Conard County Marine (26 page)

Each idea sounded thin, but if that was all she had...

God, she wished he hadn’t bound her ankles, as well. At least then she’d have a chance of running. Whatever, she had to find a way of making this as difficult for him as possible, because the longer it took for him to kill her, the more chances she would have of finding some way to prevent it.

Think, Kylie. Think!

*

By the time Coop reached Todd Jamison’s place, murder filled his heart. An errant part of him hoped he was wrong about all this, that he’d just find the two of them having coffee, but no part of him really believed that.

At this point, he was willing to bet that Todd had something to do with James’s disappearance, as well. It had crossed his mind before, that scaring the kids might be a diversionary tactic, or that sending the black rose to Kylie might serve the same purpose. One actor who wanted forces divided and attention misdirected.

He hadn’t quite succeeded. But before he killed Todd he was going to make sure the man revealed where he’d put James. And God help him if he’d hurt the boy or hurt Kylie. No mercy flowed in Coop’s veins right then. None at all.

His consciousness had shifted to battle mode. The rules of the civilized world no longer held sway. He had two people to protect, a mission to accomplish and absolutely no compunction about how he accomplished his goals.

He parked a hundred yards out from the structures and switched off the radio the sheriff had given him. The last thing he needed right now was for the damn thing to squawk. Then he hurried across open ground, a dark sweatshirt and jeans his only concealment. A knife in his boot, a gun on his hip. It was more than he had sometimes carried.

He reached the house. Lights were on, a car was parked out front, but he quickly circled the building and realized no one was in there. That focused his attention on a barn about fifty yards away, and he saw the slivers of dim light seeping out between some of the aging boards.

There. Using a broken step, so as not to sound like a person approaching if anyone heard him, he hurried across the greening grasses of spring and the brown earth that had been worn by the years.

When he reached the barn, he put his ear to the wall.

He heard voices. Todd. Kylie.

He slid over to a dirty window and used fingertips to wipe clean a peephole. They were both in there, and Kylie was bound at her wrists. Worse, there was a hole in the barn floor right behind her.

Rage overtook Coop then, the rage that had been useful so many times in his job. It was clear-sighted, but an irresistible propellant.

He was going to kill that guy.

*

Kylie had remembered, and what she remembered was making her furious. The terror and the paralysis that had hit her before didn’t come as memory returned. All that came was an anger she could barely contain.

This was the man who had tried to kill her, who had nearly destroyed her life, and now she could see the images in her mind, remember the awful moments. No longer did she wonder, she
knew
.

As he cut the ties around her ankles and dragged her out of the car toward the barn, she remembered. She remembered being grabbed from behind, stunned by a hard blow to her head. She remembered the world fading away, then slowly awakening on her back. Gravel bit into her, the stench of nearby Dumpsters nearly concealed the familiar aftershave.

Some of her clothes were already off. A knife flashed and rested against her throat. A face she knew all too well hovered over her, adding shock to her confusion. A gruff voice warned her not to fight. What...?

She recalled the awful moments when he had tried to rape her and failed, recalled holding perfectly still because of that knife at her throat, wondering if she would even survive. Then the terrifying knife, rising and falling again and again, feeling like hard painful blows to her torso. Thankful, so thankful, when the darkness closed in again.

Now she faced him again in that barn. Aware that he meant to end it all here. He was afraid of her, she realized. Afraid that she would recall he had been her attacker.

Well, now she had and this time, instead of being frozen, she was enraged. But first things first.

“Why’d you take the boy?” she demanded. “He had nothing to do with this.”

“He got Cooper away from you. I knew he would.” But Todd wasn’t smiling. He was licking his lips, looking edgy, troubled.

“Let him go.”

“Aren’t you the bleeding heart? I’m going to kill you and you’re worried about a kid. He’s okay, not that it should matter to you. And as soon as I’m done with you, I’m calling the cops to tell them where he is.”

Then he stilled, his dark eyes becoming like twin chips of obsidian. Soulless. “You remembered.”

“Yes. All of it. And it doesn’t matter if you kill me now because I wrote it all down. By tomorrow, someone will be reading it. They’re going to get you, Todd.”

“But you won’t be around to testify and I’ll be long gone.” He licked his lips again. He appeared to be losing his sense of control. Kylie didn’t know if that was good or bad.

“Just tell me why. Why did you attack me in Denver? What good does it do to kill me if I don’t know why?” Never taking her eyes from him, feeling the rage turn icy, she edged away from the pit, using her peripheral vision to find something, anything, she could kick at him. She seemed to remember glimpsing some tools hanging on a post nearby. If she threw him off balance, maybe she could run.

She didn’t have much hope that she’d get far, but she had to try. Everything within her rebelled at the idea of making this easy for him.

“Because you always treated me like something you wanted to shake off your shoe. Staying home was better than going to the prom with me, as far as you were concerned. Then when I ran into you in Denver, you had one excuse after another. No time. Too much schoolwork. The job. But I saw you go out with your other friends!”

A shiver of shock ran through her. “All of this because I didn’t date you? You’ve carried a grudge this long?” At least he didn’t seem to notice she was moving away from her intended grave. He seemed to be sure once again that he had full control. Farm implements appeared in the corner of her eye, and since her hands were bound in front of her instead of behind she might be able to grab and use one.

But how long did she have? He was looking wilder and crazier by the second. She had to move fast.

“You were never really nice to me,” he said. “None of you were, but you were the worst. Dating me twice and then telling me to get lost.”

“How was that worse?”

“I know you laughed about me with all your friends. I remember how they looked at me after.”

She had never done that, and any looks he thought he’d gotten had probably been the same looks he’d been getting all along. But she couldn’t argue against that. She racked her brain for a way to buy more time. “I didn’t tell you to get lost. My Lord, Todd, we were in high school. Almost nobody dated anyone else for very long.”

“What was wrong with me?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” she said, sidestepping toward the implements hooked on the post. “Not one thing. It just didn’t feel right to me. Have you forgotten I dated a couple of other guys? Some of them only once. There was nothing wrong with you.”

“What about Denver?”

“What about it? A job and a graduate school program? I wasn’t kidding about time. Did you think those study groups were social?” She knew he wouldn’t believe her but apparently he’d watched her sometimes. The thought might have sickened her except for the icy fury that filled her. This guy had terrified Connie and her son because he was hung up on
her
?

He stepped toward her, and her heart leaped into her throat. She had to get to those implements.

Just then, a window to the side broke. Todd whirled to look. Kylie jumped to grab some clawlike thing that looked like it could do a lot of damage.

And then the marines arrived. One, anyway. He came charging through the barn door, vengeance personified, and jumped on Todd before he could do more than half turn.

*

Coop wanted to beat Todd to a pulp. He wanted to wring his neck. He wanted to kill him for all he’d done to Kylie and evidently to James.

But cool reason edged his anger. He laid a few good blows before the creep covered his face and started to cry. Damn, what a coward.

“Coop! He knows where James is.”

“I heard,” Coop growled. “See any rope?” When Todd wiggled under him, he punched his shoulder right in the brachial plexus. The man froze with agony.

He listened to Kylie scurry around, and then an adequate, dirty piece of rope fell in front of him. Straddling the man, Coop quickly bound his wrists, then flipped him over, hog-tying the guy’s feet.

Spying Todd’s knife, he kicked it to the side, safely away.

Only then did he do the thing he most needed to do. Pulling his own knife, he cut the wrist cuffs off Kylie. Once he’d shoved the knife back into his boot, he wrapped her in his arms and held her so tightly she squeaked.

Thank God. Thank God. He didn’t know what he would have done if he hadn’t found her in time.

Much as he wanted to savor the moment, however, there was other business. He let her go and went over to Todd. He nudged him with his boot. “Where’s James? You’ve got ten seconds to tell me or I’ll start kicking you.”

Chapter 14

T
he bright morning sunlight hurt Kylie’s eyes as they emerged from the sheriff’s offices after a long night. Connie had gone home long ago to be with James, who didn’t seem awfully traumatized by his experience. At least not yet.

His grandfather, Deputy Micah Parish, stayed at the office, however, as they sorted through all the facts Kylie could give them. His Cherokee face looked older than Kylie had ever seen it.

But while a team scoured Todd’s homestead for evidence, the real story was unfolding in a conference room where Kylie told the sheriff, Gage Dalton, Micah and soon a cop from Denver everything she knew and remembered. It was a long night, but she could understand why they didn’t want to let her go.

And truthfully, she wanted to tell them everything she could. Todd had not only tried to kill her, but if one thing had gone wrong with his misbegotten plan they still might be looking for James. She shuddered to think of it.

Todd was under guard at the hospital. The detective from Denver was already talking about extradition so he could face charges for what he’d done to Kylie there. Dalton and the county attorney figured he’d be facing serious charges in Conard County, as well. Two kidnappings. Quite a record for one night.

But at last they told her she was free to go. Get some rest. She wondered if she’d ever sleep again.

Wound up, edgy, not ready to settle as the night and the events in Denver kept playing through her mind. She was glad to let Coop take her home. Glad to feel his big hand tight around hers. Glad that he apparently didn’t care what Glenda might think as he took her upstairs and put them both to bed. Together.

Somehow curling up naked with him punctured the nervous energy that had kept her running. Almost as soon as he wrapped himself around her, urging her head onto his shoulder, she fell asleep. Deeply asleep.

*

When next she woke, it was late afternoon and she was looking into Coop’s smiling eyes. “Welcome back,” he said.

She felt a sleepy smile come to her own face. She knew he’d be leaving soon, but that shadow didn’t enter the room. Not yet. She wouldn’t let it.

Then he said utterly without preamble, “I love you. I love you more than life. I realize everything’s been messed up for you, so I’m not asking you to say anything in return. I just want you to know. I love you. And whenever, if ever, you’re ready to consider it, I’ll be waiting for you. In fact, I’ll come running.”

She drew a sharp breath as joy began to fill her, driving away the demons that had haunted her days.

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” he said. “You’d have to put up with a few more years of me being in the corps. You might wonder sometimes why you’re with a guy who leaves you alone so much. Maybe you could never do it. But I had to tell you, even if it’s selfish of me. I love you.”

“Coop...” She could hardly find the breath to speak. Happiness beyond description squeezed out every other thought or feeling.

“You could go on with your own plans,” he said. “Finish your master’s, or go to medical school. I’d be proud to help with that. But you don’t have to give up your life if you decide to be with me. I want to be sure we’re clear on that. Like I said, you’d have to put up with my job. Why wouldn’t I put up with yours? They’re your dreams and that makes them as important to me as they are to you.”

When she didn’t answer immediately, his smile softened. “Take your time, Kylie. As much time as you want to be sure I’d be right for you.”

But she already knew. Deep in her heart she knew. This was the man who had stood as her protector before he had even known her, who had comforted her during her flashbacks, who had been willing to devote himself full time to watching over her. He had shared his dark cemetery with her, a trust she fully valued.

But mostly, she realized that she loved everything about him, from his quiet strength to his willingness to be gentle. An avenging angel with a heart of gold.

And she wanted him in her life for every day yet to come. “I love you, Coop,” she said softly, then repeated it more strongly. “I love you.”

At once he laughed and rolled over until he was half on top of her. “I love you, Kylie Brewer. And right now I want to show you how much.”

Bending his head, he kissed her deeply, and swept her away to the distant mountaintops of desire.

Her heart sang with more joy than it ever had. He loved her.

*

Don’t miss the next
CONARD COUNTY: THE NEXT GENERATION
book, coming in January 2017.

And don’t forget previous books in this thrilling series by
New York Times
bestselling author Rachel Lee:

CONARD COUNTY SPY
A SECRET IN CONARD COUNTY
CONARD COUNTY WITNESS

Keep reading for an excerpt from
HIGH-STAKES COLTON
by Karen Anders.

Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!
Click
here
to Join Harlequin My Rewards
http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003