by Susan Fox
So the motorcycle man was in no immediate danger. Now she needed to assess his injuries so she could tell the ambulance crew what to expect.
She studied his sprawled body. No broken limbs, as far as she could see. Head injuries? She rested her fingers gently on his skull and his eyes flickered open.
They were unfocused, dazed. An intriguing shade of gray with hints of blue and mauve. Wood smoke, she thought, on an October day. Gentle, dreamy eyes, belying the beard and black leather.
“Hello,” she said. “Can you hear me?”
The muscles around his eyes twitched as his gaze sharpened. She read confusion, pain—then something that looked like fear. And then anger. Wood smoke turned to storm clouds.
When Jake’s eyes first opened he figured he’d died and gone to heaven. Lord knows why a sinner like him would end up there, but a fair-haired angel was peering down at him. His vision was still blurry but he could see that her eyes sparkled blue-green like a tropical ocean. Rose-petal pink lips opened and she said something, but he was so entranced by her face that he didn’t catch the words.
He wanted to reach out and touch a strand of that curly golden hair and see if it felt as silky as it looked. Or maybe she was a vision with no substance and his hand would slide right through her. The thought that he might never touch his angel almost made him cry.
No, damn it, that was pain that brought a rush of moisture to his eyes. Pain, shrieking through his body. He couldn’t isolate it, couldn’t assess his injuries; he was on fire in so many places. He wasn’t dead—or if he was, this was hell, not heaven. What the fuck had happened? He must have been hit by a semi. No, he’d been riding his bike . . . And it crashed. But he was a good rider....
Ah, now he remembered. He crashed because he’d been shot. He’d messed up when he snuck into the grow op in the dark hours before dawn. Someone had heard him, come after him, shot him. He’d barely made it to his bike and escaped.
Hellfire and damnation! Drug traffickers were after him and if they found him they’d kill him. If he was right, one of them was the man who’d murdered Anika, the teen prostitute whose body had been tossed in a Dumpster down in Vancouver.
His body was in agony, a killer was after him, and his angel was either a hallucination or a real live woman he was somehow going to have to deal with. He had three choices: cry, scream, or cuss. For a man, that narrowed down to one. He let loose with a string of curses.
She froze like a terrified animal poised for flight.
Hell, all he’d done was cuss a little. What was her problem? He studied her more closely, realizing his vision had sharpened. Now he saw the fine lines around her eyes and mouth. The angelic face was older than he’d thought, and fear etched the lines even deeper. Damn it, she really was scared of him. The black leather, the bike, some foul language . . . Did she think he was a member of a biker gang like Hell’s Angels or Death Row?
Her eyes closed briefly, and when they opened their expression was calm. The tension in her muscles eased as she breathed deeply. But Jake sensed she hadn’t truly relaxed; she was disciplining her body to hide her anxiety.
“I can see you’re conscious and more or less lucid,” she said evenly. “I’ll go call for an ambulance.”
An ambulance. Hospital, doctors, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He suspected the killer he sought was a prominent, supposedly respectable member of this community. Maybe even a member of the local RCMP detachment. Caribou Crossing was a small town; chances were, this woman knew the man. His angel might even be the devil’s woman. Maybe that was why he made her so nervous.
Shifting her weight, she started to rise.
His hand shot out and grabbed her arm. “No!”
She tried to pull away. Under his firm grip, she was trembling.
He was sorry to hurt her, sorry to scare her, but he had no choice. He had to keep his presence in Caribou Crossing a secret or it would blow the undercover operation. No police; no hospital; no drug-dealing murderers. No one could know he—Corporal Jake Brannon, working U/C for the RCMP—was here.
Except that angel-face already did.
Suddenly she yanked hard, almost pulling her arm from his grasp.
The movement jarred his entire body, and pain made him gasp and bite his lip. She was strong for such a slender, gentle-looking woman.
She jerked again and agony weakened his grip. Exploiting his weakness, she wrenched herself free and scrambled backward.
He had to stop her from reaching the phone. There was only one way.
Struggling to stay conscious, Jake fumbled for the Beretta in the shoulder holster under his jacket. He pointed it at her. “Stop, or I’ll shoot you.”
She froze, swaying on her feet.
Grimly he wondered which of them was going to pass out first. “Get back here.”
After a long moment, too long for his sanity, she stumbled toward him.
He felt powerless lying there, his only weapons a firearm he would never use against her, and the force of his own personality. But he knew she was afraid of him and he had to play on her fear. “Kneel down.” He needed her close, where he could read her face.
She obeyed, her movements jerky. “I was just going to call an ambulance.” Her gaze flicked between his face and the Beretta.
“Don’t call anyone.”
“But you’re hurt. You need help.”
“I don’t need doctors or cops.”
She glanced at the firearm again, her eyes wide, and he could almost hear her brain working.
“Got it?” he said.
“You’re an escaped criminal!” She spat out the words.
He’d miscalculated; somehow he’d tipped her past fear to anger. When he’d cussed and grabbed her arm she’d been scared, but now she was glaring at him like she’d love to get her hands on his firearm and shoot him between the eyes.
She might get her chance, because his vision was blurring again, his world once more fading to gray. He had to control her. Now. And fear was the key.
He shifted position and got a firmer grip on the Beretta. The movement hurt his side, but the bright edge of pain helped him focus. “If you call anyone, talk to anyone, you’ll regret it.” Trusting her was not an option. Even if it had been, he didn’t have the time, the strength, to explain. He might pass out any moment, and then she’d have the Beretta. He needed a threat that would bind her even if she got his firearm.
What did every person value the most? Their life.
“They can lock me up, but not forever,” he hissed. “I’ll get out and come after you.”
“Then get it over with and shoot me now,” she dared him, and he saw it had turned into a battle of wills. She was stronger than he’d expected. His beautiful, feminine angel was strong. It made her even more appealing.
God, his mind was drifting again. Focus, man! Her strength could endanger his mission. He had to find a threat that had meaning to her. “Your family. Everyone you love. If you betray me now, I’ll kill your family. I won’t be in jail forever. I’ll come back.”
She flinched as if he’d struck her, and her face went dead white.
Thank God. He’d found the right threat. She had family and she loved them. The threat was a complete lie, but she had no way of knowing that. To her, he was a violent criminal on the lam with a gun he had no qualms about using.
He was so exhausted he could barely think. Was there anyone else in her house? No, or they’d have run outside, too.
“I’m going to tell you what to do.” He forced the words through gritted teeth. “And you will obey to the letter, or I promise you, I will kill your loved ones. If you call the police, if I go to jail, I’ll come back as soon as I get out. If you leave town, I’ll find you. You and all your family.”
“I’ll d-do it,” she stammered, her whole body quivering. “Whatever you want.”
“Get me into the house, then hide my bike. You have a garage or shed?”
She nodded.
His
world was out of focus but he saw the movement of her head. “Patch up that fence. No one can know I’m here.” He knew he was speaking, but the hollow rushing sound in his ears drowned out the words. “Cover up all traces of the accident. They can’t find me. They’ll kill me.”
“The police won’t—”
“No! Can’t trust the police.”
What was he saying? He didn’t know anymore. Damn, he was losing it. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t think. Had to stop talking before he said too much. What else did she need to know? “Then see if you can . . .” He paused, fighting for breath, for the end of the thought. “Keep me alive. Got it?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author Susan Fox (who also writes as Susan Lyons and Savanna Fox) writes “emotionally compelling, sexy contemporary romance” (Publishers Weekly). Susan is a Pacific Northwester with homes in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. She has degrees in law and psychology and has had a variety of careers, including perennial student, computer consultant, and legal editor. Fiction writer is by far her favorite, giving her an outlet to demonstrate her belief in the power of love, friendship, and a sense of humor. She was thrilled when Cosmopolitan excerpted her book Sex Drive as a Red-Hot Read, and even more excited when Publishers Weekly selected His, Unexpectedly as one of its Top 10 Romances for spring 2011.
Visit her on the web at www.susanfox.ca.
Body Heat
IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE . . .
Maura Mahoney expects to spend her thirtieth birthday the way she’s spent so many others. She’ll work at the Cherry Lane retirement community, have a quiet dinner with her parents, and end the evening with a solo hot chocolate before turning in early. Sedate, but safe. Then Jesse Blue turns up at Cherry Lane, ready to do community service to avoid jail time. And suddenly, prim, by-the-books Maura can’t stop thinking about a sexy, motorcycle-riding bad boy who seems wrong for her in almost every way.
But beneath his gruff exterior, Jesse is a man of surprises. He’s filling the once drab community center with color and life. He’s bonding with the residents. And he’s prompting scorching, wild dreams Maura would never be bold enough to act on. Or would she? Because the way Jesse looks at her, Maura could swear that this heated, smoldering attraction runs both ways . . .
Love, Unexpectedly
TAKE ME THERE . . .
At thirty-one, Kat Fallon’s luck with men shows no sign of improving. But when she asks her best friend Nav Bharani to be her date at her younger sister’s wedding in Vancouver, she has no idea that she’s about to get on board the most surprising ride of her life . . .
Nav has been secretly in love with Kat ever since he moved in next door. When she reveals that she loves taking train rides, especially the meeting-strangers part, Nav devises a plan to win Kat’s heart. On every leg of her trip to Vancouver, he shows up disguised as a different sexy stranger. Stunned by Nav’s daring, Kat finds herself succumbing to his inventive transformations. But what starts out as an innocent adventure soon becomes much more for Kat as she is forced to choose between her long-held fantasies of the perfect mate—and the prospect of something far more real . . .
His, Unexpectedly
A PLEASURE TRIP TO REMEMBER . . .
Shying away from commitment of any kind, Jenna Fallon’s rules in life are to have none. So when her car breaks down en route from California to Vancouver—and she’s forced to hitch a ride with a sexy stranger—she’s thrilled to discover they share the same no-holds-barred views . . .
As a globe-trotting marine biologist, Mark Chambers is used to changing locations—and women. Yet as he and Jenna make their way up the Pacific coast, camping, skinny dipping, and having scorching hot sex, Mark’s not so sure he wants to say good-bye. But is Jenna brave enough to meet the challenge of a man who may be perfect for her?
Yours, Unexpectedly
THE WEDDING MAY BE OFF, BUT THE HONEYMOON IS ON . . .
Merilee Fallon has been planning her wedding to Matt Townsend since she was seven, and now the big day is only two days away. But suddenly she has an unexpectedly serious case of cold feet. So she shocks both Matt and herself—and calls off the wedding.
They may not get their happily ever after, but both Merilee and Matt agree they shouldn’t let their nonrefundable honeymoon go to waste. So they take the Mexican Riviera cruise—as friends. It’s Merilee’s chance to be adventurous, and maybe even put her newfound freedom to the test. But she’s about to discover that sometimes there’s nothing more arousing than first love—especially on a cruise ship where there are no rules and anything goes . . .
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2013 by Susan Lyons
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-3190-1
eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-3191-8
eISBN-10: 1-4201-3191-5
First Electronic Edition: August 2013