by Joanna Wayne
He’d never fit in her world. She’d never fit in his. And he would not put himself through the torture of falling in love with a woman only to lose her. He thrived on challenges and danger. His body could take them like a machine, but heartbreak destroyed the soul. He knew that all too well.
He made his calls, and his plans for the morning took a dramatic change. Never underestimate Cutter Martin. He glanced at his watch. He had thirty minutes to reach the helipad in Livingston, Texas. He should make that with about a minute to spare, give or take a few seconds. Living on frogman time.
“WAIT, JAIME. BELIEVE ME. I can save you.”
Buerto was getting closer. She heard his footsteps gaining with every burning breath. But Rio was just ahead of her, his arms open, waiting to pull her to safety.
“I’m here, Jaime. Just a few more steps.”
A roar exploded in her head. Gunfire. Someone was shooting at her. She turned and saw Luke, laughing raucously and firing his pistol over and over.
Rio was just ahead. She had to go on. The clattering roar grew louder and louder until…
She jerked and opened her eyes to find herself in the car with Rio. A copter hovered overhead. She’d been dreaming, but as she looked out the window, the panic she felt was real. She turned to him. “Where are we? What’s going on?”
“It’s okay. Cutter’s in the chopper. He’s meeting us so he can copy the files to deliver to a decoding expert with the CIA.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You needed the sleep, and I knew the racket would rouse you when the time was right.”
“It could wake the dead.” She retrieved the CDs as the helicopter touched down on the small airfield. Cutter jumped out, waving with one hand and carrying an oversize black briefcase in the other. He’d changed since his high school rodeo days, grown even more muscular and developed new lines and angles to his face.
He smiled as he ran toward them and the old Cutter came through. The lingering case of nerves from the dream vanished. Any familiarity in this new world she’d entered was welcome.
Cutter set the case on the ground next to the car and exchanged a handshake with Rio before pulling her into his arms for a warm hug.
“Great work, kid.” He stood back and grinned. “Only you’re not quite a kid any longer.”
“Neither are you,” she acknowledged. “I almost didn’t recognize you, but you’re looking good.”
“Thanks. The SEALs made a man of me. Linney keeps me smiling. Life is good.”
She noticed the gold band on his left hand. “Linney must be your wife.”
“Yep. A woman in a million and expecting our first child in two weeks. A girl.”
“Your Aunt Merlee must be knitting like mad.”
“We have enough infant sweaters to open shop.” He looked at Rio. “Now we’d best get down to business before you two get caught breaking curfew. Do you have those CDs?”
“Right here,” Jaime said, handing them to him. “How did you manage to get hold of a helicopter so quickly?”
“It’s the first major purchase of the Double M Investigative and Protective Service. I’m in debt up to my eyeballs, but isn’t she a beauty?”
“She is today,” Jaime agreed.
Cutter had placed the briefcase on the hood of the car and opened it while they were talking. In minutes his own laptop was up and running, hard at work copying the files.
“I’ll take these directly to the Houston airport when I leave here. A CIA agent will pick them up from me and personally carry them to D.C. They should be in the hands of the best decoder in the country by noon. Of course,” he said to Jaime, “Rio may have it all figured out by then. Did he tell you about the time he saved a whole platoon by—”
“Whoa,” Rio intoned. “Let’s not bore Jaime with old war stories today. There will be plenty of time for that later.”
“There is one thing that can’t wait,” Cutter said. “Langston and I haven’t seen much of each other for the past few years, but I still consider him a good friend. He’s all about family. All of the Collingsworths are, and I don’t feel right keeping something as important as Jaime’s safety from him.”
“He already knows,” Jaime protested. “I talked to Zach and assured him that Rio would protect me.”
Rio shook his head. “There are still risks, Jaime. I’ve told you that. You can climb into that helicopter right now and Cutter can fly you to Jack’s Bluff ranch right after he drops off the files.”
“No,” she said, firmly enough to leave no room for doubt.
“But I still need to level with Langston,” Cutter insisted to Rio. “I want to tell him the truth about your connection with the CIA.”
“They’ll never give you clearance for that.”
“You’re under sworn oath to them right now, Rio, but I’m only under contract.”
“It will change the dynamics of the investigation,” Rio warned. “From what you’ve told me about the Collingsworths, I can’t imagine they aren’t going to insist on swooping in now to save Jaime.”
“Not necessarily, but it should be their call. I’ll explain that stopping a mass murder might come down to our confiscating the cargo once it had been loaded onto the Collingsworth airplane. I trust them to make the right decision, and if they decide to go through with the exchange, we can work with them on how best to get Jaime out of this alive.”
“Do you have more faith in them to protect her than you do the CIA?” Rio asked.
“I’d stack them up against a small army, and there’s not one of them who’d hesitate for a second to give their life for Jaime’s.”
“Then do what you need to,” Rio said.
As they spoke, Jaime fumed. They were talking about her as if she wasn’t here or didn’t have the mental capacity to make decisions for herself. She didn’t bother controlling her fury. “Neither of you have the right to make my decisions for me. Neither do my brothers. Tell them I said that, Cutter. Tell them that their little sister is a big girl now and I can think for myself.”
“I’ll be sure Langston knows that,” Cutter said. “And I’m all done here.” He handed Jaime back the CDs. “Take care,” he said as he shut down his computer. “When this is over we’ll get together and toast our success.”
With his briefcase in hand, he gave Jaime a quick parting hug. “Better watch yourself with this one, Rio. She may be after your job.”
Jaime smiled. She might just be. But first she was after his bod.
THEY WERE TEN MINUTES FROM the cabin when Rio’s phone rang. He’d been on his CIA phone so often this morning that he reached for it before remembering that it was on vibrate. He took the call on the phone Poncho had supplied.
“You better have a damn good excuse for not being in this cabin, Rio. And if you like breathing, Jaime Collingsworth had better be with you.”
“Poncho. Great to talk to you, too.”
Instantly a SEAL lesson replayed in his head: Fortify your front, you’ll get your rear shot up.
In this case, Rio knew, the bullets would soon be flying fast.
Chapter Nine
As much as Rio would like to tell Poncho what he could do with his orders, he knew he had to placate him on the double. If he failed, he could be jerked off guard duty in the blink of one of Poncho’s bloodshot eyes. His promise to keep Jaime safe would amount to no more than hollow words.
He searched his mind for an excuse Poncho might buy. “I’ll tell you why I’m out with the friggin’ early birds, Poncho. I was looking for a worm this rich slut you left me with would eat. She’s been on a hunger strike ever since she got here. Claims that food you provided isn’t fit to eat.”
He glanced at Jaime and knew from her expression that she’d figured out that Poncho was at the cabin.
“So let her starve,” Poncho said.
“You said to keep her alive and healthy until her family came through with the ransom.”
“She’d have eaten once she g
ot hungry enough. I’d best not find out you’re lying to me, Rio. I got no use for liars. Neither does the boss.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a liar, Poncho, anytime it suits my purpose. Same as you. But I’m not crazy enough to cross the boss. I like the pay.”
“Are you dead sure Jaime didn’t signal someone for help while you were on your food run?”
“Not a chance. She was tied, gagged and in the trunk all the time.”
Jaime made a face at him. She knew what would have to come next.
“I’ll see you in ten minutes,” Rio said, eager to break the connection since Jaime now had his complete attention. She’d lowered her window and now she was taking off her blouse, exposing her bare chest. He was mesmerized. He’d already seen one of her nipples exposed, but as stunning as that sight was, it came in a distant second to the perfect pair of breasts pointing toward him like bullets now.
“You’re killing me,” he said.
“Better me than Poncho.” She tossed the blouse out the window and unzipped her jeans. He slowed as she wiggled out of them and tossed them out the window, too. Naked except for a pair of silky black bikini panties, she turned and retrieved the previously bloodied dress from the backseat.
“It’s still wet,” she said. “But that’s good. Poncho will love the story of how it was soaked with Luke’s repugnant blood and how you had to watch me strip out of it and wash it in the lake.”
Rio couldn’t follow her logic. He could barely think at all. Desire ran through him like a raging river, making him practically delirious.
He ached to stop the car, lay her on a carpet of pine straw and take her like some driven animal. Instead he had to tie her, gag her and throw her in the trunk.
His hands gripped the wheel. They’d grown clammy. His need had grown rock hard, pushing for release against his jeans to the point of pure pain.
He turned on the old logging road that led to the cabin, waiting to stop until he was out of view of the blacktop road they’d just left.
“Bring on the handcuffs. Time for a little S and M,” she said, pulling the dress around her as she stepped out of the car.
“I’ve never tried that before.”
“Me, either,” she admitted. “Let’s see what we’ve been missing.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you have a bizarre sense of humor?”
“A few times.” She met him at the trunk, her wraparound dress not wrapped around.
He reached for the ties. She ducked beneath his hands and snuggled into his arms before he could finish the task. “Kiss me, Rio.”
Oh, God. He was not made of steel, but he wasn’t jumping her bones when she was more turned on by the danger than by him. “Jaime, you’re just—”
She put a hand to his mouth to stop his protests. “Don’t tell me all the reasons you shouldn’t kiss me, and don’t start spouting remorse like you did the other night. I’ve been through a kidnapping, a break-in, walked a ledge four stories up and volunteered to fight crime.”
The teasing had disappeared from her voice, replaced by frustration and a vulnerability that pushed him over the edge.
“Would you please just kiss me, Rio?”
A claymore couldn’t have stopped him.
She responded to his ravenous onslaught, lips on lips, heat on heat. He reveled in the salty-sweet taste of her lips and the softness of her body pressed against the hard length of his passion. He fit his arms around her waist and lifted her, amazed at how light she felt.
Their tongues tangled and the kiss intensified. It was as if electricity surged through him, driving him into a frenzy of fiery need. The thought of letting go of her was like torture.
If he didn’t pull away now, he never would. And so he did.
“One day we’ll finish this,” he told her. “When we have more than five minutes before we meet the beast.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” She smiled saucily. “Now for the ropes and chains.”
“No chains. Just ropes and duct tape.”
She climbed into the trunk on her own, and he quickly tied her wrists.
“Tighter,” she said. “My wrists should look as if I’ve been bound for longer than five minutes.”
“I was trying not to hurt you.”
“I can handle it.”
“Superwoman.” Come to think of it, the analogy wasn’t too far off base.
A few minutes later they were on their way with Jaime bound and gagged in the trunk, her computer hidden beneath the seat along with the sequined tennis shoes she couldn’t bear to part with and the stolen files taped to the underside of the trunk.
PONCHO WAS STANDING in front of the ramshackle cabin when Rio pulled up. He lowered his car window and waved. “Pizza delivery.”
“No smart cracks, Rio. Your high jinks don’t cut it with me.” Poncho waited on the porch while Rio walked around and opened the trunk.
“Did you like your ride, sweetheart?” he taunted as he yanked a strip of duct tape from her mouth.
“Untie me, you creep.”
Jaime played her part a little too well, kicking at him as he loosened the knot on her ankles and connecting with his wrist. When she was free, he helped her out of the car and gave her a shove toward the cabin.
She tugged on the hem of the dress that had shrunk to a length that barely covered her private parts. Poncho stared openly and it was all Rio could do not to punch those leering eyes shut.
“So the princess likes pizza,” Poncho said as she climbed the rotted steps. “Where is it?”
“Ask your flunky,” she replied. “I was locked in the trunk, or didn’t you notice?”
“I noticed.”
“When am I getting out of here?”
“We’re working out the details. If your brothers play nice it could be tonight.”
Rio joined them, the two frozen pizzas in hand. He held them up for Poncho to see as he followed Jaime inside. If Poncho was telling the truth, then it must mean the cargo was in their hands and ready to leave the country.
He’d have to check with Zach the second he got some privacy. He looked around the cabin. There was no sign of Luke’s replacement. Dare he hope there wouldn’t be one?
He tossed the pizza boxes on the table. “How’s Luke?”
“Shot up bad enough that he’s no use to me for now. You’d think two of you could keep one woman the size of a large teddy bear from taking your gun away from you.”
“I didn’t shoot him,” Jaime protested. “He got fresh with me and must have mistaken his gun for something else he meant to fire off.”
Surprisingly Poncho laughed at her wisecrack, easing the tension a bit before he turned to Rio. “Things are heating up fast and the boss says you’ll have to take care of the babe alone. Think you can handle that?”
“You don’t see any bullet wounds in me, do you?”
“No. I see you running a catering business. Don’t let that happen again. You’re not to leave this cabin under any circumstances until I say it’s time.”
“Gotcha.”
“It shouldn’t be long,” Poncho added. “The Collingsworths are jumping through hoops to keep us happy.”
“Good. I can use my bonus money.”
“Right. I forget you’re in this only for the money.”
“Like you’re not? I’m just more honest about my motivation.”
Poncho ignored the remark and walked off, checking out the cabin before he announced he was leaving. Fortunately, he only glanced inside the vehicle before climbing into his own and driving away.
For Rio, being free of spying ears and eyes seemed too good to be true—which meant that it probably wasn’t, especially when it was clear that Poncho didn’t fully trust him.
“Can you believe—”
He cut off whatever Jaime was about to say. “That I put up with your starvation diet bull?” he ad-libbed. “You better heat up that pizza, babe, before I decide to stuff it down your throat half frozen.” He strode out of th
e house, letting the door slam behind him.
Jaime got the message and stuck the pizzas in the oven before she followed him outside.
“Now what?”
“I’ve a hunch that Poncho rigged the cabin with hidden cameras or mikes.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t trust me. He probably figures I’m working a plan to release you for a direct payoff.”
“If they don’t trust you, why would they leave you in charge?”
“Evidently the man who’s calling the shots does trust me. Poncho is forced to follow his orders, but if he proves that I’m working my own agenda, it would move him up a rung in the organizational ladder. More responsibility equates to more clout and more money.”
“Then his leaving you without backup could be a trap.”
“It could be.”
“What will you do?”
“I’ll check and if I find any surveillance, I’ll disable them.”
“Won’t he know?”
“Eventually, but it’s not likely there’s a direct feed. By the time he figures it out, I’m hoping this will all be resolved.”
“It grows more complicated by the second.”
He slipped an arm around her beautiful shoulders. “Just hang tight. It’s all downhill from here.”
No use to mention they were likely approaching a cliff.
LANGSTON SAT ALONE AT the large oak dining-room table of the big house, letting the memories of happier times seep into his mind as he waited for the rest of the Collingsworths to join him. He’d invited the entire family this time, including the wives and his brother-in-law and his grandfather Jeremiah.
The information Cutter Martin had passed on to him was mind-boggling. The complexities of the situation drew them into a plot that could leave untold numbers of innocent people dead. And the clock was ticking.
Bart stopped in the door, holding his Stetson in his hands, his expression grim. “I got your message and came straight from the pasture. Is there bad news?”
“Jaime’s still safe and Mom is still recovering, but there’s news we should discuss.”