Sun Kissed Read Free Page B

two-twenty stark naked, and had taken first place in state wrestling bouts throughout high school and college. He should have rescued her, not the other way around.
    His head was starting to clear, and he felt a little steadier on his feet. The throbbing had given way to a strange numbness, similar to when a dentist injected too much Novocain. Shock, he guessed—Mother Nature’s remedy for pain. He saw it in his patients all the time.
    He took stock of the woman’s injuries. An angry red mark flagged her right cheekbone, and the delicate hollowunder one eye was starting to swell. He shot the drunk a searing glare. The no-account bastard still huddled on his knees, his upper body convulsing each time he gagged. Tucker hoped he choked on his gonads.
    He drew his gaze back to the woman. “I’m fine,” he managed to say. “I’m more worried about you.”
    She gingerly prodded her cheekbone. “It’s nothing an ice pack won’t fix. Thank you for jumping in to help me. I was dialing nine-one-one when he knocked the phone from my hand.” With a lift of one shoulder, she flashed a regretful smile and then began scanning the sawdust-strewn ground nearby. “Heaven knows where it landed.”
    Tucker felt a little better now, but he wasn’t quite ready to sift through sawdust to help her look. He was checking out his nose when the stranger in possession of his cell phone approached.
    Hand extended to return the device, the man said, “I never got through to fairground security, so I called the sheriff’s department. Someone should be here shortly.”
    “Good.” Tucker hooked a thumb toward the drunk as he took the phone. “He’ll recover in a minute. I’d rather let a deputy deal with him.”
    “I hear you,” the man replied. “Sorry I didn’t help you out. I’ve got a bad back.”
    “It’s good you stayed out of it then.” Tucker scanned the crowd that had gathered to watch the excitement and saw several other men. In his opinion, there wasn’t one of them worth the powder it would take to blow him to hell. “Thanks for calling the authorities for me.”
    “No problem. Least I could do.”
    Just then Tucker heard a low growl. He spun around tosee the drunk lumbering to his feet. Before Tucker could move, the man charged at the woman, who’d turned her back on him in search of her phone. It took Tucker an instant to react, and in that instant the man tackled her from behind. She went down hard in a face-first sprawl, her lower legs manacled by strong, thick arms. When she tried to rise to her knees, she was knocked flat again by an elbow jab to her spine.
    Tucker launched himself at the drunk again. Upon impact, they both went rolling, much as they had before, only this time momentum broke them apart before they came to a stop. The drunk staggered to his feet just as Tucker did, and they met halfway in a teeth-jarring body slam. He couldn’t believe this guy had attacked a woman, not once but twice.
    The whip handle was attached to the older man’s wrist by several wraps of a leather thong, making it impossible for Tucker to dispense with the weapon. His only recourse was to duck his head against his opponent’s beefy shoulder to protect his face and deliver uppercut jabs to the man’s belly. With each punch, the drunk fell back a step, carrying Tucker along with him until they reached the horse trailer.
    Having a barrier behind his adversary suited Tucker’s purposes just fine. The stomach blows would have more impact against a solid surface. At some point the whip handle connected with Tucker’s right ear. Pain momentarily paralyzed him, but he quickly regained his senses.
    Finally the rain of blows to Tucker’s shoulder stopped, and he felt the other man’s body sliding toward the ground. Releasing his hold, Tucker stepped back. Thedrunk plopped rump-first on the sawdust, the whip handle lying uselessly beside him.
    “You’ll go to jail for this piece of work,” he slurred.
    “If I do, it’ll