Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Read Online Free PDF

Beaumont’s face, but Jenna couldn’t tell if it was due to his daughter’s emotional pain or her revelation of the pregnancy.
    “All right. I’ll get Jordan released long enough to say goodbye to his mother. But the rest of this...”
    Kamela threw her arms around her father’s neck. “Thank you, Daddy.”
    Beaumont turned to glare at Jenna. “I’m having him released into your custody, Miss James, and I assure you I will hold you personally responsible if anything goes wrong.”
    Jenna swallowed the lump in her throat—just when she had thought things couldn’t get worse.
    “Yes, sir,” she answered. “I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Michael looked down at his mother’s body, her clothes damp with condensation from the bags of ice tossed haphazardly into the cheap packing crate around her. Deep purple bruises had developed on her face and neck. You really screwed up this time, you bastard. He heard the footsteps crossing the hallway and turned. “How many people know about this?”
    “Nobody except the maid, and she knows to keep her mouth shut. We’ll fly the body back to Texas, let it thaw out, and then call our friends at the police department and Burns at the funeral home. We have her cremated, and nobody is the wiser.”
    Michael sighed. “I told Jenna we were having a service here tonight and then flying her back for interment there tomorrow night.”
    Judge Elkins’s face flushed red. “You dumb shit, why the hell did you do that?”
    Michael turned his back on him. “You can blame yourself for that, Dad. Maybe if you’d given me a heads-up yesterday instead of spending the day at Keeneland watching the races before you bothered to give me a call this morning, I could have been prepared. She was asking questions, talking about Jordan. I figured it was better to tell her something.”
    Michael turned back to his father, a placating smile pasted on his face. He didn’t have to worry about the judge’s rage this time. Without him, the old man would have to wallow in his own shit for a change. “I’ll take care of it.”
    Elkins raised his fist and shook it at him. “You better take care of it. You need to put a ring on that bitch’s finger as fast as you can.”
    Michael listened to his father’s footsteps as they stomped away. He glanced at his mother’s left hand. He reached in and twisted the finger until it popped and the engagement and wedding rings came off. He placed the lid back on the crate. His father was right. He needed to marry Jenna quickly, before she started thinking too much and asking more questions he couldn’t answer. Putting the rings in his pocket, he whistled and headed for the living room and a good stiff drink. Now that he had the rings, he could ask her to marry him as soon as he got back to Texas.
    ~~~
    Jenna rubbed the handcuff strapped around her wrist, and glanced sideways at Jordan. “Not very comfortable, are they?”
    “Not really,” Jordan said.
    She turned her attention back to the passing clouds. Even with Beaumont’s help, it was after midnight before they’d finally cleared all the red tape and she’d been allowed to walk out handcuffed to Jordan. In less than three hours, they would be in Kentucky. She’d always wanted to go there, see the horse farms, and visit the castle—she had just never dreamed she’d be handcuffed to her lover’s brother.
    Jordan tugged on the handcuffs. “You look tired. Why don’t you try to get some sleep? I promise I won’t go anywhere.”
    “We need to talk before we get there.” Jenna turned away from the window and once again studied Jordan Elkins’s handsome features.
    Jordan tugged on the handcuffs again, pulling her arm across the seat. “As I said, I’m not going anywhere.”
    Jenna placed her jacket over their joined arms again and glanced around to see if anyone was looking. At least she’d had the good sense to take the jacket off before the guard handcuffed them, and the