Lone Star Diary by Darlene Graham

Author:Darlene Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

LUKE HOPED he was on the right gravel road. There were no distinguishing marks, only rocks and trees and more rocks and trees. He swore out loud when he spotted the white Mercedes at the bottom of the hill, roaring toward him.

“I’ve located your husband,” he said into the cell phone. “Hold on, sweetheart.” He threw the truck into a stem turn that blocked the narrow road. He grabbed cuffs and gun and hurled himself out, snapped the gun up, legs braced wide.

The Mercedes braked in a spray of gravel, coming to a stop right in front of his knees. He aimed the gun at the windshield and yelled “Get out!” The driver, a slender man with a receding hairline and wrap-around sunglasses, slumped back in the seat.

The electric window glided down and the man tilted his head out with a cell phone raised to the ready. His graying blond hair was gelled back and his tan looked artificial. “Move that truck,” he said indignantly, “Or I’m calling the law.”

“I am the law. And I told you to get out of that car.”

“You cannot hijack a citizen out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Get out.”

“What are you going to do? Shoot me?”

“Out, Hostler. You don’t want resisting arrest on your rap sheet.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Kyle slowly angled his body out and slammed the car door. He was taller than Luke, but not better built. “What is the meaning of this?” He forked his hands at the hips of his tailored pants.

“Hands up.” Luke breached the gap between them in two long-legged steps and spun Kyle to face the car.

“I demand to know what you think you are doing,” Kyle said while Luke frisked him. “You cannot detain me. I have patients waiting. Surgeries scheduled. This is patently ridiculous. Absolutely ludicrous.” He resorted to foul curses when Luke twisted his arms behind his back, cuffed him and forced him face down onto the hood of the Mercedes.

Luke repositioned the gun on his captive. At his temple, to be precise. “Where did you leave her?”

“Are you charging me with some kind of crime? Because if not, this amounts to assault. You cannot aim a loaded weapon at a doct—”

“Where,” Luke cocked the gun and pressed it deeper into Hostler’s flesh, “is she?”

“If you mean my wife, I have no idea. We had an argument and she bolted from the car. While she was on the phone with you, I believe. She gets very emotional like that. Very high-strung woman.”

Luke fished around with his free hand and came up with the guy’s billfold. He pocketed it, then left him sprawled on the hood and went around and extracted the keys from the Mercedes.

Back in his truck he snatched up his cell phone. “Frankie?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know where you are, darlin’?”

She sighed, sounding calmer than she had before. “No. Sitting on a rock. Somewhere higher up on the hill.”

“Can you find the road?”

“Boy, I don’t know. Dumb, just tearing off like that, huh?”

“Not if you were truly frightened.

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