Hot Pursuit (17 page)

She turned to take in his room and lost her balance. Instead of stretching her arms out to brace her fall, Zoey’s hands seemed to reach for her face in slow motion. Fortunately, Ben was close.

He grabbed her, pulling her next to him and back on to the bed. He sat, easing her so she sat next to him. His arm was around her so that his hand stretched over the voluptuous curve of her hip. This time he focused on her face and the almost blank look in her eyes. Ben might be incredibly attracted to her, but he wasn’t a beast. She already had enough of those in her life.

“Stay here. Don’t move and I’ll be right back,” he said, keeping his voice just above a whisper, soft and gentle. “I’m just going into the bathroom to get a cool cloth.”

“I’ll sit here for a couple minutes,” she conceded.

“That’s fine.”

Ben brought a damp washcloth and held it up to her face. Zoey looked up at him, what makeup she’d been wearing now smeared and stained down her face. She was still so incredibly beautiful, a severe distraction.

“Here,” he whispered when she made feeble efforts to dab the washcloth at her face.

Ben took the washcloth and Zoey leaned her head back against his hand so he could wash her face. He was careful to avoid the bruised parts but managed to clean her up. When she blinked and those radiant pure black eyes looked up at him, something broke inside him. Ben would do anything for this woman. Never before, when first meeting a lady, had he known with such clarity that she would mean this much to him. With Zoey he had absolutely no doubt.

“I can’t stay here,” she repeated with more urgency.

“I know. You’re worried about Betsy.”

“You don’t understand. My father rules this town. He owns all the bank loans on all the buildings and if business owners don’t do as he says he puts them out of business. Betsy has lived here since she was first married.”

“Betsy isn’t going anywhere.” He looked around the room, then grinned down at Zoey. “I like this place.”

The corner of Zoey’s mouth was slightly bruised. Her lips were already full, though, and when she attempted a small smile every inch of him hardened. Which made him feel like a jackass.

“I’ll go find you some ice.” He stood and tried gently pressing her against the many pillows he’d tossed to the floor the night before. Betsy had diligently stacked them against the headboard of his bed while he’d been gone this morning. “I’ll only be gone a minute.”

“No!” she shrieked, leaning forward, then grabbing her head. “Oh,” she moaned, but then persisted, “You can’t leave.”

“It’s okay, Zoey. The ice machine is between here and the door to the house. No one will get to you, I promise.”

“You don’t understand, Ben.” Zoey seemed to become more coherent than she’d been since he’d picked her up. She stood, walking away from him and to the mirror over the dresser in his room. “You’re not from Zounds. You don’t know the power my father holds over everyone who lives here. I’m not safe here, or anywhere. I’m sure he’s already sent Brutus and Julius looking for me. This is probably one of the first places they will look.”

She leaned forward, moving her hair behind her shoulder, and examined the damage to her face. “I can’t let him find me,” she whispered. “He’ll blame me for this, and I’ll probably get hit again. He’s such a goddamn idiot.”

“He’s not going to touch you again,” Ben said with conviction.

“You don’t get it,” Zoey hissed, spinning around and facing him. Her hand hovered over her bruised face, but she didn’t sway this time. “I told you any business owner who has a loan out with the bank answers to my father, because the bank was the first thing he took over in this town ten years ago when we first moved here. Now, business owners, such as Betsy,” Zoey said, and waved her hand dramatically through the air as if Betsy were everywhere in this room, “because she took out a fifty-thousand-dollar loan after her husband died to create her dream and make this place into the incredible bed-and-breakfast that it is today, once a month she also pays my father. Then, because making business owners pay him in order to have a business loan is illegal, once a month he sends over his henchmen and they do inspections. If the business owner refuses to cooperate, their utilities are shut off.” Zoey began pacing as she explained the level of criminal activity Emilio Cortez had wrapped around this poor town. “Not because he owns the utility companies, but because he owns all wiring and utility poles leading up to each business and he owns the plumbers, the electricians, and the city officials in Zounds.”

Zoey stopped pacing with her back to the door of Ben’s room. She looked over her shoulder at it as if it might come alive, then scurried to put him between the door and her. Zoey was a mixture of a confident woman and a doormat. She was strong yet had succumbed to the cruelest type of bullying there was. She had a beautiful personality that glowed. She cared about the town her father was slowly destroying. She was obviously intelligent and understood how her father’s business ran, crooked as it might be. Zoey was also drop-dead gorgeous. Even with the side of her face glowing with shades of green, purple, and light streaks of yellow that outlined the imprint of her father’s hand, it was hard to fault her physically—make that damn impossible. Ben hadn’t noticed until now that her heels, which probably brought her to just under five and a half feet, were open toed. Her painted toenails and one incredibly adorable toe ring topped off a perfect sexual package.

In spite of her seductive appearance, there was something oddly innocent about her. Ben guessed she led a sheltered life trapped under the shadow of a monster. Right before she spoke again, another thought occurred to Ben and turned his stomach.

Zoey had run from her home, then called him. He doubted she lounged around her house dressed to the nines as she was now. If her getting hurt had something to do with how she was dressed and possibly Zoey refusing to do whatever her father wanted her to do while dressed like this enticing seductress facing him, then Cortez wouldn’t be safe in Ben’s presence. His blood boiled as several possibilities ran through his mind as to what Zoey might have refused to do to earn the stamp of Cortez’s hand on the side of her face. Ben kept his expression placid for Zoey’s sake as he stared at her, but his anger flared inside and hatred brewed for a man he hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting yet. He couldn’t wait to kick the monster’s ass.

“It’s even worse than what I’ve described so far, Ben,” Zoey continued, and swallowed before straightening as if building some inner strength to discuss the evil she described to him. “When they show up here looking for me, Betsy will let them in. Not because she wants to but because if she doesn’t my father will destroy this place. If you don’t answer the door, they will tell her to unlock it, and she will. If you try and protect me, they will tell her you aren’t good business for her to have under her roof. They will tell Betsy not to let you have a room here, and she will listen and ask you to leave.”

“Why would your father think that you might be here?” Ben asked, listening to every sound in the house. The walls were solid, but he was pretty sure he’d hear someone coming down the hallway, especially if there was more than one of them. “Have you mentioned me to your father?”

“No,” she said adamantly. “If I ever mentioned a man to my father, he would kill him. And I don’t mean that figuratively. My father has already decided who I am going to marry.”

She sucked in a staggered breath and this time looked Ben square in the face. Her nipples created perfectly centered little beacons against the sleeveless blouse she wore. He didn’t let his gaze falter from hers, though.

“My father planned for him and me to fly to San Diego. We were to leave in an hour and meet the Isleys. Hector Isley is the son of another businessman in the same line of work as my father, and whom I’m supposed to marry just so the Cortezes and Isleys can gain power and wealth.” She hesitantly touched her fingertips to the bruising on her face. “It’s been maybe thirty minutes since I left my father. He believed I was freshening up to leave but I’m sure knows by now that I’m no longer there. He’ll have his men scouring Zounds for me. We might have as little as ten minutes before someone shows up demanding to search the bed-and-breakfast.”

Ben understood Zoey’s worry for Betsy. The old woman wouldn’t handle being bullied by some asshole’s thugs. He took quick inventory of what was in his room. There was nothing that would reveal who he was or what he did for a living. “You haven’t explained why you’re so sure he’s going to come looking for you here first. Do you and Betsy have a special connection?”

“I barely know her.” Zoey shook her head. “Earlier, I was in my bedroom when one of our servants told me my father wanted to see me. I was told to dress nicely and go to him immediately. When I came downstairs, I had to wait because my father was in his den with Brutus. It wasn’t until the two of them walked out of his den that I overheard.”

“They were talking about me?” Ben didn’t panic. Micah was in this town somewhere, successfully for a year now keeping a very low profile, especially with Zounds being owned by Cortez. If Cortez, or anyone else in this town, learned the truth of why he was here, it would turn Zounds into a bloodbath. Ben had to keep his priorities straight. First and foremost he had to protect Micah’s anonymity.

“Not by name. All I heard when they came out of my father’s den was him complaining about someone not showing up for something at noon. Then my father asked if whoever they were looking for was at the bed-and-breakfast. He then started yelling about how it couldn’t be that hard to track down a noisy motorcycle.” She looked at Ben and her eyes grew wide. “Did you pull a gun on Brutus?”

“Pull a gun? Who is Brutus?”

“Okay. They were probably talking about other people, too.” Zoey sighed and shook her head. “I only try to keep up with what my father is doing in order to protect everyone in Zounds, if I can.” She sighed. “Anyway, that’s why I’m willing to bet this place will be on the top of his list of places to search. It’s probably because you’re new in town, but you’re already on the deadly Cortez watch list.”

Ben understood. He couldn’t change the way things were in Zounds, but he could see to Zoey’s protection.

“We need to find something a little less conspicuous for you to wear.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, Zoey was out of her high heels and her ass-hugging skirt and the cute sleeveless blouse that showed off her nice boobs. Fortunately, Ben wasn’t acclimated to the colder climate in Northern California and had packed sweatpants and sweatshirts. Zoey looked ridiculous in his clothes, which they’d had to roll up considerably in the arms and at the ankles. The two of them had worked methodically until his clothes weren’t falling off of her. Then to complete the picture, Ben also put on a pair of his sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

“Now then,” Ben said, coming out of his bathroom after changing and walking to his large window that overlooked the parking lot outside. “We need to leave without anyone knowing we’ve left.”

He had thought about pulling Wolf in to assist in helping Zoey, but one look out the window and he saw that the man still hadn’t returned. If Wolf had somehow learned where Micah was before Ben had, it would make things a lot tougher for Ben, especially after his comment to Maggie about coming with a friend. Ben would simply have to rely on his friendship with Micah still being intact and the man still having incredible foresight. Micah had to know Ben would never turn against him.

Right now Ben needed to protect Zoey. He had tried making Maggie understand earlier that he was on their side, and she’d held a gun on him. If something had happened to Micah, Maggie would have said something. Ben had to believe that. So for now, he’d accept that Micah was alive and well. Ben would learn where he was once he had Zoey safe.

“Think you can climb out the window to the ground below?” Ben asked, whispering.

Zoey leaned out the open window just as Ben was doing. “Are you serious?” she asked incredulously.

There wasn’t time to convince her that it was easier than it looked. “Come here,” Ben said, and pulled her into his arms.

“What?” Zoey gasped.

Ben was already easing both of them out of the window. “Hold on really tight and don’t say a word or make a sound,” he instructed.

Zoey did just that. Ben had his arm around her, but Zoey wrapped both of her arms tightly around his waist and buried her face in his chest. She held on so tight that Ben really didn’t need to hold her against him. He did anyway, just for his own peace of mind.

Once they were outside, Ben reached inside and did his best to pull the window closed. He made it within a few inches. But that was enough. At least now it wouldn’t be obvious he’d crawled out the oversized window. For all anyone might know, he had opened it a bit for the fresh air. Betsy hadn’t seen him return with Zoey so would be able to cooperate fully without incriminating herself or her business.

“Hold on, sweetheart. I won’t let you get hurt.” Ben tightened his grip around Zoey’s waist and leapt from the wide brick windowsill to the flat roof of the back porch.

From there he didn’t dawdle. If there was a noise, Betsy would come investigate. He’d learned long ago never to underestimate the power of an old woman with a thick broom handle. He didn’t warn Zoey when he scurried to the edge of the roof. The ground wasn’t much more than seven feet below. Nonetheless, he couldn’t risk either of them twisting, spraining, or, worse yet, breaking an ankle or any bone.

“I’m going to let you go now.”

“No,” Zoey hissed into his chest.

God, she was trembling. More than anything Ben wanted to console her. Both of their asses were on the line now. He didn’t have time to assure Zoey he’d been in a lot more dangerous situations. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything in his power to protect both of them. Ben happened to like his ass.

“You can cry later. Hell, I might cry with you.” Ben pried her loose and gripped her jaw.

When he realized he could be hurting her, he let go of her immediately and ran his hand down the side of her hair. That long, perfectly black shiny hair would be a dead giveaway.