Flames Of Deceit Read Online Free Page A

her, he was a judge. He’d heard all the excuses. Even to her ears, her explanation seemed far-fetched, but that old saying, truth is stranger than fiction, was repeated so often for good reason.
    For long seconds, he stared at her, doubt filling his gorgeous eyes. And they were yummy. Dark lashes outlined his eyes, making the color more brilliant.
    “Why should I believe you, Mia Clark?”
    His words echoed inside the truck with the cold warning of a man in control of his life. Jake Stone was all the things she wasn’t, or she wouldn’t be his captive.  But she didn’t have time to admire the man she had tripped on the stairs. She needed help. And Jake Stone impressed her. He had listened when she begged him not to call police. Still, she had to make sure. “How do I know I can trust you?”
    “Likewise, Ms. Clark,” he slurred her name as if doubting it was real, and waited for her reaction.
     
    ***
     
    Jake didn’t have any reason to trust her, but one look in her eyes showed him a woman in need, a woman searching for answers. The past gnawed at his conscience. If he had listened six years ago, when the woman closest to his heart had asked questions, things might be different.
    He shook off memory of Sara asking him to stay home that weekend instead of going for a firefighter’s training session. That was past. Mia Clark was his current problem. Being a reporter meant she was trouble. From the few minutes of talking to her, he would definitely stick with that opinion. Big trouble.
    But something about Mia Clark jerked his bruised heart back to life after he’d hidden his emotions for so long. Despite the obvious questions racing around his head, he wanted to know why Mia made him feel things he had ignored all that time.
    Why now?
    He should be concentrating on damage from the fire instead of wondering how Mia Clark had slipped past the barriers shielding his heart. Everything about her indicated her guilt. Timing made her actions seem suspicious. Her clothing proved her desire to escape detection, but from what?
    He could believe she was reporter dressed in black for investigative work on a story. By making that concession, he was giving her the benefit of doubt. She could still be an arsonist. But...
    The fact was he found it hard to believe she had risked breaking the law to clear her brother. More likely, she was on the trail of her next big headline and didn’t want to give clues away. But one question wouldn’t leave his mind. Why had he listened to the pleas of a woman he had never met before now?
    The courthouse behind him was burning. If Mia Clark hadn’t set that fire, she might know who had. He’d heard the panic in her voice. Until he questioned her further, he wouldn’t know if he had used good judgment or fallen under the spell of her stubborn chin and sapphire eyes.
    Listening to her could put the only thing that had kept him sane for the past six years on the line, his career. As a sitting judge, he needed to make the right decisions, but he kept asking the same question. Why had he listened Mia Clark’s plea for help?

Chapter 3
     
    Mia sighed as Jake slammed the rear door of the truck and closed her in the backseat. Struggling to shake the numbness from her sluggish limbs, she leaned forward as he climbed behind the wheel. “Where are we going?”
    Jake glanced over his shoulder. “Stay down out of sight.”
    “You’re leaving before the fire is out?” Mia didn’t dare analyze her reaction to his deep voice. This wasn’t the time for personal issues. Her efforts to clear Phil’s name had backfired. All she’d done so far was make things worse.
    Jake Stone was a judge, for crying out-loud. The man spent his life enforcing the law and to make matters worse, he had rescued her. Would he understand why she had to find the truth about the ex-model’s claims? Did he believe her? Could his influence as a judge have any affect Phil’s chances at re-election?
    She couldn’t let