Free Hot Pursuit by Christina Skye

lies.
    â€œWe’ll check it out, Ms. O’Toole. Now I suggest that—”
    â€œForget about the hospital.”
    â€œI strongly recommend—”
    â€œThank you for your help, Lieutenant.” Taylor didn’t look back, didn’t watch the black body bag being loaded into the ambulance.
    She’d seen enough blood and death for one day. Suddenly, being alive was a very precious thing indeed.

Chapter Seven

    The phone was ringing when Taylor opened her front door.
What now?
    She grabbed the receiver, smiling when she heard her brother-in-law’s deep voice. “Taylor, we just saw you on the news. Annie’s approaching hysteria. What’s going on up there?”
    â€œI’m fine, Sam. It’s all over.”
    He didn’t sound at all convinced. “You sure about that? Annie’s got the car packed. She’s ready to leave.”
    â€œKeep her there.” Taylor frowned. “She’s okay, isn’t she? I mean—with the baby and everything?”
    The truth was, Taylor still wasn’t used to her baby sister being happily married and very pregnant. A longtime workaholic, Annie O’Toole had managed their family’s resort on the rugged California coast near Carmel for years. Always a workaholic perfectionist, she was superb at nurturing strangers but slow to take time for herself.
    A hunky Navy SEAL named Sam McKade had changed all that.
    Another woman might have succumbed to serious jealousy. But when Taylor saw the two together, hopelessly in love despite Sam’s frequent absences, Taylor knew she couldn’t begrudge them one second of happiness. Especially since she was one of the few people who knew that the two of them had nearly died several months before at the hands of a deranged killer.
    â€œHere she is, Taylor.” Taylor heard muttered voices as the phone changed hands.
    â€œTaylor, what’s happening?”
    â€œDon’t worry, Annie. I’m fine.”
    â€œDon’t
worry
?” Her sister’s voice spiked. “You’re abducted at gunpoint, thrown from a window, nearly shot—and you tell me
not to worry
? Are we sisters or aren’t we?”
    Taylor rubbed her shoulder, which was still aching from her fall. “Of course we are. I meant that you should think about the baby, not me. Go pamper yourself with a salt-glow rub.” She smiled wickedly. “Better yet, have that sexy man with the cute butt who called me give you a long, steamy massage.”
    Annie chuckled. “Sam, Taylor says you’ve got a cute butt. How does she know
that
?”
    Taylor heard Sam bend close to the receiver. “Tell Taylor that her imagination is just as fertile as ever.”
    â€œVery diplomatic. I always said your husband would go far, Annie. I can see him heading the Joint Chiefs in a few years.”
    â€œWhy stop there?” her sister said proudly. “I can see him as president.”
    Taylor heard Sam’s strangled protest. “You couldn’t say anything that would frighten him more, Annie. I think you two definitely need to go relax in the hot tub. I remember reading somewhere that pregnant women have heightened libidos.”
    â€œNo more hot tub visits until after the baby’s born. No more long runs on the beach, either,” Annie added grumpily. “Sam and that doctor he found are driving me nuts. Next thing you know, they’ll tell me I can’t work.”
    Sam muttered something in the background that made Annie sniff.
    â€œThey only want you to take it easy. You push things too hard.” Taylor felt a pang of guilt. For the last few years since their parents’ deaths, she had been only too glad to leave the day-to-day resort operations to Annie. “Look, do you want me to come down and fill in for several weeks while you two take a vacation? If you want me, I’ll be there.”
    â€œYou’d do that? With a book in the