Jed nodded, still gazing at the map. “They’re going to learn they grabbed the wrong woman this time.”
The ranger hadn’t thought there was anyone alive who could go up against those bastards and live. But what he saw in Jed’s storm-colored eyes convinced him he was wrong.
Next Jed stopped by the local hospital, where Meredith was recovering from her attack. What he found was a subdued brunette with a black eye and bruises around her throat.
“I’m sorry, Jed,” she said tearfully, as he covered her hands with his warm grasp and asked how she was doing. “I feel as if it was my fault.”
He shook his head. “No, don’t feel that way. I’m just glad to know you’re all right.”
“But the sheriff said other women have been kidnapped and never returned!”
He privately damned the man for upsetting her with information she didn’t need. “Don’t even think about that. I’m going to get her back, Meredith.”
She studied him long and hard. Especially his choice of clothing. “I believe you will. Something tells me there’s more to you than meets the eye.” She managed a weak smile. “I’ll tell you one thing I didn’t tell the sheriff, since I didn’t think it would do any good. One of those bastards has a chipped front tooth. Give him special hell from me.”
He grinned. “I will.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “You just concentrate on getting better. Was your family notified?”
She nodded. “I told them to stay in Rome. I made it sound like nothing more than my getting mugged.”
“Then if you need anything, call Mr. Carlisle’s office and they’ll take care of it for you.” He extracted a business card and laid it on her bedside table. “When you’re discharged from here, I’ll arrange to have someone drive you back to L.A. I don’t want you staying up here alone.”
“Thanks. I don’t think I’d want to stay up here, either.” She watched him start to leave the room. “You really love her, don’t you?”
He stopped in the doorway. “Let’s just say Shelby Carlisle and I have unfinished business to settle.” With that, he left.
Meredith started to smile, but quickly discovered the action hurt. “Now why couldn’t I have found someone like him?”
Shelby was starving. Her stomach was growling so loudly she was positive the entire mountain could hear it. Along with that, her arms ached from being pulled as the two men practically dragged her up the trail. But worst of all were her feet, which she feared had blisters on top of blisters. She wasn’t sure she could take another step and right about then decided she didn’t want to. At least they’d taken that disgusting rag out of her mouth. She was positive she’d never forget the taste of the filthy cloth. She had no hope of screaming for help up here. After all, who would hear her other than any wild animal roaming around, and she already had two wild animals in her company, thank you very much.
“Do you mind?” She tried to dig in her heels, but that only made her feet hurt more. She pulled on the rope wrapped around her wrists, then almost fell as the man holding the end, who was built like a tree, kept going. “Excuse me, I’d like to take a rest! Hey!” she yelped, sliding a few more feet before her captor finally stopped.
“What’s your problem now?” he impatiently demanded. “We’ve got a long ways to go without listening to your bitching every step of the way.”
“Then maybe you should set me free before I really get on your nerves.” Shelby refused to be the least bit intimidated by his dark scowl. In fact, she shot a glare back at him. She wasn’t pleased to learn he wasn’t intimidated by hers, either. “Okay, I’m not exactly dealing with Harvard graduates here. Since I left the alphabet blocks at home, let me put it to you as simply as I can. I haven’t eaten since yesterday, I’m positive my arms have stretched a foot since last night, my feet are killing me, and most of all, I have to go to the bathroom!” she finally shouted. Angry tears threatened to fall, but she refused to allow them. She had already figured out that tears would not appeal to these men’s better instincts. Assuming they had any.
He started toward her, his hand out as if he was going to strike her.
“Don’t do it, Chris!” his brother warned. “We want her to look real pretty for Eric. He wouldn’t like it if you hurt her.”
Chris glared at his brother. “Yeah, well, he ain’t gonna like the mouth she’s got on her.”
Andy grinned. “He’ll take care of that.”
Shelby felt the bottom of her stomach fall even farther as the men leered at her. She wished her shorty pajamas covered more of her.
“Look, I’m not going anywhere,” she said wearily. “I don’t even know where I am. But I would like a couple minutes’ privacy.”
Andy looked at Chris. “She could go in those trees over there.”
Chris wasn’t as friendly about it. “Make sure we can still see the top of your head.”
Shelby hated to think what it would take to ensure that. And what would happen if they couldn’t see the top of her head.
“Dad, please send someone who is meaner but much smarter than these cretins, so I can go home,” she muttered, limping over to the bushes and her scant privacy.
It wasn’t long before Chris was again roughly pulling her up the trail, if potholes and rocks half-buried in the earth could be called a trail.
Shelby stumbled along, forcing herself to focus on anything except the horrors that could be in store for her. It wasn’t long before Jed’s face entered her mind’s eye. Just yesterday she would have thrust him out of her thoughts. Today she willingly immersed herself in the memory of the first time he’d kissed her….
They had gone out to dinner and seen a play afterward. The play was new and well received by critics and audience alike. As they sat in the darkened theater and watched the handsome vampire seduce his victim, Shelby felt a warmth steal through her body. She imagined that same warmth moving like an invisible mist to surround Jed. She sat in the seat watching the vampire give his new lover the forbidden kiss and couldn’t help wondering what it would be like if Jed kissed her. When he escorted her back to her apartment, she soon discovered she wouldn’t have to wait to find out.
Only a small lamp was lit in her living room, sending out a faint golden light when they entered. Jed didn’t give her time to turn on any more lights, but immediately trapped her against the wall, the heat of his body against hers. He placed a hand on either side of her, effectively keeping her within his embrace.
“When I chose the play I had no idea it would have such a powerful effect on you, ” he murmured.
She looked up at him, seeing the same bewitching shadows in his face and eyes. With artless grace, she raised her head, baring her throat as if offering herself to him.
“It would make a woman think twice about inviting a man into her house,” she said huskily. “That is the only way he can enter, isn’t it? He has to be invited in?”
He dipped his head and touched her earlobe with the tip of his tongue. It was as if a flame had stroked her skin as his tongue outlined her ear, then trailed down to the gentle curve of her jaw. “You invited me in.”
“Yes, I did, ”she whispered, just as his mouth engulfed hers with a heat that seemed to overtake her body. His tongue plunged between her parted lips with a silent demand for her to participate. His mouth made love to her with the same sizzling sensuality she knew his body would. By the time he lifted his head, she was certain her will was no longer her own. From that first kiss, Shelby was Jed’s….
She swallowed the sob that threatened to erupt in a torrent of tears as the memories overwhelmed her. Jed was one of the calmest, most controlled men she’d ever known. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him lose his temper or act out of sorts. That had bothered her at times, since she felt she had to keep her own fiery nature under wraps—as if she had to prove she could be in as much control of her emotions as he was. And it wasn’t always easy! Right now, she wouldn’t have minded his icy calm which sometimes made him ap
pear inhuman. Because if she was with Jed, she wouldn’t be stuck with these smelly, ugly, rude men who were taking her home as a gift to their uncle.
Jed wasn’t surprised to find the Ackerman cabin barely secured. He damned the sheriff again for his sloppy methods and quickly went through the building.
It didn’t take him long to get an idea what had been taken other than Shelby. The kitchen was a mess; cabinets and pantry doors had been left open, and there were gaps on shelves where cans and foodstuffs had been taken. The gun cabinet had also been broken into and now stood empty. He went upstairs and easily figured out which bedroom Shelby had used. All he had to do was take one breath and inhale the faint scent of her perfume.
“You didn’t go with them easily, did you, love?” he murmured, fingering a chair that lay on its side. He walked back downstairs and out the door in the direction Bill Weaver told him he figured the men had headed. He walked into the wooded area and squatted on his haunches, looking for signs.
“Shelby, my love, when I catch up with you, I’m going to make sure you don’t get caught up with something like this ever again,” he said grimly.
Jed began following the trail. Luckily, Shelby was holding the two men back. He doubted she would be able to keep up with them for long. Thanks to her, he hoped to catch up to them by the end of the day. The first thing he planned to do was beat the hell out of those two men for taking his woman.
Jed carried little with him—not because he couldn’t handle the extra weight, but in deference to how quickly he intended to travel up the rocky trail. He settled for a canteen, a knapsack filled with lightweight food and a rifle. A deadly hunting knife was sheathed inside his boot.
As he climbed, his stride as graceful as a mountain lion’s, he kept his mind centered on one thing: Shelby. He recalled the scent of her skin when heated by their passion. The feel of her body under his fingertips as he tracked every inch of her slender form. He recalled watching her stroke scented body lotion on her legs and arms in that slow, leisurely way she knew drove him out of his mind. Then he remembered how her facial expression changed when he took the bottle from her hands and began smoothing lotion over her body in even more languorous strokes. It was never long before she pulled him down beside her.
He gritted his teeth as he felt his desire rise with the erotic thoughts roaring through his head. His stride lengthened as he forced himself to keep going.
But thoughts of Shelby refused to leave his head. Especially that first time they made love….
The evening had been filled with laughter. From the moment Jed arrived to pick Shelby up for their date, he planned to make love to her that night. Little did he know that fate was working very hard against him. It began with their dinner reservation somehow disappearing off the books; even Jed’s persuasive manner couldn’t budge the maitre d’ into finding a table for them. The club they were going to after dinner was closed due to an electrical fire, and Jed’s car was towed away. Naturally, when he called for a cab he was told it could be an hour’s wait. Perhaps it was pure luck that a cab happened to be cruising the area; he wasted no time in flagging it down. After that, Jed wondered if he wouldn’t be better off dropping her at her apartment and going home to sulk. Or perhaps .even damage a few walls with his fist.
“Come in for a drink, ” Shelby invited as she unlocked her front door. She smiled and stepped back. After he’d discovered there had been two robberies in her building in the last few months, he’d insisted on going through her apartement before allowing her inside.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” he asked sardonically. “For all we know, that big earthquake might hit at any moment.”
She laughed. “Oh, let’s continue to tempt fate, shall we? Besides, I’ve been thinking of doing some redecorating anyway.”
Shelby wore a bronze silk slip dress that skimmed her body. Spaghetti straps bared her arms and shoulders, while the short length revealed even more of her. Strappy high-heeled sandals in a matching color showed off her spectacular legs. She had pulled her hair up into a loose pouf anchored with a bronze-colored clip. Jed ached to steal the clip in order to watch her hair tumble down around her shoulders. He wondered what she used to cause her skin to sparkle under the light.
He sat down on the couch.
“Are you sure this thing won’t collapse?” he asked, still uneasy that something else might happen.
Her laughter stole over him like sparkling water. “It has been an interesting evening, hasn’t it?” She brought over a glass of whiskey, neat, and handed it to him. With her wineglass in the other hand, she sat down next to him.
Jed kept his eyes on his glass instead of on the enticing length of thigh so close to him. “Not exactly what I planned, ” he grumbled.
Her eyes sparkled with the same laughter. “And what did you plan, Jed?”
He lifted his free hand and stroked her cheek. “The kind of night neither one of us would ever forget.”
Jed swallowed his groan as the memories continued to pour forth. He was surprised he didn’t walk into a tree as he proceeded blindly up the trail. He muttered a curse, but it didn’t stop the images from continuing to tempt his senses. How had she managed to insinuate herself so deeply into his soul?
She felt like silk, the coolness of her skin rapidly heating up the longer he touched her. And once he started, he could never stop touching her. Couldn’t stop savoring the feel of her skin under his mouth and hands.
He could hear the soft snick of the zipper on her dress as he lowered the tab until it stopped just below her waist. He swore under his breath when he discovered she wasn’t wearing a bra and that the pair of scanty bikini panties she had on covered little. The fluttery touch of her hands against his chest as she unbuttoned his shirt was enough to make him explode. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to bury himself deep inside her and never leave her.
“Not here, ” he said hoarsely, pulling himself back before he fully succumbed.
Shelby stood up, allowing her dress to drop to the carpet. She smiled and snagged the ends of his tie, which was still around his neck.
“Come with me,” she ordered in a voice that sounded more like a purr. She tugged on the tie and led him toward her bedroom.
There was no more talking after that. Only whispers in the dark as she told him what she liked and his groans each time she touched him. She was all silken heat with erotic hip movements that set his blood afire.
By morning, Jed felt as if he had been wrung out to dry.
Until a sleepy-eyed Shelby touched him again.
Jed cursed. He had to stop doing this! He peered upward, searching for any hint of flame-colored hair. In these woods he had hoped the vivid color would beckon to him like a banner. But he suspected it wouldn’t be that easy.
“That fiery soul better keep you going, Shelby,” he muttered, as he moved around a large boulder blocking his path. “Don’t let them drag you down, Shel. Be strong for me. I’m coming for you, love.”
Chapter 4
“That’s it! If I walk any more I won’t have feet left!” Shelby shrieked, pulling hard on the rope. It hadn’t been long since they’d stopped for a quick break. The men had eagerly consumed some of the food stolen from Meredith’s cabin, but Shelby wasn’t offered one bite. When they were ready to go again, Chris looped the rope around Shelby’s wrists and pulled her along, still using the rope as a leash. Now she gritted her teeth against the pain as she dug in her heels.
“Listen to me, bitch, you’ll go where we tell you to go and when we tell you to go and I don’t care how tired your feet are.” A scowling Chris advanced on her. “I’m sick and tired of your fancy-lady bitchin’. You’re going to learn to do what we tell you when we tell you or you’re going to be in a heap of trouble by the time we get up to the cabin. You keep this up and you’ll find yourself crawlin’ up that trail on your hands and knees.”
Shelby didn’t hear him. By now she was beyond coherent thought. She hadn’t eaten
in more than twenty-four hours, her feet burned with pain and her wrists were raw from the rope rubbing against her delicate skin. She decided the only reason they had taken off her gag was because they didn’t think anyone would hear if she screamed. That thought frightened her more than anything. She decided that if that was to be her fate, she was bound and determined to inflict her share of pain before she went down for good. She twisted to her side and kicked out with the intention of doing damage to Chris. What she didn’t expect was that he anticipated her attack and swiftly grabbed her foot, instantly throwing her off-balance. If he hadn’t held on to her foot, she would surely have fallen on her back. His leering grin promised punishment for her rash action.
“Thought you’d get me where it counted, didn’t ya, bitch?” he said hoarsely, roughly twisting her ankle to one side until her face contorted with pain. This time she did fall down. “Looks as if I’ll have to teach you some manners before we meet up with Uncle Eric. I wouldn’t want him to think we gave him a woman who didn’t know her place.”
Shelby’s eyes widened as agony shot up her leg. With his body strength and large hands, she knew it wouldn’t take much for the man to break a few bones.
“Chris, you can’t!” Andy warned, pushing Shelby’s leg out of Chris’s grip.
“She was gonna kick me in the crotch!” he shouted.
Andy ran over to Shelby and took hold of her bound wrists, pulling her to her feet. “You can’t make Chris mad,” he advised her in a low voice. “He don’t have lots of patience.”
“Yes, I gathered that,” she muttered between clenched teeth, wincing as the pain from her jarred spine continued to penetrate her equally sore muscles. “I’m just hungry and thirsty and tired, and I wish you’d let me go. Believe me, I wouldn’t tell anyone about either of you. Even if I did, I doubt anyone would believe I was taken by two escapees from a B movie.”
Andy looked confused. “Huh?”
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