No, she assured herself. Not with Brandon. Although the possibility that the two men knew each other wasn’t completely out of the question. She had seen Brandon talking to several shady characters at horse shows as well as at the stable over the past year or so. And if he had somehow realized she was onto him, and wanted to be rid of her —
Aware she was jumping to some pretty wild conclusions on the basis of a little bump at the baggage-claim area, Kari gave herself a firm mental shake.
She’d been very, very careful not to say or do anything to put Brandon on the alert. And she certainly hadn’t shared her suspicions about him with anyone. He shouldn’t have any reason to be worried about her. Which meant she had no reason to be worried about some stranger at the airport. Except in the way any normal, intelligent woman ought to be worried about some odd man who happened to cross her path.
Rubbing her sore hip with her hand, Kari finally saw her overnight bag on the far side of the carousel. When it rolled around in front of her at last, she grabbed it gratefully and with a swift, sidelong glance at the man she hurried toward the exit.
Because she was going to be away only a few days, she had opted to park in the lot just outside the terminal rather than in one of the less costly remote parking areas. Despite the added expense, she was very glad she bad. She would have probably fallen asleep on her feet if she’d had to stand and wait for a shuttle bus. As it was, she hoped the short walk through the cool evening air would revive her enough so she could drive home without running off the road.
Pausing just outside the doorway, she glanced over her shoulder cautiously. Much to her relief, the stranger was nowhere to be seen. She dug her car keys out of her purse, along with the parking receipt on which she’d wisely jotted down the section where she’d left her car. M-12, she noted. Off to the right and about halfway back.
After juggling her bags so she had one hand free to hold her keys and receipt, she started toward the lot along with a couple of other returning travelers. She glanced back again, but saw no one out of the ordinary following her in the growing darkness.
Reassured, she faced forward once more, then stopped short as a wave of dizziness washed over her. Weaving slightly, she put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.
Maybe she was too tired to drive home. Maybe she ought to go back to the terminal and take a taxi. But no, she really needed her car. And Brandon wouldn’t be pleased if she had to take off again tomorrow to fetch it. As he’d reminded her Friday night while watching her pack, summer was their busiest time of year.
Opening her eyes again, Kari saw that her car was parked just a few rows away. Surely she would feel better once she was sitting down. And she could stop for a cup of coffee at one of the fast-food restaurants on the highway. A little caffeine ought to wake her up.
Though she felt as if she were trudging through a foot of mud rather than traversing a patch of tarmac, she forced herself to continue to her car. But by the time she halted next to the driver’s side of the aging compact car she’d inherited from her parents, the dizziness had returned with a vengeance.
She dropped her bags on the ground, wondering how she would ever manage to pick them up again, much less heave them onto the back seat of the car. Then, fumbling slightly, she tried to fit the key in the door lock.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of sudden movement. Fearfully, she spun around as the stranger from baggage claim stepped out of the shadows.
Her dizziness intensified a hundredfold. Unable to fight it off, she closed her eyes, then felt herself begin to fall. With a muttered curse, the man caught her arms and stood her upright. Jerked awake again, she stared up at him.
Vaguely, she realized she was more than just overtired. She’d been drugged, more than likely by the man towering over her. But why? Hazy thoughts of Brandon and all he had to lose flickered through her mind once more.
Her head spun, her legs trembled and her arms hung uselessly at her sides. More than anything, she wished she could let the darkness swallow her up. But surely that would mean certain death. She had to at least try to get away.
Drawing in a breath, Kari opened her mouth to scream, but all she could manage was a whimper. Frantic, she dredged up what had to be her last bit of strength, took a wild swing and smashed her fist against the side of the man’s face, knocking his glasses slightly askew.
Cursing anew, he grabbed her wrists before she could flail out at him again. The last of her resistance gone, she sagged against him helplessly.
“I told your brother you’d knock me senseless if you had half a chance,” he muttered.
The all-too-familiar voice was laced with admiration as well as amusement. Sure that she must be dreaming, Kari tilted her head back and stared at the stranger in confusion. He didn’t look like Alexander Payton, but—
“Alex?” she murmured.
“Yes, love.” He let go of her wrists and slipped his arms around her, holding her close.
Utterly at a loss, she leaned against him, rubbing her cheek against his chest, the warm, solid feel of him somehow grounding her. She should be furious with him. She should be demanding explanations and extracting apologies. But she was finding it harder and harder to think. Putting angry, outraged words together in a sentence and saying them was simply beyond her. Because... because—
“I don’t feel so good,” she said, then sighed softly, nestling closer to him, savoring the safety, the security of his gentle embrace.
“I know. It’s the drug. Try not to fight it.”
“The drug?”
Not so stupid after all. She had been drugged. By Alex. Alex dressed up like some weirdo. But why?
“To help you sleep,” he said, as if in answer to her unspoken question.
Of course. To help her sleep. She’d been so tired, and he’d known it. Just like magic.
“Mmm, I want to sleep,” she admitted. “But I haven’t been able to. Been too scared.”
“No need to be anymore. I’m here now. I’ll watch over you.”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kari knew she shouldn’t trust him. Not after the way he’d once betrayed her. But she did. With all her heart.
Silly girl, she thought. Will you ever learn?
A wry smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, she sighed again, closed her eyes and let the darkness drag her away.
Sensing that Kari had finally succumbed to the drug, Alex lifted her into his arms.
“Well done, Payton,” he muttered, his voice edged with sarcasm.
He hadn’t had to sedate someone surreptitiously for quite some time. Obviously he hadn’t lost his touch. But the drug had worked faster than he’d anticipated, probably because Kari weighed at least fifteen pounds less than he’d estimated when he had measured the dose.
Along with not sleeping, apparently she hadn’t been eating, either. Not good. Not good at all when you worked with high-strung horses on a daily basis the way she did.
Still, woozy as she’d been, she’d had strength enough to knock him a good one upside his head.
With a rueful smile, Alex shifted slightly, freeing one hand, and straightened his glasses. Then he reached for the key Kari had somehow managed to insert in the door lock just before he’d startled her.
Although he’d done all right with the drugging, he had to admit he’d gone a bit over the top with his disguise. He hadn’t meant to scare the wits out of her. But he’d had to make sure she didn’t recognize him and he hadn’t had a lot of time. Since he hadn’t had all his gear with him, either, he’d had to make do with the few things he’d found at a costume shop in the mall near the airport.
When he had studied himself in the mirror, he’d been amazed at how vile he appeared with the hair, the beard and the glasses in place. However, without one or the other, he would have looked too much like himself to attempt to get close to her.
Yet he’d hated having to frighten her. And he had definitely done that. To a much greater
degree than the situation had seemed to warrant. Either she had instinctively known that “he” posed a threat to her, or she had connected him in some way to whatever was scaring her so much she couldn’t sleep.
Probably a combination of the two, he thought. In any case, he would find out soon enough. If she would talk to him once the effects of the drug wore off. Unfortunately, all things considered, that was one hell of a big if.
Oh, well. At least he’d cleared the first hurdle, he reminded himself, glancing around to make sure no one was taking undue notice of them. Now all he had to do was get them out of the airport parking lot without incident. From there, the going would be all downhill.
Until she woke up sometime tomorrow and realized what he had done.
He knew better than to be fooled by her earlier acquiescence. Compared with whoever she’d been afraid he might be, he wouldn’t have seemed that bad. And even if she’d wanted to get away from him, she had been too doped up to offer more than token resistance. But once she had her wits about her again, there was going to be hell to pay.
Which was probably a good thing. Just standing there in the dimly lit parking lot, holding her in his arms, he was aroused. Forced into proximity with her over an extended period of time, he couldn’t tell what he might be tempted to do.
At least once she was fully conscious again, she wouldn’t let him near enough to touch her. Otherwise...
Otherwise he’d probably end up trying to finish what he’d started all those years ago.
With a groan, Alex swung the car door open, set Kari on the wide bench seat and slid her across to the passenger side. He slipped her purse off her shoulder and set it on the floor, then arranged her as comfortably as he could, leaning her up against the door and fastening the seat belt around her.
He shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts. Not if he wanted to get through the next few days without hurting her more than he already bad. Better to keep in mind that she was his best friend’s little sister, he reminded himself. Just as he had when she was sixteen and strictly off-limits.
“Yeah, sure, and the moon is made of green cheese,” he groused, all too aware that some mental gyrations weren’t quite as easy to perform as others.
Kari Gray wasn’t a sixteen-year-old girl anymore. She was a lovely young woman who still owned a bigger piece of his heart than he would ever willingly admit.
Still grumbling, Alex eased out of the car, grabbed Kari’s bags and stowed them in the trunk along with his backpack. As he walked around to the open car door, he spotted what appeared to be a parking receipt lying on the ground. A glance at the date led him to believe it was more than likely Kari’s.
To guarantee he wouldn’t have any hassle getting out of the parking lot, he’d rented a car that afternoon, then parked it in the lot after his trip to the costume shop. He’d planned to use the receipt he’d gotten if he couldn’t find Kari’s, mail the car keys back to the rental agency and let them retrieve their vehicle. Now that wouldn’t be necessary. He could come back for it himself just as soon as he was done with Kari. Maybe by the end of week. If he was lucky.
He’d also contacted Estella and Felipe, the couple who took care of his place while he was away, and asked them to open up the house. Estella had assured him the beds would be freshly made and the refrigerator and pantry well stocked with a variety of food and drinks. Felipe had added that he’d have the hot tub running, as well.
Settling into the driver’s seat, Alex couldn’t think of anything he’d enjoy more than a good, long soak. Well, almost anything, he amended, then slammed the car door shut, disgusted with himself. Talk about a one-track mind.
Switching on the overhead light, he glanced at Kari. Still out cold. He reached across the wide seat, took her wrist in his hand and measured her pulse. Slow, but steady. As weary as she’d seemed to be, she would probably sleep well into tomorrow.
And that would be just as well, he mused, brushing a wisp of her short, dark hair off her pale cheek. He was going to need all the time he could get to consider just how to go about convincing her he had only her best interests at heart.
Honesty would be the best policy. And honesty would be possible. Up to a point. As long as she didn’t question him too closely about his reasons for walking out on her, he wouldn’t lie to her.
But there were some truths he had no intention of telling. Better to have her go on hating him than horrify her with the revelation of what he could become. An abusive monster... Just like the man and woman who’d brought him into the world, then tormented him for eight years, leaving their invisible, yet indelible mark upon him.
Drawing his hand from her face, Alex sat for a moment, staring into the shadows. He’d put the past behind him in so many ways. But the scars on his soul would always be with him. And all he could do was live with them... alone.
Reminding himself that he still had a lot to do before he’d be home free, he tossed aside the glasses, jerked the hat and wig from his head and, wincing slightly, peeled off the scraggly black beard.
He’d cause much less attention leaving the parking lot with a sleeping woman slouched beside him if he looked like the all-American boy he had learned, long ago, he could easily pretend to be.
Slanting the rearview mirror, he gazed at his image dispassionately, rubbed a bit of glue from his chin and another from his cheek, then combed his fingers through his shaggy blond curls. Satisfied he wouldn’t cause the parking-lot attendant any undue concern, he adjusted the mirror, switched off the light and turned the key in the ignition.
At the exit booth, he offered the middle-aged woman a slight smile as be handed her the parking receipt and a fifty-dollar bill. Her gaze swept over him indifferently as she turned to ring up her register, then she handed him his change and waved him on his way.
From the airport, Alex headed west on the loop that circled San Antonio, then cut north on the four-lane highway that would take them deep into the Texas Hill Country. Traffic wasn’t bad at that time of night, and it wasn’t long before he left the bright lights of the city and the suburban sprawl behind them.
Since the gas tank was full, he didn’t have to make any stops along the way, and not quite two hours later, he came to the first turnoff, a narrow two-lane road. About three miles farther on, he turned onto a gravel lane that wound through a dense overgrowth of trees and bushes for almost a mile to where a padlocked metal gate barred the way.
He shifted into neutral, climbed out of the car, unlocked the gate with his key, drove through, then stopped and locked the gate again.
Around a curve a short distance ahead, he glimpsed a flicker of illumination. Then the small, secluded, ranch-style house, set in a wide, neatly kept clearing, came into view.
Much to his relief, Estella and Felipe had left both the inside and outside lights burning as he’d asked. He hated coming home to a dark house. Had for as far back as he could remember, and with good cause. But he wasn’t afraid anymore. Not as he’d been as a young boy. He knew how to defend himself now.
Yet he still avoided dark, closed-up houses whenever he could. Just as he still slept little and lightly, snatching a few hours whenever he could.
He pulled up near the side door and, leaving Kari in the car, went to open the house. A quick survey assured him everything was in order. Even the hot tub bubbled invitingly on the deck out back.
Promising himself he would indulge later, Alex returned to the car, lifted Kari into his arms and carried her to the master bedroom. As quickly and efficiently as he could, he stripped off her shoes and socks, her tailored khaki pants and plain white T-shirt. Underneath her clothes, she wore serviceable white cotton briefs and a gauzy white cotton camisole. Comfortable enough for her to sleep in, he thought, relieved he wouldn’t have to undress her any further.
Though he knew he shouldn’t, Alex sat on the side of the bed and allowed himself one long, lingering look at her. While she was slimmer than she should be, she seemed quite fit, yet feminine. Very, ver
y feminine.
His gaze drifted over the gentle swell of her breasts, then down to the juncture of her thighs, to the darkness there, a darkness barely concealed by her briefs. And suddenly he wanted to howl. Wanted to throw his head back and howl. And then, then, he wanted to bury himself so deep inside her—
With a muttered curse, he stood abruptly, averting his eyes. Reaching out, he drew the top sheet and woven cotton blanket up over her. He crossed to the windows, opened them an inch or two to let in a little of the cool night air, then turned the ceiling fan on low. At the bedroom doorway, he allowed himself a last glance around the room, assuring himself that Kari would be all right on her own, at least for the time being. Leaving the small lamp on the dresser lit, he headed out to the car to collect her bags and his backpack.
In the house again, Alex dropped their things on the kitchen floor and crossed to the refrigerator, the gnawing in his belly a reminder that he hadn’t eaten all day. He grabbed a carton of orange juice, a plastic-wrapped package of sliced ham, a chunk of Swiss cheese and a jar of mustard. With the bread he found in the bread box he made a sandwich, then poured juice into a tall glass. Food and drink in front of him, he sat on a stool at the kitchen counter, reached for the telephone and dialed Devlin’s number.
They had talked twice already, once after Alex got to San Antonio—he’d called for more details about Kari’s arrival as well as the location of her car—and again just before Kari’s plane was due to land.
Devlin answered on the first ring.
“So far, so good,” Alex muttered by way of a greeting.
“You’ve got her?” Devlin asked.
“Right here with me. She’s safe and sound and sleeping like a baby.” In the background he heard Andrew crying, and amended laughingly, “Well, like some babies.”
“Laura assures me he’s going to start sleeping through the night anytime now, but I’m beginning to have my doubts,” Devlin admitted wryly. Then, more seriously, he asked, “Any problems?”
“Not a one. I clipped her at baggage claim and she was looped by the time she got out to her car. Slept all the way here, and unless I’m mistaken, she should sleep most of tomorrow, too.”
The Lady And Alex Payton Page 3