by Rita Herron
A plane? No, a helicopter. Probably one of the rescue teams looking for stranded hikers or tourists. She reached the incline to the cabin, patting Sledge as rocks sprayed from beneath his hooves. “We’re almost there, buddy. We’re going to get Sky.”
The sight of the cabin evoked bittersweet memories of happier times, but also offered hope that the torture of the past few months would soon end. She scanned the exterior for signs of life, of an intruder, even a horse or snowmobile to indicate she had company, but saw nothing. Thankfully, she’d arrived before the kidnapper. She’d have time to prepare.
Still, she approached the cabin slowly, easing up on the reins to gather her courage as well as to keep an eye on the doors and windows. Bringing the paint to a halt, she set him loose in the corral to the side of the cabin and made sure he had water. She’d wait until she checked out the cabin before she unsaddled him and put him in the barn. She might have to escape in a hurry.
Her boots crunched on the icy gravel as she walked toward the cabin. Unease clawed at her as she unlocked the door then it opened. She searched the dark interior but saw nothing. The whir of the helicopter drifted nearer, and she glanced over her shoulder just as it ccled the clearing. She paused to see if it was going to land, but a shadow moved in the corner of the room. Heart pounding, she reached inside her purse for the pistol, but someone grabbed her from behind and shoved a rag over her mouth and nose. She bucked backward, struggling to breathe, digging her hands into the man’s arms. She tried to scream, but tasted something strange, and inhaled a pungent odor. Some kind of chemical. Gas? Chloroform?
Desperate, she clawed at his hands, then jabbed her elbow backward to connect with the man’s stomach. He grunted, then jerked her harder against him, pinning her in a viselike grip. She tried to scream again, but sucked in gas. Darkness spun into a kaleidoscope of colors. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she fell into the nothingness. She wished she could have held her baby one more time before she died.
Chapter Two
Early morning shadows hovered over the porch awning as Night rang the doorbell to the Langworthy mansion. Thankfully, Langworthy had alerted his security to allow him full access to the property. If this crazy doctor had his son, what would Grace do to him? Use him like a damn test rat? Inject him with God knows what kind of virus or bacteria?
How far would a mad scientist go in the name of research?
In light of these recent revelations, he half prayed Langworthy had spirited Schyler away in the guise of a kidnapping to create publicity.
The door opened and Frederickson, one of the security agents, answered. Night greeted him, then spotted the maid, Antonia, breezing in from the kitchen.
“I need to speak to Langworthy.”
“Is he expecting you?”
“No.” Night fisted his hands by his sides. “But I may have information about the kidnapping. I have to discuss it with him immediately.”
The small Hispanic woman nodded, then gestured for him to wait while she darted up the winding staircase. Seconds later, Langworthy stalked down the steps, looking haggard. His wife, Celia, trailed behind him belting her robe. She looked agitated and smaller than he remembered, as if the ordeal had taken its toll on her.
“Where’s Holly?” the former senator bellowed.
Night froze. “What?”
“Where is she?” Langworthy scraped a hand over his jaw. “We can’t find her anywhere. We thought she might have run off to meet you.”
Night met Langworthy’s steely gaze with a cold one of his own. “I haven’t talked to her in weeks. Maybe she’s off with that Sanders guy.”
“No, she wouldn’t…” Celia’s voice broke.
“How long has she been gone?” Night asked.
“I don’t know,” Celia said. “She was here last night when I went to bed.”
“Then she’s probably just gone for a drive or something“No,” Celia said. “She hardly leaves the house. She sits by the phone waiting on news about Schyler.”
“You told Antonia you had news about the kidnapping?” Langworthy said.
Night nodded. “We have to talk.”
Celia gestured toward the maid. “Antonia, please bring some coffee to Mr. Langworthy’s study.”
“Si, Senora.” The maid bustled off, and Night followed the Langworthys into the office. The expensive wood of the room closed around Night as he took a seat on the plush leather chair. Seconds later, the maid returned with a silver tray laden with coffee, and served them.
Night declined. “It’s time for the truth, Langworthy. I want some answers.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Samuel Langworthy said angrily. “I’m paying your agency to give me answers.”
Night still didn’t trust that the politician wasn’t involved in the baby’s disappearance. “Tell me everything you know about Dr. Teddy Grace.”
Celia gasped, and fell back against the camelback sofa. “I thought this was about Schyler?”
“It is,” Night said in a grave tone. “We think Teddy Grace may have kidnapped the baby.”
All the color faded from Celia’s face. Samuel Langworthy swallowed hard and set his coffee down on the cherry desk. “Jesus, this can’t be happening.” He raised his gaze to meet Night’s. “I…I actually thought you might have kidnapped my grandson, that you’d taken him to some reservation.”
Night frowned. Langworthy actually sounded serious. “How could I have kidnapped my son when you kept him a secret from me? You forbade me to ever return to the Langworthy mansion.”
Langworthy actually blanched. Celia was visibly shaking, her hands running up and down the coffee cup as if to warm them.
Night fought compassion for the two. He would never forgive them for hiding his son from him. If he had known about his baby, he could have protected him.
“Why do you think Teddy might be involved?” Celia asked.
“You were married to him at one time, correct?”
She nodded, despair in her eyes. “That was a long time ago.”
“But he still hates me,” Langworthy said, patting his wife’s arm. “He blames me for stealing you from him.”
“Enough to seek revenge by kidnapping your grandson?” Night asked.
Langworthy pushed a hand through his gray hair. “Hell, yes. He’s a crazy SOB.”
“Those last few months we were together, he became obsessed with his work, and with me,” Celia said in a shaky voice. “He even became abusive.”
Night dreaded telling them the rest, that Grace’s motives might be even more sinister. “Have you had contact with Grace recen”
Celia shook her head on a sob.
“No.” Langworthy stretched his hands in front of him, staring at his fingers. “Although when I heard there were traces of eggshells found in the baby’s room, I wondered. I remembered Celia telling me years ago that Teddy used eggs to incubate bacteria.”
“And you didn’t bother to tell the detectives about this?” Night asked.
Langworthy closed his eyes as if to gather his composure, then opened them and shook his head. “It was too horrible to think about. And I finally wrote it off as improbable. No one’s heard from the man in years.”
Night explained Gettys’s possible connection to Grace, then filled them in on the strange flu epidemic that had struck Silver Rapids and the connection ICU had made to Holly.
Celia dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. “Oh, my Lord. You think Teddy infected Holly with a virus when she was pregnant?”
“Yes,” Night said. “Your nephew Con told us about the test Grace conducted on him when he was little. Since Grace didn’t get to follow Con growing up, he might have kidnapped Sky to study the effect the virus he’d given Holly had on him.”
“This is insane.” Celia dropped her head in to her hands. “And it’s all my fault. That man nearly destroyed my family years ago and now…”
“Don’t, Celia,” Langworthy said, “I’m to blame.” He glanced up a
t Night, his expression pained. “Years ago, I introduced Grace to Franklin Gettys in hopes that Gettys would distract Grace from Celia—”
“Mr. and Mrs. Langworthy.” Antonia burst into the room, holding a piece of paper in her trembling hand, her eyes wide with fright. “I do not think this is good. It’s from Miss Holly.”
“What?” Langworthy snatched the note, read the message, then clutched his chest.
Celia motioned to the maid. “Get his heart medicine. Hurry.” She turned to Night. “What does it say?”
Night took the note and read it aloud. Dear God, Holly had received a message from the kidnapper and had gone off alone to find their son.
He looked at the Langworthys’ faces and realized they were both thinking the same thing he was—that Teddy Grace might have Holly, too.
And if he did, what would he do with her?
“This is all my fault,” Samuel wheezed. “I should have told her what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?” Night asked.
“I’ve been trying to protect her.” He coughed, downing his pills with water. “I never told her the progress ICU has been making. And last night…” he sucked in a harsh breath. “I told her the feds were pulling back.”
Night grimaced. Holly thought they were giving up.
Celia was crying softly. “It’s my fault, too, I tried to tell her we might have to accept the fact that Schyler was g…that she needed to go on.” She sniffed, her voice quavering. “I’ve been so worried about Holly. She’s been so heartbroken, she’s making herself physically ill.”
Samuel pulled Celia into his arms and Night swallowed hard. Holly must have thought everyone had given up on finding her son. That she was all alone.
He crushed the note in his hands. This was his fault, too. He should have contacted her, been there to comfort her, reassured her that even if everyone else gave up, that he never would.
Now it might be too late. Grace might have her and his son.
And if he didn’t hurry and find them, he might lose them both forever.
He reached for his phone to call Colleen. First, he’d see if they had picked up the tracking device he’d put on Holly’s car and find out where she was headed. Then he’d see if Colorado Confidential had narrowed down a location for Grace’s lab.
He only hoped that, when he found it, Holly and their baby were still alive.
HOLLY TRIED to open her eyes, but her lids were so heavy. A bitter taste filled her mouth. Nausea rolled through her, but she fought through the wave, struggling to figure out where she was and what had happened. Had she been in an accident? Was she in the hospital?
A blurred face swam in front of her eyes, but she couldn’t distinguish the person’s features. Then the sharp jab of a needle pricked her arm and she tensed, memories surfacing. The dream about her baby being kidnapped. Except it wasn’t a dream. It was real. The phone call. Driving, then riding out to the cabin. The sound of a helicopter. The shadow.
Dizziness overcame her again and she closed her eyes. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she was helpless to move her arms and dry them. She just wanted to find her baby, to hold little Schyler again, to soothe his cries.
Now she might die and never see him.
Unable to fight the drugs she’d been given any longer, she slowly slipped back into the darkness, letting her mind carry her back to a happy time, to a night when she’d felt young and alive and thought anything was possible. The evening she had finally found a place in Night’s arms, the time she had given herself to him with wild abandon.
THE SOUNDS of laughter and partying, glasses clinking in celebration of the Fourth of July filled the balmy spring air on the outdoor patio, the scents of wild columbine mingling with her mother’s roses in the gardens surrounding them. Holly stroked the stem of her crystal champagne flute, sipping the bubbly liquid as the guests began to depart, her gaze fixed on one man.
Night Walker.
Her protector. He’d stood in the shadows of the festivities all evening, on the periphery of the family property as if he didn’t belong. His distance served as a constant reminder that he was there to do a job, not to flirt with Holly. His efficiency impressed her, the way he constantly scanned the darkness as if he had night vision that could scope out any approaching evil. And although his gaze drifted to her throughout the evening, he’d also kept a constant check with the other security guards located around the property to confirm that the Langworthys’ safety was intact.
Holly wasn’t concerned for her safety. And she was not afraid of the enigmatic Native, although she sensed he had tried to make her fearful from the beginning. No, she was ready to take a walk on the wild side. She had been ever since the first day he had entered the mansion and her father had informed her he would be working security for the family. One look into his dark eyes, and she had been mesmerized by his Cheyenne manners, his rugged face, and the mysterious aura surrounding him. He moved like a black panther, stalwart and silent, his brown eyes nearly black with determination to do his job and remain uninvolved. She liked that about him. Liked his quiet assurance, the way he could make her feel things without even speaking.
He didn’t like her though. But he wanted her.
She’d realized that immediately. He thought she was a spoiled princess, had told her that the first time she had tried to kiss him, had reminded her the next time she’d touched him that the two of them came from different worlds. But Holly could be stubborn as well. Words didn’t matter. Emotions did.
Granted she’d been pampered, suffocated actually to the point she hadn’t had a chance to live, to test the waters with a man. Now, she was hungry for the kind of loving only a man like Night Walker could offer. But there was more. She liked Night, admired his work ethic and dedication to his job, and respected his loyalty to her family. Plus, he was nothing like the young men she’d dated in college. They’d been immature, wanting only sex and her money.
She craved Night’s calm, loved the way he could enter a room and fill it with power simply with his presence, the way he seemed unimpressed with the Langworthy fortune.
And she didn’t give a damn what her daddy said, that it was beneath her to see the hired help, or that sleeping with him would spread gossip that might taint the great family name.
She simply wanted to feel Night’s arms around her, have him teach her what it was like to be a woman, what it would be like to be possessed by someone primal and fearless and intensely sexy.
Downing the rest of her champagne, she reached for another, then headed to the gazebo by the pond, her favorite spot on the estate. The guests slowly dwindled away, the midnight hour approaching. Curfew time for Cinderella.
Night would come looking for her soon.
If another agent was watching her, she would have hated the intrusion, but knowing Night’s eyes were on her throughout the evening had been titillating.
As if he’d known all their heated encounters would lead to this moment, he stalled. She waited and watched him from the corner of her eye, but he didn’t come to the gazebo. Finally, Holly finished off the champagne, certain he was intentionally trying to taunt her.
Then she saw him move from the shadows of the pond. He stood ramrod straight, his big hands shoved deep into the pockets of the dark suit he wore, the long black strands of his hair catching in the moonlight. He angled his head to check on her and she grinned, then sauntered toward him.
Her evening gown dipped low, exposing the gentle slope of her breasts. His eyes raked over her, and only the slightest tightening of his jaw gave away his desire. Then his gaze fastened onto her face.
“Don’t you think it’s time to turn in?”
“No.” She wet her lips, no longer willing to deny how much she wanted him. She wasn’t a child anymore. She had finished college. Was handling projects for her father’s foundation now.
He took his time in speaking. He was definitely not a talker, which made her even more curious about him. “Not tir
ed?”
“Tired of waiting on you.” Then she did what she’d desperately wanted to do all night—she reached up and slid her fingers into his hair.
His hands caught hers, wrapped around them in a tight grip. “Don’t.”
Holly licked her lips again, and buried her face against his chest. She was behaving shamelessly and she knew it. “I can’t help it, Night. All I did during the party was think about you. About touching you.”
She raised on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his, tracing her tongue around the edges, pleading for him to open. He didn’t. He refrained, pushed her away, tried to right her dress by tugging up the top so he wouldn’t be tempted by her cleavage. But she refused to give up.
Social status, their stations in life…the whole world be damned. She wanted Night and he wanted her. She had to make him see that nothing else mattered but the intense passion simmering between them.
With one flick of her hand, she released her hair from the diamond studded clip that had held it up, shaking the auburn tresses free. Desire swept over his features.
“You’re playing with fire, Holly,” he said in a gruff voice.
“I’m a big girl, Night. If I want to get burned, that’s my choice.”
His control seemed to snap, his patience evaporated. His stormy gaze trapped her with alarming intensity, the flare of his mouth sinful as he gripped her wrists and dragged her inside the gazebo. “We can’t do this, Holly.”
“Yes, we can.” Holly raked her nails across his chest. “I want you, Night. Nothing matters but the two of us. Not my father. Your job. It’s just us.” She kissed his cheek, tracing her tongue along the edges of his mouth until she heard him groan.
Still, he pulled back, stared at her for a heartbeat, heat radiating between them. She poured her love into her eyes, wanting him to see how much he had come to mean to her.
Then he suddenly jerked her into his embrace, pulling her against the hard wall of his chest and captured her mouth with his. “This is wrong.”
“No,” she moaned. “I need you, Night, can’t you see that?”