Read Online Snow Angels by Fern Michaels, Rosalind Noonan, Marie Bostwick, Janna McMahan - Free Book Online

yanked the door aside, unprepared for what greeted him.
    Grace and the two girls were in the den, with Ice-D and Cliff flanking a small bearded man wearing the typical orange jail uniform. Both dogs were in attack mode, waiting for his command.
    “Are you all right?” he asked Grace as he scanned the room.
    She nodded, and that was when Max realized her hands were tied behind her back. Both girls were sitting next to her. Their hands weren’t tied, but Max saw thick tears streaming down both of their faces. His heartbeat quadrupled at the pitiful sight.
    Not allowing another second to pass, Max walked over to the man, who he assumed was Glenn and who had his back to him, and snapped his fingers. Instantly, both dogs backed off but remained alert, low, threatening growls deep in their throats.
    “Don’t move!” Max wrapped his hand around the intruder’s neck and shoved him against the wall toward the door. Knowing the girls were watching prevented him from smashing his fist square in the guy’s face, so he opted for the next best thing.
    Dragging him out the door to Grace’s van, he shoved him into the passenger side. “Move a muscle, and I promise you I won’t be as nice as I was in there.” He nodded toward the cabin.
    Glenn, a stick of a man with a receding hairline, tattoo-covered arms, and several missing teeth, held a bony arm in front of him as Max crammed his fist in his face. Blood spewed from his mouth seconds later. “Bastard,” he spat out. “Those are my girls you got in that cabin! I came to get ’em! No woman’s gonna take what’s rightfully mine! You hear that?”
    Max didn’t know the story behind Glenn’s claim and didn’t really care. “I hear you loud and clear, you worthless piece of shit.” Max ripped his belt off and used it to tie Glenn’s hands behind his back. The skinny man yanked and pulled, but Max was too strong for him. He shoved him against the seat, then used the seat belt to hold him in position. “Move a muscle, and I promise it will be your last twitch.” He jammed his fist into the man’s nose and heard the cartilage snap.
    Glenn dropped his head to his chest, wincing in pain. Before the bound man could recover from the effects of the punch, Max raced back inside the cabin, knowing he had only a few minutes before Glenn wiggled out of the seat belt.
    Without saying a word, he removed the piece of extension cord with which Glenn had tied up Grace. “Stay here and don’t do anything until I return.”
    Grace nodded, rubbing her hands. “Hurry!” She wrapped her arms around both girls, who continued to whimper and cry.
    The last thing Max heard before he raced out of the cabin was Grace telling the girls that everything was going to be just fine.
    She’d promised.

Chapter 8
    Three hours later, Max drove back to the cabin with good news for Grace and her charges.
    Max entered the cabin and found Grace, along with the two girls and dogs, curled up on the sofa in the den sound asleep. And he’d thought they’d be waiting on pins and needles for his return. So much for that.
    Ice-D and Cliff bolted off the sofa when they saw him. He rubbed both between the ears, then allowed them their usual licks to his face. “Okay, boys, that’s enough.” Max went to the kitchen. He saw that both dog bowls were full of water, and the food bowls were empty. He was about to load them up with dog food when Grace entered the kitchen.
    “They both had three hot dogs apiece, plus a bowl of dog food. I don’t think they’re hungry.”
    Max stopped and shook his finger at the pair. “You know I ought to turn you two out, make you work for your grub.” Both dogs whined, and Max fluffed the space between their ears. “Go on, you two.” The dogs complied, their muzzles lifted high in the air as they made their way back to the den.
    “They’ve convinced themselves they’re kings today,” Grace said as she watched the dogs jump back onto the sofa, one on either side of the