THE MARINE'S LAST DEFENSE by Angi Morgan Page B

lot’s happened today that I was unprepared for and I’m so tired it’s hard to think straight. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
    “We’ll make certain your family’s safe. It’ll work out, Bree.”
    “I’m sure you think so.”
    “I’ll be with you the entire time. Nothing will happen to you, but I need to know everything.”
    “I understand. Now? Or can we go inside first?”
    They got out of the truck. Dallas was in Bree’s arms and he wrapped his jacket around her. She shrugged it away, along with his arm as he tried to take the forty pounds of Lab to his door.
    Inside, she set Dallas on the floor, untied the makeshift silver leash and held her hands out for him to remove the cuffs. He reached into his pocket for the key and a sound of disgust escaped her lips.
    “I could have lied to you about why I’m taking you to Amarillo,” he said as he pocketed the cuffs again.
    “Thanks for reminding me that I’m a fugitive. I know what to expect now.” She rubbed her wrists and then pointed down the hall. “Is the bathroom this way?” He nodded and she ran the short distance. Hand on the knob, she hesitated. “Do you need to come in with me?”
    “It has to be this way, Bree. I promised to uphold the law.” He’d sworn several oaths over his lifetime. Did he still believe he could keep all of them?
    Her hands dropped against her sides as she faced him, visibly defeated. He hated what he had to do, what she must think of him. He admitted, “I don’t have a choice.”
    “Neither do I. No one ever asked me if destroying my life was okay. They didn’t ask if I wanted to give up everything I’d ever known. Or if I wanted to lose my family and have them think I was dead. And they didn’t ask if it was okay to blow up my business and destroy everything I’d worked for since high school. I’m hiding from men who want to kill me for the reason that I was a convenient scapegoat. I completely understand about not having a choice.”
    He could argue with her, but why? Because he’d wanted her phone number that morning? That path was off-limits now. Why? Maybe she was the first woman inside his apartment since the divorce. So what? Maybe he’d brought her here because he couldn’t let her out of his sight.
    Again, so what? She was an attractive woman who he happened to be helping with a problem.
    Stop lying. She’s a suspect who might be as guilty as those men who’d abducted her. How was he lying to himself? A victim of circumstances or a lying con artist? Did it matter? No more questions. No more ifs. He’d save the Watkins family or put Bree in jail.
    Across the room, Dallas circled as if she was about to curl up and sleep. “I should probably walk you before you settle down.” The pup squatted instead. Too late again. He was finished being a step behind. Time to act like who he was.
    A marine.

Chapter Eleven
    “If you’re hungry, I make a mean hot turkey, pastrami and Swiss sandwich.” Jake had his head in the fridge. There wasn’t much else to offer. A cold beer wasn’t exactly what a freezing woman should drink. He didn’t even have frozen dinners left to heat and serve. He’d been guzzling the coffee swill at the department for a week, avoiding the grocery store, occasionally getting a good cup from a diner.
    Bree’s soggy shoes squeaked on the worn linoleum. “Are you certain staying here long enough to eat is a good idea? They said they’d be watching us until we had the money. I don’t think stopping off for a change of clothes and a hot sandwich is what they had in mind.”
    He checked his watch, eight o’clock. He hoped MacMahan could get the gear together in two hours. He needed a list and a moment alone. That’s all the time they could spare before they should be on the road. “I have to make a quick call.”
    “When can I call my family?”
    “It might not be a brilliant idea, but we both stink to high heaven because of that lake dunking. I don’t plan to ride