The gunfire stopped abruptly, the sudden silence as nerve racking as the gunshots had been. “It’s my imagination working overtime, huh? What’s your excuse now, Sheriff? Is a ghost shooting at us, sugar?”
She rubbed her eyes. The fine particles of dirt felt as large as gravel. Her eyes watered and burned. Dazed and terrified, she struggled to get away from his powerful arms.
“Let me go.”
Hard fingers dug into her shoulders. Danger shook her, fierceness in his tone. “You can’t go back into the open. You’ll be killed!”
He held her closer, providing her better protection from the possible sniper fire above them. He pulled Lacey’s hands away from her face. His eyes glittered with rage as he searched for her injury. “Where does it hurt?” Holding down the hands she struggled to bring back to her stinging eyes, he searched her face. “There’s not a scratch on you.”
“There’s dirt in my eyes. I can barely see you. Would you please let go of my hands? My eyes hurt!”
“All right, but don’t rub them. It’ll only make it worse.”
Cautiously he moved away from her and belly crawled to where one of the canteens lay near the campfire beside his rifle. He grabbed the rifle and hooked a finger around the canteen strap. “Son-of-a-bitch!” He swore, crouching into a tighter ball as a volley of bullets ricocheted around him. One pinged off the metal of the canteen. The canteen flew through the air toward Lacey. It landed at her feet with a soft clunk.
Danger stayed along the edge of the shadows and hurried back to her. Breathing heavily, he fell beside her and grabbed the canteen. “Thank God, the bullet didn’t pierce the canteen. We need it.”
He jerked the bandanna from his head and twisted the lid from the canteen.
“You said he was on the other side of the creek,” Lacey accused.
“You’re the one who said I’m always right. Not me,” he shot back at her. “And how am I to know it’s really him? It could be anyone camped out here. For all I know, it could be someone who likes to play sick games.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, just shut up,” Lacey snapped. “You haven’t believed me from the very start. Well, sugar, let me tell you, you’ll believe it when he puts a bullet between your eyes.”
Danger poured water over the kerchief, drawing it back as she reached for it. Amusement glittered in the silver depths of his eyes. “Honey, if he puts a bullet between my eyes, I sure as sweet hell ain’t gonna’ know anything.”
Lacey gave an unladylike snort and reached for the bandanna again.
“I’ll do it,” he muttered.
Using a fingertip, he wiped away a tear sliding down her cheek. He dabbed her eyes gently with the corner of the bandanna until, with an irritated cry, she grabbed it away from him. “I can do it!”
Lacey rubbed at her eyes for several seconds, until she realized he was just sitting there watching her. “What are you doing?” She stopped cleaning her eyes and glared at him. “Well? Go after him. It’s not as though you don’t know where he is.”
“I know exactly where he is. Unfortunately, he knows exactly where we are, too. Neither one of us is moving from this spot,” he snarled. “He’s above us. If we try to leave, he’ll pick us off like ducks on a June bug.”
“We can’t sit here forever.”
“We have cover. And water. We don’t dare move, at least not until the campfire dies down more. He’d like to force us into the open. We’re not going to cooperate.”
“So you’re saying we have a stand-off? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“He kept firing at us when he should have been long gone. That tells me a lot.”
“What? Because it doesn’t tell me anything.”
“He wants you dead, little cat. The first shot was aimed at you. If you hadn’t moved when you did, you’d have a bullet in your head right now. He has to kill me too, now. What the hell did you stumble into?”
Ignoring his question, she gave him a dubious look. “I really think you should have brought some deputies. You’re going to need help.”
Danger looked down at his badge then met her cat-colored eyes. Removing the badge, he pinned it on her shirt. “I brought a deputy.”
Her eyes widened. Gold-tipped lashes swept upward with disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she gasped.
She fumbled, trying to unpin the shiny badge.
His fingers closed over hers. “No, I’m not,” he said seriously. “You better realize something right now. If anything happens to me, you’ll be on your own. Here.” He took his revolver and placed it in her hands. “If it comes down to it, you have the authority to shoot him. It would be self-defense anyway, but now there will be fewer questions. And, honey,” he paused, his eyes intent on hers, “if I tell you to shoot, don’t throw the damn gun at him.” He winked, arching a dark brow. “He’s certainly not going to throw his at you.”
Lacey’s lips trembled. Tears glistened in her eyes. “I’m more apt to shoot myself or you,” she said shakily.
“You won’t shoot yourself, sweetheart. You can hit a man. He’s bigger than a snake.”
She wished he would quit referring to the damned snake. She eased onto the ground, tugged the shirt down as far as she could and drew her knees up to her chin. Danger sat down beside her, silent, until Lacey swung quickly around to meet his direct gaze. “What if he found my campsite? If he’s discovered who I am, where I live—” She shuddered. “He— he was so—” she broke off, wary of revealing too much.
“Please continue, Miss Weston. And this time, try telling the complete truth. I’d certainly like to know what I’m fighting against. It could save both our lives.”
His voice was hard, but his touch was gentle as he reached out to brush an errant strand of hair off her forehead.
Danger had fast come to the conclusion he didn’t care if she ever told him the truth. It no longer mattered. He just wanted her trust. He wanted her to believe in him and have faith that he’d take care of her to the best of his ability.
“You know more than you’re telling, don’t you? Do you know who did it? Is that it?”
She shook her head. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she withdrew from him. She wasn’t ready to give him her complete trust. “No. I don’t know anything more. I don’t know who he is.”
“You are a beautiful liar, Lacey Weston,” Danger whispered. “There’s something you’re not telling me, but you will. When you’re ready to trust me, you’ll tell me everything.”
“I’m in trouble, Danger. We’re in trouble. We have to get back across the creek. I need to locate my campsite. All my identification is there. Where I live, debit card, credit cards. Deposit slips, everything. I don’t want him to have this kind of knowledge about me. I’d never be safe.”
For a moment his hands tightened on her arms then he relaxed. He slid comforting arms around her and drew her close. Lacey sighed, allowing her head to rest against his shoulder.
“Where exactly is this camp of yours?” he asked. “Will you trust me enough to tell me that?”
Lacey wasn’t certain of anything anymore, except she knew Danger wanted her trust, yet. . . he didn’t trust her. He kept things from her, things that had scarred his heart and soul. She knew he’d been hurt terribly by someone in his life, perhaps a woman. From the very start, she’d sensed his pain.
She’d have to earn his trust as he would have to earn hers. It was that simple and that complex. Trust earned trust. Sadly, they both lacked that quality for each other.
But one fact remained; she could not reach her campsite without him.
Sighing, she slanted her eyes up to his. “My camp is at the base of the old boot and spurs rock, if you know where that is. I don’t know where it is from here.”
“I do,” Danger whispered. He tightened his arms around her and brought her head to rest against his chest. “Thank you, God,” he mouthed silently and released a slow, deep breath. “But we can’t get to it, not with all the high wat
er. So he can’t either. For now, your identity is safe from him.”
He brought his chin down to rest on top of her head. He was so deeply tangled in her life it was hard to remember when she wasn’t a part of his. His expression turned grim. He would protect her with his life. He had to make her realize this.
But he didn’t know how to make her have faith in him, to believe in him, but telling him where to find her camp was at least a beginning. If she’d only told him from the start what it was near, he could have taken her there right away.
It would be days before they reached Jace’s ranch and then her camp. Still, it was one giant leap in the right direction. His heart suddenly felt lighter. He could wait a little longer for her complete trust.
He was, after all, a patient man.
In The Arms Of Danger
Chapter Nineteen
He who hesitates is a damned fool.
Mae West
Montana Backcountry Sun. 7:30 p.m.
Without so much as a shred of evidence to back Lacey’s tale of murder, Danger had still swallowed her story hook, line, and sinker.
He’d had reason to give her tale some credence, but at the same time, he’d also had reason to suspect her. She hadn’t been honest with him from the get-go. He’d known she was hiding pertinent information.
In which case, he wasn’t about to divulge information to her, not until he had all the facts. Until the gunshots, he’d felt like a fool chasing after her, intent on searching for a body he’d felt certain might not even exist anywhere but in her imagination.
Now, he wasn’t so sure.
He’d like to believe the man above them was just a thrill-seeker shooting at them, but the hairs on his nape told him differently.
He swore beneath his breath.
If Lacey had been lying, then fate had certainly contrived to make her tale believable. He figured they’d moved way past the notion that she’d lied about anything. The only thing left to do to make her story real was find the woman’s body. He highly doubted he’d find it on this side of the creek. It also meant it was going to be several days before he could even attempt a search for a body and by then the weather and animals would have destroyed any evidence left behind. Hell, he’d be damned lucky to find any remains.
God knew he didn’t want to find a body in the first place.
He prayed Lacey was mistaken. Shit. The problem was he had a woman missing from Rimrock, Julie Parks, a young waitress who worked at the Blue Goose Café. The woman had gone missing two weeks before Lacey arrived on the scene. He didn’t think Lacey’s victim was Julie Parks.
Julie wasn’t a local, but a woman in her early twenties passing through the area. When she went missing, he hadn’t thought much about it. Young people like her left without a thought or a moment’s notice. He’d done a routine investigation, filed a report, asked a few questions around town, but no one had seen her or knew where she might have gone.
He hadn’t shared this information with Lacey. For one reason, Julie Parks had made noises about leaving as soon as she’d saved enough money. There were no signs of a struggle in her apartment and all her clothes were gone. There had been no reason to suspect foul play.
It had been at the back of his mind to teach Lacey not to play games with the law, he wished now the thought had never crossed his mind. Something was terribly wrong, and he was afraid Lacey was involved right up to her pretty neck.
There was something she wasn’t telling him, and he damn well knew it. In the mean time, he was responsible for protecting her, for keeping her alive. The responsibility weighed heavily. But when he’d kissed her, everything had shifted. His involvement became personal.
And dammit, he hadn’t wanted or needed her in his life— until now. He’d thought himself too experienced from his mother’s behavior to be caught in Lacey’s silken web, but she’d wormed her way into his heart. She wrung emotions from him he’d rather deny.
True, he wanted her. The wanting was a risk he’d rather not accept. He wouldn’t allow himself to take the chance of enduring more pain in his life, but he couldn’t deny the ache for her was there, real and demanding, and it wasn’t going away.
His breath caught sharply in his chest as he faced the truth—if he got the chance, he would take her.
But he had every intention of walking away unscathed and his heart free.
Coward. The message thrummed steadily in his brain. Go ahead, let your mother win. Let her destroy any chance of happiness you might ever have.
He closed his eyes, trying desperately to shut out the message clicking away like an old telegraph key that tapped a hot dispatch to his brain. Coward, coward, coward. Click. Click. Click. Sure, walk away after using her. Stop. After destroying her. Stop. Coward. Coward. Coward. Stop. She already has your heart tied in knots. Stop. You might walk away, but you will never walk away whole. Stop. Stop. Stop.
“I wish I’d never come here,” Lacey suddenly murmured.
That makes two of us, little cat.
“I wish I was home. I’d soak for hours in a steaming tub of water and bubbles.”
“Home?” Danger threaded his fingers through her hair in a gentle caress.
“Atlanta. Glorious palm trees. Blood-red dirt, kudzu and Georgia peaches.”
“Magnolia blossoms.” Tangled sheets during and after sex.
“Yeah.” Lacey sighed. “Sounds yummy.”
Danger swallowed hard. For a moment, he thought she’d read his mind. He eased her away. Rising to his knees, he stretched out flat on his stomach. He fumbled blindly for the Winchester lying on the ground. When it was in his grasp, he said quietly, “I’m going to make a run for those rocks over there. When you see where the shots come from, shoot back.” He thrust the rifle into her hands and retrieved his revolver.
“I’ll never hit anything from here,” she protested. “It’s dark. I can’t see him.”
Her fingers curled around the rifle, but her eyes were wide with doubt.
“You don’t have to hit him. Just shoot in his direction. He’ll move on if he thinks I’m charging him. At least, I hope he’ll move on.”
“Be careful,” she cautioned. “What if you get shot? Or worse?”
“Worse?”
“Uh, like dead?”
He grinned. “I’ll do my best not to get shot or worse.”
“Good, because I’m lousy at digging out bullets.”
“You’ve dug a bullet out of someone before?”
“Once. That was enough.”
“Africa?”
“Yeah. The agent who helped me escape took a bullet in the arm. It had to come out. I was the only one available. I puked afterwards.”
Danger grinned and shook his head. The lady was packed full of surprises. “I bet you did.”
“I did!” she insisted, “thought I was going to drop at his feet in a dead faint.”
“You didn’t though.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You did what you had to, Lacey. That makes you what you are.”
“What? What does that make me?”
“Strong and courageous.”
“I’m not strong or courageous.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Yeah, sweetheart, you are.”
Lacey twined her fingers around his arm. “Why don’t we wait until later, then slip away?” she asked quietly.
Danger hesitated. She looked scared there in the early twilight. Her eyes glittered in the shadows. He gently traced a fingertip down her smooth cheek. Heat leapt from her to him. He grinned, lifting a dark brow. “Now, darlin’, you wouldn’t be worrying about me, would you?”
“Yes.”
“It’s too dangerous to try and make an escape in the dark. There’s no moon. Traveling in pitch black isn’t something I relish. The horses could stumble, break a leg. We could go over a cliff. I’m not taking those kind of risks and neither are you.”
He winked at her, but he’d grown very still, his eyes searc
hing hers for the answers he sought. Suddenly he pulled her to him. “I might not be able to see him to hit him, but I can scare the hell outta him. Make him move on. Hopefully.” Thrusting his fingers through her hair, he tilted her face up to his. Danger lowered his head and rubbed his mouth against hers. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to wait much longer,” he whispered huskily.
His mouth closed over hers hard and rough. There was no gentleness this time. He didn’t feel gentle, but a man who desperately wanted and needed his woman. His aim was to leave her in no doubt as to exactly how he felt.
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