Free Charmed and Dangerous by Lori Wilde Page B

worst-case scenario gal ever since that ill-fated Christmas day eighteen years ago. The harder she tried not to see the coconut cracking into David’s skull, the more vividly she pictured it.
    The coconut was going to fall.
    She knew it as surely as she knew the sun would rise. In order to prevent David from getting assassinated by one badass milk fruit, she had to act now.
    Without hesitation, Maddie lunged for his feet and knocked him on his back.
    “What in the hell are you doing?” he yelled, just as the coconut dropped.
    The hard green shell missed David, but lightly clipped the back of Maddie’s skull.
    Thwack!
    Sharp waves of pain mulched her brain. She saw a million shimmering stars—yellow, white, blue—and smelled a dozen strange odors. She tried to stand but her knees were noodles and she wobbled precariously, grateful she’d taken off those deadly sandals.
    “You saved my life,” David murmured, staring from Maddie to the coconut and back again, obviously not realizing she’d been bushwhacked.
    She blinked repeatedly and bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep from passing out. The pain was pretty intense, but she couldn’t black out, she had to stop Cassie from getting married. She pushed her palm against the back of her head and willed the earth to stop spinning so fast.
    “Maddie?” David knelt beside her. “Did you get hit?”
    She tried to nod but it hurt too much.
    “Can you hear me?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Are you all right?”
    Squinting she peered at David. How come there were two of him? He wasn’t a twin. “Stop moving.”
    “I’m not moving.”
    There was something she was supposed to be thinking about. What was it?
    Oh yeah. Cassie.
    She swung her gaze toward the beach, saw Cassie and some guy holding hands and running through the tide toward a dune buggy parked on the sand.
    “They’re getting away.” She gestured.
    David jumped up and started to run to the beach but he hesitated and glanced back over his shoulder at her. She saw the internal conflict play across his face.
    Stay and make sure she was okay, or go after his quarry?
    She was afraid to trust him, but she had no real choice. “Go. Stop them. Save my sister.”
    “You’re sure you’re okay?”
    “Yes. I’m fine. Go!”
    He nodded, turned and sprinted off.
    And that’s when Maddie passed out cold.

Chapter
    SIX
    D AVID RAN UP the beach, his heart thumping with adrenaline, his brain pounding out a single message. Stop Shriver. Stop Shriver. Stop Shriver.
    But he was too late. The flasher lights of the dune buggy winked on and off as it disappeared over a faraway sand dune.
    The well-dressed wedding guests gasped and scattered, knocking over folding chairs and shoving each other. The minister ducked behind the altar. One woman screamed. That’s when David realized he was running with his gun drawn.
    “Don’t be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen,” he said and held up his badge. “FBI.” He pointed at the nearest man. “You, call an ambulance. My partner’s been hurt.”
    His partner? Why had he said that?
    He hurried to the grove, his gut knotting tighter with each step. He realized he was giving Cory Philpot plenty of time to hide the Cézanne if he did indeed possess it, but David couldn’t afford to care about that right now. Maddie needed him.
    It was dark in the grove and it took him a moment to see her body stretched out on the sand.
    “Maddie?” he said softly. Anxiety grabbed his gut and squeezed hard.
    He holstered his gun and knelt beside her. She looked so peaceful that at first he thought she was sleeping. He reached out to brush a lock of hair from her face and was startled to find her skin cool to the touch. He scooped her into his arms. She lay limp, not moving. Her breathing was shallow, but steady.
    When she didn’t respond, fear jammed his heart tight against his Adam’s apple.
    Please God, let her be okay.
    “Maddie, can you hear me?”
    Nothing.
    Where in hell was that ambulance?
    He