Adam shrugged and gave her a sheepish grin. “Guess I forgot to mention my Great Aunt Carol is deaf?”
“Well, aren’t you just full of surprises.” She gave him an arch look. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
Another shrug. “Not so far,” he managed to say with a perfectly straight face.
She laughed and threw her arms around him in a swift hug. “That’s why I love you so much. You’re so modest.” She turned and walked toward Linc.
“Wait!” Adam called. “Do you have your cell phone with you?”
Without reducing her stride, she pulled it out of her skirt pocket and held it up.
“All right,” he agreed reluctantly, “but if you see anything—anything—that looks out of place or—”
“I know, I know, I’ll call you.” She turned, but continued walking backward away from him. “Stop smothering me, Adam, I’m in my own backyard, surrounded by gorgeous, hunky men.” She shrugged. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what the clueless heroine always says just before she gets beheaded by the psycho killer!” Adam yelled back, trying to suppress the feeling of unease threatening to explode inside him. On the other hand, he argued with himself, if she were in any kind of imminent danger, Jess would have called by now to alert him.
So he simply stood there and watched her walk away, the sexy sway of her hips tightening his groin. Squelching the nearly overwhelming urge to follow her, he forced himself to go back inside the house to confer with Jay.
Wishing she were wearing something a little more conducive to walking through gravel than four-inch stilettos, Sarah followed her family’s long-time gardener up the hill toward his cottage, past sumptuous beds of orange and yellow daylilies growing in profusion on both sides of the narrow, curving driveway. As they approached his garage, she saw an enormous black Lexus parked crookedly across the gravel surface. In the driver’s attempts to turn around in the small space available, he had plowed through all the lily beds, gouging out deep trenches in the soft earth and scattering mangled flowers and mulch everywhere.
Her eyes narrowed as anger surged through her. Who would be asshole enough to do such a thing? Certainly not any of the workmen. Neither Adam nor Brian would hire anyone so disdainful of other people’s property. Nor is it likely that any of their crewmen would be driving around in a brand-spanking-new Lexus. Then who…
A sense of cold, prickling unease crept up her spine as she slowly approached the vehicle, her mind working feverishly. A Lexus. Kendall Malone, Ryder Malone’s father, owns a Lexus dealership. Is this one of his cars? Is Ryder somewhere on my property? She looked around nervously. How long has it been here? she signed to Linc.
I don’t know. His hands moved so swiftly, Sarah could barely keep up. I came out to go to my doctor’s appointment and found it here, blocking me in. I’ve never seen it before.
Cautiously, she placed her hand on the hood. It was cool to the touch. She bent to look at the license plate and gasped, her blood freezing in her veins.
Massachusetts plates! It has Massachusetts plates!
Her hand jerked away as if it had been zapped. Oh, God, not Ryder. Phillip! Phillip Nugent is here! The breath whooshed from her lungs. Ryder Malone hadn’t vandalized her property. Phillip had. But why?
A touch on her arm made her jump, and she realized that she’d been standing there like a statue, frozen in place.
Sorry, Linc, she signed, shivering despite the heat. I know whose car this is. We have to go find Adam.
But before Sarah could turn to leave, a familiar figure stepped through the trees into the dappled sunlight. His thin-lipped smile did little to lessen the sudden panic jolting through her. He stood, legs spread, hands thrust into the pockets of his khakis. He was strung tight, a jittery, almost feral energy flowing from him in waves. The slightly unfocused look in his eyes told her he’d been drinking.
“Well, it’s about damn time you came home,” he said harshly. “Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for you? And what are you wearing, for God’s sake? If that dress were any shorter I could see your twat!”
A sudden spurt of anger surged through her. “Go to hell, Phillip. You no longer have any say in how I dress.”
“Obviously, since you look like a two-dollar hooker.”
Her spine stiffened. “Get off my property before I call the cops. I don’t answer to you.”
He gave her a thin-lipped smile. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I’m doing here? Why I’ve come all this way just to see you?”
“I don’t care what you’re doing here,” she said coldly. “I want you gone, and I never want to see or hear from you again.”
“Really, Sarah,” he sneered, “is that any way to greet your fiancé?”
“You’re no longer my fiancé, Phillip. But if it makes you leave any faster, I’ll play your stupid little game. Why are you here? What do you want?”
He moved toward her menacingly, and she took a step backward, hating that betraying sign of weakness. “I want you to get in the car.”
Her laugh sounded a bit shrill, but she faced him defiantly. “I don’t think so,” she said, signing to Linc as she spoke. But she wasn’t signing the words she was speaking. She was telling him to go get Adam. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Phillip. If you leave now, I won’t have you arrested for trespassing.” Go get Adam. Go get Adam. “I will, however, send you a bill for the destruction of my bedroom. And I expect you to pay in full.” Go get Adam!
Linc turned to go and suddenly there was a gun in Phillip’s hand, pointed straight at the elderly gardener’s head. “If he moves another step, he’s dead.”
Sarah gasped. “Phillip!” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the ugly black weapon in his hand. “What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”
“Tell him not to move.”
Don’t move, she signed quickly to the frightened gardener. It’ll be okay.
Phillip’s eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze to her, the gun still pointing at Linc. “What did you say to him?” he demanded, the cords in his neck rigid with tension.
“I’m just translating what you and I are saying,” she said quickly, signing simultaneously. “Let him go, Phillip, he’s no threat to you.”
“He’s getting in the trunk,” Phillip snapped. “I’ll let him out as soon as you and I are safely away from here and he can’t interfere with my plans.”
“And I’m not going anywhere with you until you let him go.” With a bravado she was far from feeling, she folded her arms across her chest and glared at the man she’d once considered handsome. At five-eleven with curly brown hair, brown eyes and chiseled features, she supposed many women would have found him handsome. But now, for the first time, she noticed the weakness of his chin, the slight paunch above his waistline, the beginnings of a receding hairline, the general air of dissipation about him. How had she ever considered marrying him? God, what a disaster that would have been.
“Really, Phillip,” she said, trying to feign a bored, disinterested air, no easy feat when terror was exploding through her veins. But she was damned if she was going to let him see how frightened she was. “Aren’t you being just a little melodramatic? Put that thing away before you hurt someone.”
“Isn’t that the general idea behind a gun?” he asked with an ugly little smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “To hurt someone?”
“Only if you want to wind up in prison.”
“This is to keep me from winding up in prison,” he retorted sharply. “That’s why I’m here and why you have to come with me. Once we’re married, everything will be fine.”
“Married!” she recoiled in shock. “Are you insane? I have no intention of marrying you.”
“See?” He shrugged one shoulder carelessly. “I knew you were going to be difficult. Hence the gun.” His mouth hardened into a grim line. “A gun I am quite willing to use if necessary, so do
n’t make it necessary.” He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, pressing a button on the fob. The Lexus’s trunk popped open with a metallic clunk!
“Phillip, stop, this is kidnapping! Think about what you’re doing!”
“Tell him to get in.”
“No. Let him go.”
Infuriated, he strode over to where she stood and jammed the barrel of the gun against her right temple. “Shut! The fuck! Up! God! How could I have forgotten what a bitch you are, always arguing over every little thing instead of just doing what you’re told. Well, I’ve had just about enough shit from you. He gets in the trunk or I swear I’ll kill him right where he’s standing.” His lips thinned. “Now, are you going to cooperate? Or is he one dead motherfucker?”
She hunched her shoulders, raising her hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, okay, I-I’ll go with you, just—don’t hurt him, okay?”
“Tell him. To get. In the trunk.”
She bit her lip, frantically trying to think of a way out of this untenable situation. But nothing came to mind. I’m sorry, Linc, she signed, defeated, I’m afraid you’ll have to get in.
But what about you, Miss Sarah? What’s going to happen to you?
I’ll be fine—she tried to give him a reassuring smile—and so will you. Adam’s bound to start getting worried and come looking for us. I’ll try to delay Phillip as long as I—
“Quit yammering and tell him to get in the goddamn trunk!” Phillip practically screamed, his voice shrill and tight. Spittle flew from his lips. Everything about him was shaking badly. Except for the hand holding the gun. Oddly enough, that was as steady as a rock. Hastily the elderly gardener climbed into the Lexus’s empty trunk and curled up in a fetal position. Phillip slammed the lid shut and tossed Sarah the keys. “You’re driving,” he said harshly, moving swiftly toward the passenger door. “Get in and be quick about it. We have to get out of here. Now.”
When she didn’t move, he thrust the gun toward her over the roof. “Get in the fucking car!”
With a resigned sigh, Sarah walked up the side of the car and opened the driver’s door. She had to keep him from leaving…she had to!
“Hurry up, damn it! We need to leave!”
As Phillip lowered himself into his seat and reached back for his seatbelt, she hefted the keys in her palm and threw them as far as she could down the driveway, into the lush, leafy daylilies. Then she turned and ran back up the hill toward the gardener’s cottage, nearly twisting an ankle in her four-inch spike heels.
“You bitch!” Phillip shrieked, jumping out of the car and running after her. He caught up with her almost immediately, grabbing her by her hair and wrenching her to a stop before backhanding her viciously across the cheek.
Pain exploded behind her right eye. Stumbling backward, she threw up her hands to ward off another blow. He grabbed her arm, and yanked her toward him. His breath was rank with the stench of alcohol.
“You find those goddamned keys or I swear I’ll kill you right here!” he growled, giving her a vicious shove that sent her sprawling to the ground. She cried out as the jagged pieces of crushed rock gouged her knees and palms.
“God damn you, Sarah. Go find those keys!”
She staggered painfully to her feet. “I-I don’t know where they landed,” she lied, brushing her shredded hands gingerly down the front of her skirt, leaving streaks of dirt and blood. By now, the sharp pain in her face had transformed into a dull, throbbing ache. Her cheek felt hot and swollen and her right eye was beginning to balloon shut.
“Don’t give me any fucking excuses! Just find the damn keys and be quick about it!” He pushed her down the driveway, jabbing the end of the gun painfully in the small of her back. She was going to have bruises there tomorrow. If she survived until tomorrow. “Here,” he said, stopping around a foot short of where the keys had actually landed. “Start here. And hurry up.”
“Phillip—” She half turned toward him.
“Shut up and look for those keys!” His face was red and pinched with rage. He looked as if he were about to have a stroke. “We have to get out of here before someone decides to come looking for you.” He grabbed her hair and jerked her head back with a vicious yank. The alcohol fumes on his breath made her want to retch. “You’d just better pray that doesn’t happen, bitch. I see anyone—anyone—and he’s dead. Got that?”
Numbly, she managed to whisper, “Yes, Phillip.”
He gave her a sharp push between her shoulder blades. She sank clumsily to her injured knees and started swishing her hands through the long, slim leaves of the daylilies, pretending to look for the keys.
Suddenly, her cell phone vibrated against her thigh. Oh, my God! She swished her hands more vigorously to cover up the tiny hum of the vibrating phone. After several rings, it stopped. She bit her lip, knowing it was either Jesse or Adam. What would they do if she didn’t answer? If she could just open the envelope and push the Talk button the next time it rang, maybe she could start talking loudly enough to alert Adam or Jesse that she was in trouble…
The vibrations started again. Turning slightly away from Phillip, she continued swishing leaves with one hand while surreptitiously sliding the other into her skirt pocket, closing her fingers around her phone. Now, if I could just…
“What are you doing?” Phillip demanded angrily, grabbing her arm and yanking it upward. The cell phone flew out of her hand and went skittering across the rough gravel, taking her hopes with it. “Oh, no, you don’t!” With a triumphant laugh he stomped on the phone until it was in dozens of little pieces scattered all over the driveway. “You fucking bitch! I should kill you for that!”
Her stomach churned and bile rose in her throat. Keep him talking, she told herself. Try and distract him. “You can’t possibly think you’re going to get away with this,” she said, struggling to sound calm.
“Of course I’m going to get away with it. Once I’m your husband, no one else will give a shit what happens to you.”
She turned her head to look at the man she’d once thought she could love. “Think of what you’re doing,” she pleaded. “I don’t know what trouble you’re in back in Boston, but right here, right now, you’re already looking at two counts each of kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon. To say nothing of trespassing and wanton destruction of property.”
“What property? I didn’t destroy any property!”
“My bedroom…” she prompted.
“I never touched your bedroom! I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Yeah, right.” She looked at him. “Why do you think you need to marry me? What do you want?”
“Money,” he said, hissing the word between clenched teeth. “Marrying you is the quickest way to get as much as I need.”
She straightened, pressing her fingers into the small of her aching back. “And how much is that?”
“Ah! Ah! Ah!” He waggled the gun at her. “Keep looking for those keys!” She bent and resumed her task. “Millions. Five million, to be exact. And I have to have it by Friday.”
“I’m not marrying you, Phillip. And I’m not giving you any money.”
“Oh, yes, dearest, I’m afraid you are. One way or another.”
Chills raced up her spine. “What does that mean, one way or another?”
He gave her a smile that turned her blood to ice. “Well, just in case you refuse to cooperate once we’re married,” he said in the high-pitched, singsong voice of a madman, “I have a backup plan. I’ve already made out your Last Will and Testament, naming me as your sole beneficiary. All you need to do is sign it. And if you refuse…” He let his voice trail off menacingly. “Well, then, I’ll just sign it for you—with a perfect replica of your signature, I might add. No one will question it.”
She stared at him, aghast, shivering despite the almost oppressive heat of the day. “You’re insane,” she whispered as the last of her hope leached away.
* * * *
Adam
reached in his pocket to retrieve the phone vibrating against his thigh. “Yeah, Jess?”
“Why does Sarah’s phone keep goin’ straight to voicemail?”
Picking up on the alarm in Jesse’s voice, Adam lifted his head as if sniffing the air. Christ, how long has he been standing here shooting the shit with Jay? Even before he answered, he was already moving swiftly down the hall. He could hear Jay’s footsteps right behind him. “I don’t know, Jess.”
“Isn’t she there with you? Put her on!”
“Uh, she’s not here right now, Jess, but I’m sure she’s perfectly safe. She went off with Linc.” He practically skidded down the stairs four at a time, hoping to God he didn’t break an ankle.
“I’m on my way over there.” Jesse’s fear was palpable through the electronic connection. “ETA two minutes. He’s here, Adam! Nugent is here in Marshall’s Creek. We’ve got to find her before he does!”
Adam slammed through the back door, looking around wildly for…what? What had he expected to find? Chaos? Armageddon? The sheer…normalness of the scene that met his eyes left him momentarily disoriented. Everything seemed perfectly ordinary, except for the cold feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach telling him that it probably wasn’t. Christ! I knew I shouldn’t have sent her off by herself.
He ran to the Land Rover and yanked the door open to retrieve his Sig Sauer P228 from the glove box. Wordless, he handed Jay his backup weapon, a Glock 9 mil. In perfect sync, both men checked the loads before ramming the magazines back home with the heels of their hands and pulling the slides. Both safeties were off. “Ready?” Adam’s face was a hard mask of concentrated fury.
Holding their weapons tight against the sides of their legs, the two men started sprinting toward the gardener’s driveway. Christ, if anything has happened to her…Abruptly he broke off the thought, his lips thinning into a grim, hard line. He couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t let emotions get in the way. He had to focus on getting Sarah back safely.
Loving Sarah (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 31
