Night Thunder

by Jill Gregory

  She closed her eyes a moment, seeing their faces again, reluctantly reliving that hot summer day.

  “They used to ride by the Hammond house on their bicycles and stick their tongues out at me when I was in the front yard. I tried to stay out of their way, but one day I was walking home from a friend’s house—her parents had invited me over for dinner and Mrs. Hammond had allowed me to go—when I saw them playing catch in the street. It was early September, still warm, but starting to get dark earlier. I didn’t want to walk past them, so I ducked down another street, to try to circle around.”

  She grimaced. “That was my first mistake. Dean saw me cutting through that street, and he knew I was avoiding them, that I was scared.” She paused a moment and took a deep breath.

  “The next thing I knew they had headed me off one street over. I was trapped—I couldn’t go forward, and when I tried to run away, back the way I’d come, they ran after me. Frankie was whooping, like it was a big game and they were winning, but James told him to shut up. That’s when I really started getting scared.”

  She glanced at Ty. His mouth was grim. His eyes burned with anger, but she knew it wasn’t directed at her. He let go of her hand and his arm slid around her.

  “What happened?”

  “They grabbed me. Dean held his hand over my mouth. I could hardly breathe, much less scream. They dragged me to the garbage dump. It was four blocks over and there was this rusted fence, this horrible smell. They shoved me inside, dragged me far away from the street so no one could see. It was getting dark. I was terrified. Then they told me to take off my panties,” she said, her voice so low Ty had to strain to hear her.

  “I refused, and I . . . I tried to scream, but we were too far away for anyone to hear.” Her voice wavered ever so slightly, but she quickly brought it under control. “Dean and James picked me up and threw me into a Dumpster. It stank and there was this garbage all over, up to my hips. Every time I tried to climb out, they pushed me back in.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes stark with memory. Ty’s gut churned. He had the insane wish to be able to go back in time, to step in and spare her from an ordeal no one should ever have to suffer.

  But now, all he could do was listen, and try to bear the pain he saw in her eyes, heard in her voice.

  “They told me if I took off all my clothes, they’d let me out. I was screaming, but there was no one to hear. Or so I thought.”

  She shifted her shoulders. “Ricky had seen them dragging me into the dump. He was several blocks away, but he saw what was happening and he came charging in there like . . . like a one-man SWAT team,” she finished on a shaky laugh. “He tore into Dean, and hit him so hard he broke his nose. Before James and Frankie could go after him, he grabbed up a tire iron and told them to scram before he beat their brains in. Ricky was a year older than Dean, but he wasn’t nearly as big. He was thin and wiry, but he could fight. He . . . he had this way about him . . . this confidence . . .”

  She stopped suddenly, casting another quick glance at him. Ty had that same kind of almost arrogant physical confidence too.

  It must be a cop thing, she decided.

  “He faced down James and Frankie. Dean was bleeding and crying on the ground. When he ordered them to take Dean and get out of there, and never go near me again, they did it. They all ran off and Ricky pulled me out.”

  Ty nodded. But before he could say anything, Josy hurried on, eager to bolster her case. “After that, Ricky told me that he was going to teach me some things I needed to know. Like how in every situation there’s a time to run and a time to fight. He said he’d teach me the difference—and what to do when I had to fight. ‘Use what you can,’ he always told me. ‘Look around, see what’s there. Use what you can.’ ”

  Her eyes shone in the firelight as she rested her shoulders back against the sofa. “After that night, the Callahan boys stayed away from me. They never even spoke to me again—or stuck out their tongues. But if it hadn’t been for Ricky . . .”

  Her voice trailed off.

  “Yeah. I get it,” Ty said. “Good thing he was there. Those punks deserved even worse.” At the contained fury in his tone, Josy inched closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

  He frowned and held her, trying to rein in his surge of protectiveness. “Okay, I understand. You’re loyal to Ricky. Now what’s his connection to the guy who came after you last night? What’s this really about?”

  Lifting her head from his shoulder, she took a long breath. Then she told him.

  She told him all about Ricky’s suspension from the police force, about the internal investigation, the rumors and accusations—and about his phone call telling her he’d left a package with her doorman. She recounted everything that had followed, including how she’d found Archie dying on the floor in his own blood—and how the man with the dark blond hair had entered the house in Brooklyn, carrying a gun.

  And she told him how her apartment had been ransacked and how Ricky, in that last urgent call, had ordered her to run.

  Ty’s expression had grown steadily grimmer.

  “I wanted to stay and call the police—God knows, I wanted to try to help them find whoever had killed Archie,” she said in an agonized tone. “But Ricky told me I couldn’t trust the police. And I was afraid that if I turned the package over to them and told them everything, it would be even worse for him. I just couldn’t do that to him. He needed me, so . . . I had to help him.”

  “That bastard.” Anger tautened Ty’s face.

  “No, Ty, don’t say that. Don’t you see—”

  “I see that he involved you in one hell of a dangerous situation. He put you in danger, Josy. I don’t care what he did for you before, you’re a civilian and his friend. He never should have let you get mixed up in whatever mess he made for himself.”

  “You’re wrong. Ricky’s being framed, I know it. And he needed my help—I’d do it all again,” she exclaimed, pulling back from him.

  Ty launched himself off the sofa. He paced around the cozy firelit room, his boots thumping on the hardwood floor. “What was in the package?” he demanded, suddenly wheeling back to face her.

  “What will you do if I tell you?”

  “Damn it, Josy, this isn’t a game.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Your old friend Ricky is mixed up in some very dirty business. Now, I don’t know if he’s clean or dirty himself and right now I don’t care. But if I’m going to keep you safe, I need to know who—and what— I’m up against.”

  “I won’t tell you about the package—not until you promise me something.”

  His eyes narrowed. Josy threw back her shoulders in the too-big black robe and met his gaze squarely. If she didn’t know that Ty Barclay was on her side, she would have been very frightened indeed. But she happened to know that beneath that tough, uncompromising, intimidating cop exterior, Ty Barclay had a heart and a soul. And a tender side few would ever guess.

  He would listen to her. She just had to make her case.

  “What kind of promise?” he bit out.

  “Promise that you’ll let me deliver the package to Ricky. You won’t try to stop me.”

  For a moment he looked like he was going to explode. “No.”

  “Then take me home. I have . . . things to do.”

  She stood up from the sofa, but he reached her in a quick stride and seized her shoulders.

  “This isn’t kid stuff anymore, Josy. It’s bad news. You’re smart enough to know that. I’ll try to help Ricky through this if I can—I’ll even help him cut a deal, though I’d like to kick his ass from here to Tennessee. But I need to know what I’m dealing with.”

  “What we’re dealing with,” she corrected him.

  His breath hissed out in exasperation. “Tell me about the package. When and where are you giving it to him?”

  “First promise me you’ll let me deliver it.”

  Standoff. Ty took her measure, fighting for patience even though he was worried as
hell about what she’d gotten into—what her dear old friend Ricky had gotten her into. She was as frustrating and stubborn as any woman he’d ever met and that included Meg, and even his sister. Faith would like Josy Warner, no doubt about it.

  From the upward tilt of her chin, and the determined glint in her eyes, he knew this was one round he was going to lose.

  “All right. I won’t stop you from delivering it.” Even as he said the words, he knew he was going to regret them.

  She smiled at him. This slender blonde who’d been am-bushed by a pro, threatened and cut with a knife, and then dragged around Shadow Point half the night was beaming at him with the sweetest expression of triumph and relief he’d ever seen.

  I’ve got it bad, he thought, his stomach roiling. How had this happened? How had he gone from being mildly interested in the new woman in town to this? It was unbelievable and pathetic . . . and damned crazy. He wanted to kiss her suddenly, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to interrogate her first.

  “Okay, I promised, so let’s have it,” he said with a scowl. “What’s in the package?”

  She sank down on the sofa again and he joined her there, waiting as she looked up into his eyes.

  “A diamond,” she said. “The biggest diamond you ever saw.”

  “How big?”

  She curled her fingers and thumb into a big C. “This big. It’s a major rock.”

  Shit. Ty kept his tone level. “And you put it where?”

  “In the ground. Once I saw what it was, and realized it had to be real or why would everyone want it so badly, I decided burying it was the safest thing to do in case anyone came looking for it. Don’t worry, as I drove out into the wild I made exact notations where I hid it.”

  “And where did you put these notations?”

  “I memorized them after I got home and tore them up into itty-bitty pieces and flushed them down the toilet.” She slanted a glance up at him. “How’m I doing so far, copper?”

  “You’re scoring an A in Criminal Theft 101. Any idea where this diamond came from?”

  “Dolph said it belonged to his boss. He accused Ricky of stealing it. Which—if that’s true, I know Ricky must have had a good reason,” she added quickly. “Obviously Dolph’s boss is a criminal himself. He probably stole it to begin with so—”

  “Hold it. I want you to start from the beginning. I want you to tell me everything about Dolph, everything you remember about the way he looked, the car he drove, what he said.”

  So she spent the next half hour reliving the events of the evening, searching her memory for descriptions and details and telling Ty everything she could recall. When he finally nodded, ending the questioning, she sank back exhausted on the sofa.

  Ty placed his hand over hers. “You did good, Josy. One more thing. Was that Ricky who called you the other night when I was in your apartment? Was that him setting up the meet?”

  She nodded.

  “So when is it?”

  “Tomorrow. I mean, today. Five o’clock.”

  “Where?”

  “The rest stop one-half mile north of the ranger’s station on Laramie Peak. In the Medicine Bow National Forest. I suppose you’re going to insist on coming with me.” She hated the hopefulness in her own voice, but she couldn’t hide it. She didn’t want to be dealing with this alone anymore.

  “Oh, I’m going with you all right. Count on that.”

  “Actually, I am.” She smiled wanly. “After tonight, I’m glad to have some reinforcements. I don’t know who else might be out there looking for the diamond.”

  “I have a proposition for you. Why don’t you let me drop you off at the courthouse and put you in protective custody? Just for the day. Then I’ll meet Ricky on Laramie Peak and—”

  “No!” She bolted upright, her eyes wide with alarm. “Ty, you promised.” Her voice rose. “You can’t tell anyone about this. And you have to let me deliver it! I thought I could trust you—I haven’t trusted anything a man said since . . . since . . . well, for a long time now, but I trusted you. Don’t you dare go back on your word!”

  “Take it easy. It was just a suggestion.” He eased her back down on the sofa and took a seat beside her. “I’ll keep my word, even though it’s against my better judgment.”

  As her heartbeat slowed and the panic died down, Josy felt the tension slide from her body. She suddenly felt too weary for words.

  “Okay, so now what?” she mumbled.

  “Now we get some sleep. In the morning, I’m going to make a few phone calls. Maybe I can find out some background on what we’re dealing with.”

  “But you can’t tell anyone about Ricky or the diamond.”

  “I’ll just ask some questions. I have a friend from Philly who transferred to the NYPD a few years back when he married a girl from Staten Island. I’ll talk to him, but I won’t give anything away.”

  “Okay.” She sighed, and offered him a tentative smile. “I trust you. I really do. It’s just—”

  All at once her gaze clouded. “Is this going to cause trouble for you? You’re a cop—you’re helping me. And I’m involved in something that’s probably a felony—”

  “Probably a felony?”

  “Oh God. This could ruin your career, couldn’t it?”

  “Let me worry about my career.”

  “The last thing I’d want is for you to get fired or—my God, arrested—for helping me—”

  “Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you think too much?”

  “All the time.” She answered his smile with a rueful grin. “Don’t change the subject, Ty. I couldn’t bear it if after everything you’ve done—”

  “I haven’t done anything yet.”

  “Yes, you have. You rescued me from that . . . that monstrosity up on Shadow Point. And you brought me here.”

  She glanced around. “This is a wonderful cabin. I actually feel safe here,” she added, surprised.

  “You are safe here. This place is pretty well tucked away and I made sure we weren’t followed. For tonight, you can sleep without any worries. I promise.”

  “Thank you.” She leaned over impulsively and kissed his cheek. Ty felt her warm breath on his face and a surge of desire ran through him, like an electrical volt charging all his batteries at once. She smelled like flowers and woman and shampoo, and she looked sexy as hell in his robe. And more beautiful than he’d ever seen her with her damp golden hair tumbling around her face and her eyes soft in the candlelight.

  Her gaze was locked on his. He wanted her with a ferocity that burned through his blood.

  Something had changed between them.

  She wasn’t holding back anymore, she wasn’t even trying to be aloof, to keep him at arm’s length and hide her secrets. The woman with him in the cabin now, looking at him with those beautiful searching eyes, was real and vulnerable and more desirable than any woman had a right to be.

  “It’s almost three-thirty in the morning,” he heard himself saying in a hoarse tone. After what she’d been through tonight, it wouldn’t exactly be fair to push anything more on her. She’d want to sleep, he was sure of it, not to get involved in . . . whatever.

  This isn’t the time, his conscience told him, even though his body ached to touch hers.

  “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

  “I know.” Josy nodded, yet her gaze still held his. “We should . . . go to bed.”

  “We should.”

  She knew she ought to look away right now, while she still could. But she had no desire to look away from him. Quite the contrary.

  She had opened up her whole life to him tonight and he hadn’t judged her. He was going to help her. Emotions and sensations charged through her. Slowly, her hand crept up, touched his face.

  Her heart was trembling and she couldn’t think of anything right now except how much she wanted him. Needed him.

  Just for tonight.

  “Take me to bed, Ty,” she whispered, and abandoned all caution as she k
issed him softly on the mouth.

  Chapter 22

  THE CABIN ON BLUE MOON MESA WAS DARK BUT for the flickering flames of the fire and the single lamp on the table. There was no sound but the crackling of the logs and the small moans and greedy sighs of the two people locked in each other’s arms.

  Josy was almost unaware of her surroundings. They simply didn’t matter. Ty did. This did. This warmth and pleasure that shivered through her as Ty took the kiss deeper, and wrapped her in his arms.

  She clung to him, tasting him, breathing him in. She welcomed the smoothness of his tongue, the feel of his hands skimming over her body.

  She clung to him as his hand slipped inside her robe, cupped her breast. Her nipple tightened into a taut peak at the teasing strokes of his thumb. He did this until her head fell back and a moan escaped her throat. Then they were caught up in more long, dark, swirling kisses, and Ty parted the robe, sliding it off her bare shoulders with ease.

  It fell in a heap to the floor and she stood naked before him, all smooth pale curves, golden curls, and big green eyes glimmering in the firelight.

  “My God, Josy, you’re beautiful.” He caught her to him and his hands roamed her body, igniting wildfires everywhere he touched. Need ached through her and she tore at the buttons of his shirt, yanking the ends of it from his trousers.

  “You are, cowboy,” she whispered against his lips. All the while her hands worked frantically, dragging the shirt down the slope of those broad, powerful shoulders and tossing it aside.

  Then her hands explored that broad bare chest that was lightly matted with dark hair, and all the while he was kissing her mouth, her jaw, her throat—hot, hungry kisses—and then his mouth trailed down to her breasts.

  Slowly, his tongue circled a nipple. Half crazed, Josy groaned with pleasure and grabbed onto his arms, hanging on for dear life as delicious sensations swept over her and she felt herself going under.

  “Ty,” she breathed in a hoarse, desperate voice totally unlike her own, and heard him chuckle thickly.