Cowboy Delirium
Cowboy Delirium
Joanna Wayne
After her uncharacteristic behaviour made headline news, buttoned-up Olivia Balfour has been sent far away from home. The English rose will work for Clint McAlpine - a cattle baron who's as fierce and untamed as his Outback station. But she's shocked when Clint informs her that she's entirely at his beck and call.It's almost impossible to shake Olivia's composure. But the heat of the Australia sun - and her new boss's kisses - are fast melting the ice queen.
About the Author
JOANNA WAYNE was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from LSU-Shreveport. She moved to New Orleans in 1984, and it was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organization. Her debut novel was published in 1994.
Now, dozens of published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and single-title novels. She has been on the Waldenbooks bestseller list for romance and has won many industry awards. She is also a popular speaker at writing organisations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.
Joanna currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star State. You may write to Joanna at PO Box 265, Montgomery, Texas 77356.
“I promise you’ll rue the day you kidnapped me.”
Jaime jerked free of Rio’s grasp and stumbled away from him, bracing herself to fight him off.
The physical advances didn’t come. Instead he stood against the closed bedroom door. “I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I’d like to keep you safe.”
She studied the man she’d first considered a hunk. In any other situation, she would have found him attractive in a rugged, risky sort of way. His jaw line was craggy, his physique muscular. His short, thick hair was blue-black, like midnight on a moonless night.
But it was his eyes, piercing yet shadowed with mysterious incongruities, that got to her the most. They tempted her to believe there really might be more than evil lurking behind those burning depths.
But could she afford to find out?
COWBOY DELIRIUM
JOANNA WAYNE
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
This book is dedicated to all my loyal readers who couldn’t get enough of the Collingsworth family and asked repeatedly when Jaime would get her man. Also to America’s brave law enforcement officers and military personnel who sacrifice so much to keep us safe. And to my hubby for cooking dinner for me when I get so busy writing I forget to do it for him.
Chapter One
“Surely you can’t be cruel enough to send me away without so much as a nightcap?”
Jaime Collingsworth found that difficult to believe herself. Afull moon, a gorgeous, fascinating man who was hot for her, and she was going to dismiss him with a kiss at her door. But duty called—and had left two messages.
“We’ve been out late every night this week,” she reminded him.
“I know,” he said, slipping his arm along the back of the car seat to massage her shoulder. “But I have this serious problem. I simply can’t get enough of you.”
“Slow down, tiger. No need to rush the romance. And I absolutely have to get up in time tomorrow to make it to Jack’s Bluff for Sunday brunch. I haven’t been to the ranch in four weeks, and my mother is on my case big time.”
Actually Jaime missed her mother as well. Her family was huge and could be overwhelming, but still, she was looking forward to visiting with all of them, especially her young nieces and nephews. Her new Houston townhouse was great, but Jack’s Bluff Ranch was home.
“You could take me with you,” Buerto said. “I’d love to meet your family, especially that cantankerous grandpa you keep talking about.”
“So you keep saying, but I hate those meet-the-family occasions. They are far too stressful.”
“You sound as if you’ve had a lot of them.”
“Not so many.” But enough that she hated to go through the ordeal when she didn’t have to. “It could be fun, though,” she teased. “You’d be sized up more thoroughly than a new bull being introduced to the herd.”
“Four protective cowboy brothers checking me out and one of them an armed law enforcement officer,” Buerto said. “Why does that not amuse me the way it does you?”
“They all have guns,” Jaime said. “But it’s my mother you’d really have to worry about.”
Buerto waited for the gate to her townhouse complex to open and then drove inside. He slowed as they passed the sparkling fountain, English gardens and finally the privacy border of thick shrubbery.
He stopped in front of her three-story townhouse. “I’ll assure your mother that my intentions are honorable.”
“It won’t help. She knows mine never are.”
That wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough. Jaime liked guys. She just never fell in love, at least not the way her sister, Becky, and her brothers had.
For her, men were more like a new pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes or a Roberto Cavalli gown. They were intoxicatingly seductive when first acquired, but lost their glamour and excitement when the newness wore off.
There was an outside chance it could be different with Buerto—which was reason enough not to throw him to the wolves this early in the relationship.
She shifted in her seat, letting the short skirt of her sky-blue dress inch up to mid-thigh for Buerto’s benefit as she reached for the door handle.
He leaned across the seat and kissed her before sliding out his side of the car to walk her to the door.
Once up the short walk, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close. His advance was interrupted by a black sedan that skidded to a stop behind his silver Porsche.
The doors flew open and three men jumped out. One of the men was short and slightly balding. Another was tall with a crooked scar that ran from his right temple to the center of his cheek. The third was a certified hunk, hard bodied, clean shaven, cocky swagger. And holding a gun.
Panic ripped through her. She and Buerto were about to be robbed. She scanned the area. No one was in sight, and she knew her closest neighbor was out of town.
Two of the men went for Buerto, shoving him backward and pinning his arms against the front wall of her house.
Jaime tore her handbag from her shoulder and threw it into the driveway. “Take the money. Please. Just take it and go.”
The hunky guy wrapped an arm around her and started dragging her to the car. “We’re taking you with us. Better if you don’t put up a fight.”
“Take your hands off her,” Buerto yelled.
The effort to save her earned him a punch in the face. The shorter assailant shoved him to the pavement and kicked him in the stomach before grabbing Jaime’s purse and keys.
Then he put a gun to Buerto’s head. “If you go to the cops, your girlfriend’s as good as dead. Tell that to her family. We’ll be in touch.”
The man who held her lifted her and threw her into the backseat of the car. She got in one swift knee to the crotch that narrowly missed its target.
The taller guy was waiting for her in the car. He reached over and she felt a sharp prick in her forearm. A needle.
“Handle her, Rio,” the needle wielder barked as he climbed out of the backseat.
The hunky thug slid in beside her.
Not about to give in without a fight, she sank her teeth into his shoulder and bit down as hard as she could. He barely winced, but he quickly closed his hand over her mouth and gripped it so firmly she couldn’t even part her lips.
Her vision had begun to blur—no doubt from whatever was in that syringe—but she caught a glimpse of Buerto as they sped away. He was groveling on the ground in obvious pain. He hadn’t died trying to defend her. At least there was that.
The man beside her looked her in the eye, and the intensity of his gaze seemed to crawl inside her. He put his mouth to her ear. “Trust me, and you’ll get out of this alive.”
She’d sooner trust a viper. Her eyes grew heavy and her head begin to spin. This could not be happening to her.
Except that it was.
Chapter Two
Zach Collingsworth pushed through the front door of the big house carrying four cold beers. He handed one to each of his three brothers and then took a big gulp of the last one before propping his backside against the porch railing. God, it felt good to be home after three weeks combing dusty Texas border towns.
“So what’s up with your new task force assignment?” his brother Langston asked. “Are you getting a handle on curbing the violence?”
“It’s hard to say,” Zach admitted. “A week ago two border patrol agents were killed, assassination style, in the driveways of their own homes. The week before that, an innocent kid was killed in a drive-by. This week, nothing.”
“Any arrests?” his brother Matt asked.
“No. That’s the worst part. There were witnesses to the kid getting killed but no one’s willing to talk for fear of retribution. And there’s no evidence as to who took out the border patrol officers other than it looks like the work of the drug cartels.”
“So we’re still losing the war on domestic terrorism right here in our own state,” Bart said. “This is not the world I want my infant son to grow up in.”
“We’ll stop it,” Zach said. “Texans always come out on top. You know that. I’m just worried about how many innocent people will die before we do.”
Langston took a swig of beer and then caught hold of one of the chains that held the porch swing, giving it a rattling shake. “Make sure you’re not one of those victims, Zach. You’ve got a lot to live for.”
“So did the agents who went down. But believe me I’m not planning on making my beautiful wife a widow anytime soon. So how’s the oil business?” he asked Langston, ready to change the subject. He’d shared about all he could anyway. The operations of the newly formed task force were mostly confidential.
“We’re feeling the financial pinch like everyone else, but we’re still economically sound.”
“And the cattle business?” Zach asked, turning his attention to Matt and Bart, who co-managed Jack’s Bluff Ranch.
Before they could answer, the hum of a motor sounded in the distance. All their gazes immediately redirected to the curving dirt ranch road leading to the house.
Zach pushed up the sleeve of the pale shirt Kali had bought for him in the new western shop in Colts Run Cross last week. “Nearly midnight. Awful late for company.”
“Sign of trouble,” Bart said. “Probably one of the neighbors needing help bringing a troublesome calf into the world.”
Tension settled in the pit of Zach’s stomach. Over the last few weeks the word trouble had taken on much darker connotations for him. He checked his cell phone. No new messages from Kali since she’d called to tell him that she’d made it back to their neighboring ranch and that her pregnant mare showed no sign of foaling before morning.
Kali had left him at Jack’s Bluff to bond with his brothers over beer and conversation. She knew he needed that. Kali had a way of always knowing what he needed. More often than not what he needed was her.
He didn’t recognize the low-slung silver sports car that came into view and then slowed as it approached the house. “Not a neighbor,” he said, “unless one of them just bought a new Porsche.”
“Ten bucks says the driver’s lost,” Matt said.
Bart stretched and stood from his perch on the porch railing. “Lost or looking for Jaime. There’s a full moon tonight and that seems to bring out all her jilted Texas exes.”
“Poor suckers,” Zach said. His twin sister did have a habit of leaving a string of broken hearts in her wake.
A lean, slightly muscled man jumped from the car when it stopped and strode toward them. When he stepped into the circle of light from the porch, it was clear he’d been in a fight and probably not come out the winner.
Langston walked down the steps to meet him. “Can we help you?”
“I’m here about Jaime.”
Zach’s stomach clenched as he stepped to Langston’s side. There was no way this could be good. “What about her?”
“She’s been kidnapped.”
An ominous, choking silence hovered just long enough for them to get their minds around the pronouncement. Then the questions started flying all at once.
“When?”
“Was she hurt?”
“Kidnapped by whom?”
“How do you know this?”
“Who the hell are you?”
The stranger put his hand up as if the questions were blows. “Are you her brothers?”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “Now start talking.”
“Okay, but I’m on your side. My name’s Buerto Arredondo. Jaime works for me.”
“You’re the art collector?”
He nodded. “I’m in the States to buy art for a resort I’m building just outside Mexico City.” He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped a stream of sweat from his brow.
“Tell us what happened to Jaime,” Zack insisted impatiently. He didn’t give a damn what this guy did or didn’t collect.
“We’d visited an art gallery in the Heights this evening and then gone to dinner. I was walking her to her door when three men jumped us. I tried to stop them but I couldn’t fight off all of them. They threw Jaime in the back of their car and took off.”
“Did she know them?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure they knew who she is. They said if I went to the police they would kill her. I was told to make certain her family got that same warning.”
Zach muttered a curse and slammed his right fist into his left hand. “Not again.” It hadn’t even been two years since they’d had to rescue his nephews, Derrick and David, from a lunatic. It was like they’d become a target for all the crazies in the world.
“Did the kidnappers say anything else?” he asked. “Did they give any clue as to who they were or when they would contact us?”
“Nothing.”
“Did they hurt Jaime?”
“They manhandled her. That’s all I saw but who knows what they’re capable of. You have no choice but to cooperate with them.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” Langston said. His voice was firm. He was the oldest brother, the leader of the family, a responsibility he took seriously.
Zach didn’t question his intelligence or abilities, but kidnapping was a criminal act and that put this squarely in Zach’s saddle. Besides, Jaime was his twin. As different as they were in many aspects, he shared a bond with her that none of the others did.
“Start at the first, Mr. Arredondo,” Zach said, “and tell us every detail. Leave nothing out, no matter how unimportant it may seem.”
“Please, call me Buerto. And I think you should know that I am not only your sister’s boss.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’re in a relationship, a very close relationship. I care a great deal for her. This is as hard on me as it is on you.”
Zach didn’t fully buy that, but all that mattered now was getting Jaime home safely. Whoever the sons of bitches were that abducted her, they’d just taken on the whole Collingsworth clan, and even Buerto Arredondo had best not get in their way.
LENORA WOKE TO THE SOUND of male voices coming from the kitchen below her bedroom and the odor of freshly perked coffee. She rolled over and checked the time on her bedside clock. Twelve twenty-eight.
It wasn’t all that unusual for her sons to talk past midnight. With Zack working on that new task force, it had been weeks since they’d all been together. But she didn’t recall their ever making coffee this late—unless something was wrong.
That fact forced the last dregs of sleep from her eyes. Kicking back the sheet, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and padded to her closet for her robe.
She picked up on the unfamiliar voice as she approached the kitchen. A cold shudder stampeded through her nerves when she heard him mention Jaime’s name. Had there been a wreck? Had she been riding that motorbike Lenora hated so much?
Pushing through the door, Lenora planted herself in the center of the kitchen and stared at the stranger sipping coffee from one of her blue pottery mugs. Her gaze left him to scrutinize each of her sons, reading the turbulence that clouded their eyes.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened to Jaime?”
Langston wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Sit down, Mom.”
She yanked from his grasp. “I don’t need to sit down. Was there a wreck? Is Jaime in the hospital? Is she hurt?”
“She’s been abducted.”
Lenora’s chest contracted until she could barely breathe. There had to be some kind of mistake. Everyone loved Jaime. No one would hurt her. She stared at the stranger again. “Who are you?”
“This is Jaime’s boss,” Zach said. “He was with her when three men attacked them and left with Jaime. He’s only here to help.”
Lenora grabbed the man’s arms. “You let them take my daughter? You let them take Jaime?”
“I tried to stop them,” he said.
Matt pulled his mother into his arms. “He’s here to help, Mom. We’ll get Jaime back. You can count on that. Just try to stay calm while we think this through.”
The empty words of reassurance roared in her head and a pain so intense it blinded her jabbed through her heart. Her chest exploded, and her mind went off in a million fiery tangents.
The pain hit again, and this time she felt herself crashing against the table. Jaime’s face appeared for a second and then vanished in a frigid swirl of black.
TWO HOURS AFTER THE ABDUCTION, the black sedan turned onto an isolated, muddy logging road that didn’t appear to have been used in years. In the backseat Rio Hernandez was still fuming at the turn of events and the lack of warning he’d had about what was going down. Not only did this not advance his own agenda, it put a serious kink in it.
“Where the hell are we going?” Rio demanded. “Or is that top secret, too?”
“There’s an old fishing camp at the end of the road,” Poncho answered from the driver seat. “You two beasts and the beauty will hold up there until we hear otherwise.”
The front right tire plunged into a deep pothole and the car shuddered and jerked, throwing the semiconscious prisoner against Rio’s shoulder.
He steadied her, aware of the softness of her skin beneath his hand and the silky texture of her hair as it brushed his rough cheek. His insides revolted at the quick stir of attraction. Definitely not the time for his libido to get into the act.
The woman’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up, meeting Rio’s gaze. Confusion clouded the deep blue of her irises, making her appear far more vulnerable than she’d looked when sinking her sharp white teeth into the sinewy tissue of his shoulder.
A gurgle resonated from deep in her throat, capturing the attention of the other passenger in the car. From the front Luke turned so that he could see into the backseat. “You two getting all cozy back there?” A croaking laugh punctuated what he saw as an amusing comment.
“What’s it to you?” Rio quipped.
“No one gave you first dibs on her,” Luke retorted.
“She ain’t up for dibs,” Poncho said. “She’s not entertainment. She’s collateral. Get it?”
“Yeah, we get it,” Rio said. “So is this hottie worth going to prison for?”
“No one’s going to prison on her account, not unless you guys foul things up. Then you still won’t have to worry. You won’t live long enough to face a judge and jury.”
Two miles farther and the road played out completely. Poncho finally pulled to a stop in a cluster of towering pine trees. Just beyond them, a ramshackle cabin with a leaning chimney and a half-rotted stoop waited unwelcomingly.
“This is home for the next few days,” Poncho said.
Rio opened the car door and stepped into a soggy bed of pine straw. “This dump? No self-respecting rat would stay here.”
Luke screwed his lips into a scowl as he climbed from the front seat. “I’m not sleeping with rats.”
“You’ve slept with worse,” the driver commented.
Luke worried the scar on his face and stepped over a downed limb. “You aren’t going to leave us stranded out here in the middle of nowhere, are you?”
Poncho reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring with one key attached. He tossed it to Luke.
“There’s a car parked out of sight behind the cabin, but you’re to stay put until you get word to drive the woman somewhere. When you do, tie her, gag her and lock her in the trunk. There’s rope and duct tape ready and waiting.”
“Looks like the end of the friggin’world,” Luke said. “Phones aren’t going to work out here.”
“Your phones will work. It’s all been checked out. They’re essential to the plan’s execution.” Poncho scratched his balding head and swatted at a mosquito feeding on his cheek. “Help the lady inside,” he ordered, directing his command at Rio.
Rio tugged the woman from the car and half carried, half dragged her toward the cabin. She was in no shape to offer resistance, but she didn’t help, either.
It was more like dragging a dead weight along beside him and he had to be careful not to let her feet get caught in the scratchy brambles that had overgrown the path. Once inside, he let her slide from his grasp into a faded arm chair.
Luke went to the kitchen corner of the main living area and started rummaging through nearly empty cabinets, slamming the doors in disgust as he went. “What are we supposed to eat?”
“Those boxes in the trunk have food and water in them.”
“That’s more like it.” Luke went back for the goods, giving Rio the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
“Is this about a ransom or a payback?” he asked Poncho.
“A ransom. If it were payback, she’d be dead.”
“Who’s the victim?”
“Jaime Collingsworth.”
“Collingsworth as in Collingsworth Oil?”
“Could be.”
“So this is about money?”
“You’ll find that out if and when you need to know.”
“I didn’t sign on to be treated like a second-class citizen.”
“You do as you’re told, Rio.”
“That’s not how it was explained to me. I’m a Navy SEAL. We don’t play the role of flunky.”
“You were a SEAL. Now you’re just the new guy on the block. The boss wants proof you’re a hundred percent before he invites you to the dinner table.”
“Carlos would have never thrown me a crumb if he hadn’t checked me out fully. I was told I’d be a key player.”
Poncho leaned on the short counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. “This kidnapping is big, Rio. See this through without a glitch, and you’ll see plenty of action next time from the inside out. And your bonus will make all the trouble worthwhile.”
“I’ll see it through, but I don’t want any more surprises like the abduction tonight. And I’d just as soon you take that buffoon with you when you leave.” He nodded toward the door where Luke had stepped outside. “He’ll be nothing but trouble for me.”
“Luke’s not as dumb as he seems. And the boss trusts him to do as he’s told without talking. That counts.”
Carlos might trust Luke, but Rio didn’t, especially now that he had the sexy spitfire thrown into the mix. Any way he looked at it she was solid trouble. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not your friend.
Odd how that old Murphy’s Law of military combat came back to haunt him even now.
He needed more information about the woman, and he wasn’t going to get it from Poncho. That meant he needed a minute without Luke hanging over his shoulder. He had to bide his time.
When Luke returned to guard the victim, Poncho and Rio did a quick walk-through of the small cabin.
There were two bedrooms, one with a couple of twin beds, the other with a double bed. The one window in that room had been securely boarded up. The door locked with a key from the outside. No doubt this was Jaime’s room.
The furnishings in Jaime’s temporary prison consisted of the bed with a saggy mattress and pine bedside table topped with a cypress-knee lamp that looked as if it had been crafted by a six-year-old. Rio flicked on the lamp. To his surprise it worked.
A pine rocker with a deerskin seat sat next to the door that led to a bathroom the size of a small broom closet. It held only a toilet and a stained sink. The rusting medicine cabinet on the wall was missing a cover. It had been mirrored, Rio surmised, and removed so that Jaime couldn’t break it and use a jagged sliver of the glass as a weapon.
Jaime had revived enough that she was sitting up straight in the chair when Poncho finally took his leave. She pulled her arms over her chest and looked Rio in the eye. “Whatever he’s paying you to keep me here, I can pay you more to let me go.”
Luke walked over and propped on the arm of her chair and stroked her chin with a slightly crooked finger. “Now why would we want to let a pretty lady like you leave?”
She shoved his hand away. “Because if you don’t, my brothers will find you and kill you.”
“Yeah, well, your brothers aren’t here now, are they, sweet thing? It’s just you and us.”
Rio stiffened. “Let up, Luke.”
“Don’t get so huffed up. No one said she’s yours.”
“I’m saying it.” Rio walked over and tugged Jaime to a standing position. He pulled her close and let his hand cup her firm buttock so that Luke didn’t miss the message. “You’re off duty now, Luke. I’m taking over for the night.” He led Jaime toward the bedroom.
She snarled as he pushed her inside, her words still a bit slurred when she said, “Go ahead. Get your filthy kicks, but I promise you’ll rue the day forever that you kidnapped me.”
Rio figured that was a damn safe bet.
Chapter Three
Jaime jerked free of Rio’s grasp and stumbled away from him, bracing herself to fight him off. Not that she could. She’d have never broken free at all if he hadn’t intentionally loosened his grip on her arm.
The physical advances didn’t come. Instead the man stood with his back against the closed bedroom door. “Don’t worry,” he said. “All I want from you, Jaime Collingsworth, is a few answers.”
Relief left her weak, but tension still crackled in the stuffy, dimly lit room. He knew her name. That didn’t surprise her. “I thought you had all the answers.”
“I’m working on it. Tell me about your family.”
“What about them?”
“Are they wealthy?”
“No,” she quipped. “They’re dirt poor and mean. Rattlesnake mean.”
“So that’s where you get your winning personality. Let’s start over and this time, stick to the truth.”
“Why, because you’ll do something drastic like kidnap me and lock me up in a filthy, disgusting room if I lie?”
“I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I’d like to keep you safe.”
She studied the man she’d first considered a hunk. In any other situation, she would have found him attractive in a rugged, risky sort of way. His jawline was craggy, his physique muscular without having the exaggerated features of a body builder.
He was taller than Buerto by a good four inches, which put him well over six feet. His short, thick hair was blue-black, like midnight on a moonless night.
But it was his eyes, the color of rich cognac, piercing yet shadowed with mysterious incongruities, that got to her the most. They tempted her to believe there really might be more than evil lurking behind those burning depths.
She couldn’t afford that luxury.
“The other men called you Rio. Is that your real name or just an alias?”
“It’s my name. Tell me about your brothers,” he coaxed. “Are they in politics?”
“Yes, and they’re very influential. They probably have every Texas Ranger, cop and trooper in the state looking for you right now.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. And lying to me isn’t helping your cause.”
“What makes you think I’m lying?”
“Not think. Know. Chalk it up to my experience with conniving enemies.”
Jaime sucked in a deep breath, determined not to play into this man’s hands. “If you know so little about me, why did you kidnap me? Did you follow Buerto and me from the restaurant?”
“Is Buerto your husband?”
“Yes.”
“And I guess you always kiss your husband good night at the door after you’ve gone out for the evening?”
She sucked in a ragged breath. This was getting her nowhere.
Rio walked across the room and approached the bed. Her heart plummeted and dread sucked the breath from her lungs. She backed away until her body was against the wall.
Rio jerked back the faded quilt, tossing it to the foot of the metal bed. “Mattress is garbage but the sheets look clean enough,” he noted.
They looked dingy and disgusting to her. But they’d do, as long as she was the only one crawling between them.
He stepped past her and peered into the bathroom. “I’ll see if I can find you a bar of soap and a towel and washcloth. If you need anything else or change your mind about cooperating with me, knock on the door. I’ll hear you. That offer is just between the two of us. Tell Luke anything I tell you in confidence and I swear I’ll stand back and let him have his way with you.”
So the actions in front of Luke had been for her protection. Either he found her undesirable himself or else he wasn’t entirely evil. If it was the latter, maybe she could make that work for her.
If it was the former…
Well, who cared that a brute found her resistible?
He turned and walked from the room without looking back, but she heard the key turn in the lock before his footfalls faded in the distance.
Anxiety-fed adrenaline still quickened her pulse and churned in her stomach as a legion of more pressing questions took over her mind.
Was Buerto okay and had he told her family? How had her brothers reacted to the news? Were they planning to cooperate with the kidnappers or had they gone straight to the police or maybe the FBI? Was there a mass manhunt already underway?
How was her mother taking the news?
Jaime’s heart constricted at the thought of her mother having to face this kind of worry and fear. She had to find a way to get word to her that she was okay. No, she had to find a way to escape.
She’d never overpower her kidnappers. They were simply too muscular and strong. She’d have to outsmart them. That would be difficult with Rio. He was cagey himself and had already shown that he didn’t fall for her lies. If she were to outfox anyone, it would have to be Luke.
She kicked free of her favorite stiletto sandals, for once wishing she’d worn a pair of boring, sensible shoes. Instead she was stuck in the wilderness dressed for a night on the town. That pretty much eliminated making a run for it through the woods.
Something skittered across her bare toes. She looked down as a giant cockroach paraded along her instep. A scream escaped before she could swallow it back.
Before she regained her equilibrium, her door flew open. Rio stormed in as the frightened roach scurried over the bare wooden slats.
He dropped the soap and towels on the bed and stamped on the insect with his booted foot, leaving it a mass of squishy pulp on her floor. This time his lips drew into a half smile.
“Nice to know you’re afraid of something, Jaime Collingsworth.”
RIO PACED THE BARE FLOORS, almost subconsciously familiarizing himself with the accompanying groans and squeaks. He’d been totally unprepared for the abduction and that concerned him. His BUDs training had prepared him to deal with anything thrown at him, but his years of experience as a frogman had fine-tuned his senses and ability to read even ambiguous clues with precision.
Yet he hadn’t suspected the kidnapping.
Still he was convinced that tonight’s act was only a prelude to something a lot bigger.
But what?
He needed information on Jaime and the rest of the Collingsworths if he were to figure that out. Jaime clearly wasn’t going to just buy his good-guy act and spill any helpful details. He’d have to find enough privacy to make a phone call.
Rio stepped into the dark, narrow hallway, pausing at Jaime’s door. The sounds of her rhythmic breathing indicated she’d finally fallen asleep. The unwanted image of her tanned, shapely body stretched out on top of the worn sheets burrowed into his mind. His body reacted as if he’d swallowed a handful of jalapeños.
He shook his head, but the erotic visions didn’t budge. Instead they became more distinct. He imagined his fingers tangling in her silky hair, disheveling the blond strands as his lips explored the smooth column of her neck.
Tiptoeing away from her door, he checked on Luke. He was still snoring away, his bare feet sticking out of the tangled sheets of one of the twin beds.
The guy was impulsive, with a quick temper that exploded with little warning. Worse, he was never far from the trigger of his Glock. Nothing like an untimed explosion to foul up a mission.
Rio retraced his path to the kitchen and then stepped onto the back porch, careful to step over gaps left by rotted boards. The lake was only a few yards behind the house, but the towering pines hid it from view. That was no doubt part of the reason the cabin had been chosen as a hideaway. It was virtually invisible from the front or the back until you were right on it.
He walked a few yards of the overgrown path toward the water, then stepped behind the trunk of an aged oak tree. Out of sight and too far away to be overheard if Luke did wake and venture out to look for him, yet close enough he could hear Jaime if she screamed—over a roach or worse.
Bending, he removed the small phone from inside his left boot, his fingers brushing the handle of the hunting knife that rested there in its twin leather sheath. Neither Poncho nor Luke suspected he had this completely private and untraceable mobile device on him.
He placed the call, knowing there would be an almost instant response even at this time of the night. He wasn’t disappointed.
“What’s up?”
“Trouble.”
“Specifics?”
“I’ve just helped kidnap a woman named Jaime Collingsworth. I’m guessing she’s connected to Collingsworth Oil.”
“You kidnapped Jaime Collingsworth?” A few curses punctuated the incredulity in his tone.
“I take it that means you know who she is.”
“I was good friends with her brother Langston back when we were riding the high school rodeo circuit. Jaime was just a kid then, but I met her on several occasions. And not only do the Collingsworths own Collingsworth Oil, they also have the second biggest ranch in Texas.”
So the cartel had taken a major risk in kidnapping Jaime—meaning they expected a bonanza from this. And Rio had ended up right in the middle of it, exactly where he’d hoped to be. Only he hadn’t been counting on Jaime to complicate matters.
Rio gathered all the facts he could from the phone call. By the time he’d broken the connection and walked back to the cabin, his head was reeling with the new information, but none of the confusion had been cleared.
He still needed answers and the rest would have to come from the sexy blond spitfire who seemed less afraid of him than she was a cockroach. Every path in sight was mined.
But he’d signed on to do a job. And with a frogman, even a former one, failure was never an option.
IT RAINED SOMETIME during the night, a steady downpour that cleared the pollen from the air and then gave way to the brilliant glow of the morning sun. Even filtered through the layers of grime that smudged the cabin’s windows, the rays painted the dingy kitchen in golden streams of light.
Rio checked out the refrigerator for food while Luke sat at the marred kitchen table scratching the toes of his right foot. Jaime was still in her room, though Rio had unlocked it a good half hour ago and told her she was welcome to come out for coffee.
The options for food were limited, but better than Rio had expected. “How about toast, bacon and eggs?” he asked.
“I could go for that,” Luke agreed, finally reaching for his sock, “but I say make the broad cook it. Cooking’s woman’s work.”
“Easy to see why you’re not married.”
“I’m serious. I don’t see why she should just get to lie around all day while we wait on her.”
“She didn’t exactly plan the party.” Rio took a skillet from the dishes he’d washed earlier that morning. With roaches and who knows what other insects and rodents scampering about, detergent and hot water seemed a good idea. He placed the bacon in it and put it over a low fire, then started spreading butter on bread for toast.
Soft footfalls sounded in the hall. He turned around just as Jaime stepped inside the kitchen door.
“There’s coffee,” Rio said, his eyes riveted to the petite, but shapely woman who showed little signs of the stress she had to be feeling.
Her wraparound dress was wrinkled, but hugged her perky breasts and firm, round buttocks provocatively. She’d shed the jewelry and the sexy heels. Her bare feet and freshly scrubbed face made her look almost waiflike. Her hair, which had been up last night, was down, the strawberry-blond locks tumbling around her shoulders. Disheveled. Tempting.
“I’d like to take a shower,” she said. “Or isn’t there one in this disgusting place?”
“There’s one,” Rio said, “but it’s not working. The water’s a bit cold in the lake, but I’ll walk you down there after breakfast if you’d like to bathe.”
Luke leered at her. “I’ll take care of that chore.”
She shot him a castrating look. “I’d sooner wallow in mud.”
“Yeah, that sounds fun, too.”
Rio filled a clean mug with coffee and handed it to her. “There’s sugar on the counter and milk in the fridge if you want it.”
“No, this is fine,” she murmured. “Thanks.”
There was a pause before the last word, as if it was added as an afterthought. He hoped that meant she was coming around to the point where she might cooperate with him, but he wouldn’t hold his breath waiting for that.
“How do you like your eggs?” he asked.
“Why ask her?” Luke quipped. “She ought to be cooking for us, if the princess knows how to scramble an egg.”
Jaime marched across the kitchen, planted herself in front of the grease-stained range and grabbed the carton of eggs. She broke two into the small skillet and then glared at Luke. “How much arsenic do you want in yours?”
“You got a smart mouth on you, you know that? I want them over easy, and don’t break the yolks.”
Rio removed a pan of toast from beneath the broiler and watched as she deliberately pricked the first yolk and let the yellow run to the edges of the skillet. If they made it through breakfast without a major flare-up between her and Luke he’d be surprised—and relieved.
He didn’t put anything beyond Luke, especially if Jaime pushed him. He’d as soon rape her as not. The way he was looking at her right now evidenced the thought was already festering in his mind.
When the eggs were ready, Jaime slid them onto a plate, sprinkled them generously with salt and pepper and then tossed a couple of slices of toast next to them. “Jelly?” she asked, eyeing a large jar of strawberry preserves.
“Sure, sweetheart. Why not?” Luke said, smiling. “And I want you to sit with me while I eat. Right here,” he said, patting his right knee. “We need to get to know each other better.”
Her expression was one of fury, but her hands were steady as she opened the jar and spooned a large helping of the sticky condiment onto the plate next to the eggs. Padding across the floor determinedly, she stopped inches from Luke.
Luke patted his knee again. Jaime smiled. Rio’s muscles hardened into bulging knots as he braced himself for trouble. Jaime took the last step and then tripped, falling against the table as the plate dropped from her hands and landed upside down in Luke’s lap.
Curses flew from Luke’s mouth as he leapt from the chair and grabbed her arm. “You bitch. You did that on purpose.”
She tilted her head back and stared at him defiantly.
Luke fit one hand around her smooth neck, letting his fingers dig into the flesh. “Lick it off,” he demanded. “Every drop. Lick it off.” He pushed her face into the sugary mound of red preserves that clung to his jeans.
Jaime’s knee jerked upward, connecting with Luke’s groin, and this time the man went totally berserk. Rio flew across the room, reaching them just in time to stop Luke’s fist before it slammed into Jaime’s jaw.
He shoved Luke against the wall. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Giving that tramp what she deserves. You saw what she did.”
“That tramp is the reason we’re here. Mess her up and you’ll answer to Poncho. We both will. Is that what you want?”
“Poncho or not, I’m not taking that off no woman.”
“She dropped a plate. That’s all.”
Luke muttered a new string of curses. “She didn’t drop it. She dumped it on me.”
“So get over it. We got a job to do and it doesn’t include roughing up the victim. You could get carried away and blow the whole ransom deal. You know what that will get you.”
The fight slowly went out of Luke. His muscles quit straining and his fists relaxed. By the time Rio let go of him, smoke was filling the room. Rio hurried to turn off the fire under the skillet.
And then he noticed that Jaime was nowhere in sight. Damn. In that split second when he was dealing with Luke, she must have made a getaway. But she was barefoot. She couldn’t have gotten far.
He rushed toward the back door and caught sight of a wave of blue fabric weaving through the trees. He took off running, the pine straw skidding from beneath his feet, low limbs from scraggly trees tearing at his shirt.
If she escaped, he could kiss goodbye any chance of continuing to be a player. He made a dive for her as she skirted the muddy banks of the lake. They both went down in a tangle of arms, legs and wild locks of blond hair.
Jaime lay beneath him, facedown and spewing clumps of damp earth from her mouth. He rolled her to her back, straddled her and pinned her hands above her head to keep her from fighting him.
Her dress hung off one shoulder, revealing a mound of perfect flesh and a deep reddish-pink nipple that stared him in the face.
His body hardened and desire engulfed him in blistering waves. He rolled off her, leaving her short dress to bunch at her waist. A few wayward blond hairs peeked from beneath the wisp of black lace pantie.
He groaned, but kept her pinned to the earth. A man could only take so much.
Chapter Four
Jaime’s heart pounded and her breath came in painful gasps.
“You’re not making this easy,” Rio said, staring into her eyes, his voice suddenly hoarse.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Please, don’t.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
His words were all but drowned out by the sound of someone running in their direction. Luke. He’d been slower than Rio, but he was mere steps away now.
Rio let go of one of her arms and quickly tugged the shoulder of her dress back into place so that it covered her breast, his thumb brushing the tip of her nipple as he did. His muscles seemed to tense at the touch, but he didn’t linger. By the time Luke reached them, he’d pulled her skirt back in place so that she was completely covered.
“I see you found the runaway princess,” Luke said, his breathing still heavy as he almost stumbled over them.
“No thanks to you,” Rio snapped.
Luke’s face twisted into a scowl. “Don’t go laying the blame on me. She’d have never escaped in the first place if you hadn’t been acting like some macho hero.”
“I’ve just got better sense than to damage the merchandise before we’re paid for it.”
Luke spit in the dirt, the phlegm falling mere inches from Jaime’s head. Her stomach turned, but this time she bit back the angered sarcasm that flew to her tongue.
She had to play this smarter. Angering Luke wasn’t going to speed her escape or help her stay alive until her brothers could rescue her.
“Go back to the house,” Rio ordered. “I’ve got unfinished business with the princess.”
“You’re not my boss.”
“Damn good thing.”
“And you don’t own the woman.”
Rio laid a hand on Jaime possessively, his thumbs resting just below her breasts. Luke lingered, staring at her as if he could see right through the wrinkled dress before leering contemptuously and ambling back toward the house.
Rio’s gaze followed Luke until he’d completely disappeared in the trees. He exhaled slowly and scooted away from Jaime, letting go of her entirely.
“I can’t say much for the company you keep,” Jaime said.
“I didn’t do the choosing.”
“You’re here.”
“I do what I have to.”
“Then just let me go,” she pleaded. “I’ll pay you and you won’t have to split the ransom with anyone.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“It could.” But it was clear he wasn’t buying and what he did say didn’t make a lot of sense. “How much ransom did you ask for?”
“Can’t say.”
“Because you let those stupid thugs call all the shots?”
“For now, except with you. I’ll be calling the shots with you, and if you’ve got a brain in that pretty little head of yours, you’ll listen. Rule number one, don’t try anything stupid like that feeble escape attempt again.”
Not until she got half a chance.
Rio moved into a sitting position and tugged her up to do the same. “We need to talk, Jaime.”
“I’ve told you all I plan to about my brothers. You may collect a ransom, but you’ll never live to enjoy it. They’ll hunt you down and—”
“I know about your siblings. Your oldest brother Langston is CEO of Collingsworth Oil. Your brothers Matt and Bart run Jack’s Bluff Ranch. Your brother Zach is in law enforcement. Your sister, Becky, is married to Nick Ridgely, former Dallas Cowboy star.”
Just as she expected. The kidnappers knew her situation all too well. She hadn’t been a random hit.
“Who’s the black sheep of the family?” Rio asked.
“We don’t have one. We leave the dirty dealings to people like you.”
“Every family has a backslider, maybe one who’s involved with dealing drugs. That pays really well these days, I’m told. A huge, respectable ranch might be just the place to stash a shipment from Mexico.”
Fury fired through her. One minute she could almost convince herself to trust Rio. The next, she ached to slap him hard across that rugged, handsome face. “How dare you accuse my brothers of something so despicable!”
“I’m just asking.”
“I’m through talking to you.” She stood, yanking her dress down to cover as much thigh as she could. “Now I’m going to walk down to that lake and wash the mud off me. You do as you please.”
He smiled for the first time since he’d tackled her to the ground. “Is that an invitation?”
For some stupid reason, she felt heat rush to her cheeks. She turned so Rio wouldn’t see her blush.
“You don’t need an invitation. You have the gun. But don’t think I’d ever welcome your touch, not if you were the only man left on earth.” She stamped away without looking back.
She could hear Rio following her, and turned when she reached the water’s edge. He’d stopped a few yards from her and leaned against a tree, giving her space. He looked relaxed, cocky. More like a sexy protector than a villain who held her life in his hands.
Probably all part of his diabolical plan, she told herself. He expected her to trust him because he didn’t force himself on her and protected her from Luke’s perverted advances. She had to find a way to escape, but outsmarting Rio might be impossible.
That left Luke. He was totally disgusting and she wouldn’t put anything past him. But it was clear he was the weaker of the two both mentally and physically. If she was going to escape, it would have to be on his watch.
Heaven help her if she failed and was left at his mercy alone.
ZACH ARRIVED BACK at the hospital at ten before ten in the morning, parked in a space reserved for law enforcement and bolted up the stairs to the ICU waiting room where he and his brothers and sister were to meet with the doctor.
Langston, Bart and Becky had been there since they’d followed the ambulance to the hospital last night. Matt had stayed at the big house in case there was a call from the kidnappers. So far there hadn’t been.
Zach had been on the move, investigating the crime scene on his own and combing police records for cons who met the descriptions Buerto had given them. He was no closer to a lead on who had abducted Jaime.
Langston saw Zach enter the waiting room and motioned him to the far left corner of the room where they’d staked claim to a group of chairs. “The doctor’s with Mother now. He’ll see us as soon as he comes out.”
“Glad I made it in time. Have you seen Mom since we last talked?”
“They let me go in for a couple of minutes,” Becky said. “The nurse thought I might calm her.” Her voice lowered. “Even drugged, she’s restless and jerky, and there was nothing I could say to change that.”
Zach leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Did she ask about Jaime?”
“No. She’s still drifting in and out of sleep from the drugs they’re giving her, but the nurse said she’d called out Jaime’s name when she was sleeping. I’m sure that as soon as she’s fully alert, she’ll demand answers.”
Zach wished to hell they had some. “As soon as the doctor finishes with us, we have to find a place to talk in private.”
Bart nodded. “I’m for that. I think we should reconsider our current strategy.”
They’d agreed to hold off on calling in the cops or the FBI until they heard the kidnappers’ demands, but no one had expected the wait to be this long.
Zach’s phone rang. The group grew instantly quiet, though there was no real reason to think the kidnappers had his cell number. He answered.
“Buerto,” he said out loud, so that they would know to whom he was talking. They stared at him, their anxiety tangible.
“I’ve heard from the kidnappers,” Buerto said.
“Why did they call you?”
“I guess because I was with her when they abducted her.”
“What did they say?”
“It would be better if we could talk about this in person.”
”I’m at the hospital waiting to talk to Mom’s cardiologist.”
“I’m already on my way to the ranch, so I can be at the hospital in about fifteen minutes, twenty at the most.”
“I don’t see the point in waiting that long.”
“Can you talk freely?”
“I can listen.”
“Not good enough. The deal they want is complicated.”
Zach’s irritation level skyrocketed. The kidnappers should have come directly to the family. Where did they get off dealing with some guy who was a stranger to all of them?
“Call me the second you arrive at the hospital.”
“Naturally,” Buerto answered and then quickly broke the connection. Zach returned his phone to the clip at his waist.
“Contact?” Langston asked, carefully choosing his words so that no one outside the family would know they were talking about a kidnapping.
“Yeah. Through Buerto. He’s on his way here right now.”
“Why call him?” Becky asked, her question echoing his own. “He’s not family.”
Doctor Gathrite joined them before Zach was forced to admit he had no answer to that question.
“There’s a small conference room down the hall we can use,” the doctor said. “It will be more private there.”
They followed him to a room that smelled of stale coffee. The furniture was limited to a half dozen metal folding chairs and a table barely big enough for the five of them to squeeze around. A counter on the back wall held a coffee maker that had long since finished brewing.
Dr. Gathrite stood back for them to enter, then offered coffee, which only Langston accepted. The cardiologist settled in a chair at the head of the table.
Zach found a spot to stand against the side wall. He was too keyed up to sit.
“Do you have the results of the tests, Doctor?” Becky asked.
“We do, at least enough to make a few diagnostic assessments. The good news is there’s no significant blockage in the arteries that feed the heart and no sign of a blood clot.”
“I don’t understand,” Bart said. “If there’s no blockage, what caused the coronary attack?”
“The attack appears to have been caused by a sudden spasm, one so intense that it cut off the blood flow through the artery. That’s far less common than an attack brought on by cardiovascular disease or a clot, but it sometimes happens in otherwise heart-healthy individuals.”
Langston set his coffee cup on the table in front of him. “Then you think her heart attack was brought on by stress?”
“There are factors other than emotional or physical trauma that can cause a spasm, such as certain drugs or exposure to extreme weather conditions. But, yes, in your mother’s case, the evidence points to stress.”
Becky clasped her hands in front of her. “How much damage was there to her heart?”
“You can count your blessings there, too,” Dr. Gathrite said. “The permanent damage is minimal. The issue now is having her avoid any additional emotional trauma.”
Which was basically impossible unless they were able to arrange Jaime’s safe return quickly. Zach only half listened to the rest of the doctor’s spiel and the details of treatment. Zach’s concern for his mother was a given, but the only way he could help her, or Jaime, was to acquire Jaime’s safe release.
His cell phone vibrated and he checked the caller ID. Buerto. Zach excused himself and went into the hall to take the call.
Langston followed him. “This is a family dilemma, Zach. Bart, Matt and I will be with you when you meet with Buerto.”
He clapped his oldest brother on the back. “I never doubted for a minute that you would.”
IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON BEFORE Jaime heard from either of her kidnappers again, though she could hear them talking through the thin walls. Occasionally she heard a door slam or Luke’s snorting laugh.
She’d tried her door a couple of times, but it was locked tight. And the boards that had been nailed over the window wouldn’t budge. She’d need something on the order of a pickax to remove them. If she ever got outside this room again, she’d snoop to see what kind of tools she could find.
Finally, Rio opened the door and ordered her out to eat. She followed him to the kitchen. Luke lay on the sofa, his bare feet hanging over the edge. His gun was on a homemade coffee table instead of tucked inside his shoulder holster. It was the only good sign.
“I made you a sandwich,” Rio said, pushing a plate toward her. “It’s not much, but it will keep you going.”
She washed her hands at the kitchen sink and returned to the table, choosing a chair that made it easy to watch Luke and the gun. It was almost as if he were taunting her with it, deliberately tempting her to steal it.
The sandwich was a couple of slices of white bread smeared with a spicy mustard and wrapped around a piece of tasteless luncheon meat. She chewed and choked it down with a sip of lukewarm bottled water.
The two men barely spoke to each other as she ate, but when they did, the growing tension between them crackled like flames in a pile of dry leaves. Had she caused or merely added to the friction? She suspected it was the latter.
Luke looked disgustingly disheveled, his clothes wrinkled and stained from the breakfast she’d dumped in his lap. The underarms of his shirt were circled with perspiration. A glob of what looked to be dried mustard stuck to the stubble of whiskers on his chin.
Rio, on the other hand, had apparently bathed in the lake. His hair was damp, raked back but with thick locks falling over his forehead. He was shirtless, revealing a muscled six-pack, a rock-hard abdomen. He wore his virility well.
Luke rose, padded past her and stopped at the back door, staring out like a caged animal. “I need some whiskey.”
Rio ignored the comment.
“I’m serious, man. I need a drink.”
“There’s water.”
Luke uttered a string of vile curses, then walked back to the sofa and plopped down on the saggy, soiled cushions. “We got a car right outside. It wouldn’t hurt anything for me to drive into the nearest town and find a liquor store.”
“You have a short memory. Poncho said the car was to be used only at his orders. I didn’t hear him order a whiskey run.”
“Well, if I have to stay cooped up in this godforsaken place much longer without liquor, I’ll go nuts. How’s that for a friggin’ emergency?”
“Suck it up,” Rio said.
“Suck it up yourself, pantywaist. I got the key to that car right here.” He pulled a metal ring from his pocket and shook it. “You think you can stop me if I decide to take the vehicle?”
Rio stood and glared down at Luke, his muscles flexed so that his forearms looked like balls of steel. “I could stop you if I gave a damn. I don’t. If you want to flout Poncho’s rules, go right ahead. In the meantime, I suggest you guard the prisoner.” With that he turned and strode out the back door, leaving her alone with Luke.
Jaime pushed the rest of her sandwich aside and walked to the back door. Rio trod the path to the lake, and then stepped into a cluster of trees, disappearing from sight. A sliver of panic rode her spine—an unconscious, but stupid and dangerous reaction. If she started depending on Rio to save her, she was doomed.
She was alone with Luke now. He had the car key and a weapon resting beside him in plain sight. If she could get her hands on the key and the gun, the power would switch to her hands.
Her heart began to race as a plan took form. She smoothed her hair with her fingers and bit her lips to give them some color. There was nothing she could do about her bare feet or the less than pristine condition of her dress.
Retaking her seat and turning toward Luke, she crossed her legs and kicked one seductively. “How do you stand Rio bossing you around all the time?”
Luke looked her up and down, leering as his gaze settled on various parts of her body. She struggled to keep from retching.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Did the macho Navy SEAL go limp on you this morning?”
“Rio’s a SEAL?” She blurted out the question without thinking.
“He was until they kicked him out. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you. He thinks it makes him better than me.”
It wouldn’t take much to be better than Luke. Still, it shocked Jaime to think that a former SEAL could be mixed up in a kidnapping at gunpoint.
“I think you should go get that whiskey,” she said. “I know I could use some.”
“Sure, go get the whiskey and leave you alone so you can try to escape again.”
“You could take me with you.”
“And have you yell out in the store that I’m holding you captive? I’m nobody’s fool, princess.”
“I never said you were.” She walked over and sat down beside him. He smelled of garlic and sweat, making her stomach churn.
He laid a hand on her thigh. “Now you’re getting smart, sweetheart. I’m the real man here. You be good to me, and I’ll be good to you.”
“How good?” She forced a sultry tone to her voice and fought off another wave of nausea. The impulse to stare at the gun was almost overpowering, but she couldn’t do anything to make Luke suspicious.
He pressed his lips against hers. Fighting revulsion and the urge to clock him, she kissed him back. When his hands groped beneath her dress, she reached out and closed her hand around the gun.
“Hands over your head or I’ll shoot,” she ordered as she broke the kiss.
Curses fired from Luke’s mouth, but he raised his hands above his head. She took a deep breath, working to get her wits about her. Then with one quick move, Luke battered his head into her chest. She fell backward, but didn’t let go of the gun.
Her finger circled the trigger, but before she could pull it, Luke kicked the pistol from her hands. She fell on top of it, but he yanked her back up by her hair. The pain was so intense, she felt as if she were being scalped. She kept fighting for the gun, but Luke was too strong for her. The weapon slipped from her grasp.
She tried to break away and run. Her foot slipped.
Gunfire exploded in her brain and blood splattered over her like crimson rain.
Chapter Five
“Lawmen are reporting lots of new faces in Texas border towns.”
“Assassins?”
“It’s possible, but not definite. No one has come up with details, but the consensus is that Detonation Day is imminent. We may have a matter of days to stop it. Perhaps less.”
And Rio was stuck out here in this miserable cabin guarding some woman the drug lords had decided was worth kidnapping. “I’ve let everybody down,” he said into his miniature cell phone.
“If you go strictly by results, we all have. As long as you’re in the middle of the kidnapping, you may still be valuable. And if not, you’re in a position to save at least one—”
A thunderous clap of gunfire drowned out the rest of the sentence. Rio took off running without bothering to explain. He covered the few yards to the cabin in seconds, horror building at what he might find.
The blood was the first image that registered when he opened the door. It dripped from Jaime’s face and puddled in the folds of her dress. She’d fallen back against the cushions of the sofa. Her eyes were glazed with dread—or pain.
He plunged back into the past and into a memory so vivid that sharp pains needled his heart. He had trouble breathing. His feet refused to move.
A split second later, adrenaline coursed through his veins again, and he crossed the space that separated him from Jaime. It was then that he spotted Luke, draped over the far side of the sofa, still clutching the pistol though his left leg was soaked in blood. The leg of his jeans was torn from the bullet and Luke was using his left hand to apply pressure to the gaping wound.
“The bitch shot me.”
It was Luke who’d been shot, not Jaime. The blood was Luke’s. Rio had little success wrapping his mind around how that had happened but it was enough for now that she was okay.
Luke raised the pistol and pointed it at Jaime. “No woman shoots me and gets away with it.”
Rio extended his open hand. “Give me the gun, Luke.”
“Get the hell out of my way or I swear I’ll kill you, too.”
“You kill Jaime, and Poncho will see that you never see another sunrise. Is a death sentence what you want, Luke? If not, hand me the damn pistol.”
Luke muttered under his breath, a few curses that even Rio hadn’t heard before, but he had to know Rio had spoken the truth.
“Just hand me the gun so I can treat the wound.”
Luke grimaced and fell back to the couch, finally dropping the gun to the floor.
Rio kicked it to the other side of the room and turned to Jaime. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I didn’t shoot him. I took the gun from him but he wrestled it away from me. He was holding it when it went off.”
“We’ll sort it out later.”
“That’s how it happened.”
“I believe you.”
Not that the details mattered. For Rio, knowing she was okay stilled the panic that had nearly torn him apart when he’d first heard the gunshot and again when he’d seen the blood.
He took her hand and squeezed it. The touch vibrated through him and he dropped her hand too quickly, backing away from her and turning toward Luke before he had time to think about why she affected him the way she did.
He put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I should take a look at that wound.”
“If you can drag yourself away from the bitch that long.”
Jaime stood a bit shakily. “I’ll wash up in case you need help with Luke.”
Luke glared at her. “You lay a hand on me, and I’ll break it off.”
“Go back to the bedroom,” Rio said, trying to calm the wounded man and make this easier on Jaime. “If I need you, I’ll call for you.”
She nodded and walked away, shoulders squared, head high in spite of what she’d been through. Jaime was all woman, but she had a fighting spirit about her that would have fit in well with his team of frogmen.
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Joanna Wayne
After her uncharacteristic behaviour made headline news, buttoned-up Olivia Balfour has been sent far away from home. The English rose will work for Clint McAlpine - a cattle baron who's as fierce and untamed as his Outback station. But she's shocked when Clint informs her that she's entirely at his beck and call.It's almost impossible to shake Olivia's composure. But the heat of the Australia sun - and her new boss's kisses - are fast melting the ice queen.
About the Author
JOANNA WAYNE was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from LSU-Shreveport. She moved to New Orleans in 1984, and it was there that she attended her first writing class and joined her first professional writing organization. Her debut novel was published in 1994.
Now, dozens of published books later, Joanna has made a name for herself as being on the cutting edge of romantic suspense in both series and single-title novels. She has been on the Waldenbooks bestseller list for romance and has won many industry awards. She is also a popular speaker at writing organisations and local community functions and has taught creative writing at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College.
Joanna currently resides in a small community forty miles north of Houston, Texas, with her husband. Though she still has many family and emotional ties to Louisiana, she loves living in the Lone Star State. You may write to Joanna at PO Box 265, Montgomery, Texas 77356.
“I promise you’ll rue the day you kidnapped me.”
Jaime jerked free of Rio’s grasp and stumbled away from him, bracing herself to fight him off.
The physical advances didn’t come. Instead he stood against the closed bedroom door. “I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I’d like to keep you safe.”
She studied the man she’d first considered a hunk. In any other situation, she would have found him attractive in a rugged, risky sort of way. His jaw line was craggy, his physique muscular. His short, thick hair was blue-black, like midnight on a moonless night.
But it was his eyes, piercing yet shadowed with mysterious incongruities, that got to her the most. They tempted her to believe there really might be more than evil lurking behind those burning depths.
But could she afford to find out?
COWBOY DELIRIUM
JOANNA WAYNE
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
This book is dedicated to all my loyal readers who couldn’t get enough of the Collingsworth family and asked repeatedly when Jaime would get her man. Also to America’s brave law enforcement officers and military personnel who sacrifice so much to keep us safe. And to my hubby for cooking dinner for me when I get so busy writing I forget to do it for him.
Chapter One
“Surely you can’t be cruel enough to send me away without so much as a nightcap?”
Jaime Collingsworth found that difficult to believe herself. Afull moon, a gorgeous, fascinating man who was hot for her, and she was going to dismiss him with a kiss at her door. But duty called—and had left two messages.
“We’ve been out late every night this week,” she reminded him.
“I know,” he said, slipping his arm along the back of the car seat to massage her shoulder. “But I have this serious problem. I simply can’t get enough of you.”
“Slow down, tiger. No need to rush the romance. And I absolutely have to get up in time tomorrow to make it to Jack’s Bluff for Sunday brunch. I haven’t been to the ranch in four weeks, and my mother is on my case big time.”
Actually Jaime missed her mother as well. Her family was huge and could be overwhelming, but still, she was looking forward to visiting with all of them, especially her young nieces and nephews. Her new Houston townhouse was great, but Jack’s Bluff Ranch was home.
“You could take me with you,” Buerto said. “I’d love to meet your family, especially that cantankerous grandpa you keep talking about.”
“So you keep saying, but I hate those meet-the-family occasions. They are far too stressful.”
“You sound as if you’ve had a lot of them.”
“Not so many.” But enough that she hated to go through the ordeal when she didn’t have to. “It could be fun, though,” she teased. “You’d be sized up more thoroughly than a new bull being introduced to the herd.”
“Four protective cowboy brothers checking me out and one of them an armed law enforcement officer,” Buerto said. “Why does that not amuse me the way it does you?”
“They all have guns,” Jaime said. “But it’s my mother you’d really have to worry about.”
Buerto waited for the gate to her townhouse complex to open and then drove inside. He slowed as they passed the sparkling fountain, English gardens and finally the privacy border of thick shrubbery.
He stopped in front of her three-story townhouse. “I’ll assure your mother that my intentions are honorable.”
“It won’t help. She knows mine never are.”
That wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough. Jaime liked guys. She just never fell in love, at least not the way her sister, Becky, and her brothers had.
For her, men were more like a new pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes or a Roberto Cavalli gown. They were intoxicatingly seductive when first acquired, but lost their glamour and excitement when the newness wore off.
There was an outside chance it could be different with Buerto—which was reason enough not to throw him to the wolves this early in the relationship.
She shifted in her seat, letting the short skirt of her sky-blue dress inch up to mid-thigh for Buerto’s benefit as she reached for the door handle.
He leaned across the seat and kissed her before sliding out his side of the car to walk her to the door.
Once up the short walk, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close. His advance was interrupted by a black sedan that skidded to a stop behind his silver Porsche.
The doors flew open and three men jumped out. One of the men was short and slightly balding. Another was tall with a crooked scar that ran from his right temple to the center of his cheek. The third was a certified hunk, hard bodied, clean shaven, cocky swagger. And holding a gun.
Panic ripped through her. She and Buerto were about to be robbed. She scanned the area. No one was in sight, and she knew her closest neighbor was out of town.
Two of the men went for Buerto, shoving him backward and pinning his arms against the front wall of her house.
Jaime tore her handbag from her shoulder and threw it into the driveway. “Take the money. Please. Just take it and go.”
The hunky guy wrapped an arm around her and started dragging her to the car. “We’re taking you with us. Better if you don’t put up a fight.”
“Take your hands off her,” Buerto yelled.
The effort to save her earned him a punch in the face. The shorter assailant shoved him to the pavement and kicked him in the stomach before grabbing Jaime’s purse and keys.
Then he put a gun to Buerto’s head. “If you go to the cops, your girlfriend’s as good as dead. Tell that to her family. We’ll be in touch.”
The man who held her lifted her and threw her into the backseat of the car. She got in one swift knee to the crotch that narrowly missed its target.
The taller guy was waiting for her in the car. He reached over and she felt a sharp prick in her forearm. A needle.
“Handle her, Rio,” the needle wielder barked as he climbed out of the backseat.
The hunky thug slid in beside her.
Not about to give in without a fight, she sank her teeth into his shoulder and bit down as hard as she could. He barely winced, but he quickly closed his hand over her mouth and gripped it so firmly she couldn’t even part her lips.
Her vision had begun to blur—no doubt from whatever was in that syringe—but she caught a glimpse of Buerto as they sped away. He was groveling on the ground in obvious pain. He hadn’t died trying to defend her. At least there was that.
The man beside her looked her in the eye, and the intensity of his gaze seemed to crawl inside her. He put his mouth to her ear. “Trust me, and you’ll get out of this alive.”
She’d sooner trust a viper. Her eyes grew heavy and her head begin to spin. This could not be happening to her.
Except that it was.
Chapter Two
Zach Collingsworth pushed through the front door of the big house carrying four cold beers. He handed one to each of his three brothers and then took a big gulp of the last one before propping his backside against the porch railing. God, it felt good to be home after three weeks combing dusty Texas border towns.
“So what’s up with your new task force assignment?” his brother Langston asked. “Are you getting a handle on curbing the violence?”
“It’s hard to say,” Zach admitted. “A week ago two border patrol agents were killed, assassination style, in the driveways of their own homes. The week before that, an innocent kid was killed in a drive-by. This week, nothing.”
“Any arrests?” his brother Matt asked.
“No. That’s the worst part. There were witnesses to the kid getting killed but no one’s willing to talk for fear of retribution. And there’s no evidence as to who took out the border patrol officers other than it looks like the work of the drug cartels.”
“So we’re still losing the war on domestic terrorism right here in our own state,” Bart said. “This is not the world I want my infant son to grow up in.”
“We’ll stop it,” Zach said. “Texans always come out on top. You know that. I’m just worried about how many innocent people will die before we do.”
Langston took a swig of beer and then caught hold of one of the chains that held the porch swing, giving it a rattling shake. “Make sure you’re not one of those victims, Zach. You’ve got a lot to live for.”
“So did the agents who went down. But believe me I’m not planning on making my beautiful wife a widow anytime soon. So how’s the oil business?” he asked Langston, ready to change the subject. He’d shared about all he could anyway. The operations of the newly formed task force were mostly confidential.
“We’re feeling the financial pinch like everyone else, but we’re still economically sound.”
“And the cattle business?” Zach asked, turning his attention to Matt and Bart, who co-managed Jack’s Bluff Ranch.
Before they could answer, the hum of a motor sounded in the distance. All their gazes immediately redirected to the curving dirt ranch road leading to the house.
Zach pushed up the sleeve of the pale shirt Kali had bought for him in the new western shop in Colts Run Cross last week. “Nearly midnight. Awful late for company.”
“Sign of trouble,” Bart said. “Probably one of the neighbors needing help bringing a troublesome calf into the world.”
Tension settled in the pit of Zach’s stomach. Over the last few weeks the word trouble had taken on much darker connotations for him. He checked his cell phone. No new messages from Kali since she’d called to tell him that she’d made it back to their neighboring ranch and that her pregnant mare showed no sign of foaling before morning.
Kali had left him at Jack’s Bluff to bond with his brothers over beer and conversation. She knew he needed that. Kali had a way of always knowing what he needed. More often than not what he needed was her.
He didn’t recognize the low-slung silver sports car that came into view and then slowed as it approached the house. “Not a neighbor,” he said, “unless one of them just bought a new Porsche.”
“Ten bucks says the driver’s lost,” Matt said.
Bart stretched and stood from his perch on the porch railing. “Lost or looking for Jaime. There’s a full moon tonight and that seems to bring out all her jilted Texas exes.”
“Poor suckers,” Zach said. His twin sister did have a habit of leaving a string of broken hearts in her wake.
A lean, slightly muscled man jumped from the car when it stopped and strode toward them. When he stepped into the circle of light from the porch, it was clear he’d been in a fight and probably not come out the winner.
Langston walked down the steps to meet him. “Can we help you?”
“I’m here about Jaime.”
Zach’s stomach clenched as he stepped to Langston’s side. There was no way this could be good. “What about her?”
“She’s been kidnapped.”
An ominous, choking silence hovered just long enough for them to get their minds around the pronouncement. Then the questions started flying all at once.
“When?”
“Was she hurt?”
“Kidnapped by whom?”
“How do you know this?”
“Who the hell are you?”
The stranger put his hand up as if the questions were blows. “Are you her brothers?”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “Now start talking.”
“Okay, but I’m on your side. My name’s Buerto Arredondo. Jaime works for me.”
“You’re the art collector?”
He nodded. “I’m in the States to buy art for a resort I’m building just outside Mexico City.” He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped a stream of sweat from his brow.
“Tell us what happened to Jaime,” Zack insisted impatiently. He didn’t give a damn what this guy did or didn’t collect.
“We’d visited an art gallery in the Heights this evening and then gone to dinner. I was walking her to her door when three men jumped us. I tried to stop them but I couldn’t fight off all of them. They threw Jaime in the back of their car and took off.”
“Did she know them?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure they knew who she is. They said if I went to the police they would kill her. I was told to make certain her family got that same warning.”
Zach muttered a curse and slammed his right fist into his left hand. “Not again.” It hadn’t even been two years since they’d had to rescue his nephews, Derrick and David, from a lunatic. It was like they’d become a target for all the crazies in the world.
“Did the kidnappers say anything else?” he asked. “Did they give any clue as to who they were or when they would contact us?”
“Nothing.”
“Did they hurt Jaime?”
“They manhandled her. That’s all I saw but who knows what they’re capable of. You have no choice but to cooperate with them.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” Langston said. His voice was firm. He was the oldest brother, the leader of the family, a responsibility he took seriously.
Zach didn’t question his intelligence or abilities, but kidnapping was a criminal act and that put this squarely in Zach’s saddle. Besides, Jaime was his twin. As different as they were in many aspects, he shared a bond with her that none of the others did.
“Start at the first, Mr. Arredondo,” Zach said, “and tell us every detail. Leave nothing out, no matter how unimportant it may seem.”
“Please, call me Buerto. And I think you should know that I am not only your sister’s boss.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’re in a relationship, a very close relationship. I care a great deal for her. This is as hard on me as it is on you.”
Zach didn’t fully buy that, but all that mattered now was getting Jaime home safely. Whoever the sons of bitches were that abducted her, they’d just taken on the whole Collingsworth clan, and even Buerto Arredondo had best not get in their way.
LENORA WOKE TO THE SOUND of male voices coming from the kitchen below her bedroom and the odor of freshly perked coffee. She rolled over and checked the time on her bedside clock. Twelve twenty-eight.
It wasn’t all that unusual for her sons to talk past midnight. With Zack working on that new task force, it had been weeks since they’d all been together. But she didn’t recall their ever making coffee this late—unless something was wrong.
That fact forced the last dregs of sleep from her eyes. Kicking back the sheet, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and padded to her closet for her robe.
She picked up on the unfamiliar voice as she approached the kitchen. A cold shudder stampeded through her nerves when she heard him mention Jaime’s name. Had there been a wreck? Had she been riding that motorbike Lenora hated so much?
Pushing through the door, Lenora planted herself in the center of the kitchen and stared at the stranger sipping coffee from one of her blue pottery mugs. Her gaze left him to scrutinize each of her sons, reading the turbulence that clouded their eyes.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened to Jaime?”
Langston wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Sit down, Mom.”
She yanked from his grasp. “I don’t need to sit down. Was there a wreck? Is Jaime in the hospital? Is she hurt?”
“She’s been abducted.”
Lenora’s chest contracted until she could barely breathe. There had to be some kind of mistake. Everyone loved Jaime. No one would hurt her. She stared at the stranger again. “Who are you?”
“This is Jaime’s boss,” Zach said. “He was with her when three men attacked them and left with Jaime. He’s only here to help.”
Lenora grabbed the man’s arms. “You let them take my daughter? You let them take Jaime?”
“I tried to stop them,” he said.
Matt pulled his mother into his arms. “He’s here to help, Mom. We’ll get Jaime back. You can count on that. Just try to stay calm while we think this through.”
The empty words of reassurance roared in her head and a pain so intense it blinded her jabbed through her heart. Her chest exploded, and her mind went off in a million fiery tangents.
The pain hit again, and this time she felt herself crashing against the table. Jaime’s face appeared for a second and then vanished in a frigid swirl of black.
TWO HOURS AFTER THE ABDUCTION, the black sedan turned onto an isolated, muddy logging road that didn’t appear to have been used in years. In the backseat Rio Hernandez was still fuming at the turn of events and the lack of warning he’d had about what was going down. Not only did this not advance his own agenda, it put a serious kink in it.
“Where the hell are we going?” Rio demanded. “Or is that top secret, too?”
“There’s an old fishing camp at the end of the road,” Poncho answered from the driver seat. “You two beasts and the beauty will hold up there until we hear otherwise.”
The front right tire plunged into a deep pothole and the car shuddered and jerked, throwing the semiconscious prisoner against Rio’s shoulder.
He steadied her, aware of the softness of her skin beneath his hand and the silky texture of her hair as it brushed his rough cheek. His insides revolted at the quick stir of attraction. Definitely not the time for his libido to get into the act.
The woman’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up, meeting Rio’s gaze. Confusion clouded the deep blue of her irises, making her appear far more vulnerable than she’d looked when sinking her sharp white teeth into the sinewy tissue of his shoulder.
A gurgle resonated from deep in her throat, capturing the attention of the other passenger in the car. From the front Luke turned so that he could see into the backseat. “You two getting all cozy back there?” A croaking laugh punctuated what he saw as an amusing comment.
“What’s it to you?” Rio quipped.
“No one gave you first dibs on her,” Luke retorted.
“She ain’t up for dibs,” Poncho said. “She’s not entertainment. She’s collateral. Get it?”
“Yeah, we get it,” Rio said. “So is this hottie worth going to prison for?”
“No one’s going to prison on her account, not unless you guys foul things up. Then you still won’t have to worry. You won’t live long enough to face a judge and jury.”
Two miles farther and the road played out completely. Poncho finally pulled to a stop in a cluster of towering pine trees. Just beyond them, a ramshackle cabin with a leaning chimney and a half-rotted stoop waited unwelcomingly.
“This is home for the next few days,” Poncho said.
Rio opened the car door and stepped into a soggy bed of pine straw. “This dump? No self-respecting rat would stay here.”
Luke screwed his lips into a scowl as he climbed from the front seat. “I’m not sleeping with rats.”
“You’ve slept with worse,” the driver commented.
Luke worried the scar on his face and stepped over a downed limb. “You aren’t going to leave us stranded out here in the middle of nowhere, are you?”
Poncho reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring with one key attached. He tossed it to Luke.
“There’s a car parked out of sight behind the cabin, but you’re to stay put until you get word to drive the woman somewhere. When you do, tie her, gag her and lock her in the trunk. There’s rope and duct tape ready and waiting.”
“Looks like the end of the friggin’world,” Luke said. “Phones aren’t going to work out here.”
“Your phones will work. It’s all been checked out. They’re essential to the plan’s execution.” Poncho scratched his balding head and swatted at a mosquito feeding on his cheek. “Help the lady inside,” he ordered, directing his command at Rio.
Rio tugged the woman from the car and half carried, half dragged her toward the cabin. She was in no shape to offer resistance, but she didn’t help, either.
It was more like dragging a dead weight along beside him and he had to be careful not to let her feet get caught in the scratchy brambles that had overgrown the path. Once inside, he let her slide from his grasp into a faded arm chair.
Luke went to the kitchen corner of the main living area and started rummaging through nearly empty cabinets, slamming the doors in disgust as he went. “What are we supposed to eat?”
“Those boxes in the trunk have food and water in them.”
“That’s more like it.” Luke went back for the goods, giving Rio the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
“Is this about a ransom or a payback?” he asked Poncho.
“A ransom. If it were payback, she’d be dead.”
“Who’s the victim?”
“Jaime Collingsworth.”
“Collingsworth as in Collingsworth Oil?”
“Could be.”
“So this is about money?”
“You’ll find that out if and when you need to know.”
“I didn’t sign on to be treated like a second-class citizen.”
“You do as you’re told, Rio.”
“That’s not how it was explained to me. I’m a Navy SEAL. We don’t play the role of flunky.”
“You were a SEAL. Now you’re just the new guy on the block. The boss wants proof you’re a hundred percent before he invites you to the dinner table.”
“Carlos would have never thrown me a crumb if he hadn’t checked me out fully. I was told I’d be a key player.”
Poncho leaned on the short counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. “This kidnapping is big, Rio. See this through without a glitch, and you’ll see plenty of action next time from the inside out. And your bonus will make all the trouble worthwhile.”
“I’ll see it through, but I don’t want any more surprises like the abduction tonight. And I’d just as soon you take that buffoon with you when you leave.” He nodded toward the door where Luke had stepped outside. “He’ll be nothing but trouble for me.”
“Luke’s not as dumb as he seems. And the boss trusts him to do as he’s told without talking. That counts.”
Carlos might trust Luke, but Rio didn’t, especially now that he had the sexy spitfire thrown into the mix. Any way he looked at it she was solid trouble. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not your friend.
Odd how that old Murphy’s Law of military combat came back to haunt him even now.
He needed more information about the woman, and he wasn’t going to get it from Poncho. That meant he needed a minute without Luke hanging over his shoulder. He had to bide his time.
When Luke returned to guard the victim, Poncho and Rio did a quick walk-through of the small cabin.
There were two bedrooms, one with a couple of twin beds, the other with a double bed. The one window in that room had been securely boarded up. The door locked with a key from the outside. No doubt this was Jaime’s room.
The furnishings in Jaime’s temporary prison consisted of the bed with a saggy mattress and pine bedside table topped with a cypress-knee lamp that looked as if it had been crafted by a six-year-old. Rio flicked on the lamp. To his surprise it worked.
A pine rocker with a deerskin seat sat next to the door that led to a bathroom the size of a small broom closet. It held only a toilet and a stained sink. The rusting medicine cabinet on the wall was missing a cover. It had been mirrored, Rio surmised, and removed so that Jaime couldn’t break it and use a jagged sliver of the glass as a weapon.
Jaime had revived enough that she was sitting up straight in the chair when Poncho finally took his leave. She pulled her arms over her chest and looked Rio in the eye. “Whatever he’s paying you to keep me here, I can pay you more to let me go.”
Luke walked over and propped on the arm of her chair and stroked her chin with a slightly crooked finger. “Now why would we want to let a pretty lady like you leave?”
She shoved his hand away. “Because if you don’t, my brothers will find you and kill you.”
“Yeah, well, your brothers aren’t here now, are they, sweet thing? It’s just you and us.”
Rio stiffened. “Let up, Luke.”
“Don’t get so huffed up. No one said she’s yours.”
“I’m saying it.” Rio walked over and tugged Jaime to a standing position. He pulled her close and let his hand cup her firm buttock so that Luke didn’t miss the message. “You’re off duty now, Luke. I’m taking over for the night.” He led Jaime toward the bedroom.
She snarled as he pushed her inside, her words still a bit slurred when she said, “Go ahead. Get your filthy kicks, but I promise you’ll rue the day forever that you kidnapped me.”
Rio figured that was a damn safe bet.
Chapter Three
Jaime jerked free of Rio’s grasp and stumbled away from him, bracing herself to fight him off. Not that she could. She’d have never broken free at all if he hadn’t intentionally loosened his grip on her arm.
The physical advances didn’t come. Instead the man stood with his back against the closed bedroom door. “Don’t worry,” he said. “All I want from you, Jaime Collingsworth, is a few answers.”
Relief left her weak, but tension still crackled in the stuffy, dimly lit room. He knew her name. That didn’t surprise her. “I thought you had all the answers.”
“I’m working on it. Tell me about your family.”
“What about them?”
“Are they wealthy?”
“No,” she quipped. “They’re dirt poor and mean. Rattlesnake mean.”
“So that’s where you get your winning personality. Let’s start over and this time, stick to the truth.”
“Why, because you’ll do something drastic like kidnap me and lock me up in a filthy, disgusting room if I lie?”
“I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I’d like to keep you safe.”
She studied the man she’d first considered a hunk. In any other situation, she would have found him attractive in a rugged, risky sort of way. His jawline was craggy, his physique muscular without having the exaggerated features of a body builder.
He was taller than Buerto by a good four inches, which put him well over six feet. His short, thick hair was blue-black, like midnight on a moonless night.
But it was his eyes, the color of rich cognac, piercing yet shadowed with mysterious incongruities, that got to her the most. They tempted her to believe there really might be more than evil lurking behind those burning depths.
She couldn’t afford that luxury.
“The other men called you Rio. Is that your real name or just an alias?”
“It’s my name. Tell me about your brothers,” he coaxed. “Are they in politics?”
“Yes, and they’re very influential. They probably have every Texas Ranger, cop and trooper in the state looking for you right now.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. And lying to me isn’t helping your cause.”
“What makes you think I’m lying?”
“Not think. Know. Chalk it up to my experience with conniving enemies.”
Jaime sucked in a deep breath, determined not to play into this man’s hands. “If you know so little about me, why did you kidnap me? Did you follow Buerto and me from the restaurant?”
“Is Buerto your husband?”
“Yes.”
“And I guess you always kiss your husband good night at the door after you’ve gone out for the evening?”
She sucked in a ragged breath. This was getting her nowhere.
Rio walked across the room and approached the bed. Her heart plummeted and dread sucked the breath from her lungs. She backed away until her body was against the wall.
Rio jerked back the faded quilt, tossing it to the foot of the metal bed. “Mattress is garbage but the sheets look clean enough,” he noted.
They looked dingy and disgusting to her. But they’d do, as long as she was the only one crawling between them.
He stepped past her and peered into the bathroom. “I’ll see if I can find you a bar of soap and a towel and washcloth. If you need anything else or change your mind about cooperating with me, knock on the door. I’ll hear you. That offer is just between the two of us. Tell Luke anything I tell you in confidence and I swear I’ll stand back and let him have his way with you.”
So the actions in front of Luke had been for her protection. Either he found her undesirable himself or else he wasn’t entirely evil. If it was the latter, maybe she could make that work for her.
If it was the former…
Well, who cared that a brute found her resistible?
He turned and walked from the room without looking back, but she heard the key turn in the lock before his footfalls faded in the distance.
Anxiety-fed adrenaline still quickened her pulse and churned in her stomach as a legion of more pressing questions took over her mind.
Was Buerto okay and had he told her family? How had her brothers reacted to the news? Were they planning to cooperate with the kidnappers or had they gone straight to the police or maybe the FBI? Was there a mass manhunt already underway?
How was her mother taking the news?
Jaime’s heart constricted at the thought of her mother having to face this kind of worry and fear. She had to find a way to get word to her that she was okay. No, she had to find a way to escape.
She’d never overpower her kidnappers. They were simply too muscular and strong. She’d have to outsmart them. That would be difficult with Rio. He was cagey himself and had already shown that he didn’t fall for her lies. If she were to outfox anyone, it would have to be Luke.
She kicked free of her favorite stiletto sandals, for once wishing she’d worn a pair of boring, sensible shoes. Instead she was stuck in the wilderness dressed for a night on the town. That pretty much eliminated making a run for it through the woods.
Something skittered across her bare toes. She looked down as a giant cockroach paraded along her instep. A scream escaped before she could swallow it back.
Before she regained her equilibrium, her door flew open. Rio stormed in as the frightened roach scurried over the bare wooden slats.
He dropped the soap and towels on the bed and stamped on the insect with his booted foot, leaving it a mass of squishy pulp on her floor. This time his lips drew into a half smile.
“Nice to know you’re afraid of something, Jaime Collingsworth.”
RIO PACED THE BARE FLOORS, almost subconsciously familiarizing himself with the accompanying groans and squeaks. He’d been totally unprepared for the abduction and that concerned him. His BUDs training had prepared him to deal with anything thrown at him, but his years of experience as a frogman had fine-tuned his senses and ability to read even ambiguous clues with precision.
Yet he hadn’t suspected the kidnapping.
Still he was convinced that tonight’s act was only a prelude to something a lot bigger.
But what?
He needed information on Jaime and the rest of the Collingsworths if he were to figure that out. Jaime clearly wasn’t going to just buy his good-guy act and spill any helpful details. He’d have to find enough privacy to make a phone call.
Rio stepped into the dark, narrow hallway, pausing at Jaime’s door. The sounds of her rhythmic breathing indicated she’d finally fallen asleep. The unwanted image of her tanned, shapely body stretched out on top of the worn sheets burrowed into his mind. His body reacted as if he’d swallowed a handful of jalapeños.
He shook his head, but the erotic visions didn’t budge. Instead they became more distinct. He imagined his fingers tangling in her silky hair, disheveling the blond strands as his lips explored the smooth column of her neck.
Tiptoeing away from her door, he checked on Luke. He was still snoring away, his bare feet sticking out of the tangled sheets of one of the twin beds.
The guy was impulsive, with a quick temper that exploded with little warning. Worse, he was never far from the trigger of his Glock. Nothing like an untimed explosion to foul up a mission.
Rio retraced his path to the kitchen and then stepped onto the back porch, careful to step over gaps left by rotted boards. The lake was only a few yards behind the house, but the towering pines hid it from view. That was no doubt part of the reason the cabin had been chosen as a hideaway. It was virtually invisible from the front or the back until you were right on it.
He walked a few yards of the overgrown path toward the water, then stepped behind the trunk of an aged oak tree. Out of sight and too far away to be overheard if Luke did wake and venture out to look for him, yet close enough he could hear Jaime if she screamed—over a roach or worse.
Bending, he removed the small phone from inside his left boot, his fingers brushing the handle of the hunting knife that rested there in its twin leather sheath. Neither Poncho nor Luke suspected he had this completely private and untraceable mobile device on him.
He placed the call, knowing there would be an almost instant response even at this time of the night. He wasn’t disappointed.
“What’s up?”
“Trouble.”
“Specifics?”
“I’ve just helped kidnap a woman named Jaime Collingsworth. I’m guessing she’s connected to Collingsworth Oil.”
“You kidnapped Jaime Collingsworth?” A few curses punctuated the incredulity in his tone.
“I take it that means you know who she is.”
“I was good friends with her brother Langston back when we were riding the high school rodeo circuit. Jaime was just a kid then, but I met her on several occasions. And not only do the Collingsworths own Collingsworth Oil, they also have the second biggest ranch in Texas.”
So the cartel had taken a major risk in kidnapping Jaime—meaning they expected a bonanza from this. And Rio had ended up right in the middle of it, exactly where he’d hoped to be. Only he hadn’t been counting on Jaime to complicate matters.
Rio gathered all the facts he could from the phone call. By the time he’d broken the connection and walked back to the cabin, his head was reeling with the new information, but none of the confusion had been cleared.
He still needed answers and the rest would have to come from the sexy blond spitfire who seemed less afraid of him than she was a cockroach. Every path in sight was mined.
But he’d signed on to do a job. And with a frogman, even a former one, failure was never an option.
IT RAINED SOMETIME during the night, a steady downpour that cleared the pollen from the air and then gave way to the brilliant glow of the morning sun. Even filtered through the layers of grime that smudged the cabin’s windows, the rays painted the dingy kitchen in golden streams of light.
Rio checked out the refrigerator for food while Luke sat at the marred kitchen table scratching the toes of his right foot. Jaime was still in her room, though Rio had unlocked it a good half hour ago and told her she was welcome to come out for coffee.
The options for food were limited, but better than Rio had expected. “How about toast, bacon and eggs?” he asked.
“I could go for that,” Luke agreed, finally reaching for his sock, “but I say make the broad cook it. Cooking’s woman’s work.”
“Easy to see why you’re not married.”
“I’m serious. I don’t see why she should just get to lie around all day while we wait on her.”
“She didn’t exactly plan the party.” Rio took a skillet from the dishes he’d washed earlier that morning. With roaches and who knows what other insects and rodents scampering about, detergent and hot water seemed a good idea. He placed the bacon in it and put it over a low fire, then started spreading butter on bread for toast.
Soft footfalls sounded in the hall. He turned around just as Jaime stepped inside the kitchen door.
“There’s coffee,” Rio said, his eyes riveted to the petite, but shapely woman who showed little signs of the stress she had to be feeling.
Her wraparound dress was wrinkled, but hugged her perky breasts and firm, round buttocks provocatively. She’d shed the jewelry and the sexy heels. Her bare feet and freshly scrubbed face made her look almost waiflike. Her hair, which had been up last night, was down, the strawberry-blond locks tumbling around her shoulders. Disheveled. Tempting.
“I’d like to take a shower,” she said. “Or isn’t there one in this disgusting place?”
“There’s one,” Rio said, “but it’s not working. The water’s a bit cold in the lake, but I’ll walk you down there after breakfast if you’d like to bathe.”
Luke leered at her. “I’ll take care of that chore.”
She shot him a castrating look. “I’d sooner wallow in mud.”
“Yeah, that sounds fun, too.”
Rio filled a clean mug with coffee and handed it to her. “There’s sugar on the counter and milk in the fridge if you want it.”
“No, this is fine,” she murmured. “Thanks.”
There was a pause before the last word, as if it was added as an afterthought. He hoped that meant she was coming around to the point where she might cooperate with him, but he wouldn’t hold his breath waiting for that.
“How do you like your eggs?” he asked.
“Why ask her?” Luke quipped. “She ought to be cooking for us, if the princess knows how to scramble an egg.”
Jaime marched across the kitchen, planted herself in front of the grease-stained range and grabbed the carton of eggs. She broke two into the small skillet and then glared at Luke. “How much arsenic do you want in yours?”
“You got a smart mouth on you, you know that? I want them over easy, and don’t break the yolks.”
Rio removed a pan of toast from beneath the broiler and watched as she deliberately pricked the first yolk and let the yellow run to the edges of the skillet. If they made it through breakfast without a major flare-up between her and Luke he’d be surprised—and relieved.
He didn’t put anything beyond Luke, especially if Jaime pushed him. He’d as soon rape her as not. The way he was looking at her right now evidenced the thought was already festering in his mind.
When the eggs were ready, Jaime slid them onto a plate, sprinkled them generously with salt and pepper and then tossed a couple of slices of toast next to them. “Jelly?” she asked, eyeing a large jar of strawberry preserves.
“Sure, sweetheart. Why not?” Luke said, smiling. “And I want you to sit with me while I eat. Right here,” he said, patting his right knee. “We need to get to know each other better.”
Her expression was one of fury, but her hands were steady as she opened the jar and spooned a large helping of the sticky condiment onto the plate next to the eggs. Padding across the floor determinedly, she stopped inches from Luke.
Luke patted his knee again. Jaime smiled. Rio’s muscles hardened into bulging knots as he braced himself for trouble. Jaime took the last step and then tripped, falling against the table as the plate dropped from her hands and landed upside down in Luke’s lap.
Curses flew from Luke’s mouth as he leapt from the chair and grabbed her arm. “You bitch. You did that on purpose.”
She tilted her head back and stared at him defiantly.
Luke fit one hand around her smooth neck, letting his fingers dig into the flesh. “Lick it off,” he demanded. “Every drop. Lick it off.” He pushed her face into the sugary mound of red preserves that clung to his jeans.
Jaime’s knee jerked upward, connecting with Luke’s groin, and this time the man went totally berserk. Rio flew across the room, reaching them just in time to stop Luke’s fist before it slammed into Jaime’s jaw.
He shoved Luke against the wall. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Giving that tramp what she deserves. You saw what she did.”
“That tramp is the reason we’re here. Mess her up and you’ll answer to Poncho. We both will. Is that what you want?”
“Poncho or not, I’m not taking that off no woman.”
“She dropped a plate. That’s all.”
Luke muttered a new string of curses. “She didn’t drop it. She dumped it on me.”
“So get over it. We got a job to do and it doesn’t include roughing up the victim. You could get carried away and blow the whole ransom deal. You know what that will get you.”
The fight slowly went out of Luke. His muscles quit straining and his fists relaxed. By the time Rio let go of him, smoke was filling the room. Rio hurried to turn off the fire under the skillet.
And then he noticed that Jaime was nowhere in sight. Damn. In that split second when he was dealing with Luke, she must have made a getaway. But she was barefoot. She couldn’t have gotten far.
He rushed toward the back door and caught sight of a wave of blue fabric weaving through the trees. He took off running, the pine straw skidding from beneath his feet, low limbs from scraggly trees tearing at his shirt.
If she escaped, he could kiss goodbye any chance of continuing to be a player. He made a dive for her as she skirted the muddy banks of the lake. They both went down in a tangle of arms, legs and wild locks of blond hair.
Jaime lay beneath him, facedown and spewing clumps of damp earth from her mouth. He rolled her to her back, straddled her and pinned her hands above her head to keep her from fighting him.
Her dress hung off one shoulder, revealing a mound of perfect flesh and a deep reddish-pink nipple that stared him in the face.
His body hardened and desire engulfed him in blistering waves. He rolled off her, leaving her short dress to bunch at her waist. A few wayward blond hairs peeked from beneath the wisp of black lace pantie.
He groaned, but kept her pinned to the earth. A man could only take so much.
Chapter Four
Jaime’s heart pounded and her breath came in painful gasps.
“You’re not making this easy,” Rio said, staring into her eyes, his voice suddenly hoarse.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Please, don’t.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
His words were all but drowned out by the sound of someone running in their direction. Luke. He’d been slower than Rio, but he was mere steps away now.
Rio let go of one of her arms and quickly tugged the shoulder of her dress back into place so that it covered her breast, his thumb brushing the tip of her nipple as he did. His muscles seemed to tense at the touch, but he didn’t linger. By the time Luke reached them, he’d pulled her skirt back in place so that she was completely covered.
“I see you found the runaway princess,” Luke said, his breathing still heavy as he almost stumbled over them.
“No thanks to you,” Rio snapped.
Luke’s face twisted into a scowl. “Don’t go laying the blame on me. She’d have never escaped in the first place if you hadn’t been acting like some macho hero.”
“I’ve just got better sense than to damage the merchandise before we’re paid for it.”
Luke spit in the dirt, the phlegm falling mere inches from Jaime’s head. Her stomach turned, but this time she bit back the angered sarcasm that flew to her tongue.
She had to play this smarter. Angering Luke wasn’t going to speed her escape or help her stay alive until her brothers could rescue her.
“Go back to the house,” Rio ordered. “I’ve got unfinished business with the princess.”
“You’re not my boss.”
“Damn good thing.”
“And you don’t own the woman.”
Rio laid a hand on Jaime possessively, his thumbs resting just below her breasts. Luke lingered, staring at her as if he could see right through the wrinkled dress before leering contemptuously and ambling back toward the house.
Rio’s gaze followed Luke until he’d completely disappeared in the trees. He exhaled slowly and scooted away from Jaime, letting go of her entirely.
“I can’t say much for the company you keep,” Jaime said.
“I didn’t do the choosing.”
“You’re here.”
“I do what I have to.”
“Then just let me go,” she pleaded. “I’ll pay you and you won’t have to split the ransom with anyone.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“It could.” But it was clear he wasn’t buying and what he did say didn’t make a lot of sense. “How much ransom did you ask for?”
“Can’t say.”
“Because you let those stupid thugs call all the shots?”
“For now, except with you. I’ll be calling the shots with you, and if you’ve got a brain in that pretty little head of yours, you’ll listen. Rule number one, don’t try anything stupid like that feeble escape attempt again.”
Not until she got half a chance.
Rio moved into a sitting position and tugged her up to do the same. “We need to talk, Jaime.”
“I’ve told you all I plan to about my brothers. You may collect a ransom, but you’ll never live to enjoy it. They’ll hunt you down and—”
“I know about your siblings. Your oldest brother Langston is CEO of Collingsworth Oil. Your brothers Matt and Bart run Jack’s Bluff Ranch. Your brother Zach is in law enforcement. Your sister, Becky, is married to Nick Ridgely, former Dallas Cowboy star.”
Just as she expected. The kidnappers knew her situation all too well. She hadn’t been a random hit.
“Who’s the black sheep of the family?” Rio asked.
“We don’t have one. We leave the dirty dealings to people like you.”
“Every family has a backslider, maybe one who’s involved with dealing drugs. That pays really well these days, I’m told. A huge, respectable ranch might be just the place to stash a shipment from Mexico.”
Fury fired through her. One minute she could almost convince herself to trust Rio. The next, she ached to slap him hard across that rugged, handsome face. “How dare you accuse my brothers of something so despicable!”
“I’m just asking.”
“I’m through talking to you.” She stood, yanking her dress down to cover as much thigh as she could. “Now I’m going to walk down to that lake and wash the mud off me. You do as you please.”
He smiled for the first time since he’d tackled her to the ground. “Is that an invitation?”
For some stupid reason, she felt heat rush to her cheeks. She turned so Rio wouldn’t see her blush.
“You don’t need an invitation. You have the gun. But don’t think I’d ever welcome your touch, not if you were the only man left on earth.” She stamped away without looking back.
She could hear Rio following her, and turned when she reached the water’s edge. He’d stopped a few yards from her and leaned against a tree, giving her space. He looked relaxed, cocky. More like a sexy protector than a villain who held her life in his hands.
Probably all part of his diabolical plan, she told herself. He expected her to trust him because he didn’t force himself on her and protected her from Luke’s perverted advances. She had to find a way to escape, but outsmarting Rio might be impossible.
That left Luke. He was totally disgusting and she wouldn’t put anything past him. But it was clear he was the weaker of the two both mentally and physically. If she was going to escape, it would have to be on his watch.
Heaven help her if she failed and was left at his mercy alone.
ZACH ARRIVED BACK at the hospital at ten before ten in the morning, parked in a space reserved for law enforcement and bolted up the stairs to the ICU waiting room where he and his brothers and sister were to meet with the doctor.
Langston, Bart and Becky had been there since they’d followed the ambulance to the hospital last night. Matt had stayed at the big house in case there was a call from the kidnappers. So far there hadn’t been.
Zach had been on the move, investigating the crime scene on his own and combing police records for cons who met the descriptions Buerto had given them. He was no closer to a lead on who had abducted Jaime.
Langston saw Zach enter the waiting room and motioned him to the far left corner of the room where they’d staked claim to a group of chairs. “The doctor’s with Mother now. He’ll see us as soon as he comes out.”
“Glad I made it in time. Have you seen Mom since we last talked?”
“They let me go in for a couple of minutes,” Becky said. “The nurse thought I might calm her.” Her voice lowered. “Even drugged, she’s restless and jerky, and there was nothing I could say to change that.”
Zach leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Did she ask about Jaime?”
“No. She’s still drifting in and out of sleep from the drugs they’re giving her, but the nurse said she’d called out Jaime’s name when she was sleeping. I’m sure that as soon as she’s fully alert, she’ll demand answers.”
Zach wished to hell they had some. “As soon as the doctor finishes with us, we have to find a place to talk in private.”
Bart nodded. “I’m for that. I think we should reconsider our current strategy.”
They’d agreed to hold off on calling in the cops or the FBI until they heard the kidnappers’ demands, but no one had expected the wait to be this long.
Zach’s phone rang. The group grew instantly quiet, though there was no real reason to think the kidnappers had his cell number. He answered.
“Buerto,” he said out loud, so that they would know to whom he was talking. They stared at him, their anxiety tangible.
“I’ve heard from the kidnappers,” Buerto said.
“Why did they call you?”
“I guess because I was with her when they abducted her.”
“What did they say?”
“It would be better if we could talk about this in person.”
”I’m at the hospital waiting to talk to Mom’s cardiologist.”
“I’m already on my way to the ranch, so I can be at the hospital in about fifteen minutes, twenty at the most.”
“I don’t see the point in waiting that long.”
“Can you talk freely?”
“I can listen.”
“Not good enough. The deal they want is complicated.”
Zach’s irritation level skyrocketed. The kidnappers should have come directly to the family. Where did they get off dealing with some guy who was a stranger to all of them?
“Call me the second you arrive at the hospital.”
“Naturally,” Buerto answered and then quickly broke the connection. Zach returned his phone to the clip at his waist.
“Contact?” Langston asked, carefully choosing his words so that no one outside the family would know they were talking about a kidnapping.
“Yeah. Through Buerto. He’s on his way here right now.”
“Why call him?” Becky asked, her question echoing his own. “He’s not family.”
Doctor Gathrite joined them before Zach was forced to admit he had no answer to that question.
“There’s a small conference room down the hall we can use,” the doctor said. “It will be more private there.”
They followed him to a room that smelled of stale coffee. The furniture was limited to a half dozen metal folding chairs and a table barely big enough for the five of them to squeeze around. A counter on the back wall held a coffee maker that had long since finished brewing.
Dr. Gathrite stood back for them to enter, then offered coffee, which only Langston accepted. The cardiologist settled in a chair at the head of the table.
Zach found a spot to stand against the side wall. He was too keyed up to sit.
“Do you have the results of the tests, Doctor?” Becky asked.
“We do, at least enough to make a few diagnostic assessments. The good news is there’s no significant blockage in the arteries that feed the heart and no sign of a blood clot.”
“I don’t understand,” Bart said. “If there’s no blockage, what caused the coronary attack?”
“The attack appears to have been caused by a sudden spasm, one so intense that it cut off the blood flow through the artery. That’s far less common than an attack brought on by cardiovascular disease or a clot, but it sometimes happens in otherwise heart-healthy individuals.”
Langston set his coffee cup on the table in front of him. “Then you think her heart attack was brought on by stress?”
“There are factors other than emotional or physical trauma that can cause a spasm, such as certain drugs or exposure to extreme weather conditions. But, yes, in your mother’s case, the evidence points to stress.”
Becky clasped her hands in front of her. “How much damage was there to her heart?”
“You can count your blessings there, too,” Dr. Gathrite said. “The permanent damage is minimal. The issue now is having her avoid any additional emotional trauma.”
Which was basically impossible unless they were able to arrange Jaime’s safe return quickly. Zach only half listened to the rest of the doctor’s spiel and the details of treatment. Zach’s concern for his mother was a given, but the only way he could help her, or Jaime, was to acquire Jaime’s safe release.
His cell phone vibrated and he checked the caller ID. Buerto. Zach excused himself and went into the hall to take the call.
Langston followed him. “This is a family dilemma, Zach. Bart, Matt and I will be with you when you meet with Buerto.”
He clapped his oldest brother on the back. “I never doubted for a minute that you would.”
IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON BEFORE Jaime heard from either of her kidnappers again, though she could hear them talking through the thin walls. Occasionally she heard a door slam or Luke’s snorting laugh.
She’d tried her door a couple of times, but it was locked tight. And the boards that had been nailed over the window wouldn’t budge. She’d need something on the order of a pickax to remove them. If she ever got outside this room again, she’d snoop to see what kind of tools she could find.
Finally, Rio opened the door and ordered her out to eat. She followed him to the kitchen. Luke lay on the sofa, his bare feet hanging over the edge. His gun was on a homemade coffee table instead of tucked inside his shoulder holster. It was the only good sign.
“I made you a sandwich,” Rio said, pushing a plate toward her. “It’s not much, but it will keep you going.”
She washed her hands at the kitchen sink and returned to the table, choosing a chair that made it easy to watch Luke and the gun. It was almost as if he were taunting her with it, deliberately tempting her to steal it.
The sandwich was a couple of slices of white bread smeared with a spicy mustard and wrapped around a piece of tasteless luncheon meat. She chewed and choked it down with a sip of lukewarm bottled water.
The two men barely spoke to each other as she ate, but when they did, the growing tension between them crackled like flames in a pile of dry leaves. Had she caused or merely added to the friction? She suspected it was the latter.
Luke looked disgustingly disheveled, his clothes wrinkled and stained from the breakfast she’d dumped in his lap. The underarms of his shirt were circled with perspiration. A glob of what looked to be dried mustard stuck to the stubble of whiskers on his chin.
Rio, on the other hand, had apparently bathed in the lake. His hair was damp, raked back but with thick locks falling over his forehead. He was shirtless, revealing a muscled six-pack, a rock-hard abdomen. He wore his virility well.
Luke rose, padded past her and stopped at the back door, staring out like a caged animal. “I need some whiskey.”
Rio ignored the comment.
“I’m serious, man. I need a drink.”
“There’s water.”
Luke uttered a string of vile curses, then walked back to the sofa and plopped down on the saggy, soiled cushions. “We got a car right outside. It wouldn’t hurt anything for me to drive into the nearest town and find a liquor store.”
“You have a short memory. Poncho said the car was to be used only at his orders. I didn’t hear him order a whiskey run.”
“Well, if I have to stay cooped up in this godforsaken place much longer without liquor, I’ll go nuts. How’s that for a friggin’ emergency?”
“Suck it up,” Rio said.
“Suck it up yourself, pantywaist. I got the key to that car right here.” He pulled a metal ring from his pocket and shook it. “You think you can stop me if I decide to take the vehicle?”
Rio stood and glared down at Luke, his muscles flexed so that his forearms looked like balls of steel. “I could stop you if I gave a damn. I don’t. If you want to flout Poncho’s rules, go right ahead. In the meantime, I suggest you guard the prisoner.” With that he turned and strode out the back door, leaving her alone with Luke.
Jaime pushed the rest of her sandwich aside and walked to the back door. Rio trod the path to the lake, and then stepped into a cluster of trees, disappearing from sight. A sliver of panic rode her spine—an unconscious, but stupid and dangerous reaction. If she started depending on Rio to save her, she was doomed.
She was alone with Luke now. He had the car key and a weapon resting beside him in plain sight. If she could get her hands on the key and the gun, the power would switch to her hands.
Her heart began to race as a plan took form. She smoothed her hair with her fingers and bit her lips to give them some color. There was nothing she could do about her bare feet or the less than pristine condition of her dress.
Retaking her seat and turning toward Luke, she crossed her legs and kicked one seductively. “How do you stand Rio bossing you around all the time?”
Luke looked her up and down, leering as his gaze settled on various parts of her body. She struggled to keep from retching.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Did the macho Navy SEAL go limp on you this morning?”
“Rio’s a SEAL?” She blurted out the question without thinking.
“He was until they kicked him out. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you. He thinks it makes him better than me.”
It wouldn’t take much to be better than Luke. Still, it shocked Jaime to think that a former SEAL could be mixed up in a kidnapping at gunpoint.
“I think you should go get that whiskey,” she said. “I know I could use some.”
“Sure, go get the whiskey and leave you alone so you can try to escape again.”
“You could take me with you.”
“And have you yell out in the store that I’m holding you captive? I’m nobody’s fool, princess.”
“I never said you were.” She walked over and sat down beside him. He smelled of garlic and sweat, making her stomach churn.
He laid a hand on her thigh. “Now you’re getting smart, sweetheart. I’m the real man here. You be good to me, and I’ll be good to you.”
“How good?” She forced a sultry tone to her voice and fought off another wave of nausea. The impulse to stare at the gun was almost overpowering, but she couldn’t do anything to make Luke suspicious.
He pressed his lips against hers. Fighting revulsion and the urge to clock him, she kissed him back. When his hands groped beneath her dress, she reached out and closed her hand around the gun.
“Hands over your head or I’ll shoot,” she ordered as she broke the kiss.
Curses fired from Luke’s mouth, but he raised his hands above his head. She took a deep breath, working to get her wits about her. Then with one quick move, Luke battered his head into her chest. She fell backward, but didn’t let go of the gun.
Her finger circled the trigger, but before she could pull it, Luke kicked the pistol from her hands. She fell on top of it, but he yanked her back up by her hair. The pain was so intense, she felt as if she were being scalped. She kept fighting for the gun, but Luke was too strong for her. The weapon slipped from her grasp.
She tried to break away and run. Her foot slipped.
Gunfire exploded in her brain and blood splattered over her like crimson rain.
Chapter Five
“Lawmen are reporting lots of new faces in Texas border towns.”
“Assassins?”
“It’s possible, but not definite. No one has come up with details, but the consensus is that Detonation Day is imminent. We may have a matter of days to stop it. Perhaps less.”
And Rio was stuck out here in this miserable cabin guarding some woman the drug lords had decided was worth kidnapping. “I’ve let everybody down,” he said into his miniature cell phone.
“If you go strictly by results, we all have. As long as you’re in the middle of the kidnapping, you may still be valuable. And if not, you’re in a position to save at least one—”
A thunderous clap of gunfire drowned out the rest of the sentence. Rio took off running without bothering to explain. He covered the few yards to the cabin in seconds, horror building at what he might find.
The blood was the first image that registered when he opened the door. It dripped from Jaime’s face and puddled in the folds of her dress. She’d fallen back against the cushions of the sofa. Her eyes were glazed with dread—or pain.
He plunged back into the past and into a memory so vivid that sharp pains needled his heart. He had trouble breathing. His feet refused to move.
A split second later, adrenaline coursed through his veins again, and he crossed the space that separated him from Jaime. It was then that he spotted Luke, draped over the far side of the sofa, still clutching the pistol though his left leg was soaked in blood. The leg of his jeans was torn from the bullet and Luke was using his left hand to apply pressure to the gaping wound.
“The bitch shot me.”
It was Luke who’d been shot, not Jaime. The blood was Luke’s. Rio had little success wrapping his mind around how that had happened but it was enough for now that she was okay.
Luke raised the pistol and pointed it at Jaime. “No woman shoots me and gets away with it.”
Rio extended his open hand. “Give me the gun, Luke.”
“Get the hell out of my way or I swear I’ll kill you, too.”
“You kill Jaime, and Poncho will see that you never see another sunrise. Is a death sentence what you want, Luke? If not, hand me the damn pistol.”
Luke muttered under his breath, a few curses that even Rio hadn’t heard before, but he had to know Rio had spoken the truth.
“Just hand me the gun so I can treat the wound.”
Luke grimaced and fell back to the couch, finally dropping the gun to the floor.
Rio kicked it to the other side of the room and turned to Jaime. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I didn’t shoot him. I took the gun from him but he wrestled it away from me. He was holding it when it went off.”
“We’ll sort it out later.”
“That’s how it happened.”
“I believe you.”
Not that the details mattered. For Rio, knowing she was okay stilled the panic that had nearly torn him apart when he’d first heard the gunshot and again when he’d seen the blood.
He took her hand and squeezed it. The touch vibrated through him and he dropped her hand too quickly, backing away from her and turning toward Luke before he had time to think about why she affected him the way she did.
He put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I should take a look at that wound.”
“If you can drag yourself away from the bitch that long.”
Jaime stood a bit shakily. “I’ll wash up in case you need help with Luke.”
Luke glared at her. “You lay a hand on me, and I’ll break it off.”
“Go back to the bedroom,” Rio said, trying to calm the wounded man and make this easier on Jaime. “If I need you, I’ll call for you.”
She nodded and walked away, shoulders squared, head high in spite of what she’d been through. Jaime was all woman, but she had a fighting spirit about her that would have fit in well with his team of frogmen.
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Joanna Wayne
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Зарубежные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: After her uncharacteristic behaviour made headline news, buttoned-up Olivia Balfour has been sent far away from home. The English rose will work for Clint McAlpine – a cattle baron who′s as fierce and untamed as his Outback station. But she′s shocked when Clint informs her that she′s entirely at his beck and call.It′s almost impossible to shake Olivia′s composure. But the heat of the Australia sun – and her new boss′s kisses – are fast melting the ice queen.