“I’m a pessimist.” She looked him right in the eye when she said that.
“Not my Fern.”
Those clenched hands now held fistsful of his comforter on either side of her legs. “If you call me that one more time, I’ll…”
“What?”
“Something.”
“Good comeback.” He pulled out the handcuffs from behind his back. The metal clanked against the wood.
“What are those for?”
He dangled the cuffs in front of her face. “Insurance.”
“No way. I’m outta here.” She bolted from the bed.
He was ready for her. He looped one arm around her waist and pulled her back tight against his chest. He could smell his shampoo in her soft hair. His soap on her skin.
“Let me go!”
He held her still with one arm. “Can’t.”
“Of course you can.” She squirmed and pushed against his hand.
He got his confirmation when her body fit snug against him. He needed a woman. Not this woman. One less temperamental and not water-logged. One night. Sex. Cleared head. Move on.
“Stop before you hurt yourself,” he said as he blocked a shot to his temple.
“You mean, before you hurt me.”
“Never going to happen.” He grabbed both of her forearms, careful not to hurt her, and set her back down on the bed.
Before she could protest, he slipped one end of the handcuffs over her wrist. The other end snapped against the mattress frame with a click. The move forced her to lean on her left forearm low to the bed. Not the most comfortable position ever, but it would last only a few minutes.
“What are you doing?” She sounded more angry than scared.
“Holding you steady so I can change my clothes.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Almost never.”
“This is ridiculous. Let me out of these.” She rattled the cuffs, causing metal to screech against metal.
“Would you prefer I strip down in front of you?” he asked.
“I’d prefer you show a little common sense.” The heat stayed in her voice, but the clanking stopped.
“That would require me to drive you to the hospital and have you checked out. After all that poking and prodding, if you still insisted you couldn’t remember anything, I’d take photos and send them out over the wire to see if anyone had reported you missing. Contact the FBI for assistance. Put your face on the television and in the computer. Those things.”
“Sounds like typical male overkill.”
“Standard procedure.” As if he had a plan for this sort of thing. Since beautiful naked women tended to walk through the front door rather than wash in with the waves, he didn’t. “Just like putting you in jail would be if I found you were in that kind of trouble.”
“Jail?” Her voice actually squeaked.
“But if I knew your name…”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. It’s Fern. Can I go now?”
“And miss your sparkling conversation? I don’t think so.”
“I am going to have your ass on a plate for this.”
“We can talk about my ass when I get back.” He winked, then disappeared into the bathroom.
Chapter 4
Annie sat on the corner of Kane’s bed and drummed her fingers against the comforter. Being nearly naked and chained to a stranger’s mattress should have been the scariest thing that had ever happened to her. This wasn’t even the worst thing she’d had to deal with this week.
She’d forgotten to get her rescuer’s name. Probably had something to do with the near drowning and public display of nudity. All that excitement made her mind a bit fuzzy. Of course, if she asked him about his name, then he’d insist on knowing hers. She’d say no. He’d call her some made-up name. With this guy’s stubbornness, the cycle could go on forever.
The rescue and blood warming had helped. The robe and the hair wash weren’t bad either. But the time had come—and probably gone—for her to leave. There was a difference between biding time and wasting it.
The yacht and Sterling Howard. She had to find her notes. Retrieve her camera. Hide from whatever goon had tried to drown her…once she figured out exactly which goon that was.
Yeah, not the most comprehensive plan ever contemplated. And, yeah, the handcuffs and six-foot watch-dog caused a tiny problem.
But being confined made her crazed. She preferred the outdoors. Those slices of nature that defined serenity and peace: at the right angle, with the right light, framed by her lens and captured in a perfect moment that would never pass by again. Sunshine or dusk, hot or cold, didn’t matter to her so long as the beauty of that wide-open space translated on film.
Make that dry wide-open spaces. It would be some time before she could look at an ocean view again without getting the shivers.
She pulled and shoved, trying to loosen the hold or snap the metal around her wrist. No chance he’d used joke cuffs. Nope. They were real which meant he was real. Not just a cop, this one claimed to be the cop in charge of cops. Better the police than a serial killer but, really, what were the chances she’d land on a police officer’s doorstep?
Seeing his badge had eased the panic that kept bubbling up in her throat at the thought of being at the mercy of a strange man. Everything about him soothed her frazzled nerves. His straightforward attitude. His calm demeanor. His warm voice and hands.
Deep down, she knew she’d be safe in his home. The controlling-behavior thing would get old, but he wouldn’t hurt her. The question was whether he would follow when she left.
She tugged again and let out a yelp when the cuffs dug into her soft skin. “Damn him.”
“Kane? You here?”
She heard male voices first, then a door slam. At least two more people were in the house somewhere. The very small house.
That made three men she needed to avoid.
She jerked around, looking for something big and heavy to whip at whatever moron walked through the door. Furniture. A pair of old sneakers. That was all she saw. Not so much as a magazine in sight. The guy had the most boring bedroom on earth.
But, he did own a lamp. Now all she had to do was reach it. She scrambled to her knees, ignoring the shot of pain that moved up her thigh from her injury, and spun around until she faced the doorway with her back to the bathroom. One arm hooked to the bottom of the bed, and the other stretched toward the nightstand. If only she were fifteen feet tall.
The men kept calling out, walking around and otherwise making her nervous as hell.
“This is all his fault,” she grumbled as she wiggled her fingers, trying to make her torso longer through sheer will.
“Hey, warrior boy, where are you? We’re heading out for a beer and saw your car.” The muffled male voice kept coming closer.
Warrior boy?
The bedroom door stood wide open. Two guys, polar opposites in looks, joked and laughed as they walked in. One, blond and light, with the scruffy start of a beard along his jawline and bright blue eyes close in color to his aqua tie. Despite the tailored suit, this one had a rough-hewn look about him.
The other, trim and dark and Hawaiian, dressed casually in a college tee and shorts. Throwing his keys in the air and concentrating on that task to the point where he bumped into the wall.
If she guessed right, the second was blood related to her captor. They possessed the same tall, dark and handsome gene.
“Hey, we’re—” Blondie stopped and stared.
“Josh, what the hell.” The young stud dropped the keys. “Whoa.”
“I am going to kill him. Throw him right out the window.” She mumbled the vow under her breath as she grabbed for the edges of her robe.
Blondie rubbed the back of his fingers over his beard. “Maybe we should give Kane a rain check on the beer.”
The young one finally gave her eye contact. “What did Kane do now, or shouldn’t I even ask?”
“Whatever it was, loo
ks as if he hasn’t finished,” Blondie muttered.
“Yeah. Right. We should leave.”
The young one talked sense. Annie decided she liked him.
“And miss the opportunity to give Kane shit? No way. Where is he?” Blondie looked past her. “Hey, Kane!”
Her mind went blank for a second. “Kane?”
Blondie’s eyebrows raised in question. “Kane Travers. The man you’re sleeping with.”
Now, there was a wrong conclusion.
“I just need to talk to Kane for a second; then we’ll get out of your way,” the younger one said. “I promise.”
Time to get the who, what, where and when basics. “He’s your…?”
“Uncle.”
She would have guessed brother. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Unbelievable looks with an air of something exotic and forbidden. A younger version, probably somewhere in his early twenties. All torso with broad shoulders and long legs. Maybe a bit friendlier around the mouth and eyes.
Not that she was taking any chances. Not with one arm useless and a knee on the injured list. If needed, she could kick out the other leg. That one worked just fine, but she had limits.
“Why are you here?” She didn’t know all of her enemies yet. Until she did, everyone was suspect.
“I actually live here, or did before college.” The young one held up one of the keys as evidence.
“You still do.” Blondie leaned back against the door frame and eyed her with a mixture of appreciation and skepticism. “Where’s Kane?”
“Hiding like a rat in the bathroom.”
Those narrowed blue eyes popped open wide. “Never known Kane to hide from anything.”
“Never known him to chain a woman to his bed before either,” the young one said.
She relaxed her stance a bit, still on her knees and ready for flight, but no longer stretched across the room. “That’s fascinating and all, but could one of you get me out of these?”
“No, they can’t.” Kane walked back into the room, wearing another pair of faded jeans this time with a slim gray T-shirt.
“Damn,” she whispered under her breath, both because of Kane’s untimely entrance and because of how fit and athletic he looked in that tee. This guy cleaned up nice.
“What are you doing here?” he asked the younger one.
“I’ve been calling for three days. You didn’t answer.”
Kane shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
“Apparently.” Blondie wiggled his eyebrows. “Sorry. If I’d known I would have taken him straight to my place.”
Kane focused on his nephew. “You called Josh? You shouldn’t be here. You have classes tomorrow.”
“Because you never skipped a class in college,” Blondie said.
“It’s important that he—”
Annie cleared her throat. “Excuse me? Hate to break up the education lecture, but you have a woman in handcuffs over here.”
Kane dumped his wet clothes in the laundry basket. “How could I forget? Josh Windsor, Derek Travers, meet Fern. Derek is the young one. Josh is the ugly one.”
“My name is not Fern.”
“Blanche?” Kane asked. Even managed to look serious.
“Stop doing that.”
Kane motioned in her general direction. “Call her whatever you want. Doesn’t matter since she’ll answer even if you haven’t asked a question.”
Her head pounded. Her sore knee ached no matter how she sat. And three guys loomed over her as if she were a speck under a microscope. All in all, not the most fun she’d ever had while mostly naked.
“Guess you didn’t get around to introductions before you—” The young one blushed under his deep tan.
“It’s not what you think.” Kane reached into his front pocket and pulled out the handcuff key.
“Yes, it is. He’s holding me here against my will.” She raised her handcuffed arm as evidence. The chain didn’t reach very far, so her arm snapped back and jolted her shoulder joint. Add one more injury to the list.
The younger one frowned in what looked like confusion, not anger. “I guess women usually run too fast for him to use the handcuffs.”
“Don’t encourage her.” Kane held the key right in front of her face. When she took a swipe at it, he yanked it back. “This is the only way out of the cuffs.”
Nothing like stating the obvious. “The ocean water didn’t affect my eyesight.”
“I’m going to free you. In exchange, you’re going to behave.” Kane bent down to fiddle with the lock.
“Like hell,” she muttered.
He stopped right before slipping the key in. “Excuse me?”
This time she shouted in his ear. “Like. Hell.”
“That’s quite a woman you have there. Feisty. I like that.” The broad smile on Josh’s face suggested more than like.
Derek chuckled, but didn’t take one step to help her.
Annie decided right then that these men could use a lesson or two in how to treat a woman. Handcuffs might have a place in the bedroom, but this wasn’t it. She honed in on the one she suspected would be the weakest. Weaker in the sense of vulnerable to a helpless woman, and now she knew a name. Derek.
Playing the victim required a bit of acting. Pleading voice. Sad eyes. A scared shake or two. She’d learned this skill from the best. Her mother could put on a show that would have everyone around throwing pity and assistance in her direction.
Annie had spent most of her younger life with a frontrow seat to her mother’s performances. Then most of her adult life on a series of freelance assignments far away from home to avoid the act. By the time her mother actually needed her, Annie knew only how to be away.
“You have to help me.” Annie focused all of her energy on convincing Derek. When his smile faded, she knew the show had gotten his attention.
“Uh, Kane?”
Kane stood. “Ignore her.”
“That’s kind of tough. I mean, damn, look at her. She’s—”
She liked this kid more every second. “Derek, please help me.”
“She’s playing you.” Kane twirled the key ring on his finger.
“She can play with me.” Josh’s comment earned him a shove from Kane.
Derek looked around the room. “This is the weirdest one-night stand I’ve ever heard of.”
Josh shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”
“Shut up.” Kane delivered the order, then turned on her. “Fern, you’re embarrassing yourself.”
The mention of the damn Fern name made her double her efforts to convince Derek. “Kane will lose his job over this if you don’t put a stop to it now.”
“When exactly did you learn my name?” Kane asked.
“You forgot to ask her name before you climbed into bed with her?” Josh shook his head. “Damn, Kane, what kind of example does that set for the kid here?”
“Doesn’t bother me,” the kid said with a big smile. “Nice to see Kane getting…out.”
“Can we get back to business?” When the men didn’t speak up, Kane folded his arms across his chest and continued. “I found Mabel, here, on the beach.”
He was talking about her as if she did not exist. The toad. “I’m right here and—”
“—and then I brought her here to make sure she was okay. That’s why she’s in my bedroom.”
Kane’s speech got the other men’s attention. They crowded in until she had to slide down farther on the bed to get some air. With them hovering, she wanted her feet on the floor, not tucked underneath her.
They stood like a matched set. Three handsome men. Three fierce frowns. Three men in control and in her way.
“Damn, is she okay?” Derek asked.
Just what she needed, a wall of testosterone on a problem-solving kick. “No, I’m not—”
“She’s fine except that she’s pretending to have a case of amnesia.”
“That doesn’t make much sense unless she has something to hide,” Josh said as he leaned in ev
en closer.
Derek’s frown mirrored Kane’s. “Why is she faking?”
“She is sitting right here, and she can hear and speak just fine. She doesn’t need Kane answering for her.” Great, now they had her talking about herself in the third person.
Josh flashed a megawatt smile. “She’s bossy.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. You should try showering with her.”
With Kane’s comment, the men stopped looking at her and faced Kane.
Josh coughed. “What did you say?”
“Uh, hello?” She waved her hand but realized it was too low on the bed for the guys to notice the motion. “I’m chained to a bed. Let’s get back to that little piece of the puzzle.”
They treated her to another joint stare. She almost melted under the scrutiny of three pairs of eyes.
“Any injuries?” Josh ignored her tirade and continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“Cuts and bruises. Sore knee. Nothing too serious. She was lucky,” Kane explained.
“Because I didn’t actually drown? Yeah, lucky me.”
“Drown?” The lazy look in Josh’s blue eyes disappeared in a flash.
“She should go to the police,” Derek said.
Good boy. The kid really was her favorite. “That’s exactly what I said to Kane. That I wanted to check in with…Wait a second. I thought Kane was the police.”
“Go back to the drowning part,” Josh said.
Derek shook his head. “We should call the police first.”
“Stop, stop, stop,” she yelled. Surprisingly, they did. “Kane told me he was the police chief. The guy in charge of crime in this part of the state.”
“I know I didn’t say it that way,” Kane said in a dry tone.
She pointed an accusing finger at Kane. “You lied to me.”
Derek jumped to his uncle’s defense. “He’s police. It’s just that he’s not working right now.”
“Derek.” Kane said the kid’s name like a warning.
“He’s on a leave of absence,” Josh added.
“Vacation, and that’s enough,” Kane said. This time the warning in his tone was pretty clear.
“You’ve never taken a vacation in your life,” Josh muttered. “Do you even know how to have fun?”
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy Page 3