In the Line of Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

Afghanistan, the trials of war or more likely a combination of the two but he looked older, more seasoned. All traces of the boy she’d grown up with were gone and he’d become the man she’d denied in her heart for so long. And there was a whole lot more than just her heart engaged. Desire and longing tightened her body and quickened her breath. The need to touch him was nearly overwhelming. Desperate, she mentally scrambled for something to say before she blurted something absolutely off the chart like, I love you or I want you. The only thing her whirling brain and tilting hormones could come up with was, “So, how have you been?”
    He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind and she wasn’t altogether too sure she hadn’t. Actually, she could only imagine the look on his face if she’d blurted out how she felt about him. “Fine. I’m still in one piece. Now where am I taking you? Your house? Your apartment?”
    Inside her bodice, her phone rang. Checking caller ID, she shook her head. “It’s my mother. I’m not answering. I’m not ready to talk to her.” Part of herwished she’d managed to escape on her own because the realization she’d just come to was too fresh and she needed some time alone to work through her emotions. But another part of her was crazy happy just to be with Colton in the here and now, even if she had just run out on her own wedding.
    Her emotions were all whacked-out. She felt horrible because she knew Blanton would never understand that she’d walked out because to do otherwise wasn’t fair. She might not feel about him the way she felt about the man sitting next to her, but she certainly didn’t want to hurt Blanton—and leaving him at the altar wasn’t nearly as hurtful in her book as marrying him when she loved someone else.
    But she just couldn’t deal with her mother right now. She pushed the button, sending the call to voice mail. However, she did send a quick text message telling her mother she was fine and would call in a bit, otherwise Daisy would be frantic that Andi had simply disappeared.
    The impact of what she’d just done hit her. How many people were going to be furious with her? And this would feed the gossip coffers for more than a little bit. A faint nausea roiled through her but in her heart she knew she’d done the right thing. And everything happened for a reason. If Marlena hadn’t wanted her at that window…if Colton hadn’t been arriving right at that time…if she hadn’t seen him and realized she was in love with him, she would’ve made one of thebiggest mistakes of her life. Instead, she was sitting next to Colton now. She glanced over at his profile simply because she could. He would be leaving in less than a week.
    He returned her look. “Andi, where am I taking you?” Colton said, breaking the silence.
    She didn’t know. She hadn’t thought about it. Her single objective had been to get away from the wedding, to find some breathing room. “I gave up my apartment and moved everything to Mom’s house. I’ve been staying with her until the wedding, but we ran my car over to Blanton’s last night after the rehearsal dinner.” She rubbed at her forehead, a headache beginning to form like storm clouds gathering on the horizon. “Do you think we could just drive for a while until I can figure out what to do?” The sun slanting through the windshield warmed her. For the first time in what felt like forever she didn’t have the tremendous weight of the impending wedding bearing down on her. True enough, now she had to deal with being a runaway bride, but it was certainly the better of the two choices.
    She couldn’t shuck the dress as she had nothing to change into, but she could lose the veil. She loosened the cap holding the lace and tulle in place and tossed it into the backseat. That felt