“Well, I’m tired of this. Time to get the show on the road,” Junior said as he steadied his gun hand by clasping his wrist.
A second later Junior fired. Mystery man dove for her and the day turned to midnight.
Chapter 2
Arlie came to with a throbbing headache, her body one big ouch, and her mind scattered. Someone held her, and the arms felt incredibly strong. Panic surged. What if Junior had her in his grip? Her hand lay against a solid wall of muscle, and she thought a heart beat steadily and calmly under her fingers. She struggled against the arms, but they held her tight. She drew in a deep breath. He didn’t smell like Junior’s overwhelming citrus aftershave. No, this scent was a light musk and far more pleasant than Junior’s cloying cologne.
“Easy. Easy,” the man’s deep voice murmured close. “You’re hurt. Stay still.”
Her eyes flew open, and she had her first real look at the man holding her. It wasn’t Junior, thank God. She recognized the short dark hair, the navy T-shirt and the solid body. No one would call the mystery man gorgeous, and his carved, rough-hewn face belonged on a gangster. He had cruel lips, a crooked nose and…okay, the warmest, most intriguing brown eyes she’d ever seen. His eyes filled with genuine concern as he cradled her on his lap as he sat on the floor. The man who’d tried to negotiate a deal with Junior that included roasting alive in the gas station. Fear spiked so high she almost choked on it. They needed to get out of here.
“Let me go,” she whispered, her voice a croak.
“You’re safe now,” he said. “Junior’s gone.”
Twin emotions of relief and fear battled inside her. She glanced around at the big room, the only light from a small window high on the wall above them. Air conditioning blew in her face.
“Oh, God. We’re in a supply room,” was all she could think to say. She felt so scrambled, she couldn’t think straight. “He didn’t…he didn’t shoot us, did he?”
To her surprise, Mystery Man smiled. “He shot at you but you dodged, and I knocked you down. A little too hard. You hit your head on the counter.”
“Why didn’t he just keep shooting?”
His arms tightened around her a bit. “Because I convinced him locking us in here really was the best idea. I yelled as loud as I could and stayed down so that I wouldn’t seem like a large man even though I’m bigger than he is. I wanted him to think he’d defeated us so he’d just leave. I told him if he shot us he’d be caught. I told him if he burned us up in the fire there would be no evidence.”
Her stomach lurched at the terrifying idea, but she said, “A smart idea, I guess.”
She struggled in his arms a little and he loosened his grip. “Take it easy. You might have a concussion.”
She touched her forehead. “I think I’m good. It doesn’t ache anymore. My muscles hurt like hell, though.”
“You fell hard when I pushed you. You probably tensed up during the whole time that ass was pointing the gun at us.”
She nodded, and was pleased to note her head barely ached. “Tense is an understatement.”
He eased her out of his arms, and she sat on the floor next to him.
He turned to the side and inspected her. He gently tilted her chin. “Let me see your eyes.”
She allowed his touch, and his presence comforted her in a way it shouldn’t. “I’m fine.”
“Ever have a concussion before?”
“No. Are you a doctor?”
A small smile tilted his mouth. “No. I’ve had some EMT and paramedic training. Your pupils are even at least.” He took her pulse. “Pulse is a little fast, but you’re scared.”
She ignored all the medical talk as a revelation hit her. “Wait. Now I know where I’ve seen you before.”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “The Outback Restaurant a week ago.”
Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit. He remembers me?
She pointed her index finger at him a second. “Bingo.”
He grinned and it made his craggy face turn from a little brutal to downright handsome. A trickle of feminine awareness made its way through the chaos still crowding her mind.
“You came in with the rest of your hotshot crew while I was waiting for a table with my friend,” she said.
“Yep.”
He’d arrived at the jam-packed restaurant with ten other dirty, ash-smudged, smelling-like-smoke firefighters. For some reason Arlie had noticed him first. Maybe because he was at the head of the line of guys, and he’d talked to the hostess. The hostess’s jaw had dropped and her eyes had widened at the sight of all that brawny male flesh. Arlie had watched with amusement as the men had followed another waitress toward the back of the restaurant—wildland firefighters got first dibs on tables. Not that Arlie had a problem with that. Even she’d had a physical, undeniable female reaction to all that alpha male testosterone so nearby. Her friend Janice had whispered, “Damn, I hope we get a table next to them.”
They hadn’t.
But who knew Arlie would be stuck in this precarious situation with this hotshot today?
“Junior locked us in here?” she asked.
“Yep. I carried you in here, and he slammed the door. He must have shoved some stuff in front of the door because I can’t get it open.”
She rubbed her arms. Her shorts, Hello Kitty T-shirt, and athletic shoes had seemed right for the blazing hot weather outside, but in this air conditioning goose bumps raced across her body.
“How long have we been in here?” she asked.
“Less than ten minutes.”
“My purse…my cell phone.” Renewed hope filled her until she realized she didn’t have it.
“Nope, it’s out there where you dropped it. When I tried to pick it up, he told me to leave it. Then he forced me to give him my cell phone so I couldn’t call either. Believe me, I would have gotten help by now.”
Damn, damn, damn. Despite the kindness in his eyes, how could she trust him? And now she was stuck in here. She decided to test the waters and pinned on a strong face, even if the apprehension eating her inside her hadn’t diminished.
She plastered on a weak smile and held her hand out. “I’m Arlie Davis.”
This time he gave her a genuine smile as he enveloped her small hand in his much larger, callused palm. His handshake was confident but not too hard. “Hank Clancy.”
“Hank?” she asked automatically.
“My father loves Hank Williams.”
She grinned again. “Ah, I see. Hank, I’ve got a very serious question for you. Why did you suggest he put us in here? Aren’t we…I mean, half the town is being evacuated because of the fire.”
He drew his legs up and propped his arms on his knees. “The fire probably won’t get this far.”
Arlie frowned in disbelief. “Probably?”
He shrugged. “Anything is possible, but it isn’t probable.”
“How do you know? It looked pretty angry by the time I left. I mean, the smoke looked like those explosions from a volcano.”
He nodded, but he didn’t look in the least disconcerted. “The southerly wind driving it north and east toward town died down in the last hour. There’s a heavy storm front coming from the north, and its winds are starting to blow the fire back into itself. At base camp, I heard the weather report and it’s been raining like hell at the top of the pass. Before I got kicked out they said the fire was no longer making big runs. The slurry planes and choppers had to land, because with this rain they won’t be needed for a while, if at all.”
She remembered the wind and heavy clouds she’d seen in the distance as she’d scurried from Grandmother’s trailer, but hadn’t given it a thought as she’d run for her life.
“But they’re still evacuating certain neighborhoods, right?” she asked.
“Better to be safe than sorry.”
“You’re right. I was happy to get out of there.”
Silence dropped between them for a moment. Nervous about the situation, she let the ch
atterbox in her come out.
“So you’re a firefighter, eh?” she said, feeling like a dolt a second later. “Do you do that year round?”
“I’m a wildland firefighter in season. Fire science instructor at the community college off season.”
She glanced at him, taking in the authority in his voice when he spoke of fire. He didn’t sound like a man given to fibs and lies, but her record with Junior proved she didn’t always know a good man from a bad one.
“You’ve always been a firefighter?” she asked.
He smiled. “I had a stint in the Navy on aircraft carriers. I managed to get my bachelors in fire science and Chimney Rock’s branch of the University of Arizona needed an instructor when I finished my time with the military. Right now I’m teaching basic fire science.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “You’re a native to Chimney Rock?”
“Yep.”
She guessed him somewhere in his thirties…about her age. “So why did they kick you off fighting this fire?”
She knew the skepticism in her voice wasn’t lost on him. He lifted one eyebrow.
“Last few years I’ve had trouble with asthma. I started having a damn attack before we even left base camp.” He didn’t sound any too pleased, and the disappointment on his face said it all.
“You didn’t want to leave?”
“No.” He tilted his head to the side. “You seem suspicious.”
“I don’t know you, Hank. Would you expect me to trust you?”
He nodded. “At least a little after everything that’s happened.”
She didn’t speak, uncertain how to answer when her misgivings remained around the edges.
“All right,” he said, lifting his hands in surrender. “I understand. Why was the deputy after you?”
“I’m not a criminal.”
“Didn’t say you were.”
She drew her legs up and hugged them. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Anywhere you like.”
“I left the area ten years ago after marrying my college sweetheart. It’s a really long story but when I came back to town after a divorce two years ago, I moved in with my grandmother at her trailer. She needed someone to look after her.” Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back. “She had a stroke and died two weeks ago…she was ninety-eight.”
“I’m so sorry.” His voice was soft with sympathy, his eyes warm.
“Thank you. Anyway, up until that time she was spry. I met Junior a year ago when he was doing a patrol through the trailer park. He seemed nice enough. Grandma encouraged me to get to know him. She thought he was a good man. I thought he was a good man. There were a lot of signs that he wasn’t, but I ignored them. Then when Grandma died he helped me make the arrangements.”
“So he was your boyfriend?” He asked the question with an even tone.
She shook her head vigorously. “No, no. I considered him a friend. I’d never let it get to a dating stage. I’ve known him a year, but he’s never asked me out.” She sighed and pushed her long hair back from her face. “After she died he started pushing me to date, which I thought was odd…I mean inappropriate to push someone to date right after their grandmother died. She was my last living close relative.”
“Your parents aren’t alive?”
She hated talking about how they’d died, and it sent another cold shiver over her. “No. My grandparents raised me. Granddad died three years ago.” She stopped, the last few hours rolling around in her mind and body with such force she trembled with it. “Sorry. I’m rambling.”
“It’s okay. We don’t know how long we have in here before we get out.” He stood up and walked toward a shelf and removed two bottles of water from a twelve pack. “Want one?”
She stood up and took one. “Thank you. I’m parched.”
She unscrewed the top and sipped slowly, watching him take a large gulp from his bottle. He stayed standing, his big frame somehow comforting rather than intimidating in the small room.
She put her bottle down on a shelf and stuffed her hands in her hair. “Oh, God. Bufford. How could I forget him?”
“I know. If I could have checked on him, I would have. Junior threatened to shoot if I tried to help the old man. He was behind the counter, and I couldn’t see how bad he was or if he was even alive.”
She brushed tears away, wanting to be stronger. She couldn’t afford vulnerability in this time and place.
“So Junior the jackass was pushing you to date him?” Hank asked.
“Yes. I decided I’d had enough and when the pre-evacuation order came I was about ready to leave. I didn’t have much left to do because I’d packed up before the pre-evac order came.”
He leaned against the wall, still holding the water bottle. “Why?”
She hesitated. “The fire. It’s been boiling up there off and on for days. It’s been making me antsy.”
He didn’t look critical, but she waited for his response.
“There’s no shame in leaving early. Especially because the smoke is so bad,” he said.
A little surprised, she said, “Junior told me I was overreacting.”
Hank snorted. “The man’s an asshole.”
She made an equal noise of disgust. “A murdering asshole.”
“I sure hope not, but I know what you mean, both about Junior and the fire. It’s better to leave early and be safe if you can do it. A lot of people tend to wait too long. They ignore their instincts.”
Bad memories slammed her in the stomach. She drew in a steady breath and fought to keep the tears from becoming a gully washer.
“Anyway,” she said, “the next door neighbor on one side of me, Mrs. Jefferson, was outside her trailer saying she wouldn’t evacuate, and I was trying to convince her. I was…my imagination was too good and I knew what would happen if she didn’t get out. Junior showed up right then and started berating me about leaving. I went inside the trailer to get my purse. I already had my suitcase in the truck and I planned to leave right then. I’d planned to head to Tucson.”
Hank’s voice was soft and low. “What did he do?”
She swallowed hard. “He cornered me in the living room and started kissing me. I pushed him away. He kept insisting. I realized he was getting worked up by my struggles.” She swallowed hard. “He liked that I didn’t want it. He was excited that I was afraid. That I was…” She almost choked on the next words and took a sip of water. “I tried to reason with him. I said that we could leave for a hotel, anything to get him away from the trailer. I told him it was dangerous because the fire was coming. He started trying to take my T-shirt off. I grabbed the first thing I could use as a weapon, a pan from the kitchen counter, and hit him in the head with it, then scooped up my purse and ran. Jumped in the truck and took off. I thought either I’d knocked him out or killed him.”
Pure disgust covered Hank’s face. “You didn’t call the police?”
She drew in a deep breath. “No. He’s…the first thing that ran through my head was that he is the son of the corrupt mayor and no one would believe me that he assaulted me and it was self-defense. He’s a law enforcement officer. I’m an administrative assistant at the law center. When I was a kid I was a handful, always giving my grandmother fits. I had run-ins with the cops.”
“Running makes you look guilty.”
She didn’t see censure in his eyes, but she did see questions. “I know. But the fire was coming and I…I just wanted out of there. I wasn’t thinking.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “It was stupid, I know.”
He advanced to stand closer to her and placed his water bottle on the shelf next to hers. She realized tears had escaped, even when she’d tried desperately to control them. They ran down her cheeks, one after the other. He cupped her shoulders. His touch held comfort. Not the greedy, clasping touch of a man wanting something from her.
“I understand. When we get out of here obviously the whole story will come out. He tried to rape you. He’s probably
killed Bufford. We can’t let that stand. We won’t let him get away with it.”
They went silent for a moment. Rain splattered the tiny window, and she looked up. She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her heartbeat. Rain was good. It was so good.
“Someone has to discover us soon,” she said. “People are evacuating and will need gas. Not everyone will go to the truck stop.”
“It’ll be all right.” He sounded so calm, so self-assured she almost resented it.
“How do you know? I mean, how do you really know the fire isn’t going to—” She cut herself off.
She left his grip and paced across the room as a wild shudder went through her body. She didn’t look at him, ashamed at her lack of control. Her cowardice.
She heard him behind her, but he didn’t come too close and didn’t try and touch her again.
“There’s more to this story than you’re telling me,” he said. “I can see in your eyes that something else is very wrong.”
Chapter 3
Hank watched Arlie with concern and curiosity. When he’d spotted her in the restaurant he’d instantly noticed her, but he hadn’t thought in a million years he’d see her again. He, along with the other firefighters, were used to rolling into a town and working hard. Fire did what it wanted, when it wanted. Its unpredictability meant they couldn’t slack or hesitate or the red beast would overwhelm them and the communities and land firefighters sought to protect. Even on down time he was more interested in chilling out and sleeping than hitting on a woman. Some of the men liked attention from fire bunnies—women who would take any opportunity to jump in the sack with a firefighter. Hank had never slept with one of the bunnies, even though more than one had certainly draped themselves over him and tried searching for his tonsils. He’d rather take his dick in his own hand than indulge in a one-night stand. Because of that, he hadn’t dated in a long time. Yeah, his sex life had been neglected.
Trapped Page 2
