Free Justice Burning (Hellfire #2) by Elle James Page B

teeth.
    For some reason, she seemed to be running scared about something.
    Something didn’t ring true with Phoebe Smith. As chatty as the woman was, she was holding back. Nash couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was she wasn’t telling him, but he was determined find out. Which, unfortunately, meant spending more time with the woman.
    A dangerous prospect based on the way his arm tingled where she’d touched it and his leg ached to be naked against hers. Yeah, spending time with her could only be a mistake. But his curiosity was piqued and, like a dog with a bone, he couldn’t let go. Not yet.

6
    P hoebe hurried away from Nash , rubbing her arm. When she’d touched Nash, an electrical current had tingled in her fingers and run up her arm. It spread through her chest and downward, pooling at the base of her belly. Why? He was a stranger. She’d never felt that way about her fiancé. The hot, aching, needy tension swelled inside her.
    Why this man?
    As the band ended its set, a loud crash jerked Phoebe out of her sensual stupor. She rushed forward, eager to help clean up whatever mess resulted from the accident.
    Audrey yelped and hopped up to sit on the bar.
    The patrons of the saloon grew silent, all gazes turned toward Audrey.
    Phoebe hurried around the corner of the bar to find a trail of broken glass and spilled whiskey. Worse, Audrey bled from a large gash in her knee. “Oh, Audrey, you’re bleeding.” Phoebe grabbed a bar towel from a drawer and applied pressure to the cut. She eased it away and examined the wound. It looked ugly, but didn’t scare Phoebe. Her love of horses had given her a healthy respect for keeping her cool around scratches, cuts and bruises. “Looks pretty deep. You might need stitches.”
    “Well, damn.” Audrey stared down at her leg. “I don’t have time for stitches.” She waved a hand toward the swarms of cowboys crowding the bar to capacity. “We can’t afford to lose another waitress tonight.”
    Jackson appeared from the storeroom, carrying a case of whiskey. “What happened?” He nearly tossed the case on the ground and hurried forward, picking his way across the glass-strewn floor.
    “I broke a whiskey bottle, slipped in the whiskey and landed on my knee.” Audrey sighed. “Do you think you can put a bandage on it so I can finish out the night?”
    Nash leaned over the bar. “Bring her over to the table and let Chance have a look. He’s the trained EMT.”
    Alerted to the problem, Chance pushed his way through the crowded room.
    Jackson carried Audrey over to set her on a nearby table.
    Chance examined the wound.
    Audrey’s assistant manager, Charli Sutton, emerged from the storeroom, carrying the first aid kit, and laid it on the table beside Audrey.
    Phoebe stepped out of the way and helped Libby clean up the broken glass and whiskey.
    Chance applied a pressure bandage to the gash on Audrey’s leg, and then glanced at Jackson. “She’s bleeding through the bandage. She really needs to see a doctor and have it stitched. I can call for an ambulance, or you can take her to the emergency room yourself.”
    “Oh, please, I’m not going to die. Jackson can take me to the ER.” Audrey nodded to Libby. “Do you mind closing the saloon tonight?”
    Charli shook her head. “The woman’s bleeding, and she still can’t let go of this place.” The bartender waved her hand. “Get out of here before you bleed to death. We’ve got this covered, don’t we, Phoebe?”
    Phoebe straightened with a dustpan full of glass shards. “Please. Go to the doctor. Your health is more important. Like Charli said, we can handle it.”
    “But we’ve got so many customers,” Audrey protested.
    Charli climbed up on the bar and motioned for Lacey, one of the other waitresses working that night, to pull the plug on the jukebox.
    As the room grew quiet and all heads turned toward Charli, she tossed her curly blond hair over her shoulder and then stood with her fists on her