“Um…” Part of her was tempted, but she also didn’t know this guy. If she’d collapsed or something, then it wouldn’t seem strange for him to carry her to safety, but to voluntarily jump into his arms when she was perfectly capable of walking, albeit not very well, would feel like taking advantage.
Or flirting.
Megan would do it in a heartbeat. She was far more confident and playful and daring. Lindsey could almost hear her friend whispering in her ear, “Do it, LinLin. He’s hot!”
“I’m okay for now, thanks.” His arms had to be tired after pulling her off the side of a mountain, right? And she was no lightweight. At six feet tall—and not what anyone would describe as willowy—she was almost as big as him.
“You need anything?”
She shook her head and they resumed walking. Thirty minutes later, Lindsey was rethinking her choices—pretty much back to childhood—but especially her decision to walk. Todd’s arms sounded better and better as she hobbled along, slower than the line at the DMV.
The socks he’d given her were silky smooth and blessedly warm, but on her ravaged feet they might as well be made of loofah. The boots weren’t much better. Rocks and sticks were no longer a threat, but the shoes seemed to rub every scratch and blister.
When did I become such a whiny baby?
Who cared if her throat was parched and her head pounded and her legs were ready to give out? Meg might be in far worse shape. If nothing else, Lindsey had her freedom, and now, her own personal savior. The rest meant nothing.
“You all right?” Todd asked from behind her.
“Still fine.”
“Let’s take a water break.” He stopped and lowered his pack to the ground.
Oh, thank God. She dropped onto a wide, flat boulder at the side of the trail, forcing herself to stay upright rather than tipping onto her side and closing her eyes.
He took a swig from an aluminum bottle as if to assure her its contents were safe before handing it to her. “You look dead on your feet. When was the last time you ate something?”
She was too busy drinking to answer.
“Whoa, slow down.”
Reluctantly, she stopped and took a breath before sipping at the crisp water like tea. “Thank you.”
His pale brows furrowed. “How long have you gone without water?”
“What time is it now?” Her watch had broken loose in the fall and was probably partying it up with the flip-flops right now. She took a few more greedy sips of cool liquid.
“Nearly four-thirty,” he said.
“Almost a day.”
He frowned. “And food?”
“Same.”
Without a word, he produced an energy bar. She didn’t even bother to protest, just took it with sincere thanks and dug in.
While she ate the bar and finished off the water, he pushed his sunglasses onto his head and smeared sunscreen over his face, ears, neck, and arms. The strong, capable arms that had pulled her to safety.
He was long and lean, superbly built without looking like a gorilla. Maybe a couple inches taller than her.
Based on the fine lines around his eyes and the hollow of his cheeks, she’d peg him in his early to mid-thirties. Basically, her age. And way out of her league. Not that she should be living in a swamp or anything, but he was beautiful.
And, what the hell was wrong with her? This wasn’t a freaking blind date.
“Feeling better?” he asked, jolting her out of her thoughts and offering her the bottle of sunscreen.
“Much.” The food and water had revived her somewhat, but she still felt the deep pull of fatigue as she rubbed the coconut-scented cream into her skin. “Thanks.”
“Your color’s definitely improved. How are your feet?”
Throbbing. Along with everything else. “I can walk.”
“I know you can. I’ve watched you for the last half-hour.” He crouched before her, resting his elbows on his knees. “But you’re losing steam.”
“I’m—”
“And, frankly, at the pace we’re going, we don’t have a chance of getting off the mountain tonight.”
All the fight drained out of her. He was right. She was slowing them both down. Why was she being so stubborn? A long sigh escaped her. “You think you can carry me all the way down? I’m not exactly petite.”
From behind his sunglasses, he looked her up and down and then pressed his lips together. “Honestly, I probably can’t. Not without making a sled or something. But given what I have available, I don’t think that’d be very comfortable.” He scratched at his short beard. “I mean, I could get you pretty far in a fireman’s carry, but that would be super unpleasant for you, and I’d have to leave my pack behind.”
Okay, then. At least he didn’t try to act like some macho superhero, blustering his way past her objections. His forthrightness was refreshing.
“How far to town?” she asked.
“About six miles.”
Six miles? She could feel herself collapsing like an old dog. Normally, she could spend hours running and jumping in the sand. Now she couldn’t imagine walking another hundred yards on flat-packed earth. “I don’t think there’s a chance in hell we’ll make it today.” It wasn’t even her bumps and bruises so much—though they didn’t help—but that she was dehydrated and undernourished and exhausted from not sleeping for more than twenty-four hours.
“Probably not,” he agreed, “but we should try to put as much distance between ourselves and those men as possible. My guess is they’re already free of the duct tape and are either closing in on us, or heading back to wherever they came from. Although, one of them probably isn’t moving any faster than you with that knee injury.”
She shivered despite the warm sun and waggled the empty water bottle. “Thank you for the water and food and everything. If you hadn’t come along, I’d probably be dead.”
“If I hadn’t come along, you wouldn’t have fallen off the cliff in the first place.”
“Maybe, but I was already on the edge of collapse.” She knew the feeling of hitting the wall, and she was well beyond. “And JJ and his bulldog were right behind me.”
“Well then, I’m glad I came along.” He squinted at her. “JJ is the one with green eyes?”
“Yes. The other guy is Harris.”
A little groove formed between his brows. “How’d you end up getting kidnapped in the first place?”
Maybe the details of Lindsey’s kidnapping were none of Todd’s business, but now that he was involved, he wanted to know what he’d gotten into. And maybe determine if JJ and Harris knew Pete.
Lindsey’s pretty brown eyes blinked slowly as if she could barely keep them open long enough to answer Todd’s question. “My friend, Megan, and I were hiking up to a cabin one of her clients loaned her for the week, and we got lost.” She scowled. “Such a rookie move. We stumbled onto private land and two armed guards found us and said they’d take us to someone who could help. That was JJ. Obviously, he didn’t help. Instead, he had them lock us up in separate cabins.” With a sigh, she said, “We should have tried to run before it ever got that far, but at first I thought maybe they were actually going to give us directions.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“Of course I could have. Or at least been more suspicious. As a woman, I’m always on my guard with men I don’t know, or when walking into an unknown situation. But we were desperate, unprepared to spend a night on the mountain, out of cell tower range, and had no idea how to get back to the trailhead. So we chose to trust.”
“Like you’re doing with me now.” He hadn’t thought about how much she risked by putting her life in his hands. Tall enough to look him in the eye when standing, she struck him as athletic and tough, but still no match for most men unless she had the advantage of a weapon or some training.
She nodded, her eyes wary, as if she’d forgotten for a minute that she didn’t know him any more than JJ and Harris. “Except, you’ve done
nothing but protect me so far. I’ll take my chances with you over them any day.”
What more could he ask for? “They didn’t hold you at a compound with about a dozen cabins near the top of the hill, did they?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes.” The word came slowly and full of questions. “How did you know?”
Damn. What the hell had Pete gotten mixed up with? “I saw it on the map when I was planning today’s hike. It’s the only place I can think of in the direction you were coming from.”
“Oh. Yeah, it looked like some kind of scout camp for grownups, complete with shooting range.”
Of course. “What happened to your friend?” Todd was almost afraid to ask.
Lindsey flinched. “I don’t know.” She hugged her waist. “When I escaped, I tried to find her, but there were men with rifles everywhere. I figured it was better to go for help than try to defeat that kind of security on my own.”
“Good choice.”
“Feels like shit.”
“The hard decisions always do.” He knew better than most.
Lindsey stared at him for a moment, those beautiful eyes seeing through to his soul. Despite being covered in dirt, with her dark hair in a snarled ponytail, her lips chapped, she was arresting. His fingers twitched, already planning the bold strokes of pencil that would commit her essence to paper.
All irrelevant because she was in danger, and he would get her to safety and return to his mission. Period. The End.
To do so, he needed her trust, and the only way to earn it was to see her as just another rescue, nothing more. Helping people was the one thing he knew he was good at. And helping Lindsey was the only thing that might ease the ache of failing to protect his cousin from her son-of-a-bitch husband.
He blinked and broke eye contact.
“That sounds like the voice of experience,” she said.
“Too much.” He rose and put some distance between them so he could think. “Why didn’t you take the road down from the cabins?”
“I tried, but there were too many guards in that direction. I wandered into the woods, towards the rising sun, and eventually found the trail.”
No wonder she was dead on her feet. She wouldn’t make it much further, assuming she could even stand back up at this point. And he couldn’t carry her for more than half an hour, tops. He glanced at his watch. The day was rapidly edging toward five o’clock, which meant just over two hours till sunset.
Scanning the mountainside, he spotted a dark depression at the base of the cliff about half a mile ahead. Cave, or trick of the shadows?
Turning back to her, he said, “I might have found a spot off the path where you can rest out of sight.”
“What about Megan? From what I overheard, the men plan to be at the compound for at least one more day—they were packing boxes and loading trucks when we arrived—but that doesn’t mean they’ll keep her around that long.”
Todd grimaced. “There’s nothing we can do for her today. I’m sorry.” For a split second, he considered turning around and heading for the compound. Now that he had a good lead on Pete, he was anxious to corral the motherfucker. Saving Lindsey’s friend would be a bonus.
But he had no backup and no idea how many men he’d face. Armed men. He couldn’t leave Lindsey behind unprotected, and he couldn’t take her with him. The only responsible choice was get to the police as soon as possible and let them handle Megan. With any luck, Pete would be caught when the cops went after JJ and Harris, and then Todd could go home and try to face his mom.
Lindsey frowned and looked out at the trees, letting out a long sigh as she gave a resigned nod.
“We can get an early start tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” She tried to push to her feet, but sank back onto the boulder with a groan. “Just give me a minute.”
“I can carry you. Really.” Despite her height, she was thinner and lighter than any of the men he’d had to drag around in training. It might be awkward, but they’d make it. “I promise to be professional, but feel free to keep your knife handy.”
With a short laugh, her shoulders relaxed a fraction and she gave a resigned sigh. “All right.”
He donned his backpack while she struggled to her feet. Her entire body drooped like a willow, but she stayed upright.
“Ready?”
“Yep.”
Bending at the knees, he scooped her into his arms, managing to hold in a grunt. She was probably already self-conscious about being tall, and he didn’t want her to think she was too heavy.
Or, frankly, that he was too weak to get the job done after all of his assurances.
He adjusted her with as little jostling as possible, ignoring the warmth of her against his skin. She smells like sweat and dirt. Focus on that.
She kept her face averted, mitigating the intimacy. “Do you want me to hold on?”
“Uh, that would help.”
Her bare arm slid across the side of his neck, raining shivers down his spine. Jesus. What kind of lowlife was he?
Human. You’re human.
Which meant he could have thoughts without acting on them. He’d be dead if he didn’t notice the woman in his grasp. He’d only be an asshole if he took advantage.
A distraction was still in order, though. “How’d you escape?” he asked, focusing on the trail so he wouldn’t trip on a root or rock and send them both crashing to the ground.
“The front door of the cabin was locked and guarded, but I was able to squeeze through the bathroom window. I guess they figured I was too big, and that I’d be afraid to run if they took my shoes. I stole a pair of flip-flops from the bathroom, but you saw how well those worked.”
“Sneaking out took guts,” he said.
She shrugged. “Or an extreme dose of fear. My hips were almost too big, and for a minute I thought they’d find me there the next morning, a human Popsicle.”
Jesus. “I’m glad you made it.”
“Don’t jinx it. I haven’t made it yet.”
“Ah,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood. “You’re superstitious.”
“I mean, rationally, no,” she said. “But also, a little bit.”
“I get it.”
“Really?” Her gaze met his. “What are you superstitious about?”
Damn. He’d walked into that one, hadn’t he? “I always throw spilled salt over my shoulder.”
Her eyes dropped in disappointment. Sure, he’d punted, but he barely knew this woman. Not even his best friend Jason knew Todd’s deepest fears.
“Do you always carry a gun?”
“Yep. I’ve been packing for so long, I’d feel naked without it.” He left the trail and trudged through the tall grass and scrub toward the depression he’d seen in the rock.
“I’ve never even touched one.”
“That’s probably good. Despite being from Oklahoma, and learning how to shoot at an early age, I don’t think most people should have them.” Pete, for one. “The risk of being shot with your own weapon, or accidentally killing someone else, is pretty high.”
“I have no interest in ever owning a firearm, but after today I feel like I should know the basics of how to handle them.”
“Couldn’t hurt.” They moved into the shade of the mountain and the temperature dropped several degrees. The change felt good to him, but he was working extra hard now, his already tired arm muscles aching with the effort of holding her close.
“Is the gun related to your job?” she asked, shivering.
“Yeah. I’m a security specialist in DC.”
“Like a security guard?”
Sure, on steroids. “More like a short-term bodyguard for C-suite corporate types and wealthy families. But we also run audits on companies or individuals to find the weak spots in their physical and network security.”
“Huh, okay.” She sat with that for several minutes, her hip chafing his stomach with every step. “Why didn’t you keep the guys’ guns or radios?”
“The
re was no way to know if those weapons have been involved in anything illegal. I’d rather not possess one without knowing its provenance.”
“Ah,” she said. “Makes sense.”
“As for the radios, the cops don’t usually monitor short-wave frequencies, so we couldn’t call for help anyway. And I didn’t want those two to be able to call anyone to come after us.”
“I never would have thought of that.”
“I wish no one ever had to.” Todd set her gently on her feet before the cave that had turned out to be nothing more than a shallow depression. “Well, shit.”
CHAPTER THREE
TODD GAVE LINDSEY a sheepish grin. “So, not a cave.”
The warm imprint of his arms across her back and legs had already dissipated now that the sun eased toward the horizon and the wind had picked up. She shivered. “Back on the trail?” she asked, trying to fake an enthusiasm she didn’t feel.
Her muscles had begun to stiffen, and pretty much everything throbbed. Sleep tugged at her, an inescapable anchor.
He glanced around, maybe picking up on her distress. “We could make a spot here between the rock and the pine trees. It’ll provide concealment and give us some shelter from the wind.” He dropped his pack and rummaged around before producing a zippered fleece. “Here. This’ll keep you warm until I can get the tent set up.”
“Thank you.” She slid her arms into the jacket, letting the heat soak into her bones, and sank onto a log. “Do you need help?” Her words slurred a little.
He shook his head and gave her an indulgent smile that made her stomach flutter. “Nope. Just give me five minutes.”
True to his words, he had a one-person tent with arcing aluminum poles set up with practically the snap of his fingers. He rolled out a sleeping pad and bag and gestured her inside the shelter. “Leave your boots in the vestibule on the tarp.”
The tent had an overlay that extended beyond the door to create a “covered porch” effect that could zip closed for extra protection. Just being out of the wind felt like a miracle. She removed the pilfered boots from her ravaged feet.
Todd said something about checking her bandages, but she lay on top of the slick sleeping bag and closed her eyes with a sigh.
Blind Trust: A Military Romantic Suspense (Men of Steele Book 6) Page 2
