Stolen Hearts Page 4

  She shook her head, leaning against the counter. “No, I didn’t go outside. I called 911 when I heard the shot.”

  “You should’ve stayed in town.”

  She shrugged, but he could see the tenseness in her shoulders and the subtle shaking of her body. She needed time to calm down, time for the adrenaline to spin out. He moved closer, wanting to comfort her, to take her in his arms and make all her fears go away. It was a feeling he’d never had for another person before. Kind of humbling…and very dangerous.

  “If I hadn’t been here, you wouldn’t have caught those guys,” she said.

  “Actually, we’ve been watching the place for a while. That’s the reason I wanted you back in town.”

  Her head snapped up and she shoved at his chest. “You could’ve said so!”

  He grabbed her and pulled her toward him. She came without a fight and collapsed against his chest, her shaking more pronounced as the shock set in. He held her close and pressed his lips to the crown of her head as she struggled to calm herself.

  “Will you go to Liddy’s now?” he asked.

  “I don’t need to go into town now that you’ve caught them,” she said, her head still pressed to his shoulder, her body cradled against his.

  “I didn’t get them all, Chris, I’m pretty sure it’s at least six of them.”

  She lifted her head. “But they wouldn’t risk coming here again tonight, would they?”

  He slid his fingers down the side of her face. Even afraid, with stray tears slipping from her eyes, she was beautiful. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk you being in the middle of it again. I should’ve made you go into town before.”

  She shook her head. “No one makes me do anything, you know that,” she said with a small smile.

  He chuckled. “No, they certainly don’t.”

  There was a knock on the door, and she jumped from his arms. Jake crossed to open it, then Ray stuck his head inside.

  “Jake, we’re ready to go,” his deputy said.

  “Right. Well, thanks Miss Harper for the call,” he said, wishing like hell she was still in his arms.

  “Yeah, we’ve been after this group for a while,” the deputy chimed in. “It’s nice to finally have some of them in custody.”

  She gave a nod as she fidgeted with a dishtowel. Focused on her fingers as she plucked at a loose thread, she said, “Glad I could help.”

  Ray moved toward the squad car and Jake could do little else but follow. He had a job to do. But he wasn’t done with Miss Christine Harper, not by a long shot.

  ****

  An hour later, Jake pulled up beside the RV in his truck and took a deep breath. He scanned the area as he climbed out. Glad to see nothing unusual, he snagged his bag and climbed the camper steps. She wasn’t going to like this…or maybe she would, he thought with a grin, as he opened the door, stunned she’d left it unlocked after all that had happened earlier.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded, lowering her gun.

  She was definitely on alert now, and he was thankful he still had his head, but something told him that as tough as Chris portrayed herself to be, that wasn’t the real woman on the inside. He doubted she’d be able to pull the trigger on a living thing, human or otherwise.

  He dropped his bag on the table by the couch. “If you won’t come into town, then I’m staying here with you—after I lock the damn door,” he said, throwing the latch.

  “The hell you are!”

  He grinned at her temper, it was such a glorious thing to watch and better than seeing her frightened. “Relax. I’m not inviting myself into your bed.” He shot her a look. “Although we both know that’s where I’m going to end up.”

  Her eyes flew wide, and he had to laugh as she sputtered and fumed, then spun around and stomped to her bedroom and slammed the door. He chuckled as he pulled out the hide-away and made himself comfortable. He really did hope he ended up in her bed, but he wasn’t about to push any harder than he already had. He climbed into the sack then lay there and listened to her moving around in the bedroom with one ear while keeping the other tuned to the sounds outside. Just in case one or the other changed. About an hour later, one did.

  Her door opened, and she quietly crossed the small space and slid in beside him on the foldout bed. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as she settled her head on his chest.

  “Do you really think they’ll come tonight?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know. But I would, if it were me. I’d figure the local law had their own problems with a full jail and I could move in and out without anyone noticing me. A woman out here all alone wouldn’t be much of a threat.”

  “But I have a gun.”

  “They don’t know that, and it would only be your one gun against who knows how many.”

  She shivered against him, and he pulled her in tighter against his side. They lay there for a long time not saying a word, and he felt her drift off to sleep. As much as he wanted to make love to her, she’d been more frightened tonight than she’d admit, and he refused to take advantage of that vulnerability. Holding her would have to be enough. It sure beat the hell out of lying in his bed at home worrying about her.

  Sometime during the wee hours of the morning, Jake was relishing the sweetest dream. Her hands were all over him, touching, teasing, then her mouth would follow. Tender touches and sweet kisses teased his senses, teased him right out of sleep only to find it wasn’t a dream after all. His low moan split the night air as she traveled up his chest from where she’d been torturing him. He gripped the back of her head and feasted on her mouth as he rolled them over, pressing her into the flimsy mattress. He took his time exploring her sweet body, the supple mounds and taught peaks, the dip in her belly, the moist warmth between her soft thighs, all of her, until he could wait no longer.

  “Don’t move,” he said, and reached for his bag on the counter.

  At least the tight quarters made it so he wouldn’t have to let her go while he fumbled for a condom. Within seconds, he was sheathed and inside her welcoming warmth. They rode the current of passion as it took them higher and higher until they exploded in a glorious climax.

  Jake lifted his head from her shoulder, their damp bodies tightly coupled, and looked at her face in the moonlight, a sated smile on her moist lips. “Move in with me,” he said.

  Her eyes popped wide. “What?”

  “You heard me, I want you to move in with me.”

  She blinked and shook her head. “We barely know one another.”

  “I beg to differ,” he said with a crooked grin.

  She chuckled and pushed playfully at his chest. “You know what I mean. We’re just—we’re not—”

  He brushed a finger across her bottom lip. “This wasn’t a one night stand, Chris. You know it was more than that. This is more than that.”

  “But Jake, I’m just—I’m just passing through. My home is in Virginia.”

  With a grim nod, he rolled away to stare at the low ceiling. “Guess I figured wrong, then.” Hadn’t she felt what he had? Didn’t she feel the connection he did?

  She rolled over and placed her hand on his chest. “Jake, it isn’t that I don’t want to stay, but I’ve got responsibilities, I have a home there. I can’t just change my life over the course of a few hours or days. This is your home, your friends and family are here. Well, I have that too, but in Virginia.”

  He let out a long sigh and turned his head toward her. “You’re right. It’s a lot to ask. I’m sorry.” He reached out and fingered a lock of hair that had fallen against her cheek.

  “No, don’t be sorry. The fact that you want me to stay is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  “So there’s no husband waiting for you back home?”

  “Of course not,” she said with a soft smile. “No boyfriends either.”

  “I suppose that should surprise me, but it doesn’t,” he said, propping up on his elbow,
his lips close to hers. “You’re too hard-headed for any man to put up with.” He kissed the sputtered indignation right out of her then proceeded to love her again, because he didn’t know how long she would be in his arms, and he planned on taking advantage of every second in order to change her mind.

  Chapter Six

  The faint morning light streaming through the small camper window cut across Jake’s eyes, and he was instantly awake. It only took a second to realize that it wasn’t the sun that brought him out of a satisfying sleep with the woman he wanted lying in his arms. No, it was something else entirely.

  Chris moaned, as he kissed her relaxed lips, slowly bringing her out of sleep. She grinned beneath the feather-like caresses, then went rigid in his arms. He knew she heard the odd noises too. Her eyes snapped wide, and he pressed a finger to her lips. Rising up on his elbows, he peered between the crack in the curtains, but saw nothing. He wasn’t surprised, the noise seemed to come more from beneath the RV than around it.

  With careful precision, doing his best not to make a single sound, he climbed from the bed and slid into his pants. Chris, with worry written all over her beautiful face, sat up and snagged the baggy shirt she’d worn to bed. The sight of her breasts exposed as she lifted her arms above her head to slip on the shirt had him pausing. Oh, how he’d much rather climb back in bed and love her again. But there was an unknown outside, and they seemed to be up to something with the camper. Could be anything, explosives, cut lines, or maybe stashing some of their contraband underneath, whatever they were doing, he didn’t like it.

  He pulled his gun from his bag, flicked the safety off and paused to wait for Chris. There was no doubt she’d be right on his heels the minute he stepped outside, so he may as well wait for her and orchestrate things as safely as possible.

  She slipped her hot pink panties on, picked up her weapon from the counter, then turned to him with a nod. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face at the picture she made. Hair mussed, ancient t-shirt with the word ‘Diva’ stamped across it, and those damn pink panties peeking out from beneath. He could love this woman, probably already did.

  She cocked her head at him with a smirk, oblivious to what was really going through his mind.

  He held out his hand to her, and she tip-toed over to him. Snaking his arm around her waist, he pulled her against him for one last kiss, before whispering into her ear on how this was going to go down.

  “Stay out of the doorway as much as you can, and wait for my signal to come out.” If they stepped out together, whoever was outside could pick them both off with little trouble. By going first, he could at least give Chris a chance.

  “You’re not going to tell me to stay put?”

  “Not safe, not knowing what they’re up to, and you wouldn’t stay if I told you to, anyway.”

  She grinned and pecked him on the lips. “You are a very smart man.”

  Not smart enough if he couldn’t figure out a way to get her to move in with him.

  With another quick kiss, he moved her aside and eased to the door. There was no way he’d get it open silently, but he did his best, then leapt to the ground, landing in a crouched position. With his gun poised, ready for anything, he quickly surveyed the area beneath the camper and the immediate vicinity, his stomach in knots.

  Beneath the RV hung a piece of duct tape. Whatever it had been holding to the underside of the camper was gone. The hand-off was complete.

  He slowly straightened and looked at Chris’ blonde head peeking out from behind the kitchen counter. How could he be so stupid? How could he have let her perfect body, that twinkling smile, those bright blue eyes con him so easily?

  She eased out of her hiding place, a puzzled look on her face. “Jake, what is it? Is it okay to come out?”

  “Yeah,” he said, disgusted with himself, and spun away. He may as well take a look around and see if they left any clues, but he knew it was probably a waste of time.

  The dirt around the site was torn up from the night before, so new tracks would be impossible to isolate. He crossed the compound to the small shed, and eased inside, gun ready. He may be the class chump of the year, allowing Chris to lead him around by his pecker, but he wasn’t going to let his guard completely down until he was sure they were alone. And then he was going to do a little interrogation. It was time to get some answers.

  The shed looked like it had recently been ransacked, not the result of the careful search his guys had done the night before. And dust motes still stirred through the air in a streak of morning light. Whoever crawled under the RV to retrieve the package had checked the shed as well.

  That made him pause. If they knew where the drugs were stashed, then why bother looking in the shed?

  “Find anything?” Chris asked, startling him from his thoughts.

  “No,” he snapped.

  “Oookay. Well, I’m going to make some breakfast while you play cops and robbers,” she said with a smirk, then turned back toward the camper.

  He watched her pink panties sway as she stomped away, her gun lax by her side, but her back was ramrod straight. She was ticked, but was it because he was on to her or simply because he’d been brusque? Raking his fingers through his hair, he went over the facts again, but all the questions still led back to Chris.

  Taking a deep breath, attempting to build a wall around his feelings for her, he went back to the camper to get some answers.

  She’d slipped on some lounge pants and was filling the coffee pot with bottled water when he stepped inside. She cut her eyes at him as he moved closer.

  “How many are there?” he asked.

  She closed the lid on the coffee maker, then pushed the brew button. “How many what?” Turning, she opened the refrigerator and pulled out some eggs.

  “Dealers, connections…hell, states!”

  She put the eggs on the counter and looked at him with such a puzzled expression, he could almost believe her. He moved in close and placed his hands on the counter, surrounding her. She leaned back as far as she could, but he had her trapped against the counter. She was afraid, he could see it in her eyes. That was a sure sign of her guilt, if he ever saw one.

  “I saw where it was,” he said. “Now tell me how many connections you have. I want names, places, all of it.”

  A quiver of fear shuddered through Chris. For a moment the old fears gripped her like a vice. They were all alone in the middle of nowhere, he could do whatever he wanted, and she didn’t stand a sliver of a chance.

  But this was Jake, she told herself. The man who’d made fabulous love to her just hours before. The first man to fill her mind with possibilities of a future, of a future with him. He wouldn’t hurt her.

  Furious with herself for letting her old horrors shade her thoughts, she took a deep breath and stared him down. Whatever he was blathering on about certainly had him angry, but she’d be damned if she’d let him take it out on her. She was nobody’s punching bag, physically or emotionally, not anymore.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she snapped. “And if you don’t want raw eggs cracked over your thick skull, you’d better step back and explain why the hell you’re so pissed off.”

  He straightened, releasing her from the cage of his arms, and stared at her like she had two heads or something. “There’s a strip of duct tape hanging from the bottom of the camper. Something was there, but isn’t now.” His gaze bored into hers.

  Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. He was talking about the drug trafficking. It was painfully obvious. She managed to hold down the lump in her throat, but her eyes were beginning to burn. “And you think I’m involved?”

  She’d been accused of many things by her father, by the man who thought she was a waste of space, and it had hurt, but not nearly as much as Jake’s distrust. “Answer me,” she said though clenched teeth.

  “Yes.”

  That one word cut through her like a razor. She gripped the edge of the counter to keep from col
lapsing to the floor, her knees had turned to jelly. “Get out.”

  His gaze narrowed. “Not until I have some answers.”

  “You won’t find any in here.” She shoved past him to the bedroom then slammed the door and flipped the lock. It wouldn’t keep him out, but it would give her a few moments to herself where she could wrestle her nerves back in line and stop the rush of tears begging to be released. For a moment there she’d actually considered staying. For a moment she thought that all men weren’t pigs. For a moment, she believed in fairytales.

  Jake stood there for several seconds trying to untangle his feelings. The evidence was there, but his gut was telling him something different. Could she have truly just been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Last night one of the gang was shot and Chris called it in. If she’d been working with them, it would throw suspicion away from her, but would she risk the others getting caught and fingering her?

  “No.” She was too smart for that, he realized. Sinking to the unmade bed, he put his head in his hands. He really was a chump. He’d just told the woman he was pretty sure he was in love with that she was a suspected drug runner. Hell, accused her point blank, was more like it. And he had a terrible feeling she would never forgive him for it.

  But the tape. What the hell was that about?

  He jerked on the rest of his clothes, packed up his bag and threw it into his truck. Snatching a flashlight from his glove box, he decided to take a closer look under the RV. He wriggled on his back underneath the giant and carefully examined every inch. Especially the area where the tape still dangled.

  He ran his hand over the strip, his gut clenching. It was fresh tape, not a mark on it, no mud, no oil, nothing to show that it had been there for any length of time, and especially not on the road.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered. They’d stashed the drugs under the RV after Chris had parked it. One of them was trying to double cross the others, likely the one that was shot, and the ones that got away last night came back to look for it. That was why the shed had been ransacked.

  He heard Chris moving around in the camper and grimaced at how much groveling he needed to do to get back into her good graces. If that was even possible.