“Oh. The hammer need not fall just yet. Georg is being a perfect gentleman. A maiden's fondest dream. Here is the number. Are you paying attention?”
“Yeah.” Riggs wrote down the number that Novak dictated.
“And Edward?”
“What?” He held his breath, clutching the wheel. “What?”
Novak chuckled softly. “Try to relax.”
Riggs's arm went slack, the phone dropping out of his stiff fingers. He touched his arm. It throbbed. It hurt like a bastard, but pain didn't matter. Only Erin mattered. If he could salvage her from the wreck of his life, that would be enough. That would be all he asked. As the hours went by, he asked less and less of life. Run, run, run, ruined old rat. He closed his eyes, and thought of Erin's sweet smile.
Don't be an idiot, honey. You might be all on your own with the devil tonight. God help you, please help you. Even if he can't help me.
Raine laughed at Seth's queasy expression and tried to pull the washcloth out of his hands. “It's not as gory as it looks.”
“Easy for you to say. You're not looking at it.” Seth yanked the washcloth back and dabbed at her face, looking greenish. “Weird. I've seen plenty of blood, and I've never been bothered by it before.”
“Give me that.” She seized the rag and finished the job, then flung the grisly looking cloth into the garbage. She looped her arms around his waist and lay her head against his chest. “Thanks for galloping to my rescue. My white knight.” She turned her head quickly as his arms tightened. “Careful of the nose, please.”
“Sorry. God, Raine. You scared me so bad,” he muttered.
She pressed her cheek against the slippery cold leather of his jacket. “I'm sorry about my tantrum,” she said. “You get to say I-told-you-so for the rest of your life, if you want.”
“Yeah, and you better believe I'll milk it to the bitter end.” He tilted her face up and glared into her eyes. “Better not even get me started on that. I'll just get pissed off all over again.”
“Fair enough, fair enough “ she said hastily. “Let's change the subject. Like, how can I tell if my nose is broken?”
That worked like a charm, to her relief. His glare faded. He reached out to touch her nose, very gently.
“Ow! Careful,” she snapped.
“Not broken,” he said with conviction.
“How do you know?” She touched it, frowning. “It hurts like hell.”
“Mine's been broken three times. Believe me, I know,” he assured her. “You're going to have two black eyes, though.”
She winced “Ick.” “Could have been worse. Let's get you to an emergency room.”
She blinked. “Why?”
He snorted. “Hello! Raine, you're the one who just got attacked by a guy in a ski mask and thrown down the stairs!”
“Where I landed conveniently on top of you.” She rose up on tiptoes to kiss his jaw. “I'm OK. Just shaky. And I have a sore nose.”
He studied her face with troubled eyes. 'You seem awfully calm.”
“I know. Probably it just hasn't hit me yet. I'll fall apart later for sure.” She stroked his jaw, running her fingers over the small muscle that pulsed there. “It can hit me whenever it wants, as long as you're with me. Don't leave me alone tonight, Seth. You make me feel strong enough to face anything.”
He grabbed her hand, and kissed it. “No way. Not tonight, or any other night. Not in this lifetime. I cannot believe how close that was.”
The tremor in his voice moved her, almost to shivering tears. She fought them back, still petting his tense face. “It's strange,” she said. “I don't mink he meant to kill me. He didn't hurt me all that much, even when I whacked him with the lamp. He knocked the wind out of me, slapped me, and bonked my nose against the wall. That's it.”
“That was enough,” Seth growled. “And don't forget, he threw you headfirst down a flight of stairs. You could have broken your neck.”
“If you hadn't caught me. He knew you would catch me.”
He grunted, unimpressed. “And your point is?”
“No point,” she said thoughtfully. “Just details. Like the fact that he was afraid.”
“Huh?”
“I could smell it,” she explained. “He was scared to death.”
Seth looked doubtful. “Of you?”
She made a dismissive gesture with her shoulders. “I doubt it. But he was afraid of something.”
Seth kissed the top of her head. “He's going to have to have a damn good reason to be afraid when I get my hands on him. Let's get out of here. We've hung around too long as it is.” He scooped her up into his arms and carried her out the front door.
“Put me down, Seth. Don't be ridiculous. I can walk.”
“Stop wiggling.” He deposited her in the passenger side, and stared up and down the street, as if he were smelling the wind. He got into the car and started it up.
“Shouldn't we call the police?” she asked tentatively.
“Police? Sweetheart, do you feel like spending the rest of the night explaining to the nice officer what you've been up to lately? And the many possible reasons why a hit man might have just paid you a visit?”
“I see your point.” She stared down into her lap. “Not really, I guess. So you think that man... is connected with what's going on?”
He shot her an eloquent look.
Raine twisted her hands together, feeling foolish. “I would never have thought that Victor would hurt me,” she said softly.
Seth let out a grunt of derision. “Are you sure he didn't see you plant that thing?”
“Don't condescend to me “ she snapped. “I've had a bad night”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” he retorted. “One thing's for sure, though, sweetheart. You don't need any help from me in hunting down the ghosts from your past. They're saving you the trouble. Stand still for fifteen minutes, and they'll be right on your ass.”
Chapter 22
He had to assume that the car had been compromised. Time to ditch it and get a clean one. His bag hadn't been out of his sight since the day before, likewise his clothing. Raine had to get rid of every stitch of clothing that Lazar had provided, and they could look for someplace to hide and rest. He stared at highway signs, trying to orient himself. He saw signs for a mall, and flicked on the turn signal.
“Seth, how did you know that guy was in my house?”
He'd been dreading that question. He shook his head, considering and abandoning various lies and prevarications.
She waited. “You planted your spy stuff in my house, didn't you?”
Her still, quiet voice revealed nothing. That made him extremely nervous. He let his breath out slowly. “Yes,” he admitted.
“Why?”
He turned off onto the strip mall that led to the neon signs for the mall, noting with relief that there was a car dealership right down the road. “It had nothing to do with you at first,” he said reluctantly. “Victor's mistress was the previous occupant of your house. We were watching her. Then she disappeared, and you showed up.”
“And you watched me,” she finished.
“Yeah.” He pulled into a parking space and cut the motor. “I watched you. After a while, I couldn't stop watching you. Not if you'd put a gun to my head. I don't regret it, and I won't apologize for it.”
He braced himself to withstand fury and outrage, but none was forthcoming. When he dared to peek, she was gazing out at the Home Depot across the parking lot, her face misty and perplexed. She turned to him with worried eyes. “Have other people seen us make love?”
“No way,” he said emphatically. “I saw to it.”
She looked down. “That's good I wouldn't like that at all.”
“Me neither.” He reached for her hand “What's mine is mine.”
She looked down at her slender wrist, engulfed in his big hand. A laugh exploded out of her. “Conan the Conqueror,” she murmured.
He shrugged and just sat there, holding her hand
in the dark for forty or so precious seconds that they could not afford to waste.
Her fingers wiggled inside his. “I've told you everything, Seth. It's time for you to lay your cards on the table, too.”
'Truth time has to wait. We've got to shake off your ghosts.”
Her eyes widened. “You think we're being pursued?”
“Let's just say we should definitely cover our asses.”
She bit her lip and stared down at their clasped hands. “Do you promise me that once we get somewhere safe, you'll tell me what's going on?”
“I promise,” he said rashly, popping the locks open. “Let's go.”
They ran hand in hand through the rain to the nearest clothing store. He flagged down the first salesgirl he saw. “We're in a serious hurry. Bring us a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a wool sweater, underwear, socks, hiking boots, and a winter coat. Size six. Quick.”
The girl took one look at Seth's blazing eyes and Raine's gory, bloodstained sweater. Her jaw went slack with alarm. “Don't you, uh, wanna pick the stuff out yourselves?” she faltered. “Colors, and stuff?”
“No time!” he barked. “Move it!”
She backed away. “Um... lemme call the manager.”
“Never mind.” Raine cast an irritated look at Seth. “I'll pick them out, but stick close so you can ring them up right away, OK?”
A flurry ensued, of grabbing things off the rack, checking labels in breathless haste. Then he spotted the underwear bin. He grabbed a random handful of thong panties. See-through lace, in awesome, lurid colors. Black, hot pink, purple, lime green, lipstick red. He flung them on the counter. “Put these on the tab.”
“Those are thongs,” Raine said, blushing.
He leered at her. “Yum.”
Raine was busy struggling into a navy blue parka when he spotted the nightie. It was a peachy color in a clingy knit that would hit her just above mid-thigh and show off every curve and hollow. And it would peel off. Stretchy, just like he'd always wanted.
He yanked it off the hanger and flung it onto the pile in the salesgirl’s arms. “Ring that up, too. Hurry up.”
“Yes, before he finds something else he likes,” Raine snapped.
He paid out of his thick wad of emergency cash. As soon as they were back inside the Toyota, he was yanking clothes out of the bags and biting off the plastic label tabs. “Off with your clothes, babe. Quick.”
Raine looked at the cars driving past, and back at him, appalled. “Right here?”
“Every stitch. I can feel them breathing down our necks.”
She hesitated, looking bewildered. He grunted and yanked open the sash of her trench coat.
That jolted her into action. “No, no, I'll do it.” She tugged her boots off with a wistful sigh. “These boots were so beautiful.”
He pulled his knife out of his pocket while she was peeling off her jeans and underwear and slid his knife beneath the sole of one of her discarded boots, managing at the same time to keep an eye on the tantalizing nest of ringlets at her crotch. She pulled on one of the thong undies. The hot pink one, he noted with unquenchable interest.
“These things are not comfortable, Seth,” she grumbled.
He gave her a wolfish, unrepentant grin. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
He peeled back the upper. Bingo. He pulled out the tiny chip with its dangling antenna. “Check this out.”
She stopped in mid-shimmy, her new jeans halfway up her thighs. Her jaw sagged in horror. “Victor?”
“Hurry, Raine,” he said grimly.
She needed no further encouragement. In moments, she was freshly clothed and ready.
“Leave it all there on the floor,” he instructed. “Let's go.”
“We're just leaving the car?”
“We'll get it later, if we can,” he said indifferently.
He grabbed the bag that held his laptop and his X-Ray Specs gear, and pulled her through the pelting rain at a dead run, expecting every set of headlights to veer towards them, for someone to lean out and open fire. They darted across the highway, to Schultz's New And Used Cars. Fifteen minutes later his emergency cash wad was a hell of a lot slimmer, and Samuel Hudson, one of his alternate identities, was the proud owner of an only slightly dented bronze '94 Mercury Sable. Not what he would have chosen, but it was the best of the lot for the cash he had on hand.
After forty minutes of winding torturously through streets and back roads, Seth was reasonably sure they weren't being followed. He got onto a small highway that began to climb into the hills. The rain got heavier, verging on slush. On the outskirts of a little town called Alden Pines, there was a neon sign that read “Lofty Pines Motel-Cabins-Cable-Vacancy.” He pulled into the long, forested driveway and parked.
The desk clerk was a fugitive's wet dream, deeply involved in an old Clint Eastwood movie that flickered on his twelve-inch screen. He was completely unperturbed by Semis preference for paying in cash, and barely glanced at the fake driver's license before shoving a key attached to a cedar shingle across the scarred counter.
“Cabin number seven,” he said, eyes riveted on the screen. “Check-out time, eleven-thirty.”
The room itself was musty and cold. Seth fiddled with the antiquated heating device and Raine dragged the extra wool blankets out of the closet. The radiator hummed and clanked The cracked, brownish lampshade cast a dim light onto the fake wool paneling, the threadbare furniture. The stark reality of the past twenty-four hours rendered them speechless. They stared at each other across the bed.
Raine shrugged out of her new coat and walked over to him. She pushed gently on his chest until he understood that she wanted him to sit down. He did so. The lumpy bed sagged under his weight.
She crossed her arms, adorably cute in her new, raspberry red wool sweater. It clung to her soft, braless tits. “So?” she prompted.
The pink swelling on her face would ripen tomorrow into bruises. It made him clench up inside, to think of how close to the edge she'd come tonight. “Let's get into bed,” he suggested.
A half-smile curved her solemn, sexy mouth. “If you think you can distract me from this conversation with sex, think again.”
“No way,” he protested. “I just want us to get warm.” He rummaged through the bags until he found the nightie. “Put this on.”
She took the tiny scrap of a thing, and regarded it with deep suspicion. “This is supposed to keep me warm?”
“No,” he said curtly. “I'm the one that's going to keep you warm.”
She disappeared into the bathroom. He stripped, laid the SIG on the bedstand, got the condoms out of his bag and slid naked into the bed with a harsh gasp. It was like a wintertime leap into Puget Sound.
After a ridiculously long time, the bathroom door squeaked open. She stood, silhouetted against the light for a moment before she stepped out into the room.
She did it to him every damn time. He just couldn't get used to how beautiful she was. The peach thing clung tenderly to her body, showing off the sway of her breasts, the curve of her belly, the soft indentation of her navel. Her eyes had that soft, shining look that made his throat tighten up until it hurt. “Come here,” he said, scooting over to the icy side. “I warmed it up for you.”
She smiled her thanks and slid under the covers, signing with pleasure when he pulled her close against his heat. He ran his hands all over her body, needing to reassure himself that she was real, and safe. Warm and soft and right here in his arms. He pressed his aching erection against her thigh and pulled up the brief skirt. She was naked beneath it, her soft downy curls open to his teasing fingers.
She stiffened. “Wait. You promised!, Seth. I need to know—”
“Please, Raine,” he pleaded. “The adrenaline got me so jacked up. I have to touch you. I was so scared of losing you tonight.”
She gave his chest a little push. “You're not getting away with it this time, my love. Adrenaline is no excuse. I had an adrenaline rush, too, you know. I don't know why
you're so afraid to talk to me, but you have got to get over it. Right now.”
He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. At least she had called him “my love.” He would cling to that when it all went to shit. “It's true,” he said tightly. “I don't want to talk. Talking is where I get into trouble. At least when it comes to ... relationships.”
“Trouble? What trouble?”
He rubbed his face with a grimace of discomfort. “You've seen how I am. You saw it tonight I open my mouth, and things just come out. And I ruin everything. Every time.”
“Oh, Seth,” she whispered.
“I'm so flicking scared of wrecking this.” His voice came out rough and raw. It embarrassed him. He covered his face with his hand.
Raine cuddled closer. “I'm not afraid of the truth,” she soothed, stroking his hair. “And even if I get mad at you, it's not the end of the world, I've gotten mad at you lots of times, remember? And here I am.”
“Right. I have a hit man to thank for that,” he said sourly.
She kissed his nose. “Don't be silly.”
He closed his eyes and cautiously allowed himself to enjoy the little butterfly kisses, her fingers stroking his hair. “Easy to say right now,” he said. “Wait till one of my moods comes over me. Then you'll see.”
“I've already seen you at your worst, Seth Mackey. More than once. And it's true. You can be just awful. Despicable.”
He opened his eyes. She wasn't exactly laughing, but he distrusted that bright sparkle in her eyes. “I don't see what's so goddamn funny” he growled.
She pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “It's so simple, Seth,” she said “You're being sweet to me, and everything works beautifully. It's easy. Just... keep on being sweet to me.”
He stared down at her pink, amazingly soft lips as they brushed against his big knuckles, covering them with tender little kisses. “I can't always be sweet,” he said starkly.
“Why not?”
He pulled her closer, almost angrily. As if someone were trying to drag her away from him. “Because the world's not like that.”
Her smile was so beautiful it made his chest burn. Her fingers were so cool and soft, stroking his hot cheek. “Then let's change the world,” she whispered.
Behind Closed Doors m&f-1 Page 33
