Yeah, sounded like a nut job. A human one. So this might not have anything to do with Raine or his family, although he wasn’t taking that suspicion off the table as of yet. “Did the police have any suspects?”
She shook her head. “No. We went through all of my clients, friends, and acquaintances, and nobody stood out. It’s entirely possible I don’t know this person at all, and we just had some chance encounter they made into much more. I’ve wracked my brain but haven’t come up with anything.” Her mouth turned down, and the sense of fear from her increased.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said quietly, meaning every word.
A small, rueful smile tilted her peach-colored lips. “That’s sweet, but I already got you drugged and kidnapped.”
Man, she was cute. Gorgeous, really. Her eyes were the color of dark and genuine topaz rocks, her hair black, and her bone structure royal. “He caught me off guard, sweetheart. Now I know he’s out there.” Life would be easier if he could just tell her he was immortal, but that would put her into even more danger, considering secrecy was key for his people. Creating a war between humans and everyone else would be a disaster, and since he wasn’t going to bring her into his world, he had to keep his secrets. “You can trust me.”
She stood, and this time he let her. “You were my patient, and I should be handling this.”
The woman barely came to his shoulder. Humor lightened the stress attacking him for the briefest of moments. “I was never your patient, and you know it. I attended your anger management group because of a job and not because I have anger issues.” They’d met in an anger-management group that the woman still had no idea was more full of immortal intrigue than true anger.
She frowned, looking like an angry and rather sexy librarian. “Excuse me?”
He attempted to keep the smile off his face. “Yeah. I was investigating a couple of the other members and had to be there. I don’t have anger issues, and if you recall, I didn’t really share.”
“Who were you investigating?” She tried to put her hands on her hips, but the enormous jacket prevented her movements.
“Noah and his buddy Ivar,” Raine admitted. Noah and Ivar were both immortal hybrids, and Ivar was dangerous to the point that Raine thought he might have to kill the guy. It was a good thing he didn’t, because he’d ended up friends with Noah Siosal.
Mariana gasped. “You’re a detective?”
“Um, no. It’s a long story, and I can’t go into it with you.” Ivar was one of the immortal members of an elite group called the Seven, and as a very distant cousin of Raine’s, he knew about the Maxwell family secret, which couldn’t go public. In fact, now there seemed to be no doubt that Benny had helped engineer the entire situation to not only help Ivar, but to force Raine into proximity with Mariana in the anger-management group under the guise of having Raine keep an eye on Ivar.
The question was which one of Raine’s brothers had gotten Benny involved. Raine had intended to leave Mariana alone after she’d moved from Dallas to Indiana, but Benny and Ivar had changed that—along with help from the Maxwell family.
But Raine could handle his family and keep Mariana safe at the same time. “But it’s all good now,” Raine added.
“All good?” Her voice rose. “You attended a confidential group under pretense.” Her frown only made her more beautiful. “Ivar left very early and yet you stayed. Why?”
Because of her. Because he couldn’t stand to be away from her, even though that had to be his path. He wouldn’t endanger her, and that was that. “I can’t tell you,” he murmured. Did her pretty mouth taste like peaches? Man, he had to stop thinking like that.
She socked him right in the gut. Hard.
It was the second time he’d been caught off guard that day. He had to get a grip on himself.
The rain started to lessen outside.
She rubbed her wrist. “That’s it. I’m out of here.” Without waiting for a response, she marched right to the door.
He sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he’d feared. There was no way he could leave her right now—not until taking out her stalker.
She looked over her shoulder, her gaze haughty. “The rain is letting up. Are you coming?”
He set his stance. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss it.”
Chapter 3
Mariana tried to sit taller in the chair on the other side of the sheriff’s desk. Her hair had dried and frizzed around her head, mud coated her legs, and her hands would not warm up. Raine lounged next to her, irritation carving lines in his face. “Sheriff, thank you for seeing us,” she said, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. They’d had to wait a half an hour in the waiting room.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” the sheriff said, not sounding sorry at all. He rubbed a beefy hand through his buzz cut hair before hitching his pants up over his slight beer belly. “I was working on my campaign, considering I have an opponent this time.”
Yeah. An opponent Mariana had been helping to campaign. “I see,” she said quietly, letting her tone speak volumes.
Raine stretched lazily. “This is a waste of time.”
Yeah, she’d had to argue with him about making a police report of their kidnapping, but he’d finally relented. “We need a record about this to create a good case once we find this guy,” she reminded him. Again.
The sheriff looked them both over. “All right. You mentioned to the deputy at reception that you were both kidnapped and held at the old, abandoned barn at the McPearson place.”
“McPearson place?” Mariana asked.
The sheriff nodded. “Yeah. The elder McPearson died a couple of years ago and left the property to the county, but there’s not much to do with it. We do have a 4th of July party out there every year. I’ll send a deputy to look around, but it sounds like you were just dumped there.”
Mariana rubbed dirt off her pants. “How would kidnappers know about the place?”
“Everyone knows about that place. It’s even on the website for the town,” the sheriff affirmed.
Great. That didn’t help.
The sheriff looked them over. “Were you rolled in the mud?”
What a putz. The guy was in his thirties but had the belligerent tone of an angry teenager. Mariana plastered on her most professional smile. “We had to walk several miles in the rain and mud until a nice farmer picked us up in his old truck. Since it was full, we had to sit in the back, and it started to rain again. We’re lucky to be here so early, Sheriff.”
The sheriff drew out a notepad. “All right. Start from the beginning.”
Mariana cleared her throat and then told the sheriff the entire story, starting with the stalking events in Dallas and watching as he kept diligent notes. When she wound down, he looked up at her, his head tilted.
Then he focused on Raine. “Is this what you corroborate?” he asked.
Raine nodded. “Yep.”
“Interesting.” The sheriff sat back and placed his hands on his belly. “Let me get this straight. You were drugged, came to in the barn right after Miss Lopez was brought in, strongly shook off your hood, and then magically broke the cuffs binding you?”
Raine didn’t so much as twitch. “Yep.”
The sheriff swung his sharp gaze to her. “Have you thought this through?”
She blinked, heat swirling through her. “What do you mean?’
The sheriff’s smile wasn’t kind. “Are you believing this crap? You said that his cuffs were metal. How did he break them after being darted with so much sedative that he was knocked out for at least two, maybe three hours?”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her mind spinning. That was a good point. “I heard his cuffs break.” But how did he break silver cuffs? She couldn’t even get out of her zip ties, and he’d gotten her right out of them without a knife. She turned toward Raine. “Raine?”
He looked her way, his gaze veiled. “Please. The cuffs were weak.”
The s
heriff motioned for a couple of deputies in the bullpen. “You know what I think?”
“I don’t care,” Raine replied lazily, when the tension from him was anything but calm.
Mariana looked back and forth between them, trying to reconcile her brain with her gut. A lot of the evening didn’t make sense, but why would Raine kidnap her?
The door opened, and two deputies walked in.
The sheriff remained in place. “I think you kidnapped Miss Lopez and then pretended to rescue her. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Raine snorted. “It’s Dr. Lopez, and I didn’t rescue her. She rescued herself and then a farmer older than this building rescued us both and drove us to town. Tell me, Sheriff. If I went to all the trouble to kidnap Mariana, why the hell would I just let her go?”
It was a good question. Mariana slowly turned her attention to the sheriff.
The sheriff stared at Raine. “Well, now. He did rescue you, Dr. Lopez, and now you have a shared experience. Has he offered to protect you yet?”
She shifted uneasily on the seat. “No.” Well, not really. Raine had said that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. That was kind of an offer of protection. This didn’t make any sense. Raine Maxwell was the hot alpha guy of all time. Even when they’d just walked through the bullpen, the two female officers had sighed. Loudly.
The sheriff scoffed. “I can see your mind working fast. Some of the most prolific serial killers in this world have been good-looking men.”
It was true, and it was slightly disconcerting that the lawman had read her so correctly. She turned back to him. Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as she’d thought, which made him lazy and bad at his job. “Raine didn’t carry me into that barn.” She knew his scent, which she wasn’t going to admit. Plus, if she’d been over his shoulder from the car to the barn, she would’ve known it was him. She couldn’t explain how.
“So his partner did,” the sheriff said. “Who’s your partner, Maxwell? Give it up now, and I’ll make sure the judge goes lightly on you.”
Raine’s jaw clenched. “I work alone, buddy. Always have and always will.” He turned that glittering green gaze on Mariana. “I didn’t kidnap you, and I think you know that. I’m not a game player, and I would never stretch anything out this long. You know that, too.”
Everything she knew about him proved that to be true. Although how well did she know him? He’d never really contributed in the group sessions, and she’d only just learned that he came from Montana. Also, he could’ve kidnapped her before now if he’d wanted. Even so, she had to be smart. “Have you ever been to Dallas?”
“No,” he said before turning to the sheriff. “I’ve had enough of this. Take down the report and then do your job.” He stood up and set a hand beneath Mariana’s arm to help her up.
The sheriff stood. “Oh. I wasn’t clear. You’re under arrest for the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Miss Mariana Lopez.” He smiled. “Excuse me. Dr. Mariana Lopez.”
* * * *
Raine’s head was about to blow off his shoulders. His temper had fully spiked, and he calculated how quickly he could decapitate the sheriff and both deputies. Oh, he wouldn’t do it, but it eased his anger to at least contemplate the matter. “I have lawyers who will descend on this town like buzzards on a body, Sheriff. You don’t have probable cause to arrest me, and if you do, I’ll take everything you have.” Where the hell was he going to find lawyers around here?
The sheriff paused. “I have enough on you with just the broken cuffs.”
Raine forced a smile, acutely aware of the threats in front and behind of Mariana. He had to get her out of there so he could breathe again. “No, you don’t. In addition, I have three cousins who work for national news organizations, and I’ll have them writing stories about small town corruption and your office within ten minutes. Try me. The campaign for your office will be over before one person goes to the voting booth.”
As a bluff, it wasn’t his best. By the paling of the sheriff’s plump face, he didn’t realize that.
The sheriff looked at Mariana, calculation in his eyes. “If you make a report against Mr. Maxwell, I’ll have probable cause to keep him for seventy-two hours. If there’s even a chance he kidnapped you, don’t you want him contained here so you’re safe?”
The woman waffled. Based on the indecision on her face, she really didn’t know what to believe, and Raine couldn’t exactly blame her.
He sighed. “Mariana? I did not kidnap you. Truth be told, I’m fucking embarrassed I was darted and kidnapped with a hood over my head, and if there was a way out of this without telling that truth, I’d find it. You obviously are in danger, and there are questions with no answers that I really need to find.”
She frowned, turning more fully toward him. “Like why my stalker would dart you.”
“Yeah. More importantly, why were we both dumped in a barn hours from here?” It didn’t make any sense that her stalker would want Raine anywhere around. He was the biggest threat, and he should’ve been taken out while incapacitated.
She rubbed a dot of mud off her chin. “I was thinking about that. If this guy is really nuts, he might want to hurt you in front of me, thinking there was something between us.” She chewed on her bottom lip, obviously having been running through scenarios all night in her head. “If he hired somebody to kidnap us, he might’ve been on the way to the barn, reassured that we were both tied up. Maybe he was slowed down by the storm.”
The sheriff slammed his fist on his desk, causing her to jump. “That’s ridiculous. Mariana. You have to know how nutty that sounds,” he snapped.
A low growl rumbled up Raine’s chest, and he ruthlessly swallowed it down. That was the first time the sheriff had referred to her by her first name, and now he sounded concerned instead of condescending. Mariana faltered, looking between them again. Raine ground his palm in his left eye to ward off a looming headache. “I did not engineer this kidnapping.”
“I disagree,” the sheriff countered.
“Yeah. Want me to arrest him?” the first deputy said.
Mariana partially turned to see him clearly as Raine did the same. “Wait a minute. Johnny?” She whirled to face the sheriff. “You hired your son as a deputy after he failed to attend anger management sessions?”
The man was a moron. Raine shook his head. Johnny was a jerk who’d only attended one session, and he’d hit on Mariana and pissed Raine off within minutes. The kid hadn’t come back.
The sheriff stood taller and sucked in his gut. “The judge dismissed all charges, and Deputy Baker here passed all of the requirements. He’s a good deputy, but if you want somebody else to arrest Maxwell, that’s no problem.”
Mariana stood to her full and still small height. “I seriously doubt your abilities now, Sheriff. I will not file any sort of report against Mr. Maxwell, and if you arrest him, I will testify on his behalf that I said so to you. He didn’t want to file a report because of the corruption here, and I disagreed. It appears that he was correct and I was wrong.”
The sheriff’s expression softened. “Mariana. I understand your anger, but please take a moment and think just of yourself. This man is a danger to you, and I can have him off the street long enough for you to figure out what’s happening. At the very least, let me do some investigation into his background and find the trail back to Dallas. I really believe he’s your stalker. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Johnny leaned forward, his hair cut in a new buzz. “You should listen to my pop. He’s a great cop.”
Raine could thank the kid for the assist. He should’ve kept his mouth shut.
“No,” Mariana said, eyeing Johnny. “You were arrested several times for beating up your young wife, and then in our group, you were rude and suggestive. It shows poor judgment on your father’s behalf that he hired you and gave you a gun.” She stiffened. “We’re leaving now. Please keep my report on file for the next sheriff.” With that zinger, she turned
and pushed her way between the deputies and out of the office.
Raine watched her as a very unwelcome heat flashed through his system. One of want and need—and intrigue. The woman was magnificent, even while muddy and still wet. “Sheriff?” He turned to the man glaring at him. “Kiss my ass.” With less class than his woman had shown, he shoved the deputies out of his way and strode after her.
Now all he had to do was convince her that he had to protect her.
Yeah. What could go wrong with that conversation? He sighed and followed her into the early morning outside the station. “Mariana? Wait up.”
“No,” she snapped, jumping into the one taxi in town. A second later, it sped off.
He watched it go. Fine. There was something she didn’t know about him, and he’d easily beat her home. Let’s see how she liked that since there was definitely something about him she could never know.
Who, or rather what, he truly was.
Vampire.
Chapter 4
Mariana dressed in yoga pants and an over-large sweatshirt before tugging thick comfy socks over her chilled feet. She’d remained in the shower until the water had turned lukewarm, and now she was clean of mud. Her hair was drying around her face, and she needed breakfast. Did she have eggs? Humming, she strode from her bedroom into the living room and stopped cold.
Raine Maxwell sat on her floor, legs extended, head back on the wall and his eyes closed. A duffel bag sat next to him. Mud covered his motorcycle boots and the bottom of his jeans, which had dried nicely to show the muscles in his thighs.
She caught her breath. “What are you doing here?”
He slowly opened his eyes but didn’t move otherwise. “I figured we should talk.”
Seriously? She looked at her locked front door. “How did you get inside?” Her gun was still in the kitchen. Why hadn’t she taken it into the bathroom with her?
“It’s a talent.” He watched her like she was something curious and slightly yummy. As if he wanted to play and then eat.
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