by Sandra Owens
“Let’s circle around and come at the place from the side,” Jack said.
Noah nodded his agreement, but as they took a step back, gunfire sounded from inside the house. “New plan.” He raced across the street. There had better not be so much as a scratch on Peyton, or Dalton was a dead man.
An older man stumbled out of the house. “I didn’t sign up for crazy,” he said as Noah ran past him.
Noah skidded to a stop inside the doorway. “Peyton?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dalton returned and dragged her out of the room. He pulled her down a dark hallway, his fingers digging into the skin on her arm. He was going to leave bruises again. This time, she was definitely going to report his abuse to the police, like she should have done the first time.
Turned out they were in a house, one that looked like it had been vacant for a long time. Ugly wallpaper was peeling from the walls, and the carpet was so nasty that she didn’t want to walk on it even wearing shoes.
He brought her to the living room, where a man who appeared to be drunk propped up a wall.
“Who’s that?” When should she try to escape? She glanced out the dirty front window. Dalton’s car was parked in the yard. She’d borrowed it once to run away. Looked like she was going to have to borrow it again.
“That’s the magistrate who’s going to marry us.”
She scowled at Dalton, then glared at the other man. “I’m not marrying him, so you can just be on your way.”
The man belched.
“Get on with it,” Dalton said.
The man looked puzzled. “Get on what?”
“The wedding, idiot.”
“Oh. Right. Ahem, dearly beloved, we are here today—”
“I’m not marrying this jerk!” Peyton screamed. Was this even legal? She was pretty sure the law required two witnesses. Knowing Dalton, he’d probably forge the witness signatures. But she wasn’t taking a chance on whether or not any of this was legal.
“If the lady doesn’t want to get married, I can’t force her,” the man said.
Peyton wholeheartedly agreed.
“Hey, now,” the man said, his eyes going wide when Dalton pointed a gun at his head. “Put that thing away before you hurt someone.”
Dalton kept the gun pointed at the magistrate. “Finish the damn ceremony.”
It was now or never, before she ended up married to the biggest jerk in the world. She slid her hand down the inside of her shorts and wrapped her fingers around the coat hanger stick.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join...” Bleary eyes peered at her. “What’s your name, dear?”
“Well, in about ten seconds, Dalton here is going to call me bitch, so feel free to go with that.” She tightened her grip on the stick, then pulled it up and out. Before Dalton realized she had a weapon, she aimed the pointy end at his junk and slammed the stick into him with all her strength.
“Bitch!” Dalton yelled as he doubled over. Unfortunately, he didn’t drop the gun.
She didn’t have time to take satisfaction in her perfect aim or that she’d called it. Yep, she was a bitch, and at the moment, proud of it. But there was still the matter of the gun that he was now raising toward her. She brought the stick up again, then slammed it down on his hand as hard as she could.
The gun fell between them, and they both dived for it. She got her hand on it first, but Dalton slapped his hand over hers. He got the gun away and pointed it at her as she backed up.
She stared into the barrel of the gun and knew she was going to die without ever seeing Noah again. That pissed her off. She saw in Dalton’s eyes that he was past reasoning with, and she fell to the floor as a bullet whizzed past her head. That was a sound she never wanted to hear again for as long as she lived.
Having nothing to lose, she pulled the hanger hook from her pocket as she rolled toward him. If it was she last thing in her life she did, she was going to make him sorry for what he was trying to do to her and her father. She raised the hook, intending to rake it down whatever part of his body she could reach. She wanted to see him bleed.
Instead, it caught the trigger guard of the gun, and the gun fell to the floor between them. They both dived for it again, and miraculously, she got to it first. Before she could get away with the gun, Dalton’s hand slammed down on hers. He squeezed her hand so hard that pain shot up her arm, but she refused to let go. He was furious enough now to shoot her if he got it away.
Desperate, she clamped her teeth down on his hand. He grunted and his grip loosened, and she had possession of the gun. Dalton looked at her with hate in his eyes, then he lunged at her. She had no idea how it happened, but the gun went off, and she was so startled that she almost dropped it.
Dalton screamed as he wrapped his hands around the tip of his shoe. “My toe! You shot my fucking toe off.”
“Oops.” Not wasting her chance to get away, she held on to the gun as she scooted backward until she hit the wall. Her heart was pounding against her chest, and she gulped air into her lungs. She stared at her hand. She’d never held a gun before, didn’t want to be holding one now. What was she supposed to do with it?
“Peyton?”
She glanced up, relief slamming through her at seeing Noah. “Um, hi there.” She turned her attention to the gun in her shaking hand. “Ah...you want this?” Please want it before she shot someone else’s toe off.
“Yeah, princess, I’ll take it. Just keep it pointed at the floor while I come get it, okay?”
She nodded. She could do that. He kneeled at her side, and she almost giggled that he was keeping well out of range of the gun’s muzzle. Couldn’t blame him for that, nor did she want to see him lose any toes because of her.
He wrapped his fingers around the barrel. “I got it, baby. You can let go now.”
“O...okay.” She wanted to, she really did, but her fingers refused to cooperate.
Apparently realizing that her hands were frozen in their grip position—hopefully not permanently because that would suck—he brushed his lips over hers. “Put your hands on my face, princess.”
Yes, that was a much better place for her hands than the hard metal of a gun. Her hands agreed and after letting go of the gun, moved themselves to Noah’s face. She sighed. Noah was here, and she wasn’t marrying Dalton. Good, that was good.
The gun disappeared from sight, and he put his arm around her back, lifting her to her feet. Dalton’s screams penetrated her fuzzy mind. How long had she tuned out, not even hearing him?
“I shot his toe off.”
Noah laughed. “Yeah, you did. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
“I didn’t mean to. We were fighting over the gun, and I don’t know, it went off. Maybe he was the one who pulled the trigger, shooting his own toe off. Yeah, I like that version. He was going to make me marry him, but I armed myself with weapons, if you can call a piece of wood from a coat hanger and a metal hook weapons, but it was all that was handy, so I improvised. I also have a strip of my wedding dress to tie him up with, or maybe use it to strangle him. Didn’t get a chance to—”
Noah kissed her. He smiled against her mouth. Yeah, she had him well trained. Hearing that gunshot, fearing that he’d find her hurt or worse...hell, he’d never been that scared even in the middle of a firefight. She was shell-shocked, but she was all in one piece. Nothing else mattered.
The asshole was still screaming, and Noah reluctantly pulled his mouth away from Peyton’s. “Can you shut him up?”
“I don’t think so,” Peyton said. “I’m pretty much done with having anything to do with him.”
“Not you, babe.”
She peered around him. “Oh, hi, Jack. Didn’t know you were here, too.”
Jack grinned. “Peyton, you’re my new hero.” He glared at Dalton. “Will you shut the hell up? I
t’s just a little toe.”
“I shot his pinky?” Peyton said. “His little pinky? That’s it?” She marched over to her ex, bent over, and scowled. “Oh, boo hoo. You’re lucky it was only your little toe. I was aiming for your junk.”
“Bitch,” he growled.
“Never your bitch, though. Ha-ha. To show you that I’m a better person than you, here.” She pulled the long strip of white, lacey material from her pocket. “I was going to use this to strangle you, but I’ll give it to you to wrap your stupid toe.”
“I think she’s high on adrenaline,” Jack said.
Noah chuckled. Yeah, she was a bit manic. Jack was grinning like a fool. He knew the feeling. Peyton tended to have that effect on you. If you weren’t smiling because of her, you were kissing her. Well, he was. No one else better be kissing her.
“Can we go now?” She wrinkled her nose as she glanced around. “I really need a bath.”
“Sorry,” Jack said. “We have to wait for Deke to get here.” He glanced at Noah. “I called him while you were getting the gun away from her.”
Peyton shifted her gaze to Jack. “Oh, right. I’m not thinking real clear right now.”
Noah moved next to her. He gently trailed his fingers over the bruises on her arms. “How?”
“When we were fighting over the gun.”
“You can’t kill him,” Jack said.
But he could accidently step on the bastard’s wounded toe, taking satisfaction when the man’s screams intensified.
Peyton tugged on his arm. “Can I at least go outside? It smells in here, and Dalton’s whining is giving me a headache.”
“You bet.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked her out. He’d raced here thinking he was going to have to rescue her, but she’d rescued herself. Was he proud of her? Damn straight. “You did good, princess. Half the guys in boot camp wouldn’t have been as clever as you in devising makeshift weapons.”
She beamed at him. “I was clever, wasn’t I? At first, I was really scared. I knew you’d come, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take or if you’d be able to find me. So, I decided not to be helpless. How’d you find me?”
“The trackers. Your father called Jack’s place and asked for me. He told me about the note and how you’d gotten a message to him by saying you’d left with Robbie. He immediately knew you were in trouble. Using his son’s name was brilliant.”
“It wouldn’t have been if Dalton knew about Robbie, but Dad had said he hadn’t told anyone here about his previous life. I counted on Dalton not catching that.”
“Clever, clever girl.” She smiled and he smiled back and what the hell was with his jittery heart? Felt like jumping beans were bouncing around in it. “Who was that man that came tearing out of here right before I came in?” he said to get his feet back on solid ground.
“That was a drunk magistrate Dalton paid I don’t know how much to marry us.”
Noah glanced around. “Guess he took off. Do you know his name?” He’d like to give it to Deke. The magistrate had been prepared to marry an unwilling woman to a man with a gun.
“No, he wasn’t introduced to me.” She glanced at the Mercedes. “Oh, I need to get my purse and phone out of Dalton’s car. He wouldn’t let me have them when we got here.”
“I’ll get them for you.” He grabbed the purse from the front passenger seat, noticing a large envelope was also on the seat. He picked it up and pulled out the sheets, frowning when he realized what they were.
She took her purse and slipped the strap over her shoulder. Her gaze fell on the envelope. “What’s that?”
“Looks like a contract agreement, turning the brewery over to your ex.”
“He said my father would sign it if he wanted me to live. I should have shot all his toes off, although I still think he was the one to pull the trigger when we were wrestling for the gun.”
Noah still might kill the man.
“I need to call my father. He’s probably worried sick.”
“Yeah, do that. He is worried.”
While she was talking to her father, Noah stepped back inside. Jack was on his phone, and Dalton had moved from the floor to sit on a filthy couch. He had his shoe off and was rocking back and forth while holding his foot.
Dalton glared at him. “I need an ambulance, and when the cops get here, I’m filing assault charges on Peyton and cruel and inhumane treatment on the two of you.”
“Shut your face.” Noah turned his back on the man. Maybe he’d get lucky and the bastard would come at him.
Jack finished his call, then shoved his phone into his back pocket. “That was Nichole. She’s as bloodthirsty as you, Double D. Said we should have taught him a lesson when we had the chance.” He chuckled. “Damn, I love that woman.”
“Believe me, that we didn’t is my regret for the day. When’s Deke supposed to get here? I’d really like to get Peyton home.” He glanced around the nasty room. “I don’t think what happened here has really hit her yet, and when it does, she’s going to need some TLC.”
Jack smirked.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ll let you figure it out for yourself.”
“You said that once before. If you’re implying there’s something between us, sure, we like each other. At the end of the day, though, I’m leaving, and she’ll go on living her life.”
Jack snorted. “Uh-huh.”
“Besides, there’s nothing for me to do in Asheville even if I wanted to stay.”
“You could work with me.”
“Thanks, but dogs are your thing, not mine.”
“Assholes, I’m bleeding out here.”
Noah glanced over his shoulder. “Good, but hurry it up, will you? I’m tired of listening to you.”
“Here he is,” Jack said at the sound of a car arriving.
“Great.” He walked to the window. A typical detective’s car was parked next to the Mercedes, and a patrol vehicle pulled in behind Deke.
Deke was already out of his car and talking to Peyton...rather, Peyton was talking a mile a minute, her hands moving around just as fast. He shook his head and chuckled.
“What’s funny?” Jack moved next to him and peered out the window. “Ah, she’s doing her rambling thing.”
“He just better not kiss her,” Noah muttered.
Jack laughed. “The bug has bit you, brother.” He slapped Noah on the back, then went out to join Peyton and Deke.
So what if it had...not that it had, or if it had, that it would make a difference. He wouldn’t know what love was if it stood in front of him waving a red flag. He’d certainly never learned about love from his father. Maybe his mother had loved her husband once, but in the years that Noah could remember, she’d only stayed because she had nowhere to go or the means to leave. And when she’d finally tried, she’d paid with her life.
Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” played in his mind again. What would his head doc say about that? That his subconscious was trying to tell him something? Maybe, and maybe he really did want to know what love was, but...
He wasn’t even sure what the “but” was anymore.
There was nothing for him in Asheville other than a princess who might or might not want him to stay. She’d never given any indication that she did, and he wouldn’t put her in a difficult position by asking. Funny thing, though. He couldn’t imagine ever kissing another woman.
* * *
“It was nice of Deke to let me wait until the morning to sign my statement,” Peyton said when they arrived home.
Noah inwardly snorted. There was nothing nice about it. He’d pulled Deke aside and told him flat out that Peyton was done for the day. She, along with him and Jack, had given their statements to Deke and the police officer, which Deke had recorded. What Noah wasn’t willing to do was make her go
to the police station today and wait for her statement to be typed up so she could sign it.
Deke hadn’t been happy, but he hadn’t pushed the issue. Deke also hadn’t been happy that he and Jack hadn’t called him as soon as they knew Dalton had taken Peyton.
“And have SWAT show up and escalate the situation?” Noah had said. “Would you have called the police if Heather had been taken and you had someone like Jack and me available to help you rescue her?” When Deke didn’t answer, Noah nodded. “Thought so. Besides, Peyton saved herself without my and Jack’s assistance. So no harm, no foul.”
Deke’s gaze shifted to Peyton. “She told me that Dalton admitted to killing his wife.”
“Seriously?” He was glad he hadn’t known that while the bastard had Peyton. He wasn’t sure he could have kept a clear head with that knowledge.
“Believe me, we’ll be taking a hard look at that. What she managed to do today was pretty amazing.”
It was, and now he had her home where he could take care of her. At the moment, she was still on an adrenaline high, but at some point tonight, she was going to crash. He’d be here to catch her.
He filled her tub, added bath salts he’d found, and stripped her of her clothes while listening to her recount her day for the second time. He didn’t think she even noticed he was undressing her.
“Seriously, did he really think I’d just go along with his plan like a good little girl?” She put her hand on his shoulder and stepped out of her panties when he lowered them to her feet. “At first, I thought my only hope was for you to find me. But I was pissed. Is it okay if I say pissed? Dalton wasn’t okay with it.”
Why hadn’t he killed the bastard when he’d had the chance? He stood, cupped her cheeks, and lifted her face so she was looking at him. “Princess, anything you say, any word you use is okay with me.” She smiled that smile that did weird things to his heart.
