by Tarah Scott
“You acted like they really were going to mow me down with that SUV.”
That’s what he’d thought at the time, but then the light of day had got him thinking even Reid wasn’t that stupid. Hawk nodded.
“Last night,” she murmured.
“What?”
“They saw you risk your life for me, and you knew what they would think. That’s why they slashed my tyres. They were telling you they would hurt me if you didn’t comply.” Liz traced a finger along his jaw. “I’m so sorry.”
He grasped her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No, but, like you said, I have lousy timing.” She released a breath. “But if they intended to use me against you, why the direct attack tonight?” Before he could answer, she added, “Because something happened after they sabotaged the cars.”
“I said you were smart. Let’s get dressed.” Hawk pulled her into a sitting position and scanned the ground for her bra and panties. They lay a few feet to the right. He scooped them up and handed them to her. “This is as good a place as any to catch some sleep. I want to head back by first light.”
“First light?” she burst out.
“It’s not safe tonight. They’re sure to have someone watching the cars.” He put on his boxer briefs.
“Shouldn’t we try to get to the road?”
“We’re fifteen miles off Highway 87, as the crow flies. Travelling all night through these hills isn’t a great idea.”
“Staying here is?”
He grabbed his jeans. “It’s our best choice.”
Liz examined her panties and turned them around before sticking one foot then the other into the legs. “You don’t think there’s a chance they’re still looking for us?”
“They’re not the type to rough it in the mountains.” Hawk paused in pulling on his jeans to watch her shimmy her lace panties over her hips.
“Damn it, Liz. Do that a second time and I’ll take off those panties and kiss you all over.”
Her head snapped up.
“Don’t doubt I can do it.”
“We just finished,” she said in an incredulous voice.
“That wouldn’t stop me.”
She hesitated and he realised she was considering testing him. He waited, wondering how long it would take her to decide. When she reached for the bra, he figured embarrassment had won out. That was all right. He wouldn’t wait too long to prove he didn’t make idle statements. He grabbed his shirt and, a minute later, they were dressed.
Hawk picked up the jacket, then settled against the incline of the hill alongside the rifle and cooler, and extended a hand. “Come here.”
She took two steps and lowered herself beside him. He pulled her against his chest, then laid the jacket over her shoulders.
“We can’t be sure they won’t still be there early morning. I don’t want another run-in with The Beanstalk.”
“The Beanstalk.” She grinned against his chest. “You mentioned him last night in the parking lot. Why do you call him that?”
“Did you get a look at the guy? He’s tall and skinny.”
“But dangerous,” she murmured.
Yeah, Hawk thought. More dangerous than he’d realised.
Chapter Ten
Liz halted and jerked her gaze onto Hawk, who already had the rifle pointed in the direction of the sound to their right. Sunlight seeped across the early morning sky, casting enough light into the wide saddle they were crossing to make them easy targets. A murmur of voices floated to them from around the hill.
Hawk motioned her to go to the left toward the hillside. She quietly followed his lead as he sidestepped in that direction. Her heart pounded. There were no trees or rocks to use as cover. If Hawk shot one of the men, would the other shoot him before he could shoot back? They were so close to the dig—fifteen minutes, Hawk had estimated. Reid must be desperate to have sent his men into the mountains after them.
A man appeared around the bend. “Whoa!” he called, his eyes glued to Hawk’s rifle.
He lifted his hands to show he held no weapon, but Liz saw the revolver strapped to his waist. She gave a small cry at recognising the grey uniform of law enforcement and the mounted unit patch on his arm.
Hawk lowered the rifle. “You almost got yourself shot.”
“I see that.” The man glanced from him to Liz. “Professor Hawkins, Ms Williams?”
Hawk nodded.
“You two all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” Hawk replied.
The man pulled the radio from his belt. “Joe, I found them fifteen minutes to the north. They’re alive and well. We’ll meet you back at the cars.”
The radio clicked, then, “Roger that,” Joe replied. “Over.”
Liz startled at the feel of Hawk’s hand on her shoulder, and leaned into him as he pulled her close.
The man clipped the radio back to his belt. “You’ve got some worried friends and relatives.”
“Who alerted you?” Hawk asked.
“Ms Williams’ daughter reported her missing. We would have had no idea to look for her out here, but the sergeant who questioned her remembered a call from a Ms Gloria Alameda who said you didn’t come home last night, Professor Hawkins. When Ms Williams’ daughter mentioned your name, he put two and two together.” The officer gave them a penetrating look. “The officer who drove out here found your two vehicles and realised something was wrong. What happened out here last night?”
“We had a couple of men shooting at us,” Hawk said.
The officer’s gaze sharpened. “You know who they were?”
“I do, and we can give a full statement.”
He nodded. “Let’s get back.” He looked at Liz. “Your daughter is very worried.”
Liz’s stomach clenched. Emma would be worried sick. Once her concern passed, she would know something had happened between her mother and her professor.
* * * *
“You tell GFW they can make payment on time or talk to our lawyers.” Liz spoke into the phone at her home office to Ben Dixon, CFO of GFW, Leland Industries’ largest buyer. “You received the product, Ben. We expect the final payment in five days—per our contract.”
She shifted and winced when butt muscles screamed. A tremor radiated through her stomach. Was it the run or the hard workout Hawk had given her that had her body sore? Memory rose of the way her anus had stretched as he’d entered her, and the pleasure when his finger had plunged in and out of her channel as his cock met each thrust from behind. She hadn’t slept last night with Emma in her basement apartment…and Hawk on the couch in the living room. He’d refused to leave them alone in the house. Every noise had her imagining him padding down the hallway to her room, entering and crossing to her bed—
“Liz.” Ben’s voice dragged her back to the present. “We’ve done business too long for there to be this kind of animosity.”
“And we’ve done business long enough for me to know when I’m being stonewalled,” she replied. “I read the Wall Street Journal. Leland Industries isn’t about to finance GFW’s merger with Suyama Industries.”
“One month, Liz. That’s all I’m asking.”
Her assistant Karen walked in and pointed to her watch. Liz nodded. She knew she had a conference call with a new start-up design company in five minutes.
“Tell you what,” she said into the phone, “you give Leland Industries the interest you’ll make on keeping our money in your bank, and you’ve got a deal.”
Silence.
“Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Liz—”
“No,” she cut in. “You’re asking us to lose money so that you can make money. We won’t do it, Ben.”
He sighed. “I’ll talk to Anderson. Maybe he can offer some sort of incentive.”
“Five days,” she repeated.
“You sure you won’t come over to the dark side and work for us?”
She laughed. “You make this offer every time you get tired of arguing with me.”
“Hell, yeah,” he agreed. “But I mean it.”
He’d meant it every time he said it over the last ten years. Ben wasn’t a bad guy, but today was a perfect example of how GFW did business, and she didn’t like it.
“I’ll talk to you later, Ben.”
“Think about it,” he said. “Seriously.”
“I have. Now you talk to your boss.” She hung up.
Karen sat down in the chair across from Liz’s desk. “Are they going to pay?”
Liz leant back in her chair. “Hard to say. The interest they’ll make by withholding payment is enough to induce even Superman to give thought to holding out. What have you got?” She nodded towards the pink slips of paper in Karen’s hand while reaching for the quarterly production report she’d been poring over when Ben had called.
“Two messages from Suzy Chang, and one from Professor Hawkins.”
Liz’s head jerked up before she could halt the action.
Karen’s brows rose. “That must have been some night in the mountains.”
Liz’s heart raced. Why would he be calling when she was meeting him and Emma in two hours at the university?
She blew out a breath she hoped said last night was an experience I don’t care to repeat, and said, “A person doesn’t get shot at every day.”
“No. And they don’t get stuck in the mountains with a man like Professor Hawkins every day, either. I saw his picture in the paper. The man is drop-dead gorgeous.”
“It was life or death, Karen. Gorgeous had nothing to do with it. Not to mention the man’s twelve years younger than me.”
Karen’s gaze sharpened and Liz realised her mistake when her assistant said, “You noticed that, did you?”
Liz shrugged. “It would be hard not to notice a man like him.” When in doubt, fall back on the truth. “But that doesn’t change the fact we were running for our lives.”
Karen’s expression sobered. “Hard to believe all this is over some land.”
“Land that’s worth enough money to make our dispute with GFW look like couch change.”
At least Hawk’s goal had been accomplished. Artefacts had been discovered on the north-east section of the land, butting up to and reaching into Reid’s land—which explained Reid’s desperation to get to Hawk. Liz glanced at the clock. Six-thirty. Injunctions would already have been filed to stop all building until experts were brought in to assess the find. Hawk would be one of those experts.
“I still can’t believe there’s nothing the police can do,” Karen said.
Liz had been just as surprised. But Hawk had known the police wouldn’t be able to connect Reid to the two men, a fact that wasn’t going to stop him from dealing with Reid, despite Liz’s attempts to dissuade him. According to him, the only good thing that had come out of their attack was the fact that, since the case was now high profile, Harry Jones—also know as The Beanstalk—and his partner Jack Phillips wouldn’t be able to get near Liz again.
That didn’t mean someone else wouldn’t try, which was why an unmarked police car sat outside, and why Liz had agreed to work from home today—that and Hawk’s threat to follow her to the plant and stick by her side all day if she didn’t stay home. The question in Em’s eyes when Liz had explained what had happened had been bad enough. She didn’t want to confirm her daughter’s suspicions by having her professor follow her mother around all day.
“You’ve got that call,” Karen said.
Liz nodded. “You go ahead and take off.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Same place, same time tomorrow,” Karen asked.
Liz laughed. “Yeah. I think Emma would have a fit if I left the house just yet.” But it wasn’t Emma she was worried about.
Half an hour later, Liz flipped off the bedroom light and stepped into the hallway. A hulking figure stood at the far end, silhouetted against the soft light behind him in the foyer. Not The Beanstalk, her mind told her, but a stranger inside my house. She whirled back into the room, slamming the door shut.
Liz turned the tiny lock then raced to the window on the far wall. She wound the handle and the window began to roll outward. A crash against the door caused her to jump. Her heart thudded. Where were the police? The door banged with his weight against the wood. Liz fought panic. He’d be inside and upon her before she could open the window and climb outside. She released the window handle, grabbed the cordless from the nightstand, and jabbed nine-one-one.
One dial tone, then a voice said, “Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”
“Someone—” The door creaked again and splintered.
Liz dropped the phone and grabbed the crystal lamp on the nightstand. She ripped the shade from the lamp and raced to the wall beside the door. Hands shaking, she raised the lamp as the door gave way beneath the gorilla’s weight.
He propelled two steps into the room and she swung the lamp with all her strength. The thick crystal slammed into the side of his neck with a sickening crack. She swung the lamp again. His arm shot up and he wrenched it from her grip. Iron fingers seized her wrist and the back of his hand made hard contact against her cheek.
Her head wrenched sideways and pain splintered through her cheek. He dragged her forward. She stumbled. The goon yanked her upright as they crossed from the bedroom into the hallway. Spots raced across her vision. Liz fought nausea and kicked his leg.
“Fucking bitch,” he cursed.
She drew breath for a scream, but he clamped a large hand over her mouth and jerked her against him. Hot breath covered her ear. She forced back the whimper that rose to her lips.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut.” His voice, low and deep, resonated in her ear.
She fought tears. Where were the police that were supposed to be outside? Emma and Hawk weren’t expecting her for another hour and a half.
Keep it together, she ordered. If Reid intended to kill you, you’d be dead. He needed her as leverage against Hawk.
They reached the foyer and the man turned left into the family room, instead of right towards the front door as expected. He was headed for the garage beyond the kitchen, which was part of the large room that made up the family room and kitchen.
Liz caught sight of the knife block sitting on the counter beside the door that opened into the garage. Her stomach knotted. Could she stab another human being? Once Reid threatened to kill her, Hawk would give into Reid’s demands, then Reid would kill her and Hawk. A vision rose of Hawk stepping from the door to the university parking lot on a deserted night and a bullet ripping through his massive chest. No one would be there to stop the gush of blood as he crashed to the asphalt, then bled to death.
They reached the door. “Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll come back for your daughter” her attacker ordered.
Liz froze.
Emma.
He released her mouth and opened the door. As he crossed the threshold, Liz closed her fingers around the handle of the nine-inch chef’s knife. The blade slid noiselessly from its wooden sheath. Her heart hammered. They stepped into the garage and he started around the front of the Land Cruiser. She rammed the knife into his thigh. Her stomach roiled at the feel of the blade slicing into his muscle.
He bellowed an animal’s cry, twisting in a frenzied movement. His grip on her loosened. She yanked the knife free and forced back bile when slick, warm blood covered her hand. She stabbed again and pushed free. He crashed to his knees in front of the Toyota, clutching his leg where the hilt protruded like an all-too-lifelike Halloween prank. Liz reached back, steadying herself on the fender as she sidled around the car. Blood spread in a dark stain across the thousand-dollar suit’s trouser leg.
He grabbed the knife and his face contorted as he wrenched it free. He threw it aside. The knife clattered on the cement and skittered under the Land Cruiser. He lifted his head, and wild eyes met hers. She retreated another step, then
froze. He was nearly as close to the door as she was. A grotesque smile twisted his mouth. He’d realised the same thing.
Liz lunged forward, slapped the garage door opener, and whirled. The mechanical door jerked into motion and the man’s heavy grunt told her he’d shoved to his feet. She pulled down paint cans, cleaning bottles and anything else she could grab from the shelf on her right. Debris bounced off the Land Cruiser and clattered to the floor. A crash sounded behind her, and the man bellowed in pain. The door had lifted a mere foot from the ground. Liz dropped to her belly to roll underneath.
A large hand seized her leg. She twisted onto her back. He was on his knees, blood gushing from his leg as he grabbed for her other leg with his free hand. She kicked his face. Bone and cartilage cracked beneath the ball of her foot. Blood spurted from his nose, but he held tight, while grabbing for her other leg. She kicked again and pulled loose.
Liz rolled under the garage door and onto her feet, and hit a solid wall. Steel arms banded around her. She blinked against the glare of the streetlight behind them and raked nails across her new attacker’s face.
He grunted. “Liz.”
Tears streamed down her face. “Let me go, you son of a bitch.”
“Mom!”
Liz grimaced against the fog of fear that clouded her brain. A large hand seized the hand with blood on it. A noise behind her caused her to jerk her head around and she saw her attacker stumble from the garage. An animal growl emanated from the man holding her. Liz startled at the sight of Emma appearing at his side. A siren wailed in the distance. The man holding her stepped around her, and Liz sucked in a breath.
Hawk.
Chapter Eleven
Lava-hot fury rammed through Hawk. The man who’d emerged from the garage had tried to kill Liz. Her attacker veered right, heading for the neighbour’s yard. Hawk dived for him. They crashed to the concrete. Hawk reared up and drove a fist into his already bloody face.
