“If the dogs are bothering you, I can put them outside. They’re used to the cold,” he said.
“It’s okay.” She scratched Sue’s head, which was lying on Thad’s thigh. “They’re good.”
“You sure?” he asked as he lit the candle and stuck it into a snow ledge.
“Yes. I’m sure.”
Lying beside Jolie on his sleeping bag in the snow structure, Thad gazed in wonder at her in the warm glow of the candlelight. He could not believe it. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he’d see Jolie Duval again. In fact, maybe this was a dream. Maybe he’d actually managed to fall asleep because he was so fucking tired, and this was one of those vivid visions of the half dead. Needing to convince himself he wasn’t, Thad reached out and stroked her cheek, from brow to chin.
“Thad...” Her lids fluttered closed.
He should not have done that. One word—his name, even though it wasn’t the name he was born with—awoke all the cravings for this woman, desires he’d buried. It didn’t matter he’d been living rough for days; it didn’t matter his life was in jeopardy. All that mattered was that Jolie was here and that she believed him...though for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.
After drawing a deep breath, he dropped his hand. “Tell me a story, Jolie.”
Her eyes opened and a strange look passed over her features. “You read my journal.”
“I did.”
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
He angled his head. “No. But I learned a lot.” Narrowing his gaze, he said, “What did I do to make you suspect me?”
“You mean the notes in my journal?” She made a derisive sound. “That was a stupid coincidence and I had no idea who you really were until you left.”
“But you had my name circled and the website and—”
“It was just a stupid lie I told my brother. I didn’t even look at that website until after you’d disappeared.” She rubbed a mitten across her face. “The important part is, there are two men staying at the ranch, posing as Feds. But they’re not. They’re members of the Salvatori family, cousins or something, from Atlantic City.”
Rage lanced Thad’s gut at the mention of the Salvatori name. He grabbed Jolie’s chin, holding her captive. “Are you sure?”
She covered his hand, slid it to her mouth and kissed his palm before gently removing it. “Remember I told you my brother’s a DA? Well, he’s prosecuted a bunch of cases involving organized crime, so he’s got contacts at the FBI. When I told him what was going on, he called them to follow up on your file.” Her eyes got a faraway look and one side of her mouth lifted in a soft smile. “He’s always looked out for me like that.”
He squeezed her hand.
She drew a deep breath. “Anyway, turns out the FBI never received my call. Somehow the Salvatoris hacked the website so that when I called, my number was rerouted to them.” Her brows drew together. “I remember now, there was this weird click on the line and it went dead both times I called. Then they called me back. I never thought anything of it until now.”
“Listen to me, Jolie. If these men are Salvatoris, then they are dangerous and you need to get out of here, right now, because their motto is ‘there’s only one way to handle a problem—dispose of it.’”
“I know. The authorities are on their way to the ranch right now to pick them up.”
“You should have waited there, then. You’re not safe with me.” He laughed without humor. “Because now I’ve got the Salvatoris and the Feds on my tail.”
Jo scooched closer and cupped his face. “No. That’s why I had to come, so you wouldn’t keep running.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The FBI know you didn’t do it. They want to find you so that you’ll testify against the family.”
“What?” Thad blinked, desperately wanting to believe her, desperately wanting to stop looking over his shoulder, to stop being on the run for a crime he hadn’t committed, but eleven years of discipline could not be broken so easily.
“Those three undercover officers that were shot? One lived.”
“No. They all died, I saw them.”
“Apparently not. One was in a coma or something, but he woke up a few months later and he told the Feds he saw you being shot. He can’t ID the shooters, though. That’s where you come in.”
Thad stared into Jolie’s eyes. Could it be true? Could he have been on the run for nothing? “Why am I still being accused? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Apparently they’ve been keeping the officer’s information under wraps until they located you, otherwise he’d have been a target.”
“Nice,” Thad muttered cynically.
Jo rolled closer so that she was lying half on his chest. She stroked the whiskers along his jaw. “You’re missing the point. You don’t need to run anymore. Tell the Feds what you know and you’re a free man.”
* * *
JO LET THAD take in the information. It should have been welcome, liberating, but his expression remained stone cold. Maybe after running for so long, it was hard to believe.
His chest rose and fell on a deep breath and when he finally shifted his gaze to her, she said, “Now it’s your turn to tell me a story.” She gazed down at him in the candlelight. “How the hell did you get embroiled in this mess?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he gently eased her off his chest and sat up, reaching for his backpack and taking a journal out of a side pocket. He passed it to her.
“What’s this?”
“You gave it to me, remember?”
“I know but...” Jo opened it to find neat and precise handwriting inside. She glanced up, brows arched.
“Fair’s fair. I read yours.” He used his head to gesture to the book in her hands. “Now you can read mine.”
Lying on her stomach to make the most of the candlelight, she flattened the book and began to read.
I met Raina Salvatori at the Pontchartrain Country Club when I worked there in the summer of 2001. It was lust at first sight...
Thad had filled eleven pages in the leather-bound book, chronicling the love affair with Raina Salvatori that resulted in him being asked to “make a hit” in order to be welcomed into the family. She finished the last page slowly, trying to imagine the horror the young Thad—or Lukas—had to endure.
“So, when you wouldn’t shoot, they shot you and then took your gun and shot the others?”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh, Thad...” She went to touch his face, but he turned away.
“Don’t.” His lips were compressed and a hard line formed along his jaw. “I deserve the hell I’ve been in.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do, Jolie. I played possum while those cops got killed in cold blood.”
“There was nothing you could do.”
“Oh, there was plenty I could have done, but did I do it? Naw. All I did was lie on the ground, pretending to be dead while I listened to three men die.” He cringed as if he was picturing it all right now.
“Two men,” she corrected.
He shook his head as if the number didn’t matter. “I’m a coward, Jolie. A fucking coward.”
She tugged his chin toward her. “You were barely more than a kid.”
“No excuse. I have replayed that night over and over and there are at least a hundred things I could have done different to save those men. I didn’t do one fucki
ng thing.”
“You can’t beat yourself up about that. It’s not that simple.”
“You don’t know. You weren’t there.”
“I do know. The characters I write about all do and say these wonderful things, things I wish I could do and say in real life. The only thing is, I never say those things because I don’t think of them in the moment. I only think of it later, when I’m writing and pretending to be someone else.”
“It’s not the same,” he said, scowling.
“Yes, it is.”
Thad exhaled slowly. “Oh, Jolie. I’ve missed you.” He bent down and touched his lips to hers.
“I’ve missed you, too. So much.”
His mouth was soft and gentle, as if he was trying to apologize without words. Maybe even trying to tell her something. What?
Could it be he wanted to tell her that whatever it was she felt for him was reciprocated?
“Jolie.” He said her name against her mouth.
“Yes?”
“Oh, Jolie.” His mouth continued toward her ear, telling her with hot, sweet breaths what he couldn’t say with words.
It was suddenly too warm in the little snow cave and Jolie unzipped her parka, and then unzipped Thad’s.
“Whatcha doing, love?”
“I need to touch.” She tugged on his shirt tails, pulling them out from his jeans, so that she could slide her hands beneath.
There.
His skin was hot and hard and—oh!—she’d missed him so much. Did his groans mean he’d missed her too?
Carefully, he rolled them over so he was on top. Propped on one hand, he pulled her sweater up, baring her stomach before doing the same to his shirt.
“I need to feel you, skin to skin.”
Yes. She needed the same thing, except she had to have his whole chest, flush against her. Only thing was, she couldn’t get the buttons on his shirt undone fast enough.
While she worked the buttons, Thad wedged a hand between them, maneuvering beneath the waistband of her tights and panties.
“Thad.”
“Oh, sweetheart.”
His fingers brushed her clit and Jolie forgot all about the last couple of buttons. Her body arched beneath his, willing his hand deeper, needing a part of his body—even if only his fingers—inside of hers.
Two fingers filled her, pulsing against her inner walls as she clutched at his shoulders. “Yes, Thad. Oh yes.”
And then he stopped.
She opened her eyes and lifted her head. “What’s wrong?”
“Shh.” Thad cocked his head to the side, listening.
Sue started to whine.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Snowmobiles.” He looked into her eyes. “We’ve got company coming and I’m pretty sure it’s not the good kind.”
19
When traveling, above all trust your gut. It will rarely lead you astray.
Jo Duval
THAD WAITED IN the trees, his rifle cocked and ready, his heart pounding hard through his veins. But the gun didn’t waver. He wouldn’t let it. Too much was at stake. His life? Sure. But Jolie’s was, too, and there was no way in hell he was going to let harm come to her. He’d instructed her to stay inside the snow cave with the dogs. In the dark, unless you knew what to look for, the cave was just a pile of snow. He’d hidden the sled in the trees and now he waited.
He hadn’t realized how he’d actually longed for this moment. Eleven years of waiting. Of knowing it would come to this, wondering how it would all go down. Preparing.
Unlike when he was a twenty-one-year-old kid, Thad was a good shot now. He and Curtis practiced shooting tin cans off fence posts all summer long. He’d shot coyotes, ravens, skunks and anything else that threatened the livestock on the ranch. While he’d never shot a man before, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it if it meant keeping Jolie safe.
And if keeping her safe meant he’d have to take a bullet, he would. No question.
What did that mean? Did he love her? If love was willingly giving up your life for another because you couldn’t bear the thought of any harm coming to that person, then he was wildly in love with Jolie Duval.
The rumble of the snowmobile engines closed in and Thad could make out their headlights flickering through the trees. He consciously slowed his breathing—in for three, out for three—his finger resting lightly on the trigger.
The men drove slowly into the clearing and cut the engines while leaving the headlights on. Stupid. They’d run down the battery in half an hour.
“They’re around here somewhere,” a tall man said, lifting the visor of his helmet and sweeping the clearing with a flashlight. Thank God the light moved right over the pile of snow.
“Shoot anything that moves,” the other said, taking his helmet off and drawing a gun from his jacket.
Well, that confirmed it. These were not the Feds. These were Salvatori’s men.
“What’s that noise?” The thugs stood still as they listened.
Fuck. One of the dogs—sounded like Sue—was whimpering from inside the snow cave. Thad’s finger twitched on the trigger.
“Sounds like dogs.” The shorter man pointed to the pile with his gun. “Looks like we found them.” He laughed. “Hiding in a fucking pile of snow.”
“Let’s just blast the shit out of it.” The big brute cocked his semiautomatic.
“Easy, Junior. We need to make it look like he killed her, then killed himself.”
“Fine. You check it out. I’ll cover you.”
“You’re such a pussy.”
“Look at me. I don’t like small spaces.”
Thad squeezed his eyes shut, took in a deep breath and reopened them. With the gun snug against his shoulder, he closed his right eye and tilted his head to keep the big man in his sights, his finger slowly tightening.
Wait for it, Thad. Wait...
Someone screamed.
Thad pulled the trigger and the big man went down.
Then all hell broke loose.
Snarling and barking, screaming and cursing. Another shot was fired and one of the dogs cried out in pain. There was too much going on. Snow flying, jaws snapping. The thug rolled in the snow, arms flailing as he fought off an attack from all sides.
Where the hell was Jolie?
Quietly, Thad ran through the trees that made up the perimeter of the clearing. He needed to get to the other side to cover her as she came out.
“Where you think you’re going?”
Thad stopped. The big brute stepped out from behind the tree in front of him, his semiautomatic pointed right at him. Even in the darkness, Thad could see the blood staining the guy’s jacket.
“Give me your gun, Lukas. Now.”
“Why?” Thad needed to stall. Needed to make sure Jo was okay. “You’re going to kill us anyway.”
“True. But I can make it quick or I can make your girlfriend suffer. Up to you.”
“What makes you think she’s my girlfriend?” While Thad dropped the gun so that it hung by its strap across his shoulder, his gaze followed the slight movement behind his attacker. Jolie was there; he caught sight of her in the moonlight. What the hell was that in her hand?
Oh, shit.
“Hey, asshole!”
Just as the guy turned, Jolie threw a snowball and it hit him square in the face. Thad leaped into action. He grabbed the barrel, forcing it skyward while simultaneously kneeing the star
tled thug in the crotch. With a groan, the man dropped and Thad ripped the gun out of his hands.
From the clearing, another dog whimpered and the sound of boot on flesh alerted him to pending danger. “Jolie, watch out!”
By the snowmobile’s headlights, Thad could see the other man staggering toward them, his gun drawn. “You’re a dead man, Lukas. But first...” A shot rang out.
“No!”
Thad crashed through the forest and launched himself at the criminal, knocking him to the ground beneath him. His fist connecting with the man’s jaw, again and again and again until there was no movement beneath him.
“Jolie? You okay?”
Nothing.
“Jolie!”
“I’m here. I’m fine.”
With a sigh of relief, Thad withdrew a roll of duct tape from the inside pocket of his jacket and quickly wound it around the unconscious man’s hands and feet, then used his teeth to rip it. Once satisfied, he stood.
He took off in the direction of the snow cave just as he heard the sound of a snowmobile cough to life and then die again.
“Thad! He’s trying to get away,” Jolie called from off to his left.
He sprinted to where the snowmobiles sat at the edge of the clearing, straight at the big man who sat astride, trying to get the thing started. Thank God he’d chosen the rebuilt Yamaha, because it was touchy once it was flooded. Slowing to a walk and with the man’s own gun pointed at him, Thad ordered, “Get up.”
“You ain’t gonna kill me. If you had it in you, you would have done it already.”
“That’s true.” Thad lowered the barrel.
The guy smirked. “Salvatori was right. You are a pussy.”
Aiming at the guy’s foot, Thad said, “I may not kill you, but I have no trouble maiming you.” He pulled the trigger.
The man screamed and rolled off the sled, clutching at his leg as he writhed in the snow.
Jolie appeared at his side, out of breath. “You okay?”
“Yep.”
“Can I help?”
He handed her the tape. “I’ll sit on him to keep him still. You tape his hands and feet.”
A Christmas Seduction Page 19
