by Bella Andre
The man watched the girl go limp and waited for the satisfaction of how easy it was to keep her hostage.
Instead, he felt numb. From top to bottom, inside and out. He barely even saw the girl, his mind clouded with visions of his brother lying cold and stiff beneath a white sheet.
"What do you want me to do with her?"
He turned to Mickey, a brawny but simple man he'd hired a handful of times when he felt that he was entering a potentially dangerous situation. Early on in the business, he'd learned that for the right amount of money, Mickey would do whatever needed to be done, no questions asked.
But he needed sleep in order to think straight. He'd simply keep the girl locked up until he fleshed out his plan.
"Just watch her. Make sure she stays put."
Mickey stepped closer, looked in the closet. He smiled, revealing a lack of good dentistry. "She's pretty."
"Don't touch her." The man's round face fell with disappointment and he amended, "Not yet."
He didn't want Mickey to be too rough with the girl before Dianna was here to witness it. He almost smiled at the image of the rich, blond TV star bitch being forced to watch the brute sodomize her sister.
Fortunately, he thought as he went to get some sleep, it wouldn't be long before both he and Mickey got exactly what they wanted. Mickey could have the girl.
And he'd have his revenge.
CHAPTER SEVEN
DIANNA HEARD someone say, "Take deep, slow breaths," and realized Sam was counseling her in a gentle voice as she stood in the comforting circle of his arms.
It was the very last place she'd ever expected to find herself.
"You need to sit down."
She wanted to race straight out of the hospital room to search for April, but he was right. She'd be no good to April until she calmed down and came up with a clearheaded plan.
Sam helped her back onto the bed and covered her legs with a blanket, then got her a cup of water and made her drink it.
Her mouth was dry despite the water. "I'm scared, Sam."
In her early years at the TV station, she'd taken night classes in elocution, learning to keep her voice even and moderated. She barely recognized this squeaking anxious woman talking to Sam as herself.
"Where is she? What did she say?"
"Some guy grabbed her, but she got away and was calling from a gas station."
"Did she tell you which one?"
Her hands began to shake. She might have created an amazing career and bank account for herself during the past ten years, but even as a broke eighteen-year-old overwhelmed by the crowded city streets of San Francisco, she'd never been this frightened. This freaked out.
"The line went dead before she gave me any other details. Oh God, who could have grabbed her? And what if he's hurting her right now?"
"You can't let yourself think like that. I promise you, we're going to find her."
Relief flooded through her, even though he was only trying to make her feel better.
"I'm going to need you to tell me everything you can about April, past and present, so that I can help you figure this out."
Dianna was afraid that every additional second that ticked by could have terrible consequences for her sister. But at the same time she knew she had to think through the situation as calmly as possible. Thank God Sam was here to help her.
With everyone else, she'd always felt that she'd had to gloss over her problems with April. For so long, she'd been afraid of the press picking up the story and running with it and she hadn't wanted to give away any potentially damaging information. Not to her various boyfriends over the years. Not even to her close girlfriends.
But Sam was different, wasn't he? After all, he could have sold her story a long time ago, told everyone about her trailer park roots, about her drunk mother, but he hadn't. It was safe to come clean with him.
"April and I have problems. She hates all of my rules. She says I'm too strict. I'm pretty sure she moved to Colorado to get away from me." Her tongue felt like dry leather inside her mouth and she took another sip of water before continuing. "I saw her last night at a cafe in Vail for the first time in a couple of months, but I was too hard on her and she stormed out."
Sam didn't look surprised by anything she was saying.
Did he really know her that well? Did he still know her better than anyone else ever had--or ever would?
"What did she want when you saw her at the coffee shop? Money?"
"No. But I gave her some anyway." She pressed her palms to her eyes. "She wants me to treat her like an adult, but how can I when all I ever see when I look at her is a four-year-old girl crying for me to save her?"
"Don't blame yourself for doing whatever you need to do to take care of her," he said softly. "She's not the only one who was put through the wringer by your mother. You were, too."
She pulled her hands away from her eyes, amazed all over again that Sam was sitting in front of her. And that he was helping her through another of the most difficult moments of her life.
He'd been there when she and her mother had almost gotten stuck in their trailer during the wildfire. He'd been there when she needed help with April's case. And he was here now.
At least for the next few minutes, she wasn't alone.
"How do you always manage to be here right when I need you?" she asked in a whisper.
His eyes darkened and her breath went as she waited for him to respond.
"What did you and April argue about?" he asked instead of answering her loaded question.
Disappointment flooded her. He obviously didn't want to get any closer to her than he had to.
He was right to keep his distance. She knew she should be doing the same thing, and yet his smackdown still hurt. Like crazy.
Fortunately, it was also a good reminder that he hadn't always been there for her. Like after she lost the baby, for instance, when he'd all but disappeared from her life.
In any case, what was she doing focusing on anything but April?
"She's living on a commune," she said in answer to his question about her argument with April. "I wanted her to come back to San Francisco with me and she refused."
If Sam was shocked about April living in a commune, he didn't show it. "Did she tell you where the commune is located?"
Fortunately, April had thrown a few details at her before storming out of the cafe. "No, but she did tell me that it's very controlled. That they don't let just anyone up there and visitors need to have special permission. She said there aren't any roads and they don't like trespassers. She seemed to think the isolation was a good thing."
April had seemed utterly enraptured by her new home, almost as if she'd been brainwashed into believing that living like a wild animal was a good thing.
"She told me they get to live on their own terms. And that it's really exclusive and an honor to be allowed to live there. I just know that place has something to do with what's happened to her."
Sam held up his hands as if to try to slow her down.
"I know you're worried about your sister, but from everything you've told me she isn't exactly Little Miss Perfect, is she? Could this phone call be just another bump in the road for her? A prank to see how high she can make you jump?"
She couldn't stop herself from going to April's defense. "She's had a hard life. She's still figuring things out."
"You had it rough, too. But you always knew what you wanted. Always kept yourself on track and found a way to achieve your goals."
Sorrow came at her. Did he even realize that she'd gone completely off track ten years ago? Didn't he realize that apart from her sister and mother, he was the only person whose love she really wanted? And that losing him was a big enough failure to trump all of her later successes?
"You're absolutely positive that April isn't just messing with you? Trying to get your attention. Trying to get you to prove your love."
"No."
She shook her head hard and immediatel
y felt dizzy. Sam was at her side in an instant, his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back into the pillows.
"You need to take it easy."
But they both knew she couldn't. Not when her baby sister needed her.
He was sitting so close that she could breathe in the fresh scent of his bath soap, reminiscent of dry pine needles in a warm and sunny forest. It would be so easy to fall into his arms, to press her lips against the pulse beating strong and steady on his neck.
Despite her intense longing, she still couldn't forget how badly he'd hurt her. Those painful memories gave her enough self-control to shift away from him on the bed.
"April wouldn't do something that horrible to me," she told him again, knowing that even though April wasn't the easiest person to love, she wasn't evil.
"That may be the case," Sam replied, "but I'm not going to let you go rushing off to find her. You need to continue resting and getting better."
Why was she so shocked by the fact that he'd already made up his mind about what was best for her? He might not look exactly like the twenty-year-old boy she'd loved, but he sure acted the same.
On the verge of telling him to mind his own business, she realized she'd forgotten a very important detail.
"She was here. At the hospital, to visit me. But I was sedated and didn't see her. The nurses said she fell asleep in the waiting room."
Not wanting to wait another second to file a missing person report with the police, she reached for her phone, but before she could finish dialing 911, Sam reached out and took it from her.
"There's no point in calling the police."
She glared at him. "Give me back my phone."
Ignoring her demand, he laid out his reasons in a nauseatingly calm voice. "It hasn't been twenty-four hours and she doesn't exactly have the world's best track record."
Her rising indignation swiftly plummeted when she realized he was making sense.
All she'd ever wanted was a real family. Once upon a time, she'd actually thought it was possible to have that big happy family, to be Sam's wife, to watch their children play together. Seeing Sam again only made the gaping hole in her heart feel bigger.
For the past ten years, she'd been just fine, but in only one hour he'd clouded her brain and heart and body with foolish desires and dreams. She couldn't think straight around him. And she was going to need every last one of her mental resources to find April and bring her home again.
She had to be strong and send him away.
"Thanks for coming to see me, Sam. But I don't want to take up any more of your time. You've been a great help, but I can take it from here."
Like hell he was leaving her to head off on some wild-goose chase after her flighty sister. A woman like Dianna wouldn't last a minute in the Colorado Rockies.
The trees and rivers and mountains looked beautiful, but looks were deceiving. You couldn't make your way through miles of rough terrain if you were worried about breaking a nail or messing up your hair. Not if you wanted to come out of it alive.
Sam moved away from the bed and walked over to the window to get a grip on his frustration--and his lust. Being this close to Dianna was driving him insane. He could barely control himself around her. He felt like an animal about to bust out of its cage.
No question, it was long past time to leave. He'd simply come to the hospital to make sure she was all right. Instead, he'd walked into an episode of Without a Trace.
On top of everything else, Dianna had no business leaving the hospital yet. Even though she'd miraculously escaped injury in the car crash, she had to be exhausted by the entire ordeal.
At the same time, he understood exactly why she was so frantic. He'd be going just as crazy if he thought Connor was in trouble. Hell, he'd barely kept his shit together when his brother had ended up in the burn ward the previous summer.
When he'd first walked into Dianna's room, she'd looked so strong, utterly impenetrable despite her harrowing accident. Now, he could see all of the cracks in her glossy veneer, everything from knuckle-cracking to the way she bit her lower lip when she was nervous.
Viewing her as a shiny celebrity had been so much easier than seeing her as a vulnerable woman who desperately needed his help and protection.
Yet again, just like that afternoon so many years ago when she'd told him she was pregnant, he was left with only one choice.
"I'm going to help you find her."
Dianna looked at him in obvious confusion. "Why would you want to help me?"
Her question was a painful reminder of how he'd failed her ten years ago. He hadn't been there when she'd miscarried. He hadn't protected her or the baby well enough, and he'd never be able to make it up to her completely, but perhaps if he could be here for her now, he'd find a small measure of peace down the road.
Drawing a parallel to his relationship with his brother, he said, "If anyone ever threatened Connor, I'd do whatever it took to hunt that person down and make him pay. I know you feel the same way about April."
She looked wary about working together and, truthfully, he didn't know if he could make it through even one night in close quarters without ripping her clothes off. His balls were going to be bright blue by the time they found her sister.
"No," Dianna insisted, but he could tell she was wavering when she added, "This isn't your problem. I'll figure it out."
He had one last shot to convince her. One last shot to keep her safe.
"Look, I've got the wilderness skills you need to get through the Rockies in one piece. If you want to find April fast, you're going to need me around."
Grasping at straws, she said, "I can hire someone."
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you really think you'll be able to convince a stranger to head out on a wild-goose chase at a moment's notice?" Even with all of her money, he was one hundred percent sure she couldn't buy that kind of help.
"Fine," she finally agreed, "You can help me."
Okay, so he'd won this first battle with Dianna. Now he needed to win one with himself by getting one very important thing straight: Regardless of how he used to feel about her, from here on out he needed to treat her like a stranger in need, like any one of the thousands of people he'd helped as a hotshot. The key to success was to approach their mission methodically, rather than emotionally.
But even as he vowed to resist her, he was hit with the buzz of knowing their reunion didn't have to end yet. It was impossible to push away the powerful anticipation of being with her again.
"We need to find the commune."
It took him far longer than it should have to tune in to what she'd just said. So much for staying grounded and treating her like a random fire victim. He'd have to work a hell of a lot harder than this if he was going to keep himself from veering off the tracks.
"I agree," he said. "The commune is the last place she was living and I think it's our best shot at finding clues as to where she went and who she's with."
Dianna scooted halfway off the bed. "I'll pack up my things so we can get going right away."
Sam shot toward her and put his hands on her shoulders, immediately getting aroused by her nearness, her scent.
"Stay right there."
Jesus, he thought as he took his hands away, if he'd gotten that hard with her sweater as a barrier between his hand and her skin, what would happen to his self-control if he accidentally touched a bare patch?
"I've got a friend on the Rocky Mountain hotshot crew who knows these mountains like the back of his hand," he said, working like hell to get back on task. "It's possible he'll know the locations of any communes in the more remote areas like the one April described to you."
The unabashed hope in Dianna's eyes nearly did him in. Those weeks after her miscarriage, he'd wanted so desperately for her to look at him like that.
She never had.
Already heading to the door, he said, "I want you to rest while I go call my friend Will."
He stepped outside b
efore her green eyes saw too much. Before she could guess how much he still cared.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AS SOON as Sam closed the door, Dianna lay back against the pillows and closed her eyes. The room was spinning and she felt nauseous.
Knowing her sister was in trouble made her heart race and her skin feel clammy all over. But she wouldn't be able to help April if she lost it. She had to keep it together, had to remember that her sister was a tough little cookie with more street smarts in her pinkie than Dianna had in her whole body.
And then, simmering beneath everything else, there was Sam.
He was the strongest man she knew, just as comfortable climbing a sheer rock face and jumping out of an airplane as he was putting out a raging wildfire.
On top of that, he was breathtakingly beautiful ... and utterly dangerous.
When he'd read her the riot act about cutting him and everyone else in Lake Tahoe out of her life, she'd wanted to come back at him with all the ways he'd hurt her, wanted to hold a mirror and show him that he'd deserted her first, wanted to remind him that instead of being there for her after her miscarriage, he'd signed up to fight every goddamned wildfire in the western hemisphere.
And yet, she couldn't deny that, right now, he was the very best person to help her find April.
But despite her immense gratitude for his help, Dianna was incredibly wary of working as a team. She'd been in charge of her life for ten years, calling the shots on her own TV show for four. Now, she was about to put herself in a position where she knew nothing, where she had to rely on someone else--a man, no less--for everything.
No. Not for everything. Just to help her find April and bring her home. That was it. Nothing more.
At the end of this journey, she'd shake Sam's hand and thank him sincerely for his help. They would never again be friends--how could they be?--but she would be forever grateful for his willingness to forget about their past and help her find her sister.
As long as he stayed on his side and she stayed on hers, everything would be fine, she thought as exhaustion hit her and she fell into an uneasy sleep on top of the covers.
She woke at the creaking sound of the door opening and looked up to see Sam stepping back inside her room. One look at his tanned skin, his broad shoulders, his flexing biceps as he moved toward her was all it took for her to know she was full-on lying to herself about keeping her distance: She was powerless against Sam's charms.