eyes narrowed.
She licked her lips, focusing on that damn thumb of his on the key fob.
Click, thump. He managed to unlock the door and lift the handle a split second before she pressed her button again.
Game over.
She scrambled over the middle console, cursing when her left knee slammed against the gearshift, sending a sharp jolt of pain down her leg. She fell on the slippery leather of the passenger seat, fumbling for the opposite door handle. She pulled it and shoved the door open.
“Oh no, you don’t,” he growled.
She felt, rather than saw, him lean inside to grab her from the driver’s side. She pulled herself toward the opening and dived like a world champion. There was a tug against her waist, a ripping sound, and then she was free! She rolled out of the way a split second before he landed on the ground where she’d just been.
She was already splashing through the marsh, sprinting for the cover of trees, when she heard his bellow of rage behind her. It wasn’t until she’d entered the much cooler air beneath the pines and knotty cypress, and felt the rush of air against her thighs, that she realized what her narrow escape had cost.
Her skirt.
* * *
JAKE STARED AT the surprisingly heavy handful of soft purple fabric in his hand. He supposed he should feel guilty. But once he’d recovered from his anger that Faye was getting away, he’d been too busy enjoying the view of her toned, gorgeous backside adorned in a lacy purple thong to do more than sag against his car and enjoy the show.
He shook his head in disgust. How had everything gotten so out of hand? He retrieved the rifle the half-naked pixie had pointed at him earlier, unloaded it and pitched the shells in the back floorboard of his car. Then he carried both the gun and the fluff of material to the tree line where she’d disappeared.
Taking devilish delight in knowing she’d have to spend hours cleaning it to make the gun usable again, he shoved the barrel of the rifle into the muck beside the road. With the butt of the gun standing up in the air, he was about to drape the skirt over the top when something heavy banged against the rifle. He felt along the fabric and found a hidden pocket, a deep pocket that contained the wicked-looking knife she’d threatened him with last night.
The evil-looking blade winked in the sunlight as if it were laughing at him. He carefully ran the rest of the fabric through his hands. But although he found more hidden pockets, they were empty. He draped the ruined skirt over the end of the rifle and added the knife to the rifle rounds in his floorboard.
He got back in his car and headed toward Mystic Glades again. He was just passing the alligator-shaped sign when he spotted something purple off to his left beside a tree. He braked and got out, drawing his pistol in case Faye had somehow managed to get past him to the other side of the road and had another gun hidden...somewhere.
When he reached the tree he discovered it wasn’t Faye hiding there. It was a purple backpack that so perfectly matched the color of her outfit it had to be hers. He crouched down and rummaged inside, cataloging the contents: bottles of water, power bars, a towel, a first aid kit. Not the kind of supplies someone generally carried for a “walk.” It was exactly the kind of supplies she might have if she were trying to find someone who’d gotten lost in the wilderness after a car wreck.
* * *
FAYE HAD RUN a good long way before she’d reached firm, dry ground. After finding a relatively clean-looking log, she perched on it to wait. She didn’t know how long she sat there. But from watching the way the shadows moved, she figured it was at least an hour, long enough that Jake would have given up by now and gone back to Naples.
To be certain that he was gone, she’d have preferred to wait longer. But time was a luxury she didn’t have. She couldn’t afford to waste any daylight. Searching at night had proved far too dangerous, in more ways than one. So she wasn’t going to do that again. But how could she search for Calvin if Jake Young was hanging around?
The battery on Calvin’s phone had died yesterday while he was talking to her and he was hopelessly lost. He couldn’t even give her any landmarks to help her find him. After surviving that horrendous crash, he’d foolishly headed into the woods instead of to the highway. His excuse was that he was afraid he was being followed, and he didn’t want to risk being seen. But Faye wished he’d at least have waited until she got there. She could have found him that first night and she wouldn’t have backtracked last night to restart her search and run into Jake Young.
Her only comfort was that Calvin had packed supplies as she’d instructed—something she always encouraged anyone to do before venturing into the Everglades—and he had the basics he needed to survive. Well, assuming he didn’t step on an alligator, of course. Or get bitten by a snake. Hopefully he’d heard enough of her own ventures in the ’Glades to know what to look out for. But no amount of book smarts could trump experience.
The sun was high in the sky now, about midday. She couldn’t wait any longer, especially since she didn’t have any weapons to protect herself out here. She was breaking all her own rules by being in the marsh without survival gear.
After a careful look around for predators, she jogged back toward the road. When she finally reached the archway over the entrance to Mystic Glades, she was relieved that the black Charger was gone. But discovering her ruined skirt fluttering in the breeze on top of her upside-down rifle, its nose shoved deep in the bog, had her cursing long and hard. If Jake were here right now she’d lob her knife, end over end, to bury itself in the dirt at his feet just for the pleasure of making him jump.
Wait, her knife. It had been in the skirt. She grabbed the fabric and groaned. It was far too light, which meant Jake had found—and taken—her knife. That was one more sin she could add to her growing list of grievances against the man, Sagittarius or not.
She tied the ragged edges of her skirt around her waist. It was a disaster, but at least it covered her bottom. It took three tugs of the rifle before the mud released it with a big sucking sound, making Faye stumble backward and reigniting her anger.
A car rumbled up the road. Was Jake returning already? She rushed behind the nearest tree. The car came around the last curve and she relaxed. Not Jake. It was Freddie, probably with cases of moonshine in her trunk to stock up before Callahan’s Watering Hole opened for business later tonight. Four more cars passed to and from Mystic Glades. Practically a rush hour for the amount of traffic that normally went up and down this road.
Most of the locals relied on swamp buggies for transportation and headed through the saw grass marsh behind town to barter and trade goods with others who lived the nomadic lifestyle. But it was occasionally necessary to make the long drive down Alligator Alley to bring back more substantial supplies, to exchange mail or even to go to a traditional job. Some of the town’s inhabitants worked on the Gulf Coast in Naples. Others worked for the DOT, keeping the wildlife fencing and roads in good repair. Still others worked at the rest stops along I-75.
Faye did none of those things. She lived above the little shop she ran, The Moon and Star. Thankfully, with the orders she received from her catalog, she made enough money to pay Amy to help her part-time. Amy was at the shop right now. Faye didn’t want to open herself up to questions about her state of undress. But she didn’t have a choice.
She hadn’t had a reason to bring her keys with her this morning, which meant she couldn’t go in through the back door.
