3
Across the street, a woman who was just getting out of a taxi stepped onto the curb, only to freeze at Priscilla’s cry. Frowning in their direction, she tried to see them in the shifting fog. “Who’s there?” she called. “Are you all right?”
“Help me! I’m being kidnapped!”
“No, she’s not,” Donovan called out quickly as he hauled her close and clamped his hand over her mouth. “She’s a thief!”
Outraged, she bit him…and regained the freedom of speech when he swore and jerked his hand free. “I am not! Let go of me, you bastard!”
“Not on your life, sweetheart,” he said, fighting to control her. Damn, she was strong! And quick. She kicked him before he even guessed her intentions, then somehow managed to evade his efforts to haul her against him and stifle her cries. “She stole a pair of diamond earrings from Thompson’s Jewelry Store,” Donovan told the woman. “I’m an undercover security officer for the store. I saw her take the earrings and stroll out without batting an eye. And they were five hundred pounds!”
He came up with the story on the spot, and it was a damn good one. Thompson’s Jewelry Store was two blocks over, not far from Priscilla’s flat, and the woman Priscilla was appealing to for help obviously knew that. She bought the story lock, stock and barrel. “I’ve got no use for thieves,” she retorted coldly. “Haul her ass off to jail. She deserves it.”
Outraged, Priscilla tried to protest, but all she could manage was a muffled cry as Donovan started to drag her away into the fog…and darkness. “C’mon,” he said roughly, “you’re going to show me where you ditched the earrings, then you’re going to have a nice long chat with the police.”
Helpless, overpowered, but still struggling, Priscilla couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d escaped her kidnappers, only to fall into the hands of another one? No! Somebody had to help her. There were still people out on the street, cars passing by. Surely someone would step forward…
But no one did. The fog swallowed them whole, and just that quickly, she was alone with a stranger who suddenly dragged her into an alley…the same one she’d run down when she’d escaped from her kidnappers. Was he taking her back? Or did he have more sinister plans for her? The alley was pitch black, deserted. And he could do anything he wanted to her…hurt her…rape her…kill her.
Panic pooled in her mouth at the thought. No! She couldn’t just go meekly along with him. If he thought he would overpower her without a fight, he was in for a rude awakening. She’d gouge his eyes out—
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he growled in a low whisper that didn’t carry past her ears. “Your brother sent me.”
If he hadn’t had his hand clamped over her mouth, she would have laughed. Her brother?! Yeah, right. Did he really think she was stupid enough to buy that story? The only way he could know she had a brother was if he was hired by the same man who sent the first set of kidnappers after her. The same man, she thought, blanching, who’d ordered her to be killed if her family didn’t leave the ranch in forty-eight hours.
Clawing at the hand that pinched her mouth to keep her quiet, she knew her new kidnapper wasn’t going to wait forty-eight hours. He was going to kill her now and get it over with.
Terrified, she kicked and clawed and silently called him every filthy name she could think of. For a moment, she thought she was making progress when the heel of her hand connected with his nose. He grunted…and locked his fingers around her wrists like a set of handcuffs. In the next instant, he jerked her hands behind her, and before she could do anything but gasp, she was chest to chest with him and totally helpless.
Caught in the trap of his steely blue gaze, she froze…and heard the roar of her blood in her ears. Suddenly, she was aware of just how strong he was, how close, how hard. Her mouth went dry, and she should have been scared out of her mind. Instead, she’d never been so furious in her life. How dare he manhandle her! “Let go of me, you slimy piece of—”
In the darkness, his eyes narrowed, but he only snapped, “Watch your mouth. I’m trying to help you, but if you insist on doing this the hard way, you’ll be the one who suffers.” And with no more warning than that, he jerked open the driver’s door of the van she’d seen in the alley earlier and pushed her inside.
He released her for just a second so he could climb in after her, but that was all the time she needed. Sobbing, she threw herself across the van and jerked open the passenger door.
Run. Run. RUN! a voice screamed in her ear, but her feet never had a chance to hit the pavement. An arm snaked around her waist, snaring her, and she was hauled, kick and screaming, back into the van and tossed into her seat like a sack of potatoes.
“Bastard! Jerk! You’re not going to get away with this! Do you hear me? My brother will hunt you down like the miserable scumbag you are and make you wish you’d never laid eyes on me. Let go of me!”
“No problem,” he snarled, and hit the door lock, making it impossible for her to escape. She was still cussing at him when he jerked out his phone and punched in a number. When the caller came on the line, he held the phone out to her. “It’s your brother,” he told her coldly.
Stunned, she grabbed the phone. “Buck?”
“Are you all right?”
Tears welled in her eyes at the sound of her brother’s familiar voice. “I thought I was being kidnapped again.”
“You were,” he said gruffly. “It was the only way I could think of to get you back. Did they hurt you?”
They both knew he was asking if she’d been raped. “No,” she choked. “They were more interested in killing me in forty-eight hours.”
“I knew the minute I met Donovan, he’d find you. He’s a bounty hunter,” he added. “You’re in good hands, Sis.”
“I’m sorry I insisted on coming back,” she said tearfully. “How did anyone know I was here?”
“I don’t know—I’m still trying to figure that out. For now, though, you’re safe,” he assured her. “That’s what’s important. Now we just have to keep you that way. Let me talk to Donovan again.”
“You mean the Neanderthal?”
He chuckled. “Be nice. He’s your new best friend.”
“Yeah, right,” she sniffed, and handed the phone to the man who was grinning at her smugly. “Buck wants to talk to you.”
Taking the phone, he said, “Yes, sir?”
“I owe you.”
“No, you don’t,” Donovan said easily. “I was just doing my job. So what’s next? Where are you? I’ll drop her off wherever you’re staying.”
“I appreciate the offer,” Buck said, “but plans have changed. I need you to keep her with you for the next month.”
Donovan nearly dropped the phone. “You must be joking.”
“It’s the only way to keep her safe.”
“The
