Chapter Six
Following lunch with Joe Hodges, Reece took care of some shopping necessities before returning to the cabin—printer ink and paper, a new software program for his computer, some clothing items and a couple of bottles of wine. Then he collected his mail from the private company that provided post office boxes. He checked his watch. By the time he got back to the cabin it would be almost five o’clock. Nearly dinnertime.
And then another night spent sleeping under the same roof with Brandi Doyle. Another night of testing his ability to keep his needs and desires in tight control. Another night of wanting to hold her in his arms. Another night of wanting to shut out the rest of the world and its problems. Another night of wanting to make passionate love to the most exciting woman he had ever met. Another night of knowing that he couldn’t take advantage of the unusual circumstances or her vulnerability.
Another night of knowing that he could not compromise the trust she had placed in him.
Myriad thoughts and feelings circulated through his mind as he drove to his cabin. Even though Joe Hodges had promised to help, his conversation had left Reece uneasy. Nothing specific, just a feeling that Joe was hiding something relevant from him, that he was holding back on some information. It had reinforced his decision to keep Brandi’s identity a secret and not mention what they had discovered so far.
He pulled into the carport, grabbed his purchases and hurried into the cabin.
He called to Brandi. “I’m back.”
“I’m in the kitchen.”
He set his computer supplies on his desk, then went to his bedroom to put away his other purchases. He proceeded to the kitchen carrying the bottles of wine. He paused at the door and watched her for a moment. The way she moved, the curve of her hip, the way her sweater caressed her breasts—everything about her tugged at his libido. But there was more than lustful desire. There was also the way she felt in his arms, the sense of contentment he experienced when he was with her, the feeling of settled calm she brought to his life in spite of the external turmoil that currently surrounded them.
He set the bottles of wine on the counter, then walked up behind her and impulsively wrapped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled the side of her neck as he turned her around within his embrace until she faced him. He searched the depths of her eyes, looking for any hint of what she wanted. Any clue to what he should do and how he should proceed.
Or, more accurately, if he should proceed at all.
His desires won out over his uneasiness. He captured her mouth with a kiss that started out tender, but quickly escalated. Without hesitation, she raised her arms around his neck and met his kiss with a passion of her own.
The entire time he’d been gone, her thoughts had jumped back and forth between two extremes. Her first thought had been the need for them to return to her house again. They had been interrupted and made their escape before she had been able to finish searching her files to see what else was missing besides the recent location pictures for her book. Her other thought had centered around what that night would bring. Sleeping in his bed while knowing he was just on the other side of the bedroom door had made for a frustrating night.
Though she barely knew him and wasn’t even sure about the validity of everything he had told her, she had still made the decision to trust him based primarily on gut instinct. Her life had been turned upside down and inside out, then suddenly this mysterious stranger had appeared. She had opened her eyes and there he’d been—literally. It had taken only a few hours for her to realize he was the most exciting and desirable man she had ever met. But was it merely the circumstances that made him seem so? Had the unusual nature of their relationship and the danger surrounding them made it seem as if they needed to grab what they could before it was too late?
The entire time she was being stalked, she’d felt as if she had almost no control over her own life. Just when everything had seemed the bleakest, this handsome stranger had suddenly materialized. Almost like the proverbial cavalry coming to the rescue at the last minute, just in time to save the wagon train. But how much of what she felt for him was real—and how much an illusion that gave her some hope to hold on to?
Her thoughts turned again to the need for them to go back to her house and finish their search. Then the sensation of his tongue teasing her lips chased the practical thoughts from her mind. She opened her mouth to accept his probing tongue. The longing flowed through her body. She twined her fingers through his thick hair. Was it the heightened tension of the situation? The adrenaline surge from the danger? There was nothing normal, nothing ordinary about the circumstances that had brought them together. Things between them seemed to have moved at lightning speed. Was it too fast?
Any thought as to whether this was the right thing to be doing flew out the window. She wanted Reece Covington. She pressed her body against his.
A moment of panic hit Reece like a ton of bricks. Last night she had told him he was moving too fast. She had let him know she was uncomfortable with the growing physical contact between them. So exactly what did he think he was doing now? He broke off the kiss but couldn’t quite bring himself to turn her loose. He drew in a steadying breath, then brushed a soft kiss against her forehead.
Last night had been a test of his ability to conduct himself properly, to maintain his distance while knowing that she was in his bed in the next room. He had passed the test. But would he be able to pass that test for a second night? Not that he would ever try to force himself on her, but was it possible that he had taken her vulnerability and mistaken it for encouragement? The thoughts continued to circulate through his mind—thoughts that were part desire and part worry.
“Reece…I, uh…”
Her words broke into his thoughts. Something about the timbre of her voice set him on alert. He reluctantly released her from his embrace. “Yes?”
“I’ve been thinking and…well, I’ve given it quite a bit of thought…and, uh…” She held several seconds of eye contact with him. She had weighed the choices and had finally come to a decision. “I think we need to make another trip to my house.”
Her words caught him completely off guard. He saw the concern in her eyes, but that didn’t lessen his reaction to what she had said even though it was obvious that she was uncomfortable with the topic. He tried, but he couldn’t keep the slight edge out of his voice, a combination of disbelief and agitation.
“You want to go back to take another look through your house? Why? Is there something specific you need? Can’t we just buy whatever it is at a store somewhere?”
“Well, uh…we were interrupted before I could finish searching through my files to see if I could tell what was missing. We know the negatives and prints of my recent location pictures were taken, but I don’t know if all of them were missing or only the recent ones. The first few months’ worth of pictures weren’t with the ones that we know are missing.”
He frowned as he turned over this new bit of infor mation in his mind. “Do you realize how risky that would be? Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”
“It didn’t occur to me until a little while ago.” A barely audible sigh escaped her lips as a look of anguish crossed her face. “It’s just that everything has happened so fast. My mind is almost a blur. One moment I’m getting into my car to go to the grocery store and the next thing I know I’m frightened nearly out of my mind and running for my life in an attempt to get away from my abductor.”
A sob caught in her throat. She tried to hide it but knew she had not been very successful. The last thing she wanted to do was fall apart. “I needed to be able to step back from it for a few hours and find a sanctuary where I could try to put everything together so that it made sense. You’ve given me that by allowing me to stay here. I truly appreciate your kindness and consideration, but I’m still trying to fit all the pieces together. I understand it intellectually. I know what’s happening and what we need to do, but I’m having a difficult time absorbing it e
motionally. Right now I feel like I don’t have any control over my own life, and I don’t like that feeling.”
He heard her words and instantly understood exactly what she meant. It was the same thing he had gone through when outside forces had caused his life to spiral out of control and he’d ended up in prison. He knew he had to do whatever he could to help her regain that sense of control. If she wasn’t able to restore that feeling of confidence in herself, then it would be a negative impact on her for the rest of her life. He had to do everything he could to help her.
“Okay. After dinner we’ll return to your house so you can look through the rest of your files. Frank will probably assume that if we’re going to return to your house we’d do it late at night or in the early morning hours before dawn. By doing it early in the evening we should avoid any type of interference from him.”
She looked up at him. Her voice was a mere whisper, but he heard the sincerity and saw the relief in the depths of her eyes. “Thank you.”
As sure as he was standing there he knew that she had managed to turn his priorities around by one hundred and eighty degrees. She was absolutely the top priority. What he didn’t know was how he felt about it and whether she was even aware of the effect she had on him.
They had dinner, but he didn’t open the bottle of wine. That would have to wait for another time, at the very least until after they had tackled the mountain roads again and concluded another foray into her house.
They set out for Rocky Shores. A little tingle of anxiety continued to churn in the pit of his stomach, enough to make sure his senses remained on alert. Regardless of what he had told her, he wasn’t as sure about it himself. Frank James was not the type to leave a large hole in his surveillance. He might not be there personally, but there was a good chance that one of his men would be keeping an eye on her house, especially since he now knew someone had been there.
They were definitely taking a risk—a huge risk. But how could he say no to her, especially understanding her reasoning behind the request? If there was even a slight chance that they could find something that would help them resolve the mess she was in, then they had to do it. They had to take the chance.
Neither of them said much of anything on the drive to her house. The anxiety and trepidation that filled the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. He drove past her house, carefully scrutinizing everything that came across his line of sight. He drove up the alley, then down the next street where he had parked the previous night. When he was satisfied that everything was as it should be, he parked on the next street as he had done before, only this time with his car in front of the Gleasons’ house in case they needed to cut through that yard again.
A few minutes later they entered her garage through the side door, then went inside the house. They proceeded directly to her office, where she started going through the older files.
FRANK JAMES WATCHED BRANDI’S home from his vantage point inside the vacant house across the street. She had obviously managed to find help somewhere. He didn’t know the person’s identity, but whoever it was had cleverly avoided surveillance. The man Brandi had helping her had given his cohort a dangerous pursuit through the mountains until finally losing him. Frank knew he needed to sharpen his tactics. Whoever was helping her knew exactly what he was doing and was very good at it.
In Frank’s official capacity as a police detective, he had done a quick background check on her associates and close friends. There wasn’t any name on the list who qualified. Whoever she had recruited was still a mystery to him.
He had grabbed her negatives and the prints. When he’d studied them, he’d found exactly what they feared might be there. But taking the evidence wasn’t enough. They had to know if there were any other copies of the pictures, and if so, had she sent them to someone else. Even if she had no idea what she had captured on film, they could not take a chance on her discovering it later or someone else eventually figuring it out.
His associate had definitely put a scare into him. If he bungled it this time, he would need to do some fast talking to save his own neck. He had surprised someone at her house last night. There was a good chance that whoever it was would be returning to finish what he had started. And this time Frank would be ready. The mystery man would not escape him a second time.
He glanced at his watch. He had been sitting at the window in the vacant house for over two hours. Another hour and one of his men would be there to relieve him. He wanted twenty-four-hour surveillance on Brandi’s house, but he only had a small group of trusted men he could pull from. He couldn’t afford two men around the clock to watch the front and the back. In fact, he had short-changed his police duties to be able to devote more time to this little problem. Fortunately, her office was in the front of her house rather than the back. With the vacant house across the street, it made surveillance easier.
A quick flicker of light caught Frank’s eye. He jerked to attention. Someone was inside the house, specifically inside her office.
Frank left the vacant house, dashed crossed the street and made his way around to the back of Brandi’s house.
“ANY LUCK?” REECE NERVOUSLY shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he watched Brandi.
“Everything is here, all the location pictures I shot several months ago. Apparently the only things missing are the more recent location photographs. We’re at a dead end if the pictures I sent my agent weren’t the specific ones they wanted. Without that, we’ll never know why they were so important.”
She let out a sigh of exasperation. “I guess that’s it. I don’t know where else to check or what else to look for. As near as I can tell, those specific negatives and prints are the only things missing.” She grabbed her file copy of the letter she had sent her agent and shoved it in her purse.
They started to leave, making their way through the living room. A sound from the back of the house sent a hard jolt through Reece’s body. He grabbed Brandi’s arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt. He placed his finger to her lips, indicating that she should be quiet. They both stood very still, neither of them making a sound. Then he heard it again. Someone had entered the house.
Instinct took over. Reece shoved Brandi down to the floor behind the sofa, then positioned himself by the door, ready to intercept the intruder. He glanced toward the sofa. He felt confident in his ability to handle the intruder, even without having any type of a weapon. But he also had to protect Brandi. He couldn’t allow anything to happen to her. He sucked in a calming breath, held it for several seconds, then slowly exhaled as he centered himself.
Even in the dark Reece immediately recognized the intruder as soon as he came through the door. So, Frank James had decided to handle this little problem personally. That was good and bad. It put him against an assailant whose capabilities he knew, but it also meant that he had to keep Frank from recognizing him. The last thing he wanted Frank to know was that he had become involved in Brandi’s stalking and abduction.
Frank clicked off the safety of the Beretta .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol. As soon as he was fully inside the living room, Reece grabbed him from behind.
“What the hell—” Frank didn’t have a chance to finish the rest of his sentence. Reece wrapped his left arm around Frank’s neck, and with his right he reached for Frank’s pistol.
Frank’s swiftness caught him by surprise, but he still managed to knock the weapon to the floor. The two men grappled for it, bumping into furniture and turning over an end table.
The adrenaline pumped through Reece’s body. His heart pounded in his chest as he struggled with Frank. Everything was on the line. It was more than his personal safety. Brandi’s life was also at stake.
The sounds assaulted Brandi’s ears. A sick sensation churned in the pit of her stomach. Her muscles tensed. She didn’t know what to do. Her first thought was to jump up and try to help Reece, then she reined in the impulse. That was the last thing she should do. That would only give him more to worry a
bout rather than being helpful.
Then the terrifying sound of a gunshot exploded around her. A cry of pain followed the sound of the shot, then an eerie silence—a silence that lasted only a second even though it felt like an eternity. Her breath froze in her lungs. Every muscle in her body twisted into tight knots.
She peered around the corner of the sofa, squinting to see through the darkness. One of the two men leaped to his feet and sprinted toward the back of the house and out the door. A moment later the other man scrambled to his feet. A million fears ran rampant through her body.
“Brandi—”
The sound of the familiar voice settled a calm over her shattered nerves. “Reece…are you all right? I heard a shot—”
The warmth of his touch stilled her words. He helped her up from the floor, then pulled her into his arms. He was safe. Nothing else mattered at that moment. She returned his embrace. His fingers twined in her hair, then he cradled her head against his shoulder. She felt the pounding of his heart. It matched her own racing pulse.
He took a calming breath. He didn’t want to speak until he knew his voice would sound confident and controlled. “We need to get out of here right now. If the neighbors heard the shot, they could have called the police. That would give Frank the perfect excuse for being here—just answering the call because he was in the area.”
He released her from his arms and stooped to pick up the pistol Frank had left behind, being careful to pick it up using his jacket sleeve to preserve Frank’s fingerprints and keep from leaving any of his own. He put the pistol in his jacket pocket. He grabbed Brandi’s hand, and they headed for the back door. He paused long enough to give a visual perusal to their escape route before going outside. They raced for his car and were soon on the way back to the cabin.
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Page 9
