Read To Protect the Heart of a Brazen Woman [Brazen Sisters 6] (Siren Publishing Classic) for Free Online

s Sam’s property now. Until she orders me off I’m staying.”
    “Fine, then I’ll go.” The fucking little shit let t he door go and bolted.
    Her unexpected retreat didn’t even give him a chance to back off. With all the weight he was putting behind the door , he couldn’t stop himself falling forward. He landed on the floor , taking the brunt of the fall with his shoulder and hip. Pain radiated up and down his side, but he didn’t let it hold him back. He scrambled to his feet , crawling the first few steps toward the back door, which the little witch had left wide open after she dashed through.
    He raced outside and thought he saw a blur of white to the left, but his gut told him to go right. Years of intense situations had taught him to always go with his gut. He made it around to the front of the house in time to see Bobbie’s new yellow Jeep tearing down the driveway, suds and all. Damn, right now he wished she hadn’t gotten rid of that piece of crap she’d driven for the past three years. He would have been able to catch up with her so much easier if she couldn’t get away so fast.
    “Before you chase after her , do you want to tell us what’s going on?” Sam asked from up on the porch.
    “Not yet, but once I get things straight I’ll explain it to all of you. In the meantime , can you pack a bag for her ? W e’ll pick it up when I drag her back.” He could tell neither of Bobbie’s older sisters liked the idea, but they headed inside , hopefully to do as he asked.
    Jake climbed into his truck and tried to think of where to look first. He could radio in for help, but her comment about his new deputy stung too much for him to do that. He knew it was a mistake to hire the kid, but he had all the skills Jake was looking for. How would he have explained not hiring him because he was too handsome? Truthfully , the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind, but it was in there festering now. Did she really think the son of a bitch was cute? It didn’t matter. Neither did the fact she still thought something had happened between him and the new stenographer , Kerri, over at the courthouse. None of it mattered, because they had much bigger and more immediate problems to deal with.
    Bobbie might think she had a legitimate reason to be pissed at him—and maybe she did—but that was only because she refused to hear the truth. Or at least his version of what had happened. Instead , she was getting the information from everyone but him. He hadn’t pushed too hard, because truthfully , he knew she was hurt. Damn it, that was one of the reasons he denied them both what they’d wanted for years. Getting any more romantically involved with her than he already was would only risk hurting her more. Couldn’t she see he was trying to protect her heart? Why couldn’t her sisters see it , either? Maybe they all did and just didn’t care.
    Again , that would all have to be put aside until he dealt with this threat. More than her heart was at risk now , and he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.
     
    * * * *
     
    It had been four days since she had dinner at Beau’s , and this was the first time she’d seen Jake. She had no idea what Beau had said to him, but she’d noticed the bruise starting to go from red to purple on Beau’s cheek when he picked Charlie up that evening. She hated that he’d gotten it on her account. Bobbie expected Jake to show up later that night , and she planned on giving him a piece of her mind, but he never showed.
    He hadn’t called or stopped by to see her at all even though he’d hinted in town that he would—under the guise of some other reason of course—so Bobbie assumed Jake was back to avoiding her. He really didn’t have to, because she was too busy with her own life to think about searching him out. She needed to get the new reservation system installed and get everyone trained before school started next week.
    For now , Jake was nothing more than an annoying