by Cindy Dees
Damn, damn, damn.
Brownie ran along the gully at the back of the landfill for a few moments and then veered away from the trash heap and up an uneven dirt slope. It was dark, and boulders littered this side of the narrow valley. Finn lost sight of the dog and darted forward urgently. He had to get that dog back!
There. He caught sight of a dog shape disappearing into an inky black shadow. What the hell? Was that a cave? Maybe Brownie’s hideout since he’d run away? Huffing, Finn followed. If he was lucky, the dog had just cornered himself.
Rachel started as a dark shape hurtled forward into the cave low past Lester’s legs. What the heck?
Lester swore and dropped his whiskey bottle, grabbing for the pistol jammed in the back of his waistband.
And then the shape was headed for her. Rachel recoiled in terror. Had they invaded the cave of a coyote or a pack of wolves who’d come back to reclaim their home? Was she about to be torn apart? She’d almost prefer being shot to that.
“Hold still, you damned wolf!” Lester shouted.
Her wish to get shot looked like it might just come true as the beast closed in on her rapidly and Lester pointed his gun at both her and the beast. And then she heard a familiar whimper.
Oh my God. Brownie. How he’d found her or what he was doing here, she had no idea. But Lester was about to shoot the dog!
“Hey!” she shouted sharply at Lester. “Stop that!”
The gun wavered as she startled him. He was just drunk enough to be a little confused by an outburst from the supposedly unconscious prisoner.
“Put that gun down!” she ordered.
But unfortunately Lester wasn’t that drunk. He snarled. “You wish, bitch. That your dog?”
It was kind of hard to deny belonging to Brownie when the dog had closed in on her and commenced licking her face.
“I love you, too, buddy,” she whispered, “but you have to get of here. Go away, boy.” When he merely wagged his tail enthusiastically, she said more sternly, “Go on. Shoo!”
Lester laughed. “I was going to kill just you, but now I’m going to shoot your dog and let you watch him bleed first. And then, after you’ve suffered for a while, then I’ll kill you.”
She didn’t waste her time trying to argue with him. He was obviously crazy as a loon. She’d never done a darned thing to hurt him. There was no reason for the man to want to make her suffer. But every minute she could delay him killing her was another minute for Finn to find her. She had faith that their love had to count for something. It had to be of some help in locating her.
“Go on, Brownie,” she murmured. “Run, boy!”
Lester was no more than five feet away now, squinting down at her and the dog.
“Lester, who are you trying to kid? You’re not going to get away with this. You’re not a killer,” she said with desperate calm. Anything to distract him. To give her an extra few seconds to convince the dog to leave. The idea of watching poor old Brownie suffer again broke her heart almost worse than the idea of dying.
He laughed wildly, and his words were vaguely slurred when he retorted, “I got away with poisoning that bastard, Warner. Almost killed him, too. One more good dose of arsenic would’ve had him. And I got away with setting up fake contracts at Walsh that will net me millions. No one’s ever going to find your body way out here. In another year or so, this hillside will be covered up with trash and you’ll rot beneath it for all eternity.”
“Just put the gun down, Lester,” she said patiently.
“Not only no, but hell no!” he exclaimed.
And then a new voice came out of the darkness by the cave opening. “I’d do what the lady says, Lester.”
Rachel’s heart leaped first in jubilation at the sound of Finn’s voice, and then in terror as Lester spun, gun and all, to face the man she loved.
“He’s got a gun!” she shouted.
Finn’s silhouette charged forward and went airborne, flying toward Lester. From beside her, Brownie growled and charged as well, going low.
Bang!
The sound of the gunshot inside the stone walls of the cave was deafening. She screamed, but her ears were too full of the report of the gun to hear herself.
All three shadowed shapes fell to the ground. They rolled around for a few moments, and then became still.
“Finn! Oh, God. Finn!” she cried.
“I’m fine, Blondie,” he grunted. “You okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” she answered breathlessly. Please, God. Let it be true. Let Finn be unharmed. She loved him more than life itself.
“Just lemme tie up Lester here, and make a quick phone call to Wes,” Finn said. “Then I’ll come over and untie you.”
“Is Brownie okay?”
Finn laughed. “Yeah. I owe the mutt one. He bit Lester’s leg and made the guy jerk just as he pulled the trigger. At this close range, I expect the mutt saved my life.”
“Good boy, Brownie,” Rachel called out. The dog whimpered happily and came over to her to lick her face. Laughing, she tried to dodge the persistent tongue but failed.
It took a few minutes, but then Finn was there, his hands deft and gentle on the knots holding her wrists. Her bonds fell away. She started to move her shoulders and then cried out in pain.
“Easy. Don’t try to move all at once,” Finn directed. He probed her shoulder joints gently, no doubt checking for injuries, and then apparently finding nothing, rubbed her shoulders lightly. Pins and needles exploded from her neck to her fingertips as her circulation gradually returned to normal.
She wasn’t thrilled when Finn passed her the gun and left to guide Wes to the isolated cave. Thankfully, Lester chose to sulk in silence.
But as Wes slapped handcuffs on Atkins and hauled the man to his feet, Lester screamed, “I’ll kill you!”
Finn wrapped her in a protective embrace. “Don’t worry. He’s hog-tied and not going anywhere anytime soon. And I’ll take his gun back.”
Rachel sagged in relief, and Finn murmured, “It’s over, baby. You’re safe. Brownie led me right to you.”
“I guess we both owe him our lives, then,” she mumbled against Finn’s chest.
“Yup. That dog’s earned being spoiled rotten for the rest of his life. He can even sleep on our couch if he wants. But you and I get the bed all to ourselves.”
Wes dragged Lester out of the cave and it wasn’t until Atkins’s complaints and threats died away that the significance of Finn’s words sank in. “Our couch?” she echoed.
“Well, unless you just want chairs in our living room, I suppose,” Finn replied. “I’ll leave the decorating of our home up to you if you don’t mind. I’m no good at that design stuff.”
“Our home?” she repeated.
Whoever said men weren’t dense at times would be dead wrong. But then, sometimes women were dense, too. And she was feeling decidedly dense at the moment. “Did I miss something here?” she asked.
Finn held her far enough away from him to grin down at her. “We are getting married, right? I almost lost you tonight, and I’m not taking any more chances with losing you again. I’ll still wait for you to work out whatever issues you want to work out. But sooner rather than later, I plan to make you my wife and spend the rest of my life adoring you.”
Rachel blinked, shocked into a stillness that went all the way to her soul. “Well, then. I guess you’ve got it all planned out, don’t you?”
He laughed and gathered her close. “Not hardly. Life with you is going to be one surprise after another, if I don’t miss my guess. But I can’t wait to see what happens. How about it? Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”
“Oh, Finn.” She couldn’t help it. She burst into tears and promptly soaked his shirt through.
He stiffened, alarmed. “What does this mean? Are you crying because you’re saying yes and you’re overcome with joy, or are you saying no and crying because I’ve made you so unhappy?”
“
Of course I’ll marry you,” she answered through her tears.
Brownie whimpered and pushed between them, and they both bent down to pet him. The dog wasted no time licking the salty tracks off her cheeks. Finn and Rachel laughed. “Guess I’ll have to get used to sharing you with the mutt,” Finn commented.
“Do you mind?” she asked.
Finn laughed. “Hell, no. Brownie brought us together in the first place and then saved us both tonight. He can be the best dog at our wedding if he wants.”
“That sounds perfect.” Rachel sighed.
“It will be,” Finn replied softly. “No matter what happens in our lives from now on, we’ll have each other. And I can’t think of anything in the world more perfect than that.”
Whoever said men weren’t capable of being as tender and romantic as women would be dead wrong. Obviously that person had never met Finn Colton. But for her part, Rachel counted herself the luckiest woman alive to not only have met Finn Colton but also to have won his heart.
She opened one arm and Brownie stepped eagerly into her embrace, warm and fuzzy and wiggly. Finn laughed and kissed Rachel over the dog’s head. “Find your own girl to kiss, mutt,” he muttered.
Rachel smiled against Finn’s mouth. Yup, life was just about perfect.
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Cindy Dees for her contribution to The Coltons of Montana miniseries.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6910-5
DR. COLTON’S HIGH-STAKES FIANCÉE
Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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*Charlie Squad
**The Medusa Project
†H.O.T. Watch
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
