Quite the Catch Read Online Free PDF Page B

light, and his gut tightened as he
watched. The moment of truth approached—one way or another, whoever he was,
whatever his name, and whatever he’d done, would soon be revealed.
    It’d
better be good. He hoped he turned out to be some kind of law officer, not a
criminal. If he had a wife and a family, he’d surely have known. The same goes
for a bad credit history.
    Within
five minutes, she glanced up with a huge grin. “I found you!”
    He
couldn’t help but smile back. “Good, bad, or ugly?”
    “I’d
call it good. You’re a United States Federal Marshal, Eastern District
Oklahoma,” she said. “District headquarters are in Muskogee, and your service
record is impressive.”
    The
words crashed into his consciousness with the force of a Mack truck. Joshua
shifted position and the quilt that was wrapped around him dropped to the
floor. Recollection flooded his mind and senses, overwhelming him. Images
flashed through his brain and he suddenly remembered everything.
    So
much information hit hard emotionally and took a physical toll. Dizziness swamped
him and he thought he might pass out. Joshua bent forward and placed his head
between his legs to prevent losing consciousness.
    “Hey,
are you okay?” Tina’s voice filtered through to him. “Joshua?”
    It
took effort to nod but she must not have noticed, because she repeated the
question with urgency. Joshua gathered his wits and replied, “I’ll be all right
in a minute—but I remember.”
    He
did. And they were both in grave danger.

Chapter Five
     
    Tina
typed ‘Joshua Jericho Jenkins’ into the search bar and nailed him within
minutes. As she’d suspected, he worked in law enforcement but at a level beyond
what she had first thought. She figured him for a deputy, maybe Oklahoma Highway
Patrol or a local cop, but her guest was a United States Marshal. His image
popped up at the top of the Google search results, as did a variety of
mentions. She scrolled through them and confirmed it. When she shared the news,
she figured he’d whoop with delight, but he acted strangely.
    Joshua
smiled back but then his half-grin faded and he paled. Even his lips lost most
of their color. His eyes widened and he sat up straighter. The quilt hit the
floor and he stared at her with the most dumbfounded expression she’d ever
seen. He put his head down and she worried he might faint. When he didn’t
respond to her repeated questions, Tina put the laptop aside and stood up.
    “I’ll
be all right in a minute,” he told her. His voice sounded awful, rough, and
low. “I remember.”
    She
sat down beside him and put one hand on his back. “That’s good, right?”
    He
blew air out of his mouth. “I guess. It just hit me hard. I know who I am now—U.S.
Marshal Joshua Jenkins. I’ve been with the Justice Department for the last
eight years. I live outside Sallisaw and I remember why the hell I was
running.”
    His
manner evoked her anxiety. “Tell me.”
    Those
dark eyes narrowed. “I really shouldn’t, but I will because you’re involved
now.”
    “Sounds pretty bad.”
    “I
think it probably is,” Joshua told her. “I’ll tell you everything you need to
know, but then we’ll need to look up what’s happened in the last twenty-four
hours or so. How long have I been here?”
    “About
that,” Tina said. Fear clenched her lungs and made it hard to breathe. “I hope
you know you’re scaring the crap out of me.”
    His
harsh expression softened a fraction. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to, Tina. I owe
you my life. If you hadn’t fished me out of the river, I’d be dead because they
would’ve tracked me down and finished the job.”
    Without
thinking, she rubbed his back and scooted closer. “Joshua, please, just spit it
out.”
    “Federal
Marshals do a lot of things,” he said. He reached over and grasped her hand in
his, then held it tight. “We help other departments with homicide investigations,
drug rings, and tracking fugitives. A couple of