Montana Heat: Escape to You

by Jennifer Ryan

He’d like to get his hands on the bastard.

  Brought out of his dark thoughts by Mia’s statement, he stared at Ashley as she mechanically put the jacket and boots on. She intended to leave the house and go for a walk. He understood how his place must feel claustrophobic after all she’d been through, but the hesitation in her movements, the way her gaze darted to the windows, and her teeth gnashed her bottom lip, he didn’t think she’d get far before her nerves got the better of her and she ran back to the relative safety she’d found here.

  He didn’t want to think too hard about how it made him feel to know she wanted to stay here. He hoped with him, but understood most of her need to do so was a protection mechanism. No one would look for her here. He hoped. But knew inevitably Brice would come looking for her. It was only a matter of time, because the man Ashley described in her report needed his possession back. Without her, he’d never feel whole. He’d never feel anything. And the evil inside him needed to be fed or it would destroy Brice. And Brice would do anything to keep that evil happy so he could endure and feel alive.

  If they were going for a walk, he’d tail them and make sure they remained safe. He stood but sat back at the table when Mia shook her head and warned him off with a narrow-eyed look.

  She walked to Caden and held out her hand. Caden pulled the gun from the holster at his side and handed it to her. She tucked it down the front of her jeans and pulled her jacket closed, but didn’t zip it, ensuring she could get to the gun in a hurry if she needed it. Caden had trained her well after the trouble they faced hardly more than a month ago. Mia didn’t like guns, but Caden insisted she learn to respect and use one in case she ever needed it again. In their line of work, threats against them and their families were expected and sometimes carried out with dire outcomes. As Mia and Caden almost found out before Beck ended that threat with a bullet.

  “We’ll be back soon.” Mia stood with her back to Ashley and pointed to the kitchen, sweeping her finger in an arc to the back of the house and around the property to indicate the route they’d take. Just in case.

  All the bells and whistles went off in his mind and gut. He wanted to keep Ashley close and safe. He couldn’t do that if she was out of his sight.

  Mia read his unease. “She needs this, Beck. I got it covered.”

  Which meant Mia was prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep them both safe.

  Beck still needed Ashley’s go-ahead. “Do you want me to come with you?” He wanted her to know he’d take her out if she needed to go and stay by her side if she needed that, too.

  The indecision showed in her eyes and the way she opened her mouth to answer, closed it, then said, “We’ll be okay.”

  “I want to come,” Adam said from the sofa. He looked so cute in his new jeans and blue monster truck T-shirt.

  Ashley hesitated and so did Mia.

  “I need your help, little man. We need to put together this puzzle Mia brought for you.”

  Adam glanced back and forth from him to Ashley and back.

  “How about after my walk we go down to the stables and see Beck’s horses?”

  Adam’s huge smile was all the answer Ashley needed before she turned and rushed out the front door like if she didn’t do it now, she wouldn’t be able to do it at all.

  Beck stared at the closed front door and fought the urge to go after her.

  “I see why you’re attracted to her,” Caden commented. “Every man on the planet probably is, but Beck, after all she’s been through, getting involved the way you are, it’s not going to end the way you want. She’ll get through this and go back to Hollywood and make movies and get back to her glamorous and very public life. Your life depends on you staying deep undercover and off the radar.”

  “What if that’s not the life I want to live anymore?”

  “Can you live without the action, the danger, the adrenaline rush you’ve been chasing from the military to the DEA?”

  Instead of answering, Beck asked, “How is life with Mia?”

  “Great. I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

  “What if instead of an adrenaline rush I wanted a steady dose of happy in my life?”

  “If the DEA isn’t what you want anymore, I support you a hundred percent. You’ll save me several hundred gray hairs.”

  Beck didn’t want to play pretend undercover anymore, but he still felt the pull of duty and desire to help others just as strongly as he ever did. “I’m thinking the DEA can use my expertise and skills in another way.”

  “If you’d use your knowledge to train the up-and-coming guys for undercover work, your knowledge and uncanny instinct would be invaluable to them. You’d make a great team leader. Your tactical expertise alone would save lives in countless ways on both sides. You know how those guys think, the extremes they’ll go to to escape arrest. At this point, the DEA will practically let you write your job description. You know that. You’ve known that for a long time, but you never wanted to come in. You thrived being in the game.”

  “The game is kicking my ass and messing up my head. I want to have a life and a family before I’m too old or dead to do it.”

  Caden smiled. “You like her that much.”

  “She’s so much more than I ever thought when I saw her in a movie. That’s just one side of her. I like all the others a hell of a lot more than just the image she plays on-screen. I didn’t expect this, her, to hit me the way they did. She’s the first woman in a long time who made me think more about her than myself.”

  “Well, that’s something, especially with all you’re going through right now.”

  “Exactly. I don’t want to pass up a chance that could mean something in my life because the timing sucks and it’s hard. Maybe it turns out to be nothing. But maybe it’s something.”

  “I think sometimes about the two times I stood up Mia and what I’d have missed in my life if she hadn’t agreed to, and I hadn’t shown up, that third time for our date.”

  “It was a hell of a first date.”

  “Don’t remind me. The point is, if you want her, if you want this to work out, show up, Beck. Don’t let the past hold on to you so much so that you aren’t here right now.”

  “I am here, man. She cut right through all the bullshit I’ve been shrouded in and found me. Maybe that sounds stupid.”

  “No. It doesn’t. I’ve been trying to find the brother you buried for a long time.”

  “I still have a lot of shit to deal with and resolve, but for the first time I can look at it without reliving it or feeling like I’ll never feel anything but how I felt in those dark moments.”

  “Let them go, Beck.”

  “Maybe I’m . . . no, I am hoping for more than I deserve or she’s capable of right now, but for a chance with her, I’d put it all away and try to be the man she deserves.”

  “Beck, man, I don’t know what to say to that. What she’s facing . . . it’s a lot to deal with. You don’t even know if she feels the same way about you.”

  “I know she does. What I don’t know is if she feels it for me, or just because of all she’s been through I’m a lifeline and a safe place to hide.”

  “I can see why she’d think that. You’re a cop. You can protect her.”

  “She needs that, but I think it’s more.”

  “I hope it is.” The worry lines across Caden’s forehead deepened with the concern in his eyes.

  Adam crawled up into Beck’s lap with the puzzle box. “Is she coming back?”

  Beck kissed Adam on the head and held him close. “Yes, little man. She’ll be back soon.” He missed her already, too.

  “Mom isn’t coming back.”

  Beck met Caden’s intense gaze. Unspoken questions bounced back and forth between them. They were both wondering the same thing. What happened to Adam’s mom?

  “Are you sure?” Beck held his breath, hoping Adam knew something about his mother and that what he thought happened to her wasn’t the truth.

  Adam didn�
��t answer, just dumped out the puzzle pieces on the table in front of them. He handed a corner piece to Caden.

  “Tomorrow.” That’s all Caden had to say to tell Beck that with the end of the storm came the end of their secrecy—they would have to reveal that Ashley hadn’t given up her celebrity life and gone into hiding away from the public eye all this time. They needed to move forward and arrest Brice before he had a chance to make a move on them.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Brice and Darren drove the snowmobiles into the courtyard between the large ranch house and one of the many barns on the huge property that bordered his. Snow piled on the roof in a thick blanket to match the layer on the steps leading up to the door. Brice surveyed the surrounding land, the tracks leading from a back door and across the yard to the barn, tire tracks leading from the barn to the hilly pasture where black cattle huddled together, their backs coated in a thin layer of ice as they fed from two racks holding hay and grass.

  The two men tending the herd hopped in the truck and headed back down to meet him and Darren.

  Only a single light showed in the house. No drapes or shadows shifted. He didn’t see anyone peeking out a window. He didn’t see Ashley or Adam. He didn’t feel her here, but had to tamp down his frustration and anxiety. He needed to be sure.

  The truck pulled up and both men got out, eyeing them. Brice took off his helmet and raked his fingers through his hair.

  “Well shit, look who we have here. I never expected to see the likes of you in these parts.” The driver smiled, recognition dawning easily in his eyes.

  Brice was used to everyone knowing him on sight. It got old, but in this case he hoped it worked to his advantage. He went with the same good ol’ boy neighborly charm. “I hope you don’t mind my stopping by unannounced. My property borders yours.”

  “I thought that big ol’ house belonged to some celebrity.”

  Brice smiled and nodded. “It’s mine, but let’s keep that between us.”

  Both men grinned and nodded, their eyes narrowed with understanding that they’d been let in on the secret.

  The other man stepped forward, his hand extended, “Joe Gordon. This is my place.”

  Brice shook the man’s hand. “Brice Mooney, but I guess you knew that.”

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Mooney?”

  “Oh, just call me Brice. All my friends do.”

  Joe stood a bit taller, thinking Brice had let him in the inner circle, letting him call him by his first name and in on the secret that he lived next door.

  “I’m hoping you can help me out. Have you seen a young woman with dark hair and a boy with light blond hair last night or this morning?”

  “What were they driving?”

  “I’m embarrassed to say the lady and I argued and she ran off with the boy. I’m terribly worried about them.”

  “You think they ran off on foot in this weather?” Joe glanced around at the deep snow covering everything for miles. His heavy sigh came out in a cloud of white that quickly disappeared on the persistent wind that seemed to suck the heat right out of Brice’s face. If not for his thick coat and gloves, he’d be a frozen Popsicle by now.

  He didn’t want to think about Ashley, cold and lonely and missing him out in the frigid temps and frozen landscape.

  “My hope is that she found a kind rescuer and they took her and the boy in for the night while she calmed down and thought better of doing something so foolish. Petty arguments always seem less important after one calms down.”

  Joe and the driver nodded.

  “I hate to think her impulsive act has caused her any harm.”

  “I’m sorry to say we’ve had no visitors. My wife and two little ones are up at the house, a couple of the other guys are staying out at the bunkhouse farther on the property. I spoke with them both a little while ago. They had a quiet night and didn’t report seeing anyone. I can give them a call to be sure if you like.”

  Brice knew they’d have said something if they found Ashley. No way they kept their mouths shut about finding her.

  “As you said, they’d have said something if they saw them. I’m not even sure she came this way.”

  Darren handed over his card. “If you see them, or hear anything about them, please give us a call.”

  “Have you contacted the authorities? They can help you search.” Joe’s mouth drew into a grim line. “If they were out in the weather last night and this morning . . .” He shook his head in dismay, knowing they would never have made it.

  “I don’t believe things are that dire,” Brice assured him, though it wasn’t easy to pull off the unconcerned tone. “My guess is we’ll find her safe and sound in a cozy warm motel drinking hot chocolate.” He hoped that pretty little picture eased Joe’s and the driver’s mind. He walked a fine line trying to find her and not get caught up in an all-out search and rescue with the cops where he’d have to answer questions that were no one’s business.

  Joe held up Darren’s card. “I hope you do. We’ll keep a lookout for her and the boy as we check on the cattle and property today.”

  “I thank you kindly,” Brice said, giving the men a bright smile like he didn’t have a care in the world. They didn’t have her. They didn’t know anything. They were of no use to him now.

  He pulled his helmet on, seated himself on the snowmobile, started the engine, and with a friendly wave drove back down the mostly plowed driveway.

  He stopped near the road, out of sight of the ranch house and the two men they left behind.

  Darren stopped beside him and flipped up his helmet visor. “She’s not there.” His words echoed Brice’s thoughts.

  “We’ll check the other neighbor, then we’ll need to alert the authorities and follow through with tracking down the boy to get to her.”

  “I think that may be the only way to find her.” Darren’s eyes filled with a gleam of mischief. “Asking the judge to declare you Adam’s legal guardian was a stroke of genius.”

  Brice hadn’t asked. He’d ordered the judge to do his bidding, knowing the judge had to comply or risk his job and reputation if the pictures of him with an underage prostitute snorting coke off her nipple were leaked to the press. Now Brice had the legal authority to claim Adam as his responsibility and find him and get him back. Which meant he’d draw Ashley out and right back to him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ashley stood on the porch under the overhang wanting to step down the stairs and explore the beautiful property, but fear gripped her whole body like a vise and froze her in place. Mia stood beside her. She didn’t move, just stared out at the yard like she had all the time in the world and had no intention of going anywhere. Her attention to every little sound and sight eased Ashley enough to make her take that first step to real freedom.

  She stepped down the first tread, then the next, and all the way down to the path Beck must have shoveled clear while she’d taken a shower this morning. She stood in the cold and sun, her face raised to the sky more blue than gray clouds now. She stared at the massive expanse, sucked in a lungful of crisp air, and just breathed.

  This was the first time she truly felt free.

  “How long’s it been since you were outside?” Mia’s gentle tone coaxed her to open up.

  The account she typed into Beck’s computer took everything she had to put into words how devastating her experience had been, but talking to Mia about the more mundane things that took their toll on her seemed easier and harder at the same time.

  “A long time.” She breathed through the pain that admission caused her. So many simple things taken away from her. “He mostly only let me out at night. I have a feeling he had people at the house, the cleaning people, gardeners, others tending to the horses and cattle during the day. I never saw anyone after he made me disappear, except for the people he wanted me to see from the secret passageways. But I know the workers were there because of the fresh-cut flowers and the beautiful meals laid out on the table.”

>   “Meals you never got to eat,” Mia guessed, nodding toward Ashley’s stick legs.

  “Sometimes. But I had to earn it. And even then, I barely got a few bites down before he took it away or dragged me back upstairs for . . .” She couldn’t choke out the words. The humiliation and punishment he subjected her to tasted bitter and vile, turning her stomach.

  “Did Beck tell you Caden stood me up twice for our first date?”

  Ashley appreciated the change of subject. Mia started down the path, her gaze straight ahead as she went on, expecting Ashley to follow. She did, because she wanted to know . . . “Why did you give him another chance after that?”

  Mia glanced over, a sweet grin tugging at her lips. “Our aunts are a couple.”

  “That complicates things, I guess.” Ashley knew many gay couples, but her friends Sophia and Lara made her jealous. Their connection and love so deep, you couldn’t help but acknowledge how special and rare it was for others. She’d wanted something that extraordinary in her life, so deep and true, she couldn’t live without it, or the man who gave her that kind of peace, connection, and love.

  The familiar tingle danced over her skin. She turned to the house and spotted the outline of Beck standing in the window watching over her, sending a wave of warmth through her heart.

  She warned it to stop hoping for impossible things.

  “The aunts begged me to understand Caden’s work sometimes took over his life and it really wasn’t his fault. They conspired to get us together, but even they were exasperated with Caden’s deplorable behavior. He made up for it though. Even though the date ended with our kidnapping and Beck almost shooting me, then shooting a drug dealer dead—it started off so good.”

  Ashley couldn’t help the smile that came with Mia’s soft giggle.

  Mia gave her all the details from dinner to disaster, including Beck’s heroic sniper shots that helped Caden save Mia’s life. “We haven’t spent a day apart since.”

  Ashley struggled to trudge through the deep snow. “And he asked you to marry him within weeks?”