Read Online Fiancee for Hire by Tawna Fenske - Free Book Online Page A

he got out of the car and locked the door behind him.
    Kelli settled back into her seat and looked around. Mac had left the keys in the ignition to keep the air-conditioning running, so it wasn’t really hot. Still, the surrounding area looked parched. Parched and hot and a little sketchy. A massive cactus hunched on the side of the road with one branch bent, looking like a drunk guy with a broken arm. In front of the building next to the gun shop, a trash bin overflowed with scraps of food and plastic bottles of laundry detergent and soda. A mangy dog scurried past and sniffed the bin, looking for scraps.
    Kelli peered at the dog, looking for injuries or anything that might require her aid. She was so focused on studying the dog she didn’t see the man approach the car.
    And it wasn’t until he put a gun to the windshield that she realized she might be in trouble.

Chapter Five
    Kelli stared at the gun, then at the hand holding it, and at the arm attached to the hand, and at the face—
    “Open the fucking door, bitch!” the face snarled.
    She yelped and scooted back in her seat, for all the good that would do. All her years of self-defense and karate and wrestling large dogs vanished at the sight of a pistol pointed at her head. She screamed, hoping Hank or Mac might hear her.
    She closed her eyes, waiting for the gunshot, wishing like hell she’d gone into the store with Mac. He’d been smart enough to lock the door, but would that really stop a sneering stranger with a gun?
    Smash!
    Apparently not.
    Glass pelted her arms and head, and Kelli opened her eyes to see the man drawing his hand back. He’d used the butt of the gun to shatter the driver’s side window, and before she could draw a breath, he yanked open the door and threw himself inside.
    Kelli gasped and grabbed for her door handle, but the man threw the locks and lurched out of the parking lot before she could muster a scream. Tires squealed and bits of gravel and glass sputtered behind them. In the rearview mirror she saw Hank running after them, yelling something into the mike on his collar.
    “Stop!” she shrieked.
    The man laughed and floored the gas. “Nice car,” he said in Spanish, though it took Kelli’s addled brain a few minutes to process the words. “Worth a lot of money. Maybe more than you.”
    She screamed and tried to grab the wheel, not sure what she intended to do. It didn’t matter. The carjacker raised the pistol, effectively ending any plans she might’ve had. She flew backward into her seat as the carjacker gunned the engine.
    “Sit there and shut up!” he barked.
    He glanced at her, then did a double take before flicking his gaze back to the road. “Nice wedding dress. Your husband, he must have a lot of money?”
    “Please, just let me go,” Kelli pleaded, frantically scanning the road up ahead. They were headed east, she thought, but God only knew where they were going. Everything was happening fast. Maybe if she could reach her purse and her phone—
    “Sit back and stop moving around. You’re worth the same dead or alive.”
    “Please, let me go—”
    “That’s not the plan here.”
    “Well what is the plan?” she snapped, trying to keep her voice even. “I need to put it in my calendar and make sure my schedule is clear.”
    The man sneered. “You’re funny.”
    He banked hard around a corner, still accelerating. She shot a frantic glance behind them, looking for landmarks, trying to remember which way they were headed so she could alert Mac or whoever they called for ransom.
    If I live that long.
    The carjacker screeched around another corner before pulling a phone out of his pocket. He punched a few keys, then spoke in rapid-fire Spanish infused with so much slang, Kelli understood only a few words, including Town Car, bride, and inexplicably, cheese.
    The man punched the phone off and leered at her as he rounded another bend in the road. “It’s my lucky day. We’ve got a buyer all lined