Free Spirit of a Champion (Sisters of Spirit #7) by Nancy Radke

was hard to have faith when nothing worked.
    Then Perri called, giving her their arrival time. Stormy had
almost forgotten her cousin was coming in, she was so upset.
    She caught a city bus out to the airport and waited in the
baggage claim area for Hugo and Perri. She hadn’t seen them since the wedding,
when she had been her cousin’s maid of honor. It was so good to see them
walking toward her, secure and confident.
    Perri looked happy and blooming with a golden glow that set off
her striking blonde hair. Stormy took one look at her and said, “Are
you...pregnant?”
    “On our wedding night!” Perri exclaimed, laughing as she hugged
Hugo’s arm. “We weren’t going to wait long anyway, maybe a year, but the kid
had a mind of his own.”
    Hugo grinned. “Things got explosive. We were planing to use
protection...”
    Stormy laughed at his expression. He didn’t look very upset.
    “Hello, cousin,” he said with a grin.
    He was her cousin now. Hugo was very much her idea of a macho
man and she was happy to have him in the family. Stormy knew that Perri and
Hugo had met in Mexico, but for some reason, Perri never shared the details of
that time.
    They lived on Hugo’s Arizona ranch, which Perri described as
fantastic.
    “Come along to our car,” Hugo said, “and we can discuss what’s
been happening.”
    Stormy grabbed Perri’s suitcase and followed them.
    “I’m not that far along,” Perri protested. “It’s just been four
months.”
    Hugo winked at Stormy. “Ask her, sometime, why she didn’t have
her contraceptives with her.”
    “Hugo!” She turned to Stormy. “I put my case down in the
elevator, punched the button, got off and left my case with everything in it.”
    “It was late and the stores were closed,” Hugo added as they
entered the parking area. “She didn’t even have a nightie.”
    When they got to Hugo’s car, the motor was already running and
the air conditioner on, so it was cool and pleasant inside.
    “This is nice,” Stormy said, as Hugo loaded the cases in the
back.
    “All our cars are fixed this way,” Perri said. “You can start
them while you’re inside a building, so they’ll be warmed up or cooled down
before you get to them.”
    “Couldn’t a thief jump in and drive away?”
    “No. The doors stay locked.”
    Hugo slid into the driver’s seat and looked around at Stormy.
“Where’s your car? I’ll drive you over.”
    “I don’t have one here. I took the bus out.” She explained why
she was low on money at the present. “I got a little bit when Jerry was playing
the slots. It looked like the machine was going to eat all his profits, so I
grabbed some.”
    Hugo nodded. “Perri’s told me what happened, but let me hear it
again. You overheard the doctor talking about soft spots?”
    “Yes. Once when he was talking to Jerry and then I talked to him
after Jerry left.”
    “And what cinched your theory that Jerry’s being forced to
fight?”
    “Jerry told me that the doctor was talking about Ted, his
sparring partner, but the doctor said he didn’t know any Ted.”
    “You’ve talked to Jerry again?”
    “Yes. Both he and Dad tell me to go home.”
    “Even this close to the fight?”
    “Yes.”
    Hugo backed the car up and started toward the exit. “Where you
staying?”
    She told him.
    “That’s a dump.”
    She laughed to herself. He sounded like Kyle. “I agree. But it’s
the cheapest I could find.”
    “Who all have you talked to so far?”
    “The ring officials, the promoter, Jerry and my dad. And Killer
Kyle.”
    “You’re covering all the ground. What did Kyle say?”
    “He said that only the challenger can stop the fight. But he did
give me the names of the ring doctors. I’m going to their places next.”
    “How?”
    “By bus. They have a pretty extensive system.”
    “Where do the doctors live?”
    “I don’t know. Finding that out is next on my list.”
    “Hum.” Hugo slowed down, pulled into a side street and turned
the