Read Online Matt—The Callahan Brothers (Brazos Bend Book 2) by Emily March - Free Book Online

there.”
    The warning alarm on the golf cart beeped as Matt backed it in a half circle, turning around. He shifted into forward and headed for the vineyard. The golf cart traveled less than ten yards before a red and white MINI Cooper came speeding into the parking lot.
    “Dammit!” Matt exclaimed, slamming on the brake, the cart sliding on the loose gravel.
    The car’s driver braked, and gravel crunched as the MINI Cooper skidded to halt, dangerously close to the golf cart. Matt tried to see through the tinted windows into the car to identify the driver.
    “One of the harem, I suppose?” Les asked, his voice laced with disgust as the car door opened.
    “I don’t ...” A blonde climbed out of the car. “No!”
    “You don’t know her?”
    Matt couldn’t answer because he’d gone into shock. Adrenaline surged through him. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
    “Matt?” Les asked.
    She carried a pink-and-lime striped tote bag over her right shoulder and held a fluffy little designer dog in her left arm. She offered him a tentative smile. “Sorry. I didn’t see the golf cart.”
    Matt ignored her and replied to his friend. “Oh, I know her, all right. She’s That Damned Woman.”
    “Which ... oh, you’re kidding.” Les gaped in amazement. “She’s the Evil Twin?”
    “Oh, for crying out loud,” she muttered.
    “Yes.” Matt’s gaze met and held Torie’s as he continued to Les, “Victoria Bradshaw. The fluff-headed, picture-taking bimbo who put me in the hospital for months and cost me Ćurković. That’s her.”
    Well within hearing distance, she sucked in a breath. “Fluff-headed bimbo?” she repeated. “Bimbo!”
    Matt climbed out of the golf cart and turned toward the house. “Get rid of her, Les. There’s a rerun of a ball game on ESPN Classic I want to watch.”
    “Excuse me?” she snapped.
    “No, I won’t.”  
    She remained silent for five long seconds, then said, “That’s it. I’m done. I’m finished with being ignored. I’m through with being treated like—”
    He looked back over his shoulder. “You deserve?”
    “You jerk!” she shouted. “It was an accident. I made a mistake. I’m sorry. If I could go back and change it I would, but I can’t. You can castigate me more later, but now I need you to listen to me.”
    “No.”
    “Aargh!” She kicked a stone and sent it skidding across the ground. “Tell you what. Instead of Evil Twin, you can call me the Killer Twin, because that’s what I’ll be if you take one more step without listening to what I have to say.”
    “Go away, Ms. Bradshaw.” He took two steps away.
    Les called out a warning. “Matt!”
    He turned in time to see her pull a gun from her bag. A nine-millimeter. A pink nine-millimeter.
    Both men dived for cover. Matt heard the shot, followed immediately by the sound of breaking glass. He looked up. “She shot my truck. She shot out the headlight on my truck!”
    “That’s right. I hit what I aim at now; I’ve been taking lessons. Turn your back on me again, Callahan, and I’ll take aim right at your pretty butt.”
    ***
    Stress, frustration, and bone-deep, mind-numbing fear had led Torie to the edge of sanity. Matt Callahan pushed her right on over.
    She shook with fury. Bimbo. Ooh. To think she’d wasted even a handful of brain cells in the past by fantasizing about this ... this ... Double-Oh-Jerkface. Her finger twitched on the trigger as she considered blowing his windshield to smithereens.
    “Put the gun down, Victoria,” Callahan demanded with more arrogance in his voice than what a man pinned by gunfire behind a golf cart should risk.
    “When I’m ready. I’m not ready yet.”
    The older man with Matt piped up. “And what is it you need to get there, miss?”
    “I need—” She broke off with a scornful laugh. “I need what apparently is the impossible. I need the police to listen to me. I need my father to pay attention to what I’m saying. It would have been nice if Mr.