Fugitive Father

by Jean Barrett

No choice about it. However alien and distasteful firearms were to her, she would have to relieve him of that gun. She could never hope to reach the public phone without it. If she tried to open her door, he would hear and be all over her. It was a miracle he was still asleep.

  Straining against her seat belt, Ellie leaned toward him, willing her hands not to tremble as she slowly reached for the revolver in his lap.

  Her fingers were almost in contact with the butt when, without warning, a pair of powerful hands seized her by the wrists. His enraged oath accompanied her startled cry, and in the next second they struggled furiously with each other.

  Ellie went on resisting his painful grip, even though she knew it was useless to wrestle him for the gun. He was simply too strong for her. In the end, he flung her back and abruptly released her. By the time she recovered herself, she was staring into the muzzle of the revolver in his hand.

  Their harsh breathing was the only sound inside the car. She lifted her gaze to his face. The light from outside was bright enough for her to read his expression, had there been one. He was simply looking at her. Looking at her with his dark, solemn eyes. Joel’s eyes. How could this lout have fathered an angel like Joel? And how dare he have Joel’s wonderful eyes? That’s what got to her in the end. What made her wild with anger. Those damn mesmerizing eyes.

  “Go on,” she challenged him recklessly. “Shoot me. You might as well. Keeping me alive isn’t going to do you any good. I’ll never tell you where Joel is. Never. No matter what you do to me, you won’t get it out of me, because you don’t deserve a son like Joel.”

  “Shut up.”

  “I won’t be quiet. I’m sick of your bullying me and sick of my being a quivering coward about it. So you might as well get it over with and kill me here and now. But before you squeeze that trigger, I’m going to have the satisfaction of telling you what a fool you are. Only a fool or a madman, and you’re probably both, would think he had a chance of getting away. It’s a wonder you’ve come this far. But it won’t last. They’ll capture you before you ever get close to Joel.”

  He leaned toward her, those black eyes pinning her with his fierce gaze. “You through?”

  “No, I’m not finished. I haven’t told you what a selfish animal you are. Because if you really loved Joel, if you were thinking of him instead of yourself, you wouldn’t try to get him back. You wouldn’t be planning to disappear with him. What kind of existence is that for a little boy? Forever on the run with a father who’s a convicted killer.”

  “Will you shut that mouth of yours?”

  His face was so close to hers now that she could see the threatening fire in his eyes. Could almost smell the danger in him. But she was beyond caring about the risk to herself.

  “When I’m good and ready, Noah Rhyder. When I’m damn good and ready.”

  What happened next was so sudden that Ellie had no chance to prevent it, much less anticipate it. In one second she had paused just long enough to seize a deep breath with which to go on blasting him. In that same instant he must have temporarily rid himself of the gun, because in the next second two hands trapped her startled face between them. Before she could issue a gasp, his mouth came crashing down on her parted lips.

  God help her, he was kissing her! Kissing her deeply, his sinful tongue forcing a warm, wet entry into the recesses of her mouth which he plundered without mercy. Shocked by his assault, Ellie went limp, astonished at her own response to the kiss. It was mindless, intoxicating, and thoroughly disarming.

  When he finally released her, she fell back against the seat, too stunned to voice the outrage his punishment deserved.

  “Looks like I finally managed to silence that tongue of yours,” he observed casually, retrieving the revolver from where he had stuck it in his belt. “Now, no more out of you. You do exactly what I tell you from now on, and I might just let you survive.”

  Ellie stared at him, too shaken to argue with him any further. That muscle was twitching in his jaw again, as it had back in her bathroom. It was like a warning flag, though she wasn’t sure exactly what it signified. And maybe she didn’t want to know.

  Her mind was still in a turmoil from his kiss, unable to forget the potency of it. Even now she could feel the slickness of his tongue, scent the virile odor of him, taste his warm breath mingling with hers. His mouth had captured hers with the force of a primitive brute, and she ought to be feeling nothing but disgust. Instead, she was experiencing all these treacherous responses that—

  Oh, she had to get away from him! She just had to.

  “What are you waiting for?” he said. “Get us back on the highway.”

  “I have to use the bathroom.”

  “You trying to pull another trick?”

  “I’m sorry if nature is inconveniencing you, but it happens to be the truth.” She wished it wasn’t the case, but the tension of the situation had created an urgent need for her to relieve herself.

  Noah glanced through the window, checking out the parking lot. It was still deserted except for their van. “All right, but make it quick.”

  He took charge of the keys as they left the van and headed toward the building.

  Why? he wondered as he escorted her up the broad sidewalk to the glass doors. Why had he gone and done something crazy like that? There would have been other ways to stop her from telling him what he didn’t want to hear. Instead, he had surrendered to temptation and kissed her. Gone and complicated what was already a mess.

  He had to stop this. He had to keep his mind on his objective, not on Ellie Matheson’s soft, fragrant flesh. Getting involved with her on any level was an invitation to carelessness. If she weren’t an absolute necessity, he would turn her loose here and now. But as it was…well, he’d just have to watch himself with her from now on. Something told him that wasn’t going to be so easy.

  “Hold it,” he said as they entered the open area between the two rest rooms.

  She stopped beside him, following the direction of his interest in the snack machines ranged along an inner wall.

  “Give me your purse,” he said. “I’m starving. Wouldn’t mind a soda either.”

  Ellie wasn’t pleased by his command. “I not only get kidnapped, now I have to pay the expenses for it?”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sorry but the state of Missouri didn’t think I would need funds where I was going.”

  He took possession of her purse, found a supply of coins, and began to feed them into the machines.

  “Will you hurry?”

  “Relax, you’ll get there.”

  Arming himself with the snacks and two cans of soda, which, along with the revolver and her purse, required an impressive bit of juggling, he jerked his head in the direction of the door marked “Women.”

  “All right, let’s go in there and make you happy.”

  She was appalled when she realized he had no intention of letting her enter the rest room without him.

  “This is ridiculous. Can’t I be trusted to even go to the bathroom in private?”

  “No, and unless you want an accident out here, you’ll stop arguing about it.”

  Fuming, but too desperate to further oppose him, she smacked open the door of the women’s room and headed for a stall. He was close behind her.

  She rounded on him when she reached the stall. “I don’t care what happens at this point. You are not coming in here with me.”

  “Guess that won’t be necessary.” She started to reach for her purse, but he held it away from her. “Uh, I don’t think so, Ellie. Wouldn’t want you giving in to temptation and scrawling some message on the wall in there.”

  She glared at him and entered the stall, slamming and locking the door behind her. Noah turned his back and leaned against the metal divider to wait for her.

  He was busy stuffing the snacks and sodas into the pockets of his jeans when the roar of a heavy rig arriving in the parking lot outside alerted him. Trouble? He quickly squeezed the revolver into her purse whe
re it would be concealed but still handy.

  “We’ve got company,” he warned her. “A truck on the lot. Just keep still in there, and no one gets hurt. The guy is probably interested in nothing but the men’s room on the other side. All we have to do is stay put until he’s gone. Understand?”

  Before she could answer him, the door to the women’s room burst open. Noah hadn’t reckoned on female truckers. Both of the arrivals looked like they were built to take care of themselves. They were as surprised as he was.

  “What the—”

  The larger of the two eyed the purse he was hugging against himself. “All right, pervert, out!”

  Noah thought fast. “Sorry, ladies. It’s my wife. She’s pregnant and, uh, not feeling so good. I was afraid to let her come in here on her own.”

  The trucker who had Myrt stitched on the pocket of her shirt ducked her head down to verify a pair of feet inside the stall. “Geez, I can relate to that.”

  Noah rapped his knuckles on the divider, calling out a concerned, “Sweetie, you gonna be okay?” There was a strangled sound from inside the stall. He smiled at the truckers. “She’s gonna be okay.”

  “First pregnancy, huh?” Myrt asked sympathetically.

  “I wish. We’ve got four at home. Twins. Two sets. But, hey, she wanted another one. Hurry up, dear. These ladies are waiting.”

  There was a loud flush. Seconds later Ellie emerged from the stall, her face as crimson as a sunset.

  “Gee, hon,” Myrt said, “you don’t look so great.”

  “She’ll be fine,” Noah assured them. “I’ll take care of her.”

  “I think you already have,” the sarcastic one said, eyeing Ellie’s waistline.

  Sticking to her side like an overly solicitous husband, Noah went with Ellie to the sink where she washed and dried her hands. He was reminding her with his closeness that, unless she wanted a nasty scene, she was to do nothing to warn the truckers. Ellie remained wisely silent, but he knew she was incensed.

  She waited until they were back outside to let him have it. Standing by the van, hugging herself against the sharp chill of the night, she tore into him.

  “That was humiliating. Absolutely humiliating. Am I going to have to put up with this kind of thing every time I have to take care of a personal need?”

  “Yeah, Ellie, you are.” He put his face down close to her own, his voice turning hard. “I’m gonna be attached to you like a lamprey eel. All the way to North Carolina. No exceptions. You change your clothes, I’m going be right there to make sure that’s all you’re doing. You go to sleep, I’ll be stretched out beside you. And if one of us winds up taking a shower, the other one is going be standing under the same spray.”

  He drew back, his voice softening. “It’s going to be intimate, sweetheart. And you’re not going to give me any trouble about it. When I tell you to move that shapely little tail of yours, you’ll move it.” He removed the gun from her purse, wagging it in front of her. “Otherwise…”

  She stared at him, her eyes filled with loathing. But she said nothing, accepting her purse when he put it back in her hands.

  He smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Ellie. We’ll get along just fine. Hell, we’ll probably be real pals by the time we get to Carolina. Maybe eat off the same plate. What do you think?”

  Chapter Four

  Ellie was in that lethargic state halfway between sleep and wakefulness. Her only awareness was of a welcome warmth made possible by the blanket she shared with the solid body pressed close to her side. The air was cold outside their cocoon, so she was grateful for the heat her companion provided.

  It was when she started to twist around, with a dreamy longing to snuggle against him tightly, that she felt the tug of the rope.

  The sudden drag on her wrist was as effective as an alarm clock. Her eyes opened. She found herself fully awake and staring at a sleeping male profile chiseled out of rock. Memory rushed to the surface of her consciousness.

  A picnic grove. They were parked behind a wall of shrubbery in a deserted picnic grove. Ellie remembered seeing the sign for it when he’d made her drive in here last night after she threatened to fall asleep at the wheel. The place was a small county park two miles off the interstate, somewhere in rural Kentucky.

  He had found a length of clothesline she’d used to tie up her painting gear. He had made her sit beside him on the van’s bench seat behind the bucket seats in front. Then he had lashed them together wrist to wrist, pulled the car blanket around both of them, and gone to sleep, confident she would be here in the morning. And she was, damn it.

  Noah Rhyder had made good on his promise. He had bound her to him with the intimacy of an embrace, and it had made her frantic on more levels than she cared to examine. She must have spent a good half hour last night surreptitiously picking away at her restraint But the knots he had used would have defeated a veteran sailor. Maddening, and he had never once permitted himself to be disturbed by her awkward efforts with her left hand. In the end, exhausted and regretting she wasn’t ambidextrous, she had drifted off.

  Now here she was, hours later, still roped to the man. The sun was just clearing the horizon. With the daylight to help her, what were her chances this time of freeing herself? His eyes were still closed. If she was very careful—

  “Morning, sunshine.”

  Too late. He was already awake, his face turned now toward hers.

  “You sleep okay?” he asked, his voice early-morning husky.

  She gazed at him in a stony silence.

  “I slept just fine,” he said. “Dreamed about this alluring woman who refused to leave my side.” His wide mouth parted in a drowsy grin. “I guess she wanted my body. Too bad I woke up before I got to the really interesting part. Oh, well…”

  He yawned and stretched his long legs, his hand reaching down under the blanket to scratch his leg. It was his left hand, and it carried her attached right hand with it. Her fingers were rubbed slowly along his hard thigh. His action was deliberate and provocative. Every nerve ending in her body went on alert.

  “Tell you what, Ellie. Why don’t I catch a few more winks, see if I can get back into that dream. Then you can go on working at the knots. Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

  She jerked at the rope, removing her fingers from contact with his searing flesh. “Will you stop playing games and just untie me?”

  “What’s your hurry?” He bent his strong, angular face close to her own. “Don’t you like being cozy with me, Ellie? I think it’s great.”

  His voice was a warm rumble that stroked her senses His touch, as his free hand came up from the blanket and moved against her face, was even more seductive. The rough fingertips that stirred over her cheek generated a strange weakness at the bottom of her stomach.

  “Turn me loose,” she demanded.

  “I’ll do that, Ellie,” he promised, his voice slow and deep, his mouth no more than a warm breath away from hers. “But first…”

  “What?” she whispered fearfully.

  His black eyes searched her face. Compelling eyes that at this moment had a surprising tenderness in them.

  “Just tell me where Joel is, Ellie. That’s all. Just give me the address.”

  His sensual softness had been nothing but a ploy, and she had almost fallen for it. She was angry with herself as much as him. She yanked fiercely at the thin rope binding them, not caring that the line bit into her wrist.

  “You’re dreaming again if you think I will.”

  “Who are you protecting, Ellie? My kid or your boyfriend, Brett Buchanan?”

  He was taunting her again, probably hoping that if he pushed her hard enough she would explode on him emotionally and rashly reveal what he wanted to know. The man was cunning. She needed to be on her guard with him every moment.

  “Fine,” she said with as much indifference as she could muster. “You go on sitting here wasting time playing games with me. I’m not the one who’s eager to get to North Carolina, so why s
hould I care?”

  “You don’t care, huh? Then why are you squirming?”

  “For the same reason I was squirming at the rest area last night. There’s a facility out there, and I’d like to use it.”

  “All right,” he agreed. “Potty break, and then we hit the road again.”

  He removed the rope from them with an infuriating ease, retrieved the gun and her purse containing the car keys from the front passenger seat where she had been unable to reach them, and motioned her out of the van.

  Ellie obeyed him, shivering in an October wind that rattled the dry, rust-colored oak leaves overhead. The grove would be a pleasant place in summer with its tables scattered under the trees and a creek meandering through the meadows. Right now there was nothing inviting about it, which was exactly why Noah had decided it was a safe spot.

  Nor would Ellie have recommended the plumbing. Except for an old-fashioned, outdoor pump, it was nonexistent. The best she could say about the solitary, rustic outhouse was that, after checking it out, he permitted her to use it in private.

  He must have taken care of his own needs behind the closest tree, because when she emerged from the privy, the pump handle was squealing as he lifted water from the well. He’d already removed her toilet case from the van and helped himself to her spare toothbrush. There was no point in objecting.

  Washing up under the icy stream that gushed from the spout was an experience Ellie didn’t care to repeat. But she did feel less grubby once she’d splashed her face and cleaned her teeth. He was positively exuberant.

  “Nothing like being a happy camper, huh, Ellie? Only one thing missing, and we’re gonna take care of that at the nearest fast-food drive-up window.”

  But it wasn’t breakfast that was on her mind once they were back in the van and under way again. Brett, she thought. She had to see that he was warned of Noah Rhyder’s intention to recover his son. Had to let him know that Noah, dangerous and eluding capture, was on his way to North Carolina. The police might have cautioned Brett already, but she couldn’t count on that. They had no knowledge of the fugitive’s destination and his current situation. She did.