Lahat ng Kabanata ng Antiquarian's Precious Find: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

“Are you done yet?”Teri startled as Jim banged on the bathroom door again, nearly dropping the pregnancy test into the RV’s toilet. “For pity’s sake, no! I just sat down and with you hovering outside the door incessantly banging like that, you’re giving me performance anxiety.”Through the thin door, she could hear his snort of laughter. “Fine.”“Now you sound like a petulant child.”“Teri, so help me God, I’ll open that door and squeeze some pee out of you myself. Stop torturing me.”She couldn’t help her snicker, and humor at his excited frustration helped her relax. She held the test stick in the flow for several seconds, then capped and set it aside to finish her business. No sooner had she righted her clothes and collected the capped strip, steppin

Lay on your left side. Lay on your right side. Ginger. Lemon. Watermelon. Dry biscuits. Peppermint. Magnesium supplements. Gah! None of it works. Why does none of it work? Teri moaned to herself, trying to lie still, breathe, and not vomit. Morning sickness had been nowhere near as ferocious with Zoe as it was now.Or maybe it had. Maybe she’d been so relieved escaping everything else happening in her life with Zoe she hadn’t noticed how bad the morning sickness was. She couldn’t imagine how she’d missed it, but obviously her life had been filled with stranger things at the time.“Mama?” Zoe whispered from the door. “Are you awake?”“Yes, kiddo. Come over here, please.”“Gently,” Jim cautioned as both he and Zoe came around the bed into view. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed beside T

They think they’re so smart.Nick’s steely gaze followed the bulky figure of an undercover agent from behind a newspaper as the man left the window bar of the coffee house where he’d been idly staring at his phone and picked up his order at the counter.Three cups in the drink carrier for the second day in a row. That answers that question, he thought, shifting in his seat so he could confirm the license tag on the agent’s vehicle as the man entered it. It was the same as the one he’d seen follow Teri’s white SUV from the hospital to Erickson’s house the afternoon he’d returned to Moab and happened upon her there.His gaze flicked to the coffee house employees behind the counter, recognizing one immediately. The assistant manager, a twenty-something stoner he’d treated more than once in the ER for mountain biking and skiing injuries, the

Oh, sweet submissive Teri! Nick almost groaned aloud.Timid as a hare, she shambled towards him with hesitant steps, much to his delight, her slim hand still clutching her phone, holding it like a magical weapon between them, her face drawn in a frightened grimace. When she was close enough to grab, he snatched the device, tossing it towards the lifeless contractors.With another trembling whimper, she tried to bolt away, and thrilled with how perfectly Teri fed him his every desire, he gave chase. Through he tripped over the dog doing it, Nick caught her by the slim ankle, bringing her crashing to the ground with a hard whump and pained cry.Releasing the shotgun to catch at her with both hands, he half-dragged half-crawled up her petite body, pressing his crushing weight down on her and pinning her scrambling hands behind her neck.“Attempt to do that again and I’ll kill the next person I see. Do you understand?” he snarled at her ear and beneath him her delicate body trembled fierce

Nick had considered himself fit and healthy, but this was a supreme physical effort for which he was unprepared. Besides that he’d been up nearly twenty-four hours straight in preparation for snatching her, lugging even Teri’s petite body over his shoulders for miles and juggling two backpacks and the shotgun was making it difficult to manage passage on the rough terrain. Especially without leaving much of a discernable trail.Plus, he still had another miserable mile to go just to reach the canyon’s end. Though the climb out was traversable, it was still over steeply sloping topography, slippery with loose rock, pebbles and sand. Over such treacherous ground, he’d be unable to carry the unconscious woman. Since there was absolutely no way he was leaving his prize behind, the sooner Teri woke the better.He’d seen Erikson attempt to land the small aircraft and have to take off again, bu