Free Last Chance To Run by Dianna Love Page B

eyes now flashed stormy-dark. Just as angry looking as he sounded.
    She dropped her head down and her shoulders slumped from relief. He didn’t appear happy to see her again, but at least he didn’t sound as though he wanted to kill her.
    Twisting around for a second glance, Angel realized she might need to revise her first impression. She was neck deep in trouble with him. They hadn’t parted in the best of circumstances. Getting back into his good graces as quickly as possible was her first mission.
    “Hi. How are you?”  She lifted her eyebrows up, reaching for hopeful in her voice.
    “How am I? As in, was the flight back smooth? Or as in, how did I get away from your buddy?”
    “I’m sorry about that,” she whispered. What had Vic done after she’d left? It dawned on her later that Mason’s men never traveled alone. Had they ganged up on Zane and hurt him? “Did you have a problem with that guy?”
    “Problem?”   Heavy sarcasm laced his voice. “ Nooo , not unless you consider having his sidekick shove a gun in my face a problem.” 
    “Oh, God. What happened?”
    Zane shrugged. “I told them I didn’t know who you were and thought you’d had a falling-out with your boyfriend. Once you were gone, they lost interest and let me go.”
    Her luck had never been on the upswing, but right now it spiraled from bad to worse. She’d spent a large portion of her funds on clothes and bus fare. In the past twenty-eight hours, she’d had one meal and a few hours of sleep. Now she couldn’t find the blasted package hiding the coins.
    If the sole person who knew where the package of boat curtains had gone handed her over to the police, she was sunk.
    This would be a great time to turn on her feminine wiles, if she had any.
    “I didn’t mean to leave you stuck,” she started.
    “Having a hard time buying that since you did leave me stuck.”
    Wrong tactic. Just give him the truth and hope he’ll understand. “What I mean is I didn’t mean to involve you in my problems. I had no idea where I was going when we left Raleigh. I didn’t know that would happen or I would have told you to let me out as soon as you landed.” 
    He didn’t say a word.
    She was making no headway with flyboy. “You may not believe me, but I do appreciate you getting me out of Raleigh. I thought you had that guy handled. If I’d known someone else was around, I’d have stayed to help you even if it meant getting caught. That’s the truth.”  
    She took a breath and turned to see if she’d made a dent in that stern expression.
    His face softened. The muscle in his jaw no longer twitched. He wouldn’t harm her, but he still might call the authorities. Between smoothing things over with this guy and figuring out what had happened to the package – without specifically asking where it was – she had her work cut out.
    How had a simple plan to hide the coins gotten so screwed up?
    Wrenching against his steel grasp was a waste of energy. She dug around for a sweet tone, something she hadn’t used in a long time, and implored, “Would you let go, please? You’re hurting my wrists.”
    His fingers loosened immediately.
    She pulled one hand free and swung around to face him.
    He held onto her other wrist, giving her no chance to escape. If he knew how desperate she was to find those coins he’d realize she had no plans to take off yet. He massaged her wrist with his thumb then looked down and scowled.
    What did that mean with this man?
    Were they okay or did he still want to strangle her?
    He muttered, “I didn’t realize how tight I held you. That’s going to make a damn bruise.”  He didn’t stop working the sting out of her skin until both wrists had been given equal attention.
    No man had ever confused her so much or so often. 
    Zane Black went from annoyed to caring within a heartbeat. Like the heartbeats rapidly thumping in her chest from his soothing touch. He’d touched her more in two days than any male had