Free Blaze: A Texas Heat Novel by Octavia McKenzie

grinned wickedly. “Let’s put that to the test shall we?”
    He kissed the back of her hand. “Whoa! What are you doing?”
    He scooted his chair closer, kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear. From a distance they looked intimate. Emerson nearly yelped when he place a hand on her knee. Dylan stood up. For a moment, Emerson felt a flare of hope.
    Until Dylan clinked a glass and announced. “Doctor Lea Saint James has just agreed to marry me!” The gorgeous young woman held up her hand for all to see. A five carat diamond winked from her ring finger. All the diners clapped. Women exclaimed delight and envy, sounds of oh, ah, wow, filled the dining room as Lea displayed her blinding ring. The piano man played Here Comes the Bride . The Maître de rushed over with a bottle of complimentary champagne. People took out cell phones and snapped pictures of the happy couple.
    Donavan took one look at Emerson’s pale, ashen face and squeezed her hand. “Oh God Em, I’m so sorry.”
    She felt dizzy, hot, freezing cold.
    “Breathe,” Donavan urged.
    Emerson felt as if the heartbreak would kill her. She loved Dylan so much she ached just looking at him. Right now, she couldn’t bear to be in the same room with him. She gripped her hands together to keep from visibly trembling.
    “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Donavan said.
    Before they could move, Andy, a local paramedic, pulled up a chair.
    “Sorry to be a buzz kill but I need to talk to both of you.”
    Emerson tore her eyes away from Dylan and his fiancé. Donavan raised an eyebrow.
    “It’s about Harper, something ain’t right with her.”
    “That’s what I’ve been saying for years,” Donavan grumbled.
    “Maybe I was wrong about you,” Andy said, “But I thought beneath all that hostility – you care.”
    Donavan went very still. He didn’t deny it. Andy nodded.
    “She’s afraid of something or someone.”
    Every muscle in Donavan’s body tensed.
    Emerson paled. “What makes you think-”
    “I was an Army Medic for three years, when I was deployed in Iraq, I saw a lot of things I’d rather forget. I know men who saw combat that were never the same. They had a haunted look, like they’ve seen the worst in humanity. Sometimes Harper has that look, like post-traumatic stress.”
    Donavan shook his head. “You’re imagining things, Harper comes from a great family and as far as I know, she hasn’t had a serious boyfriend.”
    He looked swiftly at Emerson as if to confirm this. “No, she hasn’t.”
    “Believe me that girl can hold her own,” Donavan said briskly, “We didn’t call her Amazon back in high school for nothing.”
    Andy leaned forward. His boyish face lined with worry. He glanced about, making sure they weren’t overheard.
    “What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this table,” he whispered, “Agreed?”
    Donavan and Emerson nodded. Andy swallowed hard as if he were trying mightily to keep his composure.
    “The other day we were restocking the rig, we were low on IV tubing. Harper kneeled down and I saw,” he closed his eyes for a moment, “She had bruises at the base of her spine.”
    Donavan didn’t move an inch. Emerson blanched. “M-Maybe she fell.”
    Harper didn’t have a clumsy bone in her body. “No,” Andy said, “I’ve seen enough injuries to know what a kidney punch looks like.”
    Blood drained from Donavan’s face. Emerson blinked back tears.
    “I think she’s in trouble,” Andy said, “She won’t talk to me, I hope you two might have better luck.”
    Emerson pat his hand, like Donavan, she was incapable of speech. Long after Andy left an awful silence settle between them.
    Donavan leveled a piercing blue gaze on her that could’ve pulverized rock. “Tell me what you know.”
    Emerson squirmed under his relentless scrutiny.
    “Emerson,” his voice lashed out, “What.do.you.know?”
    She gulped. “I-I don’t want to betray my friend’s confidence.”
    Donavan’s big muscled body had