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Riptide (Love Inspired Suspense) - Softcover

Goddard, Elizabeth

 
9780373445479: Riptide (Love Inspired Suspense)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0373445474 ISBN 13: 9780373445479
Verlag: Love Inspired Suspense, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Treasure Hunt

Two surprises await high-stakes repo man Jake Jacobson on his latest job. First, old flame Kelsey Chambers. Second, gunfire! Seizing the luxury yacht should have been easy, but he hadn't planned on Kelsey's appearance. Or that smugglers would hijack the vessel to find an antique map hidden on board. The map is Jake and Kelsey's only leverage…but it carries a price. Without it, they're as good as dead. With it, they're the target of a relentless hunt. Their failed relationship has Kelsey afraid to rely on Jake again. Can she count on him with their lives on the line?

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Elizabeth Goddard is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than fifty novels. Her books have sold over one million copies. She is a Carol Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. When she's not writing, she loves spending time with her family, traveling to find inspiration for her next book, and serving with her husband in ministry. For more information about her books, visit her website at www.ElizabethGoddard.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

What would it feel like to send high-voltage electrical currents through an intruder?

I hope I don't have to find out.

Kelsey Chambers wrapped her fingers around the electroshock device Captain Neely had left with her. Someone had boarded her boss's boat and started the engine. She'd spent enough time on The Buccaneer while working on her travel writing assignment to feel the subtle shift, recognize the rhythmic hum of the motor. It wouldn't be Captain Neely and his wife since they were on the island to celebrate their anniversary.

Sitting in the galley of the small but luxurious yacht, Kelsey left her laptop and the images she'd taken of the San Juan Islands and bounded up the steps.

Gripping the weapon, she stepped above deck into a dreary Pacific Northwest day. Angry voices shouted from the end of the secluded pier. Men ran toward The Buccaneer.

A bullet ricocheted too close for comfort.

"Get down!" a man yelled from behind.

Before she had a chance to face him, he shoved Kelsey to the ground at the same moment she fired the weapon, sending the charged projectiles into the air to connect with nothing. She cried out as her torso slammed against the deck, her knees taking the brunt of it. Where had he come from?

"Good thing you can't aim, lady, I'm trying to protect you!"

Kelsey made to push up.

"Stay down," he hissed, and held her in place.

Another bullet flew by. Covering her head with her arms, she decided to take his advice. "What's going on?" she asked.

Ignoring her question, he held her down as if hoping the danger might pass if they waited long enough. Kelsey wasn't so sure. Peeking through the protection of her arms, she caught a glimpse of his Dodgers' baseball cap, sunglasses and then… Recognition squeezed her, crushing her breathless.

No… It couldn't be.

"Jake?" Confusion hit her like a squall. Jake Jacobson was the man she'd fallen hard for before they had ended their relationship a year ago. "What are you doing on The Buccaneer?"

From his awkward position next to her, Jake stared back in stunned silence, but then shouts from the pier grew louder and his expression turned dark.

"We have to hurry. Can you make it to the cockpit?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Had she really just said that? This hardly seemed like the time to let their past stand in the way.

Hurt flickered across his gaze before it turned cold. "You will if you want to live."

Under the circumstances what choice did she have? Face the men shooting at them—might as well have been a firing squad—or leave with Jake. For a half second, she almost weighed the choices.

He nudged her toward the bow. On trembling knees she crawled forward, up the three steps and hunkered behind a captain's chair in the cockpit. All the while, more gunfire rang in her ears.

Who were these men, and why were they shooting at Jake? At her by default?

His back to her, he took the helm, steering The Buccaneer away from the dock. How had he managed the mooring single-handedly? He needed a code to activate the keyless ignition. Where did he get that? Too many questions bombarded her as everything happened within a fifteen-second span of time. Her mind finally wrapped around the fact that Jake was leaving the dock and taking her with him.

She was being swept right along with the boat.

Lord, how do I get out of this?

Still, to flee the boat while several men shot at them wasn't an option. They had to get away from the gunfire, and she wouldn't stand in Jake's way as he ferried them to safety.

Or was she making a huge assumption here thinking the men at the pier were the threat to her safety rather than Jake?

Escape now. Ask questions later.

A window in the cockpit shattered. A scream tore from Kelsey's throat, as if her voice had a life of its own, and she hunkered even lower, wrapping her arms tightly around her head.

The Buccaneer accelerated, transporting Jake and Kelsey away from the dock and the marina.

"We're out of range now," Jake said. "You can get up."

Slowly unfolding from her position, she stood to face him. "What…what are you doing here? What's this all about?" she demanded. The more she thought about it, though, it seemed apparent Jake was on the run and had stolen The Buccaneer as his means of escape, Kelsey his accidental passenger.

Or was she? He'd seemed surprised to see her on deck, but he could have been faking. Was abducting her part of his plan all along?

He pulled his sunglasses off and glanced her way. Wow. She'd forgotten how he could overwhelm her with those blue eyes. Right now they were the same brooding color of a stormy Pacific Ocean. But he looked different somehow.

"Kelsey?" Jake squeezed his eyes shut and opened them like he'd gotten something in them. "I thought I was seeing things before."

Right. Always the kidder.

That's all he could say after a year? He could put on a good act, or he no longer cared about her. Either way, he had some explaining to do.

Another boater laid on his horn in warning, and Jake returned his attention to maneuvering The Buccaneer completely out to sea.

Kelsey eyed the marina growing distant behind them, confused about what had just happened. "I asked you a question. What are you doing?"

"I'm taking this boat, what does it look like?"

"But why? You want to tell me why someone was shooting at you? At us? Why you're stealing this boat?" His explanation had better be good.

Jake cut her a quick glance then focused on the open waters of the Salish Sea between Washington and Canada. Storm clouds brewed in the distance and the wind picked up, the boat shifting as the water swelled with whitecapped waves.

She'd spent the last good-weathered weekend in the San Juan Islands, finishing out this assignment, and up until ten minutes ago, it looked like she had timed things just right. But how could she have planned for this? She arched a brow, waiting for Jake's response.

"Yeah, about that. I'm sorry," he offered. "I'm not stealing the boat. Just returning it to its rightful owner. I'd planned to make sure no one else was on board when out of nowhere those men started shooting, and then you showed up. I didn't wait around to ask them why, and I couldn't exactly shove you off board into a gunfight, could I? So you're along for the ride. At least for the moment."

He tossed her a half grin, but she could tell he wasn't any happier with the situation than she was.

More likely, though, his reaction had everything to do with being shot at and nothing at all to do with her. A guy like him? He must have moved on already.

An old, familiar ache traced across her heart. She shook off the unwanted melancholy and focused her attention back on the present.

Jake must be in some kind of trouble. That scared her, but she'd picked up the pieces of her heart long ago and couldn't afford to get involved now. Could she? No. Definitely not. In fact, if he was getting shot at, that meant she'd made the right decision when she'd ended their relationship.

"What's going on here, Jake? Really. And I want a straight answer."

He drew in a breath. "Three months ago I boarded this same cruiser yacht in order to reclaim it for the bank. It carries a hefty price tag so it's worth my time."

"Doesn't the boat...

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Verlag
Love Inspired Suspense
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0373445474
ISBN 13 
9780373445479
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
224
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
HarperCollins Publishers, Product Safety Manager
enquiries@harpercollins.ie

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