Taken in Texas by Susan Sleeman

Author:Susan Sleeman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-29T20:14:02+00:00

* * *

The force of Kendall’s words felt like a punch to Cord’s chest. He didn’t want anything to do with her on a personal level, either. Okay, he did, but he wouldn’t follow his interest. Couldn’t. Not with his crazy, mixed-up life right now, but her vehement rejection still stung.

“Just so we’re clear, I don’t want it, either,” he said from between clenched teeth.

“Good,” she replied.

“Fine.” He crossed his arms and sat back to stare out the window. He felt as angry as Lucas often acted and wanted to become full-blown mad at her, but why? She’d done nothing other than voice her opinion. An opinion he was glad for, right?

So take a breath and get over it.

He tried. Once. Twice. Didn’t work, so he watched out the window, focusing on the familiar scenery. This area had been in his regular patrol sector when he was a Lake County deputy, and he’d driven down this rural road hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. He always thought out here in the boonies was an odd place for a restaurant, but Buddy’s World-Famous Barbeque had started with a smoker at Buddy’s house fifty years ago, his wife baking the pies to sell alongside the barbeque. It grew from there into a full-fledged restaurant.

A few miles outside Cumberland, Kendall pulled into Buddy’s parking lot and killed the engine. The place had cedar siding, grayed from years under the Texas sun, and a green metal roof. A large porch ran the length of the building and held white rocking chairs. The lot was empty, but the smell of roasting meat and the smoke rising up from behind the building gave him hope that someone was working.

He reached for the door but turned back to Kendall. “Let’s make sure our personal differences don’t get in the way, okay? Your safety and finding Eve have to come before anything else.”

“Agreed.” Kendall pulled the keys from the ignition and grabbed the suspect’s sketch. Her phone chimed, and she glanced at it. “It’s a text from Matt. Eve called the bank again. He wasn’t able to record it, but he’ll track the phone number. He’ll get back to us if it returns any actionable information.”

Cord gave a firm nod but she could tell he was disappointed. “Keep your head on a swivel.”

He stayed close to her until they were inside the small joint with tables covered in white butcher paper. Metal buckets filled with peanuts, and smaller cans holding crayons for doodling, sat on the table. The scarred wood floor was covered in shells that crunched underfoot.

“Eve would hate this place,” Cord said to Kendall. “She likes things neat and tidy and this is the opposite.”

“Which makes it even weirder that she ate here four times in the last few weeks.”

A dark-haired woman wearing jeans and a purple plaid shirt with a white apron over it looked up from behind a counter, where she was filling salt shakers. She smiled, but it was forced. “Sorry, we don’t open for an hour.

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