Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Laura Scott (free e reader .TXT) 📕

Do. Not. Move.

The silent order stiffened her backbone. She wasn’t a simpering miss. She didn’t scream at the sight of a cockroach the size of a drone. She didn’t scream if she came across a snake. She refused to scream just because there was a bomb placed under her seat.

“Did you hear it?” he asked.

She gave a tiny nod, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. How long could she hold her breath?

Not long enough.

“I hope I’m wrong,” Liam said, “but it sounded like the click a pressure plate gives off when it’s activated.”

She’d learned about pressure plates while working for the ATF. Some of the crime families used them to take out rivals or even agents, but she’d never come up close and personal with one.

“I think you’re sitting on a pressure plate.”

She worked to keep the panic out of her voice. Breathe. Release. Breathe. Release.

“They’re a favorite of terrorists in the Middle East. Don’t move,” he said again.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good. I’m going to bend down, check out what we’re dealing with. If it’s what I’m thinking, we’re going to have to do some strategizing.”

“Like calling in the police?”

“We’ll do that. But we don’t have time for them to get here.”

“This just keeps getting better and better.” The panic was coming back.

“That it does, but I’ve got some experience in defusing these bad boys.”

“Good to know.”

He looked up, gave her the same grin he had on the cliff. “We’ll get through this.”

“Is this another one of your famous promises?”

He didn’t answer, instead looked at her right arm trussed up in a sling. “This is going to be a little tricky.”

She’d already figured that out. She also knew that she couldn’t allow him to risk his life for her. He had a son who needed him. “You ought to get out of here. Wait for the police, the bomb squad. No sense in both of us—” She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.

The grim line of Liam’s lips told her what he thought of her suggestion.

“You think I’d leave you?” Outrage rimmed every syllable.

No. She didn’t. Afraid to say anything more, she shook her head. At the same time, she bit down on her lip. Hard. The pain gave her something to focus on rather than the fear that crawled up her spine to settle at the base of her neck.

Buck up, girl. You’ve faced down terrorists, gunrunners and smugglers. What’s one bomb?

He rounded the car to her side. “On the count of three, be ready.”

“For what?”

“This.” With that, he grabbed her good arm and yanked her from the seat before she knew what was happening.

FOUR

Liam pulled Paige from the car and half dragged, half carried her away from it just as it exploded. He sheltered her from the pieces of metal and debris raining down upon them by hunching over her. Shards of glass pierced his neck and hands, but he scarcely noticed.

Protecting Paige was instinctive. He didn’t think about it. He just did it.

The acrid stench of smoke, gasoline and burning metal singed the air, stinging his eyes and nostrils. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision.

Sirens sounded in the distance. Someone had already called 911.

When the aftershocks of the explosion came to an end, he rolled off her and hunkered at her side. He brushed soot from her face. “Are you okay?”

She looked dazed but nodded. “What about you?” She didn’t give him time to answer as she brushed glass from his hair and aimed a reproving look his way. “You cheated—you didn’t count to three.”

He knew she was trying to lighten the atmosphere and appreciated the effort. What a woman. They’d nearly been killed—again—and she was doing her best to reassure him that she was all right by making light of the fact that someone had tried to blow them up.

“That’s what you have to say after we were almost turned into mincemeat?” He held out a hand to help her up.

“That and thank you.” Her voice shook, then steadied. “That’s twice that you’ve saved my life. I owe you.” She accepted his hand and stood, lips pulled in a rueful line. “I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

“The next one’s on you.”

“The next one? I’m hoping there won’t be any more. I still say you cheated.” The teasing note in her voice defused much of the remaining tension that roiled through him.

Liam played along. “My humblest apologies.” Thinking of what might have happened, he sobered. “I didn’t want you tensing up when I pulled you from the car.”

“I got that. You could have taken off and saved yourself.”

He rolled his lips inward. “Not my style.”

“I know.”

He saw the effort it was costing Paige to hold herself together, but she didn’t give in to tears. He’d witnessed battle-hardened soldiers break down in tears after a near miss in the field and didn’t hold it against them. Just as he wouldn’t have held it against Paige if she’d given way to tears, but she held steady.

He was learning that that was who she was.

The warmth in her gaze as it rested on him had Liam feeling like a schoolboy after stealing his first kiss. It was gratitude Paige was experiencing, nothing else. He’d do well to remember that.

As she started to comb her fingers through her hair, he caught her hand and stilled it. A piece of glass was lodged against her temple. With exquisite care, he removed it before she cut herself.

Her eyes met his. “Thank you. Again.”

An ambulance arrived. He and Paige were examined, their cuts and scrapes treated. Both refused to go to the hospital for a more thorough examination.

By that time, curious onlookers had gathered behind the crime scene tape. It had always annoyed and even angered Liam that people considered an accident or a crime a source of entertainment, delighting in the misfortunes and tragedies of others.

Mr. Howard stood on his front porch, studying the scene. He shook his head and went back inside