“Do you really think he will?”
“I don’t know what I think anymore. But I can’t quite believe that all he intends is for you to ride in that show tomorrow night.”
“Neither can I.”
“I checked to make sure the Blazer and the horse trailer were in good working order before I left the stable yard, and Wyatt is going to keep an eye on them tonight to make sure nobody tampers with them. However, there’s no telling what we might run into once we leave here, so we’re going to have be on the alert.”
“Guess that means we’d better make an early night of it,” she said, ladling beef stew into a bowl for him.
“Right,” he agreed. “Dinner and then bed.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that.”
“To sleep,” he added sternly.
“Eventually...” Smiling, she sat down at the table and started to eat.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re incorrigible?”
“Not that I can recall. But then, you do know how to bring out the best in me,” she teased.
“And you know how to bring out the best in me, too,” he said, his tone suddenly solemn as he reached for her hand.
“Yes, I do,” she replied, clasping his hand as she met his gaze. “And don’t you dare forget it.”
“I won’t.”
She could only hope he meant it. Otherwise...
Otherwise she was afraid she would lose him to the demons of his past. Demons that still seemed to haunt his soul, no matter how she tried to banish them.
Chapter 11
The nights Alex had spent lying beside Kari in one bed or another, with the length of her body curled trustingly close to his, he had slept better than at any other time of his life that he could remember. But as Friday faded into Saturday, he found himself wide-awake, staring into the shadows, his thoughts racing as he tried to determine exactly what Brandon Selby had up his sleeve.
Alex had no doubt that Kari’s trip to Dallas for the horse show was an elaborate ruse. Somehow, somewhere along the way, she was going to run into trouble. But from what quarter? Had Selby hired someone to ambush her? Or was he planning to waylay her on his own?
Alex would have thought he’d stick to what had worked for him before. But even Selby must have begun to realize he’d had more than the usual number of horses die while being boarded at his stable. Maybe he had decided it was worth the risk to take care of Fairchild’s supposed problem somewhere far away from Selby Stables. And at the same time take care of his personal problem with Kari.
But how, damn it? How the hell was he planning to do it?
Alex was trained to expect the unexpected and be prepared to deal with the situation accordingly. But never before had he been faced with the possibility that a miscalculation on his part would cost the woman he loved her life.
Too restless to lie still any longer, Alex eased away from Kari, tucking the blanket up around her shoulders. He wanted her to get as much rest as possible. Which wasn’t going to be as much as she would have gotten if he hadn’t let her seduce him again with her tantalizing hands and her teasing mouth. He had no more willpower left where she was concerned. At least not when she was within touching distance.
He crossed to his backpack, pulled out jeans, a black T-shirt, running shoes and his nine-millimeter automatic pistol, then slipped into the bathroom to dress. Back in the bedroom again, he glanced at the clock on the nightstand; it was almost five o’clock.
He would have time to check in with Wyatt and take another look around the stable, but then he’d have to get back. He wanted to be with her when her alarm went off at six. That way he could choreograph his movements with hers to guarantee her ultimate safekeeping.
Tucking the automatic into the waistband of his jeans, he moved down the hallway, into the kitchen and out the back door. Following the path through the woods, he walked swiftly, yet silently toward the stable. He emerged near the bunkhouse, which was still bathed in darkness at that early hour, though the stable hands would probably be stirring within the next thirty minutes or so.
As he headed for the barn, he heard what sounded like an engine turning over, then the muted squish of tires moving slowly over grass. Realizing someone must be moving the Blazer and the horse trailer hooked to it, Alex broke into a run, rounded the side of the barn, then skidded to a halt in the shadows.
Several hundred yards away, the Blazer, lights out, eased onto the drive and continued toward the road, still moving very slowly. Though he couldn’t be sure, he thought he’d glimpsed a horse’s rump through the open upper half of the trailer door before it swung out of his range of vision. A dappled-gray rump that could only be Dover’s.
Cursing under his breath, he sidled into the barn, intent on finding out what the hell was going on.
“Wyatt? Where are you?” he whispered, moving down the line of stalls. Around him, the horses shifted and snorted, acknowledging his presence, but he heard no response at all from the FBI agent. As he came to Dover’s stall and saw that it was empty, he raised his voice and ordered, “Damn it, Wyatt, answer me now.”
From the tack room came what sounded like a muffled groan. Drawing his weapon, Alex edged closer, halting just outside the doorway.
“Wyatt?” he said again.
“In here,” the agent replied, his voice barely audible.
As Alex stepped into the tack room, he caught sight of Kevin Wyatt curled up on the floor. “Ah, hell,” he muttered, kneeling beside him.
“The son of a bitch shot me... twice... in the back and... left me for dead,” Wyatt said. “Lucky for me... wearing my vest.”
“Damn lucky,” Alex agreed with inexpressible relief as he eyed the bullet holes in the agent’s shirt. “I’m guessing he was the one pulling away in the Blazer a few moments ago, too. I’m also guessing he has Dover in the trailer; since the horse’s stall is empty.”
“Don’t know,” Wyatt replied. “He was on me before I realized what was happening.” He tried to sit up, then fell back with a moan. “Hurts like hell.”
“Yeah, I know,” Alex sympathized. “But you’ll live.” Standing again, he turned toward the doorway. “What do you think he’s doing?”
“Beats me. Unless—”
“What?” Alex demanded.
“He could be setting up an accident, planning to run the Blazer off the road with the trailer in tow. But unless the police find someone dead in the driver’s seat they’re not going to buy it.”
“Not someone. Kari,” Alex stated, fear for her slicing through him.
He should have known. An accident before dawn, probably on some back road, orchestrated to look as if Kari had been driving. All Selby would have to do is knock her out, take her to that old river bridge a few miles away, put her in the driver’s seat and send the Blazer careering down the embankment.
“There’s a phone on the desk in the corner,” Alex advised. “Think you can drag yourself over there and call for backup?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Tell them to ditch the lights and sirens,” he said. “I don’t want Selby spooked.”
“Will do.”
Breaking into a run, Alex shot out of the barn, headed for the woods and his shortcut to the cottage. Surely Selby would want to make it look as if Kari had left for the horse show just as she should have, only earlier. Which meant that he’d have to wait while she dressed.
As long as they were still at the cottage, Alex knew he’d be able to stop Selby with a minimum of risk to Kari. He could drop the bastard with a single shot from several hundred yards away if necessary. But once Selby had her in the Blazer, she would be in a hell of a lot more danger.
There was no telling how desperate he would be if he found himself cornered. And any kind of chase could, and probably would, all too easily end in a nasty crash that Kari might not survive.
“Take your time, love,” he muttered as he swerved between the trees. “Please take your time.”
Frowning,
Kari sat up in bed, switched on the lamp and eyed her alarm clock quizzically. Five-fifteen. And if she wasn’t mistaken, someone was knocking on her front door.
“Who on earth...” she grumbled, slipping into her robe and knotting the sash.
And where was Alex? she wondered as the knocking continued more insistently. Not in the cottage. Otherwise he would have already answered the door himself or come to advise her what to do.
Knowing him, he had probably gone to check on things one last time before they set out for Dallas. But surely he wasn’t the one knocking at her door. He had a key, for heaven’s sake.
She padded down the hallway, barefoot, paused to turn on the lamps in the living room as well as the porch light, then peered out the peephole in the door. Her heartbeat accelerated as she caught a glimpse of Brandon. What was he doing here at five-fifteen in the morning, immaculately dressed in slacks and a polo shirt, hands tucked casually in his pockets?
Actually, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. But she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t there. She’d just turned on all the lights. She’d played her part all week, acting just like the conscientious employee she’d always been. To do otherwise now would surely start alarm bells ringing in his head. And after all the groundwork they’d laid to catch him in a criminal act, she didn’t want to do anything now that might ultimately arouse his suspicions.
His patience seeming to wear thin, Brandon raised his hand to knock yet again. Hoping she was doing the right thing, Kari turned the lock and opened the door.
“Brandon?” She met his gaze questioningly, then glanced past him and saw the Blazer with the trailer attached parked on the road in front of the cottage. “I thought we agreed I’d leave at seven o’clock and travel on my own.”
“There’s been a slight change of plan.”
He took a step toward her, but instinctively she stood her ground. She didn’t want him in her cottage. Not at all.
“What kind of change?” she asked, wishing she hadn’t opened the door quite so wide.
“Why don’t we go inside and I’ll explain,” he suggested.
Something in his tone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “I’d rather you just tell me here.”
“Well, that’s too bad, Kari, darling. I’d prefer to tell you inside. So please, move out of my way,” he ordered, drawing his hand from his pocket and pointing the deadly looking .38 he held at her chest. “Now.”
For one long moment, Kari stared at the gun he held, then slowly she backed up, allowing him to enter.
“Brandon, what—”
“All in good time, my dear.” He closed the door and locked it, then gestured toward the hallway. “I believe your bedroom is that way, isn’t it?”
A sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she nodded.
“Lead on, then. Lead on.”
This couldn’t be happening. Brandon with a gun, ordering her into her bedroom. What could he possibly mean to do to her? Rape her first, then kill her? And where on earth was Alex? Already lying dead somewhere, a bullet from Brandon’s gun buried in his body? He would have never let Brandon get this close to her if there had been any way he could stop him. And Kevin—had Brandon killed him, too?
As she walked down the hallway, despair ate at her soul. He wouldn’t get away with it. Wouldn’t get away with killing them. Too many people were wise to him now. But that wouldn’t bring Alex and Kevin back. If they really were dead, she reminded herself, realizing she was on the verge of hysterics.
She halted just inside the doorway, refusing to go anywhere near the bed unless forced to do so. Arms crossed over her chest, she turned to face him, eyeing him challengingly despite the fine trembling of her body.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Now you get dressed just as you planned for your little trip to Dallas.”
He lounged against the door frame, holding the gun on her, an amused look on his face. The bastard was enjoying himself and wanted her to know it.
“All right.” She picked up the underwear, jeans and shirt she’d left on the chair the night before and started toward the bathroom.
“Oh, no, not in there. Here—where I can keep an eye on you.”
Slowly Kari moved back to the chair, then tossed her clothes down. Turning so that she faced away from him, she fumbled with the knot she’d tied in the sash of her robe. She was almost grateful for the way her hands shook. The more time she managed to take getting dressed, the longer they would be in the cottage. And the longer they were in the cottage, the more chance there was that someone would come to her rescue.
Alex, oh, Alex, please hurry...
She could not, would not, believe that he was dead. Otherwise—
“Stop dawdling,” Brandon commanded in an irritable tone.
“I’m not,” she retorted, finally loosening the sash.
She opened her robe, but left it on as she stepped into her underwear. Then, refusing to show any more of herself to him than was absolutely necessary, she reached for her jeans.
She had no doubt that he intended to kill her. But as she balanced first on one leg, then the other to slip on her jeans, she realized that he couldn’t afford to do so here in her cottage. Otherwise he would have done so already.
Whatever he had planned for her—and for Dover, she thought, remembering that she’d seen the Blazer and trailer parked out front—would occur somewhere else. Somewhere that Brandon could make her demise as well as the horse’s appear to be an accident.
She could almost hear him now, blaming her for leaving early, then driving recklessly in her supposed haste to get to Dallas for some reason she had no doubt he’d already manufactured.
The bastard. He thought he was so clever, and so far, he had been. But this time he would be caught. He would be.
Finally forced to shed her robe so she could put on her bra and white sleeveless shirt, Kari took a deep breath, then let the garment slide off her shoulders. All he would be able to see from where he stood was her bare back, but that was still too much for her peace of mind.
As she reached for her bra, she heard him shift behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that he’d moved a little farther into the bedroom and was now watching her with a lascivious glint in his dark eyes.
“Too bad you couldn’t mind your own business, Kari, darling. I believe you could have been a satisfyingly submissive wife once I taught you to come to heel. But you had to let your curiosity get the better of you after Moonwalker’s unfortunate...accident. And then you had to dally over accepting my proposal.”
Kari wanted to deny his accusations, but she knew it was much too late for that. Even if she hadn’t been aware of what he’d been doing, he had made sure she knew now. There was no way he could back off, even if he wanted to. Not after holding her at gunpoint while all but admitting he had arranged for Moonwalker to suffer an irreparable injury.
All she could do was take it from there and maybe buy herself a little more time by playing up to his ego.
“So Moonwalker was destroyed intentionally,” she said. Surprised at how calm she sounded, she finished fastening the buttons on her shirt and tucked it into her jeans. “But why, Brandon?” Feigning puzzlement, she sat on the chair and unrolled a pair of socks.
“For the same reason I destroyed all the others—my benefit. A cut of the insurance money in some cases, and as a means to maintain my reputation in others.”
“What did you do to Moonwalker?”
“Smashed his foreleg with a crowbar, then turned him loose so it would look as if he’d fallen,” he stated with a vicious kind of pride.
Feeling ill, Kari stared at the socks she held, then bent to slip them on her feet.
“What about the other horses?” she asked. “I thought they all died of colic. How did you manage that?”
“They only looked as if they had,” Brandon said, gloating. “In reality, they were electrocuted.”
“Electrocuted?” She stared at him ask
ance. “But how?”
“Quite simply, my dear. I used an industrial-size extension cord and a pair of alligator clips. I attached one clip to the horse’s ear and another to his anus, plugged in the cord, and voilà. The poor things dropped dead so fast I doubt they felt any pain at all. There weren’t any telltale signs, either. In fact, from all appearances, they looked like they’d died of colic, at least enough to convince the veterinarians who were called to the stable afterward to verify their deaths.”
Now truly sickened, Kari swallowed hard as she reached for her sneakers. He was deranged. He had to be. Otherwise how could he boast with such equanimity about killing all those horses?
“And now you’re going to get rid of Dover and me,” she murmured.
“Yes, indeed I am,” he replied. “Two for the price of one, so to speak. Fairchild was tired of paying for the horse’s upkeep. He offered me a... bonus if I found a way to take the animal off his hands. I suppose he finally heard about my little service from one of the other owners I’ve helped. And as I said, you became something of a liability when you made such a fuss about Moonwalker.
“You’re a smart woman, Kari. Too smart for your own good. Just like Amanda Holcomb. And too cautious. You should have accepted my proposal when you had the chance, instead of running like a scared rabbit. You would have saved us both a lot of trouble. Now it’s too late.” He glanced at his watch, then waved the gun at her. “Finish tying your shoes, gather up your things and let’s go. I want to be gone before the stable hands find your friend in the barn.”
“My friend?” Sure that her worst fear was about to be realized, she stared at him, her heart pounding as she waited for him to elaborate.
“Well, I’m only supposing the man I found trespassing in the barn was a friend of yours. Someone you asked to spy on me, I presume. Unfortunately, I had to shoot him, but there was no time to move his body. So the stable hands will find him and the police will be called, but I’ll be gone. Off to watch my protégée ride at the show in Dallas. Too bad she won’t make it there after all. And too bad about that fellow in the barn. Of course, the police will investigate, but I imagine we’ll never know how he came to be there with two bullets in his back.” He glanced at his watch again. “Come along, now. Time’s a-wasting.”
The Lady And Alex Payton Page 20