TRACELESS

by Helen Kay Dimon

  “You?” Holt shot back, hoping to throw this reserved guy off his game.

  “Of course not.”

  “You’re fine there.” When Marcel stood up, Shane slapped a hand on his chest and pushed him back down. “Now try again.”

  Marcel’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “This is about my concern for her.”

  No question Connor needed to do something about this guy. Something that could involve punching and definitely included a few threats about staying away from his woman.

  Holt snorted. “Yeah, concern. Got it.”

  “You can leave now.”

  Instead of moving away, Shane crowded in closer to the couch. “You want us to leave you alone? I guess that means you don’t mind if the kidnappers come here next.”

  Marcel had to lean back to look up. “I thought this was about Connor.”

  An interesting bit of conclusion jumping to Holt’s mind. “What ‘this’ are you referring to?”

  “Well...whatever reason Jana is in danger.”

  Funny how the guy who didn’t know anything about the break-in or Jana being taken a few hours ago all of a sudden had a theory. One that pointed away from him and put the blame squarely on someone else.

  Holt noticed Marcel didn’t assume this was a burglary gone wrong or a random act. No, Marcel tied it all back to Connor. As far as red flags went, this was a pretty obvious one.

  “Men stormed into your charity office, blew the place apart and took off. Your business, not Connor’s.” Shane set out the scenario then stood there, staring. He could go without talking for hours. It wore people down fast. This time he stayed quiet just long enough for Marcel to start squirming. Amazing how that trick of Shane’s always worked. Holt vowed to work that one into his repertoire.

  “Who’s over at the office now?” Marcel asked.

  “One of my men.” Holt stationed Cam there. The guy could hold his position, not move for hours. The skill made Holt wonder just what the guy did before he threw in with Corcoran. Cam liked to joke but there was a vein of steel underneath.

  Marcel shifted. “We should—”

  Shane held up a hand, clearly ready to shove the guy down again. “Stay there.”

  “Why?”

  “Reinforcements are coming.” Holt didn’t like new people and certainly didn’t trust some random guy to walk in and clear all this up. But Holt trusted Connor and if he said this Drake person from Connor’s past could help, Holt would go along. Be wary but not object.

  “The police are taking over?” The color left Marcel’s cheeks as he said the word.

  “Nope.” But the comment drew Holt’s interest. Shane must have thought so, too, since he snuck a peek at Holt.

  “Who then?” Marcel grabbed on to the edge of the sofa cushion.

  Tension whipped through the room. If Marcel hadn’t been a suspect before then, he sure was now. Getting anxious at the mention of law enforcement was never a good sign.

  The more jumpy Marcel got, the calmer Holt felt. “We’re bringing in a guy who is very familiar with your charity. He’s been following your work for a while now.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  Shane smiled in a way that promised a certain type of satisfaction. “You will.”

  * * *

  Connor kept them in the shade as much as possible. They trekked over flat rocks and through soft red sand. His calves tightened and the sun burned his exposed skin. He made her wear the protective vest and her shirt underneath despite the heat. Taking off his outer shirt, he had her wrap it around her head for some amount of protection.

  Sweat beaded on her forehead. Pieces of hair hung down around her face and every so many steps she dragged her feet. Tired and damp and covered in both of their clothing she still was the hottest woman he’d ever seen. When she made her offer back in the cave he almost lost control. He’d been dreaming about her and missing her. He loved the thought of finally making love with her again, but her timing needed work.

  Right now he needed them out of the heat of the day and somewhere less exposed. They couldn’t run and didn’t see anyone else. It was a slog. One during which he spent most of the time scanning the distance and listening for signs of life from the attacker’s radio. It never squawked.

  Clearly someone on the other side knew not to give anything away. Again suggesting they were dealing with trained professionals. At least Connor’s worries about a novice making wild decisions and opening fire without thinking lessened. If these guys knew what they were doing he might be able to track their potential movements and anticipate them.

  “Any idea where we’re going, or are we walking around blind?” She tugged at the neckline of her shirt and waved a hand in her face like a makeshift fan.

  “Holt passed along a potential hiding spot from Davis.” Using the coordinates and tracking on the satphone, Connor could tell they were almost on top of it.

  Somehow they’d made the walk without running into animals of the two-or four-legged kind. No gunfire and no racing from attackers. It was a nice change but the respite didn’t fool Connor. Whatever was happening wasn’t over.

  “Does he spend a lot of time in Southern Utah?” She watched each step with care.

  “No, but he can read topography reports and maps. Then he probably had Joel hack into military software and—”

  She put an arm across Connor’s chest. “Sorry I asked.”

  They crested a small hill and looked out over the wide expanse of orange and red rubble with brush sprinkled throughout. In the distance a rough rock wall towered high enough to block the view to anything beyond. The uneven surface and slabs jutting out probably qualified as a climber’s dream. Connor hoped the opposite side had some shade.

  She walked faster now. On her third step she jumped out of a deep divot running in a line along the ground and followed a section of rubble toward a pile of rocks about three feet high.

  Something moved and he felt that familiar tick at the back of his neck that signaled danger. “Hold up.”

  The brown lump blended into a patch of sand. The colors matched the landscape and gave the impression of a group of rocks. But he knew exactly what he was looking at and it wasn’t a rock or a twig or anything else. It was very much alive.

  She spun around as her hand went to the gun strapped to her side. “What now?”

  This could go very badly. He had to tell her and fast because if she spied it first—worse, if it moved—the screaming would bring every guy with a gun within a hundred miles running.

  Connor held up his hands and concentrated on lowering his voice as he delivered the news. “Do not move or yell.”

  “Why?”

  “You need to stay calm.”

  “Now you’re scaring me.”

  He nodded to a spot about ten feet in front of her. “There is a...”

  She followed his gesture. Sprinting came next. She was at his side, tugging on his arm and all but climbing on top of him before he could say the word. Snake.

  After all her traveling and the lessons her father passed on, not much scared her. Spiders, fine. Terrible weather, no problem. Scary highways, heights and tight spaces, all good. Snakes... They were a different story. They terrified her.

  Her foot inched up the back of his calf as she curled around him. “This is my nightmare.”

  Her voice shook and she pushed in even tighter. Glanced all around. Even took out her gun.

  The closeness worked for him but he hated to see her fear. “I know.”

  “Where is it exactly?”

  He lowered her weapon and slipped it back into the holster. “Under the rock pile.”

  “There are a hundred of those. I don’t see...” She squinted, then her eyes popped open wide. “Oh.”


  Even though he doubted she could hear him, he tried to smooth this out. More information usually eased panic but in this case probably not. “It’s a nightsnake.”

  “It’s daytime.”

  “I think it refers to their preference of staying hidden during the day.”

  “I don’t even want to know how you know that.”

  “I studied them when you came out here.” After they got off the phone he’d spend hours paging through information about Utah. There were all sorts of critters out there. Many he doubted she even thought about but kept him up at night with new worries, but snakes were an issue for her so he studied up. “Looked up a bunch of photos.”

  Her expression morphed to the what-is-wrong-with-you type. “Because?”

  “I know you’re afraid of snakes and that snakes are in abundance here, so if you got into trouble and called or sent a photo I wanted to be able to tell you what you could do.” He thought he heard a little “ahhh” and figured he’d lost her somewhere in the dry explanation. Probably had something to do with the way her body fit against his and how talking and not thinking kept him from stripping the clothes off her. “What?”

  “I’d kiss you if I wasn’t afraid of dying.”

  “You won’t die,” he assured her. “It’s only mildly venomous.”

  “Mildly?”

  That’s what the book said. This type of snake slept during the day and was fine so long as not provoked and he had no intention of doing that, even if the snake wasn’t a worry for humans. “Yes.”

  “Is that ‘mildly’ part really a thing?”

  He didn’t know how to answer that so he spit out another fact. “The snake prefers lizards to people. We’re totally safe.”

  “Is it wrong that I’m hoping it’s dead?” She grabbed on to him even tighter. Wound her arm through his and stood on his foot. “Not in a vicious incident or anything. Like, not a snake hunter, if those exist. Something like old age, but I definitely need him or her, whatever it is, not breathing.”

  The babbling thing made him want to smile but he didn’t dare. “You okay?”

  “I don’t like snakes.”

  They tended to fail at communication lately but he got this point. “We’ll swing wide and leave him alone.”

  “What if he has friends or this is like an informal snake town or something?”

  “Wow.” He made a mental note to hire an exterminator to check the Maryland property every few months or so.

  Though the thought of Jana jumping into his arms every now and then certainly didn’t bother him. The way her teeth chattered now did.

  “I hate snakes.”

  “Again, noted.” He put an arm around her. “I can carry you.”

  Her fighting spirit came sprinting back. It flashed in her eyes and showed in her frown. “I’m not that pathetic.”

  A few years of marriage had taught him one thing. There was no right answer to that sort of comment. “Okay.”

  They had to keep moving, so he guided her around the snake’s resting place. Took her way over to the side, nowhere near the suspect bush, all while looking around for more snakes. Thinking they’d survived the rock and tree obstacle course, he walked toward their afternoon hideout.

  A few feet out, she stopped. “I would have, you know.”

  He tried to figure out if he’d missed part of the conversation. “What are we talking about?”

  “Called you.” She slipped her hand into his. “If I got into trouble, you are the one I’d cling to. Even with the fighting and wanting to shake you—”

  “Thanks.”

  “I knew I could count on you.”

  He gave her fingers a squeeze. “Always.”

  “When the kidnapper called you, I knew you’d come running.”

  “I would never let anyone hurt you.” That was the vow he made when he asked her to marry him.

  He’d promised she would always come first. That no matter what, he would keep her safe. But somehow, some way, despite all the precautions and planning, his life had put her in very real danger. Only her smarts and some quick thinking by the team got them out of there without being killed.

  She nibbled on her lower lip. “You just hold on so tight.”

  “And when I didn’t, someone grabbed you.” That’s the failure he could not work around or forget. The flight across the country trying to get to her amounted to pure torture. The fact danger still sucked them under kept the hits coming.

  “That could have happened anywhere.”

  But it happened on his watch. He didn’t say it, but he felt it to the bone.

  He pointed to the rock slabs and the thin opening between them. “Over here.”

  She turned sideways and slipped inside. He followed, with his chest and back touching the walls. He was just about to call this off and look for another option, one with some breathing room, when he stepped into the open area. Boulders towered above them, each stacked upon the other. The top was open and blue skies flashed above them. At the far end of the long tunnel of rocks was another opening to the rubble beyond.

  The formation created an open space about a third the size of a football field. She stepped into the center and spun around. “This isn’t a cave.”

  “We can see a wide swath of land and have multiple ways in and out.” Just as Davis promised. Connor decided his second in command needed a raise. They all did.

  She stepped to one side and ran her hand over the colors veining the rocks as she lifted his shirt off her head. “Davis thought about all of that?”

  “He’s a good man.” The best, because Connor only hired the best.

  “They all are.” She spun around and faced Connor again. Her hair swished. The sun had colored her cheeks. “So are you.”

  Gone was the fear of snakes and anguish of all the long, hard hours behind them. The stillness, this beautiful woman and the stark landscape behind her... It all combined to send his pulse racing and his common sense on vacation.

  The kick of need hit him so hard he almost groaned in reaction. “You said something about a seduction.”

  “Soon.”

  “Now works for me.”

  She screwed up her lips. “It did for me, too.... Then I saw the snake.”

  “I could probably make a gross joke here.” If he could put the words together. Right now his brain locked on permanent misfire. All he could do was feel. Thinking abandoned him.

  “The idea of getting naked with snakes slithering around...” She gave a dramatic shiver. “It kind of kills the mood. They could be anywhere, just waiting to attack. I plan on watching out for them and I can’t do that if I’m crawling all over you.”

  She just had to use that word. Now the visual image that popped into his mind wouldn’t leave. But the snake comment pretty much ended any possibility of getting on his back with her on top of him.

  It would happen and she was right that it would be soon. Rock, ground, bed, car. He wasn’t picky.

  He decided to let her know where his mind had wandered. “You know the first bed we find I’ll be all over you.”

  Heat spun around her and her cheeks flushed. “It’s been a long time.”

  The tension zapping between them had nothing to do with fighting. “Too long.”

  She took the few steps to close the gap between them. When he opened his hand, she put hers in his. “I need you to know I didn’t run to Marcel.”

  Talk about a subject sure to kill off the last of Connor’s sexual thoughts. “You kind of did.”

  “I’m sorry.” Her other hand rested on his chest, right up near his throat. A finger swept over his neck.

  The touching and closeness made it tough for him to swallow. “For?”

  “Doing the one thing guaranteed to hurt you.
”

  He wanted to look away from the sudden starkness in those eyes. This conversation needed a table and boundaries and plenty of rest before it started. Now was not the best time for this conversation. Too much could go haywire. He could say the wrong thing or pick the words sure to send her running again.

  Still, he had to know one thing. He’d never viewed her as deliberately hurtful and couldn’t figure out what he’d done that would be so wrong as to invite the sort of emotional stabbing she’d delivered. “Was that the plan? To make me think you wanted Marcel instead of me?”

  “No, Connor. I swear. Never that.” Her hands traveled over his face and shoulders. “I didn’t set out to hurt you.”

  Relief crashed into him. Intentionally causing pain was not her style. It wasn’t who she was or how she operated. He’d hoped and justified her actions on that score. Knowing he got that part right meant something. “Good.”

  “Please believe me when I say I know I made a mistake.” Her hands soothed as they went. “I wasn’t thinking and miscalculated, and by the time we fought about Marcel on the phone a few weeks ago I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

  That was the one thing she kept getting wrong. Very wrong. “You could have come home and worked it out with me.”

  “Would you have listened?” Before he could respond, she exhaled, giving him the full female treatment from head tilt to sad smile. “See, I think you would have told me what I wanted to hear to lure me back, but then life would have settled back into the same pattern.”

  The assessment struck a bit too deep. Getting her back made him ruthless. He would have tried any tactic. But the idea that he would have relaxed once she was back home was just plain wrong. Having lost her, he’d do anything not to go down that road again.

  Now he had to make her understand that. “You don’t have much faith in my ability to change.”

  “It’s not just you. It’s us.” Her hand slipped up to his cheek. “I am as much to blame as you are. We gloss over problems and they fester. You ignore them and I explode. It’s a back-and-forth we need to break.”

  This counted as the first time she talked in terms of them messing up instead of just him. He tucked that away to examine later. “So, where does that leave us?”