A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader TXT) 📕

“Gae on green. Stop if it’s already red whenye get there.”

Claire rolled her eyes at that but it wasclose enough for their short trip. “What about yellow?”

His brow furrowed once more as Hugh thoughtabout it. “That’s a good question. I cannae see that it made anydifference tae anyone along the way.”

“It means get ready to stop.”

That only deepened his frown. “Are ye sure?That’s nae the impression I got at all.”

Biting her lip to cut off a smile, Claireonly said, “You’ll just have to trust me on that one. Stay closebehind me. If you lose me just pull over and I’ll come back, okay?”Hugh nodded and Claire handed him half of the money Danny had givenher. “When we get to the depot, you pull in to the boarding lanesand load the car where they point. Don’t forget to put it in parkbefore you turn it off. I’ll walk on and meet you on the front deckafter I ditch poor Goose.”

They left the house, and in the end, Hughprobably drove better than Claire, since she spent the entirejourney watching him in the rearview mirror. They reached the ferrystation without incident and Claire pulled along the left side ofthe parking lot to park Goose as far as she could from the station.She would have to abandon her trusty vehicle there, far from Robertand Sue’s. Hopefully it would be enough to save them and maybe evenher when it was eventually found.

Or, maybe that wouldn’t even happen and shewould return to find it still there. Claire wasn’t certain eitherway. Popping the catch on the hood, Claire got out and moved to thefront of the Prius to lift the hood. It had occurred to her alongthe way that an excuse for leaving it was better than none at all.A breakdown was what she needed—just in case, of course—and she hadlearned enough from her dad and Matt what to look for in case sheever had car problems to create a few for herself.

Claire loosened the bolt off the batterycell and, satisfied with the damage she had done, was just about toslam the hood shut when a deep voice uttered, “Hold it rightthere.”

Heart in her throat, Claire turned to find athickly built man standing next to a black suburban that had pulledin behind her car. Another taller but thinner man was getting outof the driver’s side. Both wore the same government-issued blacksuit as the agent who had nearly caught her the precedingafternoon.

They had found her! Damn, how had thathappened? Had they seen her pull in? Had they seen Hugh? Did theyhave him already?

Damn, damn, damn! Forcing back the rush ofpanic, Claire thought of Hugh, who seemed the embodiment of calm ina crisis. If he could do it, surely she could do the same.

“Either of you guys good with cars?” sheasked with studied indifference. She leaned back over the engineand poked idiotically at the parts. “My car broke down.”

The two men exchanged puzzled looks beforeone asked, “Claire Manning?”

Could they hear her heart pounding in herchest, Claire wondered? No doubt they could see it. She frowned anddecided to play dumb … or dumber, as it were. “I’m sorry, do I knowyou? Riley Cooper, is that you?”

“We’re federal agents, ma’am,” the driversaid as he came around the suburban to join the other agent.Together they moved slowly toward her. “Would you come with us,please?”

“Oh no,” she said insipidly, coming aroundthe side of the car, surreptitiously scanning the area andwondering if she should make a run for it. “I couldn’t do that. Imean, I don’t know either one of you, and a girl has to be carefulthese days, you know?”

Her dismissive response gave the men pause.“We’re federal agents, ma’am,” the driver repeated with clearfrustration.

“Are you really?” Claire asked, trying tokeep the desperation out of her voice as the pair came ever closer.In just a moment more they would be able to physically retain herdespite her weak protests. She looked them up and down, trying tosize them up. Years of kickboxing had given her the potential todefend herself, but could she take them both on?

One agent nudged the other and they reachedinto their jackets. “We have ID, ma’am.” They held them up inunison.

“Not very impressive,” Claire sniffed as sheexamined their badges. “They could be faked.”

A blur of motion caught the corner of hereye and before she could even blink, Hugh swept in, taking thedriver down with a hard hit behind his knees with what looked likea short tree limb. Hugh wielded it like a sword, swinging it aroundto catch the second agent on the side of the head.

Down he went, but the first agent wasstruggling to his feet as he shot a flabbergasted look at Claire,who only shrugged. “See? Now that’s impressive.”

The broom handle caught the agent behind hisknees again and the man hit the ground hard before Hugh brought theend of the branch down on his chest. If it had been a Scottishclaymore, the agent would have been skewered to the ground butinstead all four of the man’s limbs bounced into the air beforefalling lifelessly to the ground.

Hugh looked at Claire, looking more wild anduntamed than she had ever seen him. His eyes were almost black withrage, his brow furrowed and his nostrils flaring as he looked downat the agent once more with a curl to his lip. Picturing him in hiskilt, the wooden pole a sword, Claire couldn’t imagine a moremagnificent picture.

Hugh looked down at the man cowering at hisfeet with some disgust. These feeble men were the authorities theyhad feared encountering? They were no more threatening than a gnat,and put up about as much a fight. How had this time ever reachedsuch amazing heights with men such as these to defend it? Hugh spaton the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of his arm.

Pitiful.

He looked at Claire, finding her wide-eyedbut unafraid. “Did they hurt you?”

“No … watch out!” Claire cried, pointingbehind him, and Hugh turned to find the agent he had hit upside thehead rolling to his side with a pistol in his hand. It was smallerthan the