Page 8 of Rescued Faith

“What areyoudoing here?” Bryce asked her.

Before she could say anything, Kianna Russell rushed over to them with a cot. Bryce carefully laid Penny down. She immediately pushed herself up.

Kianna tried holding her down. “Ma’am, you need to lie still. You were?—”

“I’m fine. I need to sit up.”

“You really shouldn’t sit right now. You have a head injury and could make it worse?—”

“You want a head injury yourself? I told you, I’m fine.” There was that mix of fierceness and fire that was all Penny Mitchell. “I don’t need treatment. I need to go.”

Kianna huffed. “You shouldn’t?—”

“Don’t even try, Russell. You won’t get through to her.” Bryce stepped up to the cot, removing his mask and helmet, his gaze tracing the lines of Penny’s beautiful face. Even now, with ash and blood smeared across her cheek, long blonde hair tangled and matted, she could stop his heart with one look. She was gorgeous and dangerous.

Why was that combination so appealing?

But when it came down to it, it didn’t matter. He looked down at her, the first time he’d seen her in well over a year. “Guess it’s time for you to run away again, huh.”

She stared at him.

Bryce said, “Won’t be so easy this time.”

THREE

This wasexactlywhy she hadn’t wanted to come back here and why she needed to leave. Penny’s head pounded enough to tell her she wasn’t imagining things. She wasn’t dreaming. And it wasn’t a hallucination brought on by a head injury.

Bryce Crawford reallyhadrescued her from a burning building. He stood at the foot of her cot looking way better than any man had a right to look when covered with soot and sweat under the glaring red and blue lights of the emergency vehicles.

The concern in those brown eyes was like a kick in the gut.

“Penny, what are you doing here?” he asked.

Good question. Where was she again? Her thoughts didn’t quite come together at first. Then everything crystallized. “My job.” Emma. She’d escaped with the mystery man.

But across the street behind Bryce, the red Nissan was still parked on the curb. Penny climbed off the cot.

The medic reached for her. Penny kind of recognized her but couldn’t come up with a name.

“Ma’am, please. You’re bleeding. You were knocked out. Let us examine?—”

“I have to search that car.” Her feet hit the ground, but everything swayed the second she stood. She didn’t want to be a jerk, but some things were more important than taking the time to make someone feel better.

Bryce caught her arm and righted her. “Whoa. You should?—”

“Don’t tell me what I should do. I lost her.”

“Lost who?”

“Emma Kemper. That’s her car.”

It took more strength than she’d ever want to admit in order to pull out of Bryce’s grip.

His brows furrowed as he looked down at her. “Penny, Kianna is right. You’re bleeding. You need to be checked out.”

Kianna. Right. She should’ve known that. But why waste time letting a paramedic tell her what she already knew. She had a raging headache. Probably a concussion.

“I need to figure out what she had. Her car.”

---