by B. J Daniels
“Not quite. You kept me there against my will,” she snapped.
“I thought your friend Geneva might want you back, and we could make a trade. As it was, you didn’t stay long enough. You also didn’t go to the cops. Why is that?”
“What do you want with Geneva Davenport?” Thorn asked, his expression fierce as he drew Ridge’s attention away from JJ.
“That’s my business.”
“I’m making it mine.”
The man laughed and shook his head. “Why don’t you ask Geneva?” His gaze narrowed. “Because you don’t know where she is any more than I do. But you’re looking for her too. Apparently, I’m not the only one she owes money to.” His gaze narrowed on Thorn. “Or is she also an old girlfriend?” He chuckled and turned to JJ again. “You must have business with her, as well.” He shook his head and rose from the table, but then leaned forward, palms on the surface as he said, “I don’t care how much she owes you. I intend to get my money first. If you see her, tell her I will collect one way or the other. She knows me well enough that she should have realized by now.” He glanced at JJ. “You can tell her how serious I am. The next woman I have in that root cellar won’t get away.”
Ridge’s cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket, excused himself and turned his back to answer it. He seemed to be listening, then said, “Thanks for letting me know.” Pocketing his phone, he said, “My stolen plane’s been found. Destroyed in the mountains southeast of here. Good thing it’s insured.” For a moment, he looked angry and then seemed to shake the news off as if unwilling to let anything spoil this day.
Smiling at the two of them, he raised his voice to say, “Please enjoy the barbecue. If you’d like a swim or...” He looked to JJ. “Do you wakeboard? If not, one of the boys down there will teach you. My treat.” He waved his hand through the air. “Don’t forget to have some dessert before you go. My caterer makes the most amazing fried apple pies.”
* * *
THE WAIT HAD been interminable. Franklin had paced the floor, telling himself he couldn’t take another minute of this. He’d threatened to call the cops, the FBI, anyone who could help.
Each time, Willie had talked him down from the edge of the cliff he’d been teetering on.
“My contact is trying to track down the kidnappers. We just have to wait. If Geneva is in on this, then getting proof of life should be simple. They probably don’t want for us to think it is too easy. Just give them some time—”
“Time? With every minute I fear that I’m losing my granddaughter forever,” Franklin snapped. “What if they just cut their losses, kill her and take off?”
“They want that ten million dollars too badly to do that.”
“I hope you’re right.” He couldn’t help feeling that he should have called the police and FBI right away. He trusted Willie, but all these demands... They were playing with Geneva’s life.
When the text came in on his phone, he’d almost been afraid to look at it. His fingers trembled as he called it up. Tears rushed to his eyes.
Geneva, his beautiful granddaughter. There she was holding a copy of today’s newspaper. He enlarged the photo. It was clear that she’d been crying. Her face was blotchy, her eyes red and her lower lip looked as if it was swollen.
But it was what he saw in her eyes that sent his heart rocketing around in his chest. She looked terrified.
* * *
THORN LOOKED AT JJ as Ridge Brandemiller walked away. “He just heard about his plane?”
“Certainly sounded that way,” JJ said as they rose to throw away their trash and head back toward the motorcycle. “I told you that I didn’t think those men were the kidnappers.”
“If Ridge Brandemiller is telling the truth. And I tend to believe him. I wonder how Geneva came to owe him money.”
“Maybe he built her house and she never paid him,” she suggested.
Thorn frowned. “It sounds more like a personal loan. It also sounded like they knew each other...well.”
“You think they dated? Or that he’s a loan shark?” JJ was staring at the huge house.
“It might pay better than construction. Look at this place,” he said, thinking the same thing. “Either he and his brother are making money hand over fist building houses or they have a sideline.”
“This is the fastest growing county in Montana,” JJ told him. “And his men had the passcode for her front door. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if you’re right and it was more than Ridge building her house. I remember her saying once that she’d been seeing an older man with a lot of money and that he was married.”
Thorn laughed as they walked back up the road, away from the party area. “See, I told you that you know more about Geneva than you think.” Ahead, his motorcycle was right where he’d left it. He pulled out his phone and called the judge. He quickly told him what they’d learned at the barbecue.
“Ridge Brandemiller says Geneva owes him money. He seems very determined to get it. We’re wondering if they didn’t have some sort of relationship. Also, that he might have built her house.” Some of the partygoers were headed their way. “Listen, we have to go. I’ll call you later.”
JJ groaned as he disconnected and pocketed his phone. “I know what you’re thinking. If they did have a relationship at some point, Geneva could have known that Ridge had a plane.”
“It did cross my mind, especially if you’re right and her relationship with Ridge started off romantically. She would know where the plane was kept. All she had to do was tell Wes Brennan.” He swung a leg over the bike, and JJ climbed on behind him.
As they rode away from the Brandemiller house, he looked back and saw a black pickup coming up the private road.
In his mirror, he watched the pickup turn onto the highway behind them. He told himself it could be just a tail.
But as the driver sped up, Thorn knew it could also be much worse than that.
“You need to hang on tight,” he said over his shoulder to JJ, and hit the throttle.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JJ HAD SEEN Thorn looking in his side mirror as they left the barbecue. When she’d turned to look back, she’d spotted the black pickup even before he’d told her to hang on.
As the motorcycle took off beneath her, the pickup seemed to hang back as if waiting for something. Was the driver following them, thinking they would lead him to Geneva? She suspected Thorn was worried, and maybe with good reason as she watched the pickup suddenly close the distance between them.
They were racing along the narrow winding road along the east side of the lake. There was no way the truck could pass for miles. But maybe that wasn’t the driver’s intention as it zoomed up behind them, too close now. She tried to see the driver’s face, but the afternoon sun glinted off the pickup’s windshield.
“Hang on!” Thorn called back, and suddenly they were leaving the road on the steep lakeside where the pavement turned to gravel as it fell rapidly toward the water.
The bike roared over the edge, leaving the pavement and flying for a few yards before it touched down. She felt the back start to slide, but Thorn hit the gas and pulled it out. Then banked around a curve. All she could do was hang on as he practically laid the bike over in the first curve and then braked for the next one. They slid, dirt and gravel flying.
She could tell they were going too fast. Worse, they were running out of road. Ahead, it turned sharply to run parallel to the lake and the cabins along it. If he didn’t slow down...
But again Thorn pulled the bike out of the slide for the next curve before he left the road to cut through the pines. She clung to him as limbs rushed past, her heart in her throat. He brought the motorcycle to a stop as abruptly as he had made the turn off the main highway. He killed the engine.
She was still hanging on for dear life and trying to catch her breath when she realized he was listening
for the sound of the pickup. No way had the driver made that turn in the truck. He would have had to go up the road, pull off and come back.
JJ realized that that was exactly what he’d done. She heard the pickup’s engine and looked back to catch a glint of black as it dropped down the road to the lake. But with them hidden in the pines, the driver turned in the wrong direction, away from them, and disappeared down the lake.
“You all right?” Thorn asked.
Her heart had dislodged from her throat, and she was no longer gasping for breath. “Great.”
He chuckled. “That was a little hairy back there.”
A little hairy? She wanted to slug him. He’d enjoyed that.
Thorn started the motor. “Let’s get out of here.”
* * *
THORN FELT SURPRISINGLY GOOD—and it had been a long time since he had. Dusk settled over the lake and the pine trees as they roared back up to the highway and then raced toward Miguel’s place. Summer in the Flathead was a world apart from the life he’d been living in the mountains over Gardiner. Right now, he could barely remember that life. JJ had dragged him away from it kicking and screaming, but now that he was here, he couldn’t imagine being content alone again. And that should have scared him.
He’d let this woman get too close, and he’d gotten too involved in her life. And even that didn’t bother him. He could feel her cheek against his back, her arms wrapped around his waist. The heat of her body stirred a longing deep inside him. For so long, he’d told himself he didn’t want to feel anything, but he couldn’t pretend he didn’t. This woman... What was he going to do with her? Maybe he should take her to the judge. Wasn’t he risking her life keeping her with him?
And yet until he knew who was involved, he couldn’t risk what a man like Franklin Davenport might do. The billionaire might turn her over to the police, who might believe that she was involved. So far Thorn hadn’t found out anything that would clear her. She was twisted up in all this. Just as he was. He couldn’t walk away until he was sure she was safe, because he cared about her. He’d thought he would never feel those emotions again. JJ had breached the wall he’d built around not just his heart, but also his entire life. He felt more for her than he thought possible, and while it scared the hell out of him, he felt stronger and more sure of himself than he had in years.
It was no longer a case of simply finding Geneva and turning her over to her grandfather. He had to find out who was behind this. Geneva was involved, but from her phone call it would seem that the kidnapping plot had gotten away from her. Or maybe that’s what she wanted them to think.
He pulled in at the front of their cabin behind the bar and cut the motor. The faint sound of country music spilled out, making the growing darkness even more sultry. A breeze stirred the nearby pines, smelling of the lake and summer. JJ didn’t move. He turned to meet her gaze. Her face was flushed—from the ride? The sun and swim earlier? Her big blue eyes were dark with something he recognized only too well. He wanted to tell her that what they were about to do was the last thing they should. It would only complicate a relationship that was complicated enough.
As warm and wonderful as the evening breeze was, he still felt a tantalizing chill as he swung a leg over the front of his bike and reached for her. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her the few steps to the cabin.
He kicked open the door, not wanting to put her down. Once inside, he kicked it closed. Her gaze locked with his. He felt an ache low in his belly, and knew they’d been headed here from the moment they met. This time there wasn’t a gun aimed at his heart, but even if there had been, he knew nothing could stop this.
She leaned into him until her lips touched his. As he deepened the kiss, he let her slide slowly down his body, aware of her every curve. Her eyes widened as she felt his desire. As she broke away from him, a sly, shy smile played at her lips before she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. He cupped her wonderful behind in his hands and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around him and leaned back to look into his face, throwing them off balance.
They fell on the bed, breaking apart laughing, then quickly sobered as their gazes locked for a long moment. He stared into her adorable face as he touched her smooth sun-kissed cheek. “JJ.” He said it like a caress. As his fingers reached her lips, she took his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. Desire shot through him, racing hot and fast through his veins.
He reached for her, knowing he shouldn’t, knowing he should stop this before it went any further... But also knowing it would take nothing short of a bullet to stop him now.
* * *
JJ FELT A shaft of heat race to her center as he pulled her into his hard body and deepened the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting this, wanting more, wanting it all. It wasn’t just the kidnapping and nearly dying that had released her. Thorn had freed something inside her.
Since her father’s death, she’d kept her nose to the grindstone. She’d had no time for men, not that any of them interested her. When one of her coworkers had talked her into a double date, all she’d thought about that whole evening was getting some sleep because she had to work the next day—and worrying about where she was going to sleep. Even when her date had kissed her, she’d felt nothing but relief that the evening was over.
Now though, it was as if a dam had broken. All the emotions she’d kept bottled up for the past years rushed to the surface. She felt a need like none she’d ever experienced as she felt Thorn slide his big hands under her T-shirt. His palms against her bare flesh sent a quake of desire shooting through her. She desperately wanted to feel his bare skin against her own.
Taking her hands from around his neck, she tugged at the hem of his T-shirt until he shifted on the bed to allow her to pull it off. With a low hoarse chuckle, he did the same with hers. She started to reach behind her to unhook her bra, but he got there first. He flung it away.
“JJ,” he said again, his hands going to her breasts, his fingers teasing at her already achingly hard nipples, before his mouth dropped to them. She arched against him, releasing a moan of pleasure.
And then his hand slipped beneath the waistband of her jeans, into her panties, straight to her center. She heard the sound, low and deep in his throat as he realized how ready she was for him. One touch of his fingers and she shuddered, the sudden release making her cry out.
She reached for his jeans, fumbling with his buttons, and then they were both gloriously naked, wrapped up in each other’s arms. She let out a laugh of joy as he pulled on protection and filled her, fulfilling her while she clung to him, the smell of the lake and the summer sun still on their skin.
* * *
IT WAS GETTING LATE. The kidnappers hadn’t called back after sending the text, and WT could feel the tension in the room. As Curtis and Franklin began to discuss more about the ransom drop at his desk, Helen poured them both a glass of wine and, handing WT his, took a chair in front of the fireplace. He joined her in an accompanying chair.
She looked up in surprise and smiled as if aware that he’d been avoiding her.
He felt strangely tongue-tied around her even though they’d once been so intimate—or because of it. He still remembered what she felt like in his arms.
“So you’re Franklin’s lawyer,” he said, wondering why he hadn’t known that even though there was no reason he would have. He’d put Helen behind him years ago, and Franklin hadn’t known that he and Helen even knew each other.
“And you became a judge. I understand you’re retired?”
Had Franklin mentioned that when he’d been doing the introductions? WT didn’t think so, which meant that she’d done some checking on him. He felt touched that she’d bothered. That, he believed, explained why she hadn’t been as surprised to see him as he had her. Had she wanted to see him again?
He looked at her and wasn’t sure how he should be feelin
g. Bewildered for one. His emotions felt all over the place, something unusual for him. “You’re married,” he said, noticing the plain gold band on her ring finger.
She shook her head as her gaze went to the ring. “I was. He died about six months ago. I just haven’t been able to take off the ring. I know it’s silly.”
“How long were you married?”
“Almost thirty-four years.” So she’d married not long after they’d split up. “He was a good man.” Her gaze locked with his as if she knew he was doing the math. “What about you? Did you ever marry?”
He shook his head, suspecting that she already knew that. “I’m too contrary and cantankerous.”
“I doubt that.”
“Don’t. I’ve only gotten worse, if that’s possible, since you knew me.”
“I feel like I need to say something,” Helen said. Clearly, she was waiting for him to bail her out, to tell her she didn’t owe him anything, let alone an explanation. “William—” Her voice broke. “I—”
“Helen, what do you think about this?” Franklin asked from the table where he and Curtis had their heads together.
As she excused herself, rose and went to join them, WT sat for a moment staring into the flames rising from the fire. Helen. After all these years. He still couldn’t believe it. And widowed. He hated the path his thoughts had been taking since seeing her again.
Did he believe in fate? More to the point, did he believe in love anymore? He’d trusted her with his heart once. Surely he wasn’t so addled with age that he would consider doing that again, was he?
And yet even as he thought it, he felt his heart beating a little faster. Had he ever really gotten over Helen? With the answer came a rush of emotions. He still believed in second chances, didn’t he?
* * *
JJ WOKE TO a low rumble. She didn’t move for a moment, luxuriating in the warmth of the bed and the heat of the body next to her.