Free An Impostor in Town (Colorado Series) by Denise Moncrief

than she could bear. “Just because you had the audacity to kiss me and just because I was foolish enough to let you doesn’t mean it has to mean anything.” Her sad attempt to convey her tangled thoughts came out jumbled and pathetic.
    “You made it pretty clear we were just friends. You said this wasn’t a date…I guess I got carried away.”
    “Oh,” she muttered. She wanted a different answer. She wanted what she couldn’t have.
    He hit her with another question she never expected. “Why do you push me away?” She didn’t answer him. “I want an answer.” His hurt feelings landed all over her.
    “I can’t get involved with you or anyone else.” He had opened the door. Now she could tell him about Mason, Jeff, and Cory. The truth was almost out of her mouth.
    “Why not?”
    “Because I’m married. At least, I think I might be.”
    “You might be? How can you not know something like that?” His voice rippled with suppressed emotion, controlled to the point it scared her.
    “I ran away from him over twelve years ago. He could have divorced me and I wouldn’t know it.”
    “Why did you run?” His skepticism nearly killed her. He wasn’t ready to believe her. She could see his respect for her draining away. That hurt more than anything.
    “Because he was abusive. I would have died if I hadn’t run. He told me if I ran away again, he’d kill me.” A sob caught in her throat as she clutched at the last remnants of his respect. “But I ran anyway, because I knew if he kept beating me the way he was he’d end up killing me and my...”
    She stopped short of telling him the full extent of Mason’s threats. She had been much more frightened of what Mason threatened to do to Jake. A fear deep within her demanded she put on the brakes... now . She didn’t want to tell Brian about Jake…not just yet. That meant she couldn’t tell him about Jeff.
    He pulled onto the shoulder of the highway and sat motionless for what seemed like forever. She was afraid to look at him. Afraid to talk. Afraid to breathe.
    “I certainly have a penchant for getting involved with married women.”
    She didn’t know how to respond. She could say nothing that would make it better. She had let it happen.
    He would insist on knowing everything now. She held her breath and waited for him to ask another question, but he never did. Maybe he didn’t really want to know. Maybe his concern had all been superficial. Was Brian any different than anybody else?
    After an interminably long silence, he finished the drive to her house, walked her to her door, and turned his back on her.
    ****
    As soon as the door closed, Jeff jerked Peyton’s arm behind her back and clamped a sweaty palm across her mouth, cutting off the scream that rose in her throat. She groaned at the sudden, sharp pain radiating down her arm toward her elbow and tossed her head, trying to dislodge his hand from her mouth. His cheek pressed against hers. His beer breath invaded her sinuses—his mouth so close to her nose nausea rose in her already overwrought stomach. “One little noise and I’ll yank it right out of the socket.”
    She whimpered as he dragged her to the window. The blinds were open just enough to see Brian head toward his truck and then stop, turn back to the house. Jeff sucked in a raspy breath. “What’s he coming back for?” She tried to tear away from his grip, but he pulled her arm tighter. Her stomach roiled. He played with the wall switch until he turned the outside light off. “He’s gone.”
    He loosened her arm just enough she slid from his grasp. “What are you doing here?”
    “I need money.” The unmistakable demand of desperation edged his voice. Who did he owe?
    “I told you I’m tapped out.” She glanced at the door behind him. He was blocking her escape. Then she remembered the gun in her coat pocket. If she could reach the weapon, she wouldn’t hesitate to use it this time.
    He shook his head as if trying to shake