Read The Lawman's Nanny Op for Free Online Page B

Doris’s place and I’ve called for an ambulance, but thought you might want to know.”
    Sam had barely gotten the words out of his mouth before Caleb hung up. He grabbed his jeans and pulled them back on, his heart thundering with urgency.
    He snatched his car keys and was on the road within seconds. Unconscious: that didn’t sound good. What had happened? He knew that stretch of highway was narrow, but Portia had driven it enough times to know it like the back of her hand.
    So, what had happened? How had she wrecked? And how badly was she hurt? He squeezed the steering wheel tightly and stepped on the gas, unable to get to the scene fast enough.
    No matter what their past, Portia had never moved far out of his heart. Even the love he’d thought he’d had for Laura hadn’t rivaled what he’d once felt for Portia.
    As always, thoughts of Laura created a hot ball of anger in his chest. What she’d done to him was unforgivable and even though it had been a little over a year ago, the rage he felt toward her hadn’t diminished.
    But he couldn’t think about that now. He had to get to Portia.
    His heart nearly stopped as he rounded a curve and came upon the scene. The front end of Portia’s red car was smashed against a tree trunk.
    Gus Swanson and his wife, Martha, stood next to the car and Portia was prone on the ground next to them. A sigh of relief escaped Caleb as he saw Portia raise a hand to her head. At least she was conscious now.
    He jumped out of his car and approached at the same time he heard the sound of a siren in the distance. Good, the ambulance would be here within moments.
    The air bag had deployed and as Caleb assessed the damage to the front of her car he knew her seat belt and the air bag had probably saved her life.
    “Caleb.” Gus greeted him with obvious relief. “She’s conscious now but she was unconscious when we found her. We didn’t want to move her but were afraid to leave her in the car with all the hissing and smoke.”
    “Did you see what happened?” Caleb asked.
    “No, it must have happened just before we got here,” Gus replied.
    As the sound of the ambulance siren grew louder, Caleb hurried toward the car. Martha nodded to him as he approached Portia.
    Her forehead was red and sporting a big lump, her face was as pale as the moonlight overhead and her eyes were big and vaguely unfocused.
    A band squeezed his chest as she once again reached a hand up and rubbed her forehead. “I’m fine,” she said before he could say a word. “I just want to go home.”
    “You’re going straight to the hospital,” he replied, worried when she once again closed her eyes. “Portia, can you tell me what happened?”
    Her eyes fluttered open once again and in the bright silver moonlight he saw the fear that darkened the hazel depths. “Somebody hit me from behind and I spun out of control.”
    At that moment two paramedics moved in to get her on a stretcher. Caleb stepped back to allow them to do their job.
    When she was loaded up Caleb walked at her side to the open door of the ambulance. “I’ll meet you at the hospital,” he told her as they were about to load her into the vehicle.
    “Caleb, someone hit me on purpose. It was a pickup truck and it rammed me not once, but twice. Definitely on purpose.” With that, she was loaded in and Caleb watched the ambulance pull away.
    Her words rang inside his head like a deafening bell. On purpose . Was it possible she was confused about what had happened?
    He thanked Gus and Martha for their help and then grabbed a flashlight from the back of his car. He approached Portia’s wrecked car once again and shone the light on the back bumper.
    There was no question that it had been hit from behind. The back bumper was smashed in as well as a portion of the trunk. He leaned closer and noticed flecks of black paint on the bumper.
    When he straightened, a chill waltzed up his spine. If what Portia had told him was true, and the physical evidence