“Stop fighting me! I just want the money. Give it to me, and I’ll leave you be.”
She wanted to. She really did, but she had no idea what he was talking about. “My purse—”
Someone knocked on the diner’s front door.
Emma’s attacker froze, his hand still fisted in her hair.
The person knocked again, this time hard enough to rattle the doorframe.
“Who is it?” the man growled at Emma.
“I don’t know.”
He shoved her violently, and she stumbled forward, her knees hitting the tile floor. She felt no pain, felt nothing but the fear that coursed through her.
Balmy air lapped at her hot cheeks, and she realized she was alone, the back door open.
“Emma!” Someone called her name, and she tried to respond, but the words caught in her throat.
She had to get up, walk through the dining room and open the front door. Every movement hurt as she dragged herself upright and shuffled out of the kitchen.
“Emma!” The front door rattled, and she took a step toward it, dizzy, off balance. She tripped over something, her hands hitting the ground seconds before her head crashed into the tile floor.
Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Books S.A.
ISBN-13: 9781460321997
HIGH-STAKES HOLIDAY REUNION
Copyright © 2013 by Christy Barritt
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
High-Stakes Holiday Reunion Page 20
