Chill (10 page)

“I’m not doing it for the money.” He couldn’t hide his disgust and the flicker of sympathy for the hardness of the lessons she had learned. Lessons he’d grown up with as well. He remembered when he had been like her. It was a crappy way to be. He slid his hands down and rubbed her upper arms. “This is a different world. Money means nothing out here. It’s a different set of values.”

She shook her head, her gaze searching his. He saw the desperation there, the resistance, the refusal to believe. “No one stays just to stay. Not even Marcus.”

Luke sighed. “Of course not Marcus. He’s—”

There was a sudden hum in the distance, and Luke looked up. “Searchers.”

“What—”

He shoved Isabella back inside and shut the door. It was impossible to see inside the shuttered interior.

The sound of the plane grew louder. “Luke?” Isabella’s voice was tense, laden with fear.

He latched his hand around her wrist and tugged her to him. She didn’t resist. He slung one arm around her neck and kept his rifle free.

“Did they find us?”

“I think they’re guessing.” The engine grew louder, and Luke had to fight the urge to go outside and watch the sky. If they were low enough, they’d see him standing out there. Right now, the cabin was boarded up and the plane hidden. To the casual observer, it would look as though no one had been there for a while. “Do they know you’re hurt?”

Isabella’s body was warm against his. He could feel her heart hammering against his chest. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“They’re guessing then.” The roar of the plane was almost deafening, and Luke figured they were flying barely above the tree line right over the clearing.

Close enough to see into the shadows and catch sight of his plane? Yeah, maybe.

He tightened his grip on his gun and forced himself to wait it out.

The plane passed by, and he felt Isabella shudder. “They’re gone.”

“Not necessarily.” Luke leaned his head back against the door and closed his eyes so he could focus on the sound of the plane. He could tell from the engine that it wasn’t one he and Cort owned. Someone else then. Hired pilot or an innocent simply passing by?

Doc had taken off earlier in his own bush plane to
head back into town. Luke knew Doc wouldn’t spill. But that was before he had known Leon was involved.

Fuck.
If Doc got hurt—

“They’re coming back!” Isabella moved closer against him.

“Figured they would.” The question was: were they going to land?

Isabella held her breath as the engine grew louder. It sounded like it was right over her head, and she closed her eyes as paralyzing fear began to slide down her spine. All she could think about was Roseann.

They were trapped in this cabin. If that plane landed, she and Luke would never make it to his plane in time. Marcus had taught her never to be trapped. To always have an exit. And they were trapped! “Luke—”

He put his hand over her mouth and pulled her close.

She tensed, ready to fight, but then she realized his grip was loose and soft. Reassuring. He wasn’t trying to confine her at all. Slowly, she relaxed against him and closed her eyes. “If they land, we have no way out.”

“Trust me,” he whispered. “This is my territory here.”

Trust. God, how many times had her mother told her not to trust? And Marcus? Marcus had been burned by trusting the wrong person. Betrayed by Leon and Nate, his own people. She pulled free as the roar grew deafening. “Let’s go to the plane so we’re ready to fly out if they land.”

He shook his head. “They can’t see my plane from
the angle they’re flying in at.” He caught her arm and pulled her against him. His body was hard and muscular against hers, and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into him.

In the dark, it was less personal. In the dark, it felt safe. It was easier not to think about the fact that it was Luke’s body she was wedged up against, who had kissed her so thoroughly earlier. In the dark, she needed to feel the reassurance of his touch.

“If they’d seen the plane on their first pass, they’d have come back at a different angle for a better view. But they’re checking the other places now. They didn’t see it.” He squeezed her arm. “I think we’re clear.”

The roar of the plane was deafening now, and she wanted to plug her ears. It felt like it was going to land right on top of the cabin and drop through the roof. “But they might land! We need to go!” She felt for the door, needing to get out. To escape.

“Hey!” Luke grabbed her around the waist, spun her around and pinned her to the wall with his body.

“No! Let me go! We have to—”

He caught her face in his hands and kissed her.

Not a gentle kiss.

An assault.

Deep, wet, fierce, dominating. She responded instantly, unable to resist the taste of his mouth, her body needing to melt into his immense strength. Just the feel of his body against hers, of his mouth, of his hands anchoring her hips, made her feel safe, protected. Not trapped.

Tentatively she wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled him closer. Needing more contact. More of his strength.

“Isa.” He whispered her name, then deepened the
kiss. His hands went to her bottom, and he pressed her belly against his pelvis and the hardness of his erection.

Excitement flared low in her body, and she wiggled closer. She felt desirable, sexy and protected. His words echoed in her mind. “
I’m not going to leave until you’re safe. It’s the way I am. Get used to it.
”

Her throat tightened, just as it had when he’d uttered those words before, but this time, she couldn’t muster the will to argue. To tell herself no one ever meant that. That the only person she could count on was herself. With Luke’s arms around her, his mouth so hot against hers, the strength of his shoulders burning beneath her hands, she wanted to believe him. She wanted to trust him. She wanted to live in a world she could trust without fear or reservation.

But she couldn’t afford to forget the lessons that had enabled her to survive, that had given her the tools and strength to prevail over the life for which she had been destined.

Luke made her want to forget, and God help her, that would be the biggest mistake of her life.

Forgetting would kill her.

He slid his hand over her ribs and cupped her breast. Heat shot through her body, ripples of fire exploded in her belly—

“No!” She jerked back, and her head banged into the wall of the cabin.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Luke caught her and pressed his lips to the back of her head where she’d hit it.

She tried to shove him off her. “How can you kiss me when they could be landing right now?”

“They left. Listen.”

Isabella realized the sound of the plane was growing
faint in the distance. “How do you know they won’t come back?”

Luke trailed his hand through her hair. “Alaska is huge, and there’s no way they can afford to land everywhere. They’re doing drive-bys and if anything alerts them, they’ll check it out. Nothing here clued them in. They’re going on.”

Isabella closed her eyes. A respite. “You’re sure?”

“For now.”

She opened them again, straining to see him in the dark. “They’ll be back?”

“Eventually. If Leon is involved, he’ll figure it out.” Luke squeezed her arm. “But by then, we’ll be gone.”

“Gone,” she echoed. “To where?” Boston? To find Marcus and save him?

“That, my dear, depends on you.” Luke moved away from her, and she lost contact with him.

“Me?” In the darkness, without Luke touching her, Isabella felt vulnerable. Isolated. Alone. She didn’t like it.

She should be fine with it. She was used to it. Alone was power. But being held by Luke had given her a sense of safety and warmth she simply couldn’t generate on her own. He had shown her what she’d been missing.

She heard Luke strike a match, and light flared, illuminating his face with a golden glow. He lit a kerosene lamp, and the small cabin filled with flickering light. “Doc saves his generator for severe patient situations.”

He set the lamp on the table and held out his hand. “Come.”

Isabella couldn’t resist the urge to move from the darkness into the light, so she walked over to him and let him take her hand. He settled her at the table, then
took a seat next to her. “It’s time to talk,” he said. “Tell me everything.”

Isabella hesitated, knowing full well that his definition of everything might not be the same as hers. “Everything about the night I got shot?”

He raised a brow. “We’ll start there.”

“Okay.” Isabella cleared her throat, trying to get comfortable. She wasn’t used to asking for help, to sharing family secrets with a stranger, but Luke wasn’t a stranger, and if there was any way she could get him to help her rescue Marcus, she had to do it.

She had to tell the story in a way that convinced him of the good in his father.

But as she looked into his grim face, she knew the odds were low.

And she also knew Luke was her only chance.

Failure wasn’t an option.

Luke braced his palms on the windowsill. He’d opened the shutters back up and was scanning the nighttime forest as he listened to Isabella talk about the life he had left. His skin felt tight, and his scalp was itching from all the memories her stories were bringing back. His fingers ached from digging into the wood. Bitterness was like a lead weight in his gut.

“So, then…” Her voice broke. “He shot Roseann.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. “Your pregnant friend.” The voice didn’t sound like his. It was flat. Emotionless. Hard. He hated this side of him. Despised the man he used to be. “Nate shot her.” Nate. The man who he’d trusted with his life so many times. Son of a bitch.

“Yes. I don’t know…I don’t know if he killed her. I just ran, and I should have stayed and—”

“No way.” Luke whirled around to look at Isabella.
She sat on the lone bed, her knees pulled to her chest, tears reflecting on her cheeks. “You’d be dead if you stayed. That wouldn’t have helped her.”

“She was my friend,” she said fiercely. “She and Marcus are all I have, and I ran away.”

“Hell, Isabella.” Luke stalked across the room and leaned on the bed. “You’re a survivor, and you did what was necessary to get out alive. Ditch the guilt. Get on living. You can’t save anyone but yourself.”

She stared up at him. “I’m not like you, Luke. I can’t walk away from my own family just because—”

“He’s not your family,” Luke interrupted. He couldn’t stand to see Isabella’s loyalty to Marcus.

Isabella lifted her chin. “He’s all I have.”

Luke frowned at her response, and his heart softened for her. “Where are your parents?” he asked quietly.

She began to pick at the hem of her sweatshirt. “My mom died when I was seventeen. I don’t know who my dad is.” Her voice took on a defiant edge. “And neither did my mom.”

There was a challenge in her eyes, daring him to question her mother’s morals. He liked that loyalty. He appreciated that she had the courage to stand up for those she loved, no matter what society might say. It reminded him of what he liked about Alaska. Loyalty that went to the depth of the human soul instead of to money and power. He brushed his finger over her pendant. “This was hers?”

Isabella set her hand over it. “Yes.”

“I like it.”

A little furrow of confusion formed between her eyebrows. “You do?”

“I do.”

“But it’s ugly. Not fashionable.”

He shrugged. “I like it.”

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Luke had a sudden urge to kiss that little smile. God, he wanted her. The sight of her on that bed…too much.

He dropped to the blanket beside her and lay down on his back. He clasped his hands behind his head and stretched his legs out so his hip was touching hers.

Isabella tensed. “What are you doing?”

“Digesting.” Their dinner had been meager and cold, because Luke had decided not to risk a fire. The wood for the stove sat untouched outside for the same reason. The temperature in the cabin was dropping fast, and he knew it was going to be a cold night. But he’d heard planes passing in the distance several more times, and it wasn’t a risk he wanted to take.

“Can you digest somewhere else?”

He didn’t bother to answer. The lack of furniture in the cabin spoke for itself. There was nowhere to sit except the bed.

Besides, he liked where he was too damn much. Isabella’s hip was still against his, and each time she moved, the bed shook. Yeah, he liked being here.

He closed his eyes and quieted his mind, putting himself in strategy mode. He needed to assimilate now. Fill in the missing pieces. “If Leon is involved, he must be running the show. He’s been chafing under Marcus’s rule for a long time, and I doubt he’ll want to work for someone new. He’ll be leading the pack if he can.”

Isabella sighed, clearly giving up on getting him out of the narrow bed. “What about Zack? And the other man Marcus was meeting with? Simon?”

“Zack Savat.” Luke rolled the name Isabella had given him over in his mind. It sounded familiar. He was sure he’d heard it before. Somewhere in his past…but fuck…he didn’t want to open those doors again.

He would let it sit for now.

It was enough to know Leon was involved. And that he’d gotten Nate on his side. Shit.
Nate.
“Nate used to be my best friend,” he said quietly.

Isabella shifted beside him. “Really?” Her sudden tension was evident. “Are you still friends?”

“Haven’t spoken since I left.” He and Nate had been tight. The same. Luke had left. Nate had stayed. And now Nate was shooting pregnant women.

Would that have been Luke’s path if he’d stayed? He had a bad feeling about that answer. And what would happen to his path if he opened those doors again?

He opened his eyes, not wanting to go down that road. Isabella’s dark hair was hanging in tangled curls over her shoulders, and her face was pale. There were circles beneath her eyes, and she was slumped over in exhaustion. Unable to resist, he took a lock of hair and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger.

Isabella said nothing, and she didn’t pull away.

“I know Nate,” he said. “I can predict him. He’s smart, but I’m smarter.”

She nodded. “Good.”

Her hair was so soft. He fisted his hand in it and tugged.

Isabella didn’t move toward him. “So, what do we do?”

“I’m still deciding.” He pulled again. “Come here.”

“No!”

“Touching you helps me think.” He wasn’t lying.
The demons from his past were circling him now, edging at his concentration. Listening to Isabella talk about that night was like a sucker punch in the kidney about the life he’d left, about the man he had left behind…only he knew he hadn’t really left him behind.

The man Luke didn’t want to be was a part of his soul all the way to his core.

A dark side. A side that killed.

A side that needed to be soothed by the feeling of Isabella against his skin. “You’re tired. You need to sleep. I’ll watch out for you.”

Her relieved expression told him he’d hit a chord. Without another word, she snuggled up against him, almost as if she needed the contact as much as he did.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her tightly against his side. She tucked her head on the front of his shoulder, not fighting the intimacy.

Luke closed his eyes again, and the noise in his mind subsided. He breathed in her scent, let it drift through him, easing his tension in the same way it had when he’d met her in the bar. Neurons began to come to life in his mind, the ones that were fire and energy. He could almost hear the crackles of electricity as he began to think again, to problem solve in a way he hadn’t had to do since he’d quit being a scientist and walked away from his old life. Flying was about instinct, not an analytical breakdown of the situation. Today, his life was about being calm and relaxed, not the hypervigilance that went along with knowing those you dined with could pull a gun on you tomorrow.

On some level it felt good to have his brain alive again. He hadn’t realized he’d missed it.

There was something bothering him about Isabella’s story. “I don’t believe they’re after you simply because
you saw them take down Roseann. Too many resources are being spent to find you.”

Isabella was quiet for a moment. “I think they want to use me for leverage against Marcus.”

Luke felt blindsided. That was what had happened to Anna—only Luke had been the one they’d been trying to manipulate. Jesus. Not again.