey! Just because I am a woman does not mean that I can do girly things. I am offended.” Brooke crossed her arms with a pout.
    “Oh, you will be offended when you see the place. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. You will witness my personal idea of prot ect ion, and my house will get a facelift.”
    “Did you seriously make a statement like that after everything I have been through?”
    Collin simply laughed and started along the road to their new, temporary life. Brooke stared through the rain-splattered window as they began their dreary drive north, while Collin sang—very loudly and even more poorly—to the country music station.
    “Must you do that?” she asked with annoyance, feeling a headache coming on after being on the road for less than an hour.
    “You don’t like my singing, kiddo?”
    “I would rather hear a cat getting its tail caught under a rocking chair. I honestly believed that the term tone-deaf was made up. Until now.”
    “Ow! Okay then, let’s talk about our story.”
    “Can’t you just drive without making noise? Collin, will you please mellow out? One word… decaf.”
    “That is a good idea. We should stop for coffee.” He then started to sing the ditty to the Folgers coffee commercial,
    Brooke groaned. “I know as a fact that you are doing this to annoy me. The question is why? Are you always this energetic?”
    “Yup. I am also a self-proclaimed comedian and crack myself up as the Pun-Fu Master. Add to that the fact that I have had very little sleep the last few weeks and am presently fighting an ancient Chinese disease.”
    “A disease? Oh, my! I’m sorry, what is it?” Brooke asked with genuine concern.
    Collin’s face twitched. “Dragon Ass.”
    Brooke moaned, rolling her eyes. “That was terrible. Keep your day job, okay?”
    “You are my day job, peanut. How are you holding up with all this?”
    Brooke took a deep breath, staring out at the wet gray road and the dense tree line of dull-green and brown. “Denise has asked me that question every day since I woke up. My answer is still the same. I am indifferent. I only want to find this guy and…”
    “I told you that this particular discussion is off the table. Explain what you mean by indifferent?”
    “I am living the dream of so many women around the world. I wake up to find myself in a new body with a decent face, offered a life far from the miserable one I had, and am stuck with a semi-attractive, albeit controlling guy who wants to whisk me away as his pretend wife and force me to spend his money decorating a house I have never seen,” she blurted out in a single breath. “What’s not to be excited about?”
    “You don’t sound very excited.”
    “I am glad to know that sarcasm is not lost on you, Detective Golde.”
    “Mr. Doyle, your loving new husband, remember? Do you miss anything from your old life, Brooke?”
    “Only the freedom of not being watched 24/7. Other than that, no. I don’t even miss my old name. Who came up with this one, by the way?”
    “Me, of course. I had to find one that sounded good on my lips for when I need to scold you.”
    “Haha, very funny. I do like it though. It is very… feminine. Thanks.”
    “My pleasure. You do know that there are not that many people in