Safe In His Arms (Manhunt) Read Online Free PDF Page B

a wife of yours is with him.”
    Rage heated Geoff’s blood. “Get rid of them, Dad. And remember, stay cool. You haven’t seen or heard from me.”
    “Geoff, please, you may want to rethink this. I don’t want to see you end up dead.”
    “If anyone’s going to die,” he growled, “it’s going to be Mia.”
    But he wouldn’t kill her right away. He would make her suffer first.

C HAPTER F OUR

     
     
    Mia fidgeted in the seat as Sgt. Townsend parked in front of the Jones’s estate. 
    “You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to, Mia.”
    She clenched the edge of the seat, fighting her emotions. Trepidation over seeing the couple who’d openly despised her at the trial warred with pride. She had worked hard to overcome the past and vowed that no one would ever make her feel inferior again. And that she’d never be in the position of letting another person lord over her – or make her run.
    That not only included Geoff, but his parents. When she’d first pressed charges, they’d done everything possible to persuade her to drop the case. Everything from offering her money to intimidation tactics.
    If she’d had any family, they would have probably threatened them to twist her arm.
    But she had stuck to her guns, and she intended to show them that she wasn’t afraid of them.
    “No, I need to do this.” She lifted her chin. “They made me out to be a conniving gold digger during the trial. They can’t do anything else to hurt me.”
    He gave her an encouraging smile. “You’re strong, Mia. Brave. I’m glad you stood up to them.”
    “I didn’t have much of a choice,” she said. If she’d gone back to Geoff, she’d eventually have ended up dead anyway.
    “How do you plan to approach them, Sergeant?” she asked.
    “With the truth,” he said bluntly.  “And Mia, please call me Alex. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. Sergeant sounds too formal.”
    Her stomach fluttered. Maybe she needed that formality to keep her distance. Using his first name sounded too …intimate.
    Like he might be a friend…or a lover.
    She couldn’t afford to think of him that way. She needed a reminder that he was a Texas Ranger, that the only reason he was here was because of his job.
    “Mia, are you all right?”
    She nodded. “Let’s just get this over with.”
    He gave a small lopsided smile, and her heart stuttered. Please don’t look at me like that, she pleaded silently. Not like I’m a delicate flower you want to protect.
    Or hold.
    Because if he tried to touch her, she might just collapse into his arms.
    Thankfully oblivious to her thoughts, he opened the car door, and they walked up the brick path to the front door of the English Tudor mansion. A maid answered the doorbell, scowling when Alex introduced himself.
    The older Hispanic woman recognized Mia immediately, and averted her eyes as if she didn’t know what to say to her. Mia had always wondered if the servants in the house knew about Geoff’s violent tendencies. If so, they’d probably been paid well for their silence.
    Esmeralda offered them coffee or tea, but they both declined. Ten minutes later, her bravado slipped as Mrs. Jones walked in, her features rigid with hatred. Mr. Jones followed, his scathing look cutting her to the bone.
    “What are you doing here?” Mrs. Jones asked, her bracelets clanging as she pointed at Mia.
    “You know why I came,” Mia said.
    Alex cleared his throat. “Please sit down, Mr. and Mrs. Jones. We need to talk about your son.”
    “He should never have been locked in that horrid place,” Mrs. Jones said, her voice vibrating with contempt.
    Disapproval hardened Mr. Jones’s already icy look. “My wife is right.”
    “Your son was found guilty by a jury of his peers,” Alex said. “But we aren’t here to debate his innocence or guilt. He and the two other prisoners who escaped physically attacked and murdered two guards, putting three others in the hospital. Geoff is a wanted