by B. J Daniels
“None of that matters. Ainsley is safe. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t gone up there.”
“I’ll have a word with your boss,” Frank said and raised his hand to stop Sawyer when he started to protest. “You deserve a medal.”
He chuckled at that. “I knew I wasn’t near a hundred percent. I guess I’m learning the hard way to listen to my body.”
“How is the leg?”
“The doctor says if I stay off of it and let it heal, it will be fine.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you aren’t going to do that?” the sheriff asked.
Sawyer shook his head. “I need to see Ainsley. Things got left...unfinished.”
Frank was smiling at him. “I thought you two might hit it off.”
“Yeah, that didn’t quite happen. I’d hoped to talk to her before election night.”
“Have you called her?”
He shook his head. “She came to see me here in the hospital. She thanked me and said she was sorry about my leg and that she wished me well and left.”
“So it’s like that?”
“Worse. While she was here, my boss came in, giving me hell for playing hero. Ainsley seems to think that I’m some Casanova who saves women, gets them to fall for him and then moves on to his next conquest.”
Frank said nothing.
“Okay, maybe that is the way it seemed in the past. But I’ve changed. Once I met Ainsley...”
The sheriff picked up his hat resting on his knee and rose. “Get well. Time often helps. Time and space. She’s been through a lot. Once the dust settles...”
Maybe, Sawyer thought as he watched Frank leave. But he’d never been good at sitting around waiting.
* * *
KITZIE TRIED TO call Sawyer, but his phone went straight to voice mail. She knew he was mad and probably not ready to deal with her. She couldn’t blame him.
As soon as she was released from the hospital, her ribs taped up and all her other minor injuries taken care of, she called Ainsley and asked her to coffee. Ainsley agreed to meet her at the Branding Iron Café in Beartooth.
The other woman was already seated in a booth by the window when Kitzie arrived. After everything Ainsley had been through, Kitzie was surprised she’d be up to meeting her.
“I was going to call you about your red dress,” she said the moment Kitzie joined her. “I’m afraid my stalker destroyed it.”
Kitzie would have never worn it again anyway. “Don’t worry about it. That isn’t why I asked you to coffee.”
“Oh?”
“No, I need to apologize for the last time we saw each other,” she said.
Ainsley looked away. “There’s really no need.”
“I’m afraid there is. I gave Sawyer enough sleeping pills to kill a horse that night, so he wouldn’t make his date with you.”
“What?” Her blue eyes flashed. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you two are all wrong for each other,” Kitzie said, then drew in a sharp breath and let it out. “I still believe that. Sawyer and I have a history. I screwed up on a case and he saved me. We started seeing each other. I was in love with him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t with me. The truth is, I wanted to get back at him when I saw that he was interested in you.”
“Sawyer didn’t mention that you were both FBI or that you had a history.”
Kitzie took a sip of her coffee before she spoke again. “When I heard that your stalker was waiting for you back in your cabin that night—”
“He would have taken me one way or another. If Sawyer had been with me, things could have gone much worse, especially for Sawyer,” Ainsley said.
“You’re letting me off the hook. Why?”
“Sawyer wasn’t honest with me. If he had been...” They locked gazes for a moment.
“Then you would have known I was up to something,” Kitzie said, smiling. “You wouldn’t have bought my act.”
Ainsley smiled, too, and nodded. “And I think you’re right about me and Sawyer.”
“Really?” Kitzie had expected the woman to be angry with her. “I was all ready to warn you about him, but it sounds like I can save my breath. You’ve already figured out that he falls for the women he saves. There will always be someone else he needs to save.” She shrugged.
Ainsley finished her coffee. “Well, we both survived.”
Kitzie’s gaze went to the young woman’s wrist. Ainsley quickly covered the scar and rose. “You must be excited about election night. From what I’ve heard on the news, your father is going to win by a landslide.”
Ainsley looked at her watch. “I should get going. It was nice meeting you, Kitzie. Maybe things will work out with you and Sawyer after all.”
She laughed. “You don’t know Sawyer. If anything, he’ll never forgive me for what I did.” Kitzie watched the other woman leave, wondering if she hadn’t made a mistake about the two of them. What if there really was something lasting between Sawyer and Ainsley? What if that was the reason she’d done what she had? She sensed it. And now she’d managed to destroy it because of her jealousy?
* * *
STILL STUNNED BY the blow, Sarah didn’t speak, couldn’t, as Joe pulled her to her feet. She felt the blade prick her skin as he pulled her close. Something warm ran down her neck. She told herself that he wasn’t going to cut her throat. But then again, she could feel anger vibrating through his body like a live wire.
Her surprise and fear at finally coming face-to-face with this monster had left her weak and trembling. But she gathered her strength and told herself that she would do whatever it took not to show him just how much he terrified her.
“You don’t know how long I’ve dreamed of this,” he said next to her ear.
“Holding a knife to my throat?”
He chuckled, and she felt some of the tension in his body relax a little. “A necessity, since I didn’t think you would go with me willingly.”
“What makes you think I’m going to now?” But when she looked around the parking lot, she saw no one. Crying out for help would only get her killed. He was holding her so tight, the knife against her throat a painful reminder that fighting him was also a crazy idea.
“I have two men inside the charity event who are watching your daughters Harper and Cassidy. One word from me, and they will see that both of them disappear and are never seen again.”
She’d forgotten both daughters had said they would be there. “I think you’re bluffing,” she lied.
He laughed. “No, you don’t. You know me. I don’t bluff. I have the upper hand. I’ve had it for a long time. So stop thinking you’re going to outsmart me. Not only do you know me, but I know you.” He chuckled. “That’s why we’re going to get into your car like we are old friends. Then we’re going for a ride.”
“I don’t think so. Why don’t you just kill me right here and save us both some time?”
“Kill you? Sarah, why would I do that after waiting all these years to see you again? Anyway, that would let you off way too easily. You’ve hurt me, Sarah. All these years we could have been together. We could have done amazing things.”
“Those years are gone. So, what is the point now, Joe?”
He turned her so that he was facing her, but he still held the knife, the tip of it wet with her blood. “I want you, Sarah. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. We can conquer the world, literally.”
She started to speak, but he put a finger to her lips. “Don’t. We’ll have plenty of time to talk. Don’t make me hurt you. Get into your car, Sarah.”
Every victim knew that you did everything possible not to let a criminal get you into a vehicle. Once you did that, you were as good as dead. So instead, the good advice was to fight and scream and run!
T
he second blow did more than stun her. She staggered back, slamming into the side of the van. Her head snapped back, thudding against the metal. Stars danced before her eyes, then dimmed.
“You’ve been so anxious to get your memory back. Did I mention that Doc will be joining us?”
She felt Joe grab her and duckwalk her to her car before shoving her into the backseat. He leaped on her, quickly binding her hands and then her feet, before plunging a hypodermic needle into her arm. She watched it all happening as if in a paralyzed dream.
“It’s going to be all right now, Red.” He stepped out, picked up the box of dolls and tossed them in after her.
As the car door slammed closed, her head lolled to the side. On the floorboard, two dozen dolls looked at her from glassy dull eyes. She could feel the drug coursing through her body, but she was too weak to struggle, even if she hadn’t been bound. Panic ricocheted through her before her eyelids crashed down, dropping her in a sickening, terrifying darkness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SAWYER TRIED TO take the sheriff’s advice and give Ainsley time. But this couldn’t wait. He’d considered going out to the ranch, but the only reason his doctor had let him out of the hospital was his promise to go straight home and put his leg up. He had to talk to her.
He called the ranch number, got a staff member and requested Ainsley. When asked who was calling, he said, “A friend. I just happened to be in town...”
“Just a moment,” the woman said, and Ainsley came on the line.
“Ainsley, I need to see you.”
“Sawyer?”
“Meet me somewhere so we can talk. Please.”
Silence, then, “Kitzie told me what she did to keep you from making our date.”
“She did?” That surprised him more than he could say. Instantly, he wondered what her angle had been. It wasn’t like her.
“It really was no big deal,” Ainsley said.
“Like hell it wasn’t. Did she tell you that the only reason I went to her cabin was because she said she needed my help on the case she was working? She told you she’s an FBI agent?”
“Yes, I saw it on the news.”
He was still trying to figure out Kitzie’s angle when she said, “She told me how you’d saved her once, you both being agents.”
Sawyer swore under his breath. “She told you that’s my MO. I save women, seem to fall in love with them, then when another woman in peril comes along, I’m off again, right?” The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. “She told you that because she knows this time is different. She can’t stand the idea that I have fallen in love with you.”
“We barely know each other,” Ainsley said.
“I’ve seen you naked.”
“You had to remind me, didn’t you?”
“Ainsley, we have...something. Come on, you wouldn’t have agreed to our last date unless you believed it, too.”
“You forget, I was only going to use you and move on.”
“You aren’t the type to give away a piece of your heart or your trust to just any man.” More silence. He thought that he might be reaching her. “Can’t we meet and—”
“I’m really busy right now. The election is tomorrow. Let’s see how we both feel after that.” He started to argue that he couldn’t wait. He needed to see her, when she said, “Sawyer? I can’t thank you enough for finding me and getting me away from...that man. You really are good at your job. I’ll always be grateful to you.”
He swore under his breath. Gratitude was the last thing he wanted from her. “You know it was more than a job,” he said, but realized she’d already hung up.
* * *
“WAS THAT HIM?” her sister Cassidy asked. Her other sisters had met at the house and were now sitting around the living room.
Ainsley nodded into the silence. They’d just had lunch together. Their father had hired an in-house nanny so they would be free to attend election events. Just moments ago they’d been talking about how their mother hadn’t made the charity program.
Something had come up, was all they’d been told by one of the organizers. Since then, she hadn’t returned to the house. But one of the staff said that she’d gotten a call from their father’s campaign manager saying he needed her in Helena, and she would be back before election night.
With Sawyer’s call, it was clear her sisters had lost interest in talking about their mother.
“Why didn’t you meet him? That is why he called, right?” Harper asked. “Clearly you care about him.”
Ainsley groaned as she took her chair again. “It’s complicated.”
Her sisters all laughed and began to talk at once about what they’d gone through when it came to love. “We’ve all been there,” Olivia said once the roar of conversation had died down. She laughed. “Look what I went through! You want to talk complicated.”
“This is different,” she protested. “Sawyer is an FBI agent. He loves his job. He loves...saving people.”
“He sounds horrible,” Kat joked.
“He fell in love with the last woman he saved, then moved on, she said, when he found someone else to save.”
“She said?” Bo asked. “You would take the word of his former ex? Really, Ainsley, you need to go with your heart. I made that mistake years ago with Jace. If I had followed my heart, I could have saved us both a lot of grief.”
“Bo’s right,” Harper and Cassidy said in unison, then both laughed. Harper motioned for Cassidy to go first.
“With Jack, it was love at first sight. I swear. It was like we had always known each other. We still pinch ourselves because it was like that for him, too,” Cassidy said.
“Well, that’s a little different from what some of us went through,” Harper said. “Brody and I had all kinds of obstacles to conquer and still do. But ultimately, it is about love. Do you love Sawyer?”
“I barely know him.”
They all laughed again. “We all said that at some point,” Kat said. “But it comes down to this. Do you think about him all the time? Do you feel like something is missing when you aren’t with him?”
Ainsley felt tears burn her eyes. “I wish it was that simple. I’m not sure I can trust him.”
“Or is it yourself you’re afraid you can’t trust?” Kat asked.
The room fell silent. She looked at each of them and saw compassion and understanding. It was true most of them had been there before they’d finally let themselves fall in love.
* * *
SAWYER WAS SURPRISED when the sheriff called him.
“There’s something I’ve been debating if I should tell you,” Frank said. “It’s about election night.”
Sawyer heard the concern in his friend’s tone and voiced his immediate thought. “Ainsley will be there.”
“It would be better if she wasn’t,” the sheriff said.
What was Frank saying? “With all the security...” He realized that he’d heard more than concern in Frank’s voice. He’d heard fear. “What are you expecting?”
“Possible trouble.”
“Trouble? You mean from non-supporters or—”
“A terrorist group.”
Sawyer let out a curse. “Well, if you think I can stop Ainsley from being at her father’s acceptance speech...” He realized he’d been so out of touch that he’d completely forgotten about the election. “Where is it being held?”
“At the Beartooth Fairgrounds in the rodeo arena.”
“You can’t be serious. Whose dumb idea was that?”
“Our future president’s.”
“Well, once he’s aware of the danger—”
“That’s the problem,” Frank said. “He doesn’t believe it.”
“What kind of security do you
have?”
The sheriff told him. “I even called in a bomb defusing expert. I’ve done everything possible, but I don’t have to tell you that that doesn’t always work, especially when dealing with extremists.”
“Short of kidnapping Ainsley...”
“I thought you should know,” Frank said.
Sawyer thought of Ainsley. “I’ll be there.”
“Your doctor—”
“I’ll be there on crutches, but I’ll be there.”
“I’ll see that you have access to the family.”
* * *
SARAH WOKE AND sat up abruptly in a narrow bed. She’d expected to find herself in some kind of dungeon or, at the very least, locked up in a dark basement somewhere. Nor was she bound. Another surprise.
Instead she was lying on a daybed in what looked like a nice guest room. The walls were painted a pale yellow, and pretty paintings hung on the walls.
“Glad to see you’re back again. I was afraid I might have hit you too hard or overdosed you,” Joe said, getting up from a corner chair.
She recoiled, backing away from him until her spine pressed into the wall.
He stopped a few feet from her, shaking his head and tsking as if disappointed. “Really, Sarah. You have no reason to be frightened of me.”
“I beg to differ. Where am I?”
“It doesn’t matter, because you’ll be returning to your family very soon.” He turned to pull up a chair next to the bed. “Please, relax. I’m sure you’re thirsty and probably hungry. I will take care of both after we talk.”
She didn’t want to talk. Nor did she believe he would be returning her to her family. “Everyone will be looking for me. I was supposed to be at that charity event. Once they contact Buck—”
“It’s been taken care of,” he assured her. “Everyone believes you had to go to the capital for another event.”
Sarah leaned back against the wall. “They will check on me to make sure I’m all right.” She wasn’t confident of that. It wasn’t like she was close to her children.
“You’ll be back home before that. I promise you this won’t take long.”
