Kidnapping in Kendall County (13 page)

“I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me where Yancy is,” Seth countered.

“Well, I can’t,” Sonny snapped, but he held up an envelope for Seth. “But he’s trying to set me up again.”

“Funny, Yancy keeps saying the same thing about you.” Seth took the envelope that Sonny practically slapped into his hand.

The camera angle was bad and Austin couldn’t see what Seth took from the envelope, but it appeared to be photos.

Seth studied them for several long moments, and the cameraman finally moved in on the image.

A baby.

“Who is this?” Seth demanded.

“Read the memo.” Sonny rifled through the eight-by-ten black-and-white photos to what appeared to be a single paragraph.

Seth did read it. Too bad Austin couldn’t do the same, but whatever was on the page caused Seth to pull back his shoulders. “Where the hell did you get this?” His gaze snapped to Sonny.

“Someone broke into my office and put it in one of my files. I’m sure they did that for you to find so you’d arrest me.”

A soft gasp left Rosalie’s mouth. “Is it Sadie?” But she didn’t wait for Seth or Sonny to answer. “Let me see the photos. Hold them up to the camera.”

Austin hadn’t seen a photo of Sadie, but he could tell from Rosalie’s reaction that this was indeed her baby. It was a snapshot of a newborn baby sleeping in a carried seat.

Rosalie moved as if to bolt to the door. No doubt to go see the photos for herself, but Austin stopped her.

“Don’t come here,” Seth warned her. Even though he couldn’t see his sister, he must have known what her reaction would be.

Every muscle in her body was tight now, but she cursed and stayed put. “Show me the rest of the photos.”

Seth did after he, too, mumbled some profanity. The next picture was also of Sadie in the arms of a woman. The camera was on the baby, not the person holding her, so Austin could see the little girl’s blond hair and a round baby face.

“Who’s that woman with her?” Rosalie demanded, and Seth repeated the question to Sonny.

“I don’t know.” No shout from Sonny this time. He scrubbed his hand over his face and appeared to be in as much shock over this as they were. “Like I said, someone planted the photos in my office. But I’m guessing that she’s a nanny.”

Probably, and she appeared to be taking good care of the baby. That was something at least. But Austin wanted more—the woman’s identity and where the picture was taken.

Maybe Seth could get those answers from Sonny.

Seth went to the next photo. No newborn this time, but Austin was pretty sure it was Sadie. The little girl was about four or five months old, lying in a crib and smiling from ear to ear, kicking her arms and legs as she looked up at the person who’d taken her picture.

Austin tightened his grip on Rosalie when she wobbled again. She finally sank into the chair, her attention nailed to the laptop screen and her trembling fingers pressed to her mouth.

“That next picture’s been photoshopped,” Sonny insisted. “It had to have been.”

Rosalie moved closer to the screen, but Seth turned away so that he got a look at the photo first. No doubt so he could try to shelter his sister in case it was something he didn’t want her to see.

Seth cursed. It wasn’t mumbled this time, either.

“Show it to me!” Rosalie demanded just as Sonny repeated, “It’s a fake.”

“I’ll have the lab check and make sure it’s real,” Seth told her. “It has a date stamp on it that says it was taken three days ago.” He finally held the photo up for Rosalie to see.

She gasped.

The photo was of a little girl, blond curls haloing around her head. She was smiling in this snapshot, too, and looking up at the woman who was lovingly holding her in her arms.

And that woman was Vickie.

Chapter Fourteen

Everything inside her felt as if she was spinning out of control, but Rosalie tried to hang on to her sanity. Especially since Seth, Austin and even Sonny had reminded her that the photos could have been doctored.

Still, that was her baby in the pictures. Rosalie was sure of it.

She sat at the kitchen table and studied the copies of the photos that Seth had faxed to the ranch guesthouse. Probably a ploy to make sure she stayed put with Austin while the cops looked for Vickie and Yancy. It was working.

For now.

But with this pressure cooker of emotions building inside her, she couldn’t spend days or even hours waiting for answers from two people who had seemingly disappeared.

Austin was on the phone, pacing the guest cottage living room, but he also kept his eye on her. Something he’d been doing a lot since they’d arrived about an hour earlier. Like Seth, Austin was afraid she’d go stark raving mad and run out the door.

The probability for that was fairly high.

She ran her fingertips over the photo that according to the time-date stamp been taken only days earlier. Rosalie touched the image of her baby’s hair. Her face. There were so many features that she recognized. The shape of Sadie’s face was like her own. Ditto for the hair. Rosalie had seen photos of herself as a child, and her own hair was exactly like the cloud of curls.

But that was Eli’s smile.

It broke her heart and warmed her all at the same time. A part of him had lived on. Too bad Rosalie hadn’t been able to experience it firsthand.

God, she’d missed so much.

Eleven months was a lifetime to be apart from her child.

Rosalie’s heart was broken over that. And the pain crushed her chest so that it felt as if someone had put her entire body in a vise. Squeezing and choking her until the panic attack started to crawl through her again.

Rosalie threw back the chair, got up and headed for the door. She needed some fresh air. Needed to run. To scream. To do something to stop the torture. A panic attack wouldn’t do anyone any good, and it would only cause Austin and Seth to worry about her even more.

If that was possible.

“The guards from the baby farm,” Austin reminded her. He stepped in front of her just as she opened the door. “If you go outside, they could use long-range rifles to shoot at you.”

He locked the door, set the security system, eased his arm around her and tried to maneuver her into the living room. But Rosalie held her ground. She couldn’t sit down a moment longer.

“Give me some good news,” she begged. “Please.”

Judging from the length of time it took him to answer, he was clearly having trouble coming up with something. “The photos are top priority for the lab, so we should know within an hour or two if they’re fake.”

“They’re not fake.” Then, she shook her head. “The baby is real. It’s Sadie.
My
baby. But it’s possible that Vickie’s image was doctored in.”

Or not.

It sickened her even more to think of Vickie having had Sadie all this time. Of course, there were worse alternatives.

Like Yancy or Sonny.

Of the three, Vickie seemed the safest choice, but if she’d lied so easily to their faces, then heaven knew what she was capable of doing to a baby.

“The cops and the FBI are working this hard,” Austin reminded her. “And Seth will make sure there are no delays.” No doubt a second attempt to give her some more good news.

Yes, it was good, but it didn’t seem nearly enough. Though it would never happen, she wanted every law enforcement agency in the state on this.

“You should sit back down,” he said.

This time when he urged her into the living room, she went, but she stopped first to grab the photos. She dropped them on the coffee table so she could look at them when they sat on the sofa.

“Someone has her,” Rosalie mumbled. “Seth and the others have to find out who that is.”

“They will. They’re looking for Vickie and Yancy right now,” Austin assured her. “And Seth will call the moment he finds out anything. If the lab can identify where the photos of Sadie were taken, then we can get a search warrant.”

Yes, her mind knew that, but that didn’t make this situation more bearable.

“You don’t have to keep yourself together for my sake,” Austin added. “If you need to lose it, then go ahead. Scream, curse, kick, do whatever will help.”

“Kick?” she questioned.

The corner of his mouth lifted a little. “I was hoping you’d go for one of the other choices, but my shins are ready if you need to kick something.”

“If I thought for one minute it’d help, I might try it.” She paused, and though she hadn’t intended for her gaze to go in that direction, she eyed the front of his jeans. “Just not your shins, though.”

He feigned a wince. “Okay, but please don’t aim
there.
”

Rosalie didn’t laugh, but it did ease the tension a bit. Something she hadn’t thought possible just moments earlier. Leave it to Austin to work some magic and lighten her mood.

“Sit,” he suggested. “Breathe.” His voice was smoky deep now, like a smooth shot of whiskey. It was void of all the raw emotion they’d been through in the past couple of days.

Rosalie didn’t sit, but his suggestion caused her to calm down enough so that she could study the photos again. Yes, she’d already studied them until her eyes were burning, but this time she noticed something obvious that she’d missed.

There wasn’t much background in the shots of Sadie, but in all three cases, it appeared to be the same room. Not a dingy holding cell, either, but rather a cheerful-looking nursery. Exactly the kind of room she’d set up for her baby at her house in Kendall County.

“Maybe the person who adopted her didn’t know she’d been stolen,” Rosalie said. Maybe this person holding her baby wasn’t the monster she was making the individual out to be but rather a loving parent who’d desperately wanted a child.

That thought helped. Some.

So did the way that Austin pulled her deeper into the curve of his arm. Yet something else that was smooth and comforting. It was dangerous for her to get so close to him right now, but Rosalie didn’t care. Austin understood what she was going through.

He understood
her.

And right now, the curve of his arm felt like the right place to be. Sadly, this was more than just a comforting gesture, though. His arms were a place where she could shut out these painful memories and find comfort of a different nature.

She turned to face him. Also dangerous. But she wanted to kiss him. Wanted to feel something other than this dark storm that had hemmed her in like a straitjacket.

And she felt
something
all right.

One touch of his mouth to hers, and she got a quick reminder of why this wasn’t a very good idea. The dark storm vanished, but in its place came a storm of a different kind. A fiery-hot one that threatened to burn them alive.

A sound of surprise rumbled deep in his throat. Rosalie heard the question there, too.

Is this a good idea?

It wasn’t.

But that didn’t stop her.

She slid her hand around the back of his neck, bringing him closer so she could lose herself in the kiss. Lose herself in his touch. In Austin.

He automatically adjusted, turning, so he could gather her in his arms and deepen the kiss.

Yes!

This was the fire that she wanted.
Needed.
And Rosalie would have done her own share of kiss-deepening if Austin hadn’t pulled back.

Their breaths were already gusting, and she could feel the urgency in her body. Still, he held her back from him, his gaze meeting hers.

“Think this through. Be sure it’s what you want,” Austin said, obviously giving her an out.

Rosalie did think about it. Well, as best as she could, considering the kiss had done its job of clouding her thoughts and common sense. Or maybe Austin alone was responsible. Either way, she didn’t have to think long.

Even if she regretted it, she was going to be with him.

And Rosalie let Austin know that by pulling him back to her.

* * *

A
USTIN
DIDN
’
T
FEEL
any hesitation from Rosalie. Just the opposite. But he had to wonder—was this about him, or did she just need him for a distraction?

He didn’t know the answer. Wasn’t sure that Rosalie did, either, but it didn’t take long for that thought to fly right out of his head.

The kiss pulled him right in.

Still, he couldn’t deny that he wanted Rosalie more than his next breath. She clearly wanted him, too, and even though he should stop, he didn’t.

Austin figured since he was about to jump right into a Texas-size mistake that he might as well make the most of it. Something that neither of them would ever forget. He slipped his hand around the back of her neck, dragged her closer and kissed her the way he’d been wanting to kiss her for days.

With nothing held back.

Her taste slid right through him like fire, and he brought her closer and closer until they weren’t just plastered against each other, they were maneuvering to get themselves even closer. That wasn’t possible though with their clothes still on.

So Austin did something about that, too.

He slipped his hand beneath her top, unhooking the front clasp on her bra, and her right breast spilled into his hand. One touch, and he knew he had to have more. He shoved up her top and moved his kisses lower to her nipples.

Rosalie made a sound of pleasure, urging him closer all the while she fought with the buttons on his shirt. Soon she was touching his chest. Her hands on his bare skin. And coupled with the kisses, that only made him burn hotter.

Since her top kept slipping back down, Austin rid her of it, taking off her outer shirt and the tank top beneath it. Now he could kiss her without the barrier of her clothes, and it had exactly the effect he’d expected—it left both of them wanting a whole lot more, and he quickly figured out that this foreplay wasn’t going to last nearly long enough.

“The bedroom,” she managed to say.

Austin hadn’t even thought to move this elsewhere, but it was a good idea in case Seth or someone else came into the cottage. So he scooped her up, and while the kisses raged on, he made his way to her bed. Talk about no finesse, but the moment her back touched the mattress, she pulled him down with her.

Everything sped up ever more. She tugged at his clothes. He tugged at hers. They sucked at it because they continued the maddening kisses, but he finally managed to strip off her jeans, dragging her panties off with them.

Oh, man.

The site of her naked robbed him of what little breath he had, and it drove home the realization that this wasn’t going to last nearly as long as he wanted.

“Jeans,” she said, her voice all silk and whispers. “Hurry.”

Rosalie shoved down his zipper, touching him in the wrong place. Or rather the right one if he hadn’t already been rock-hard and raring to go. He helped her with his jeans but mainly so he could get the condom from his wallet. Best not to make things worse by having unprotected sex.

Obviously, he wasn’t moving fast enough for her because Rosalie tried to help with the condom.

Really not a good idea.

Especially since she kept repeating “hurry,” and her touch was taking him many steps past the crazy stage. With that
hurry
repeating through his head, Austin eased into her.

And froze.

The sensations were too good. Too perfect. And even though his body was urging him on to hurry and finish this, to find the release for this need, he also paused just so he could savor the moment.

Rosalie looked up at him, her breath gusting. Her eyes wide. Her gaze focused solely on him. She opened her mouth, slowly, as if she might repeat that one word that’d driven them here to the bed.

But this time it wasn’t
hurry
that she whispered.

It was his name.

Austin.

He held his breath, wondering if she had come to her senses and wanted to put an end to this. But, no. She pulled him back down, her mouth on his, for a kiss that fired his blood and his heart at the same time.

“Austin,” she repeated in that same silky tone that she’d said
hurry.

But hurrying wasn’t necessary. That look, the sound of his name. The kiss. And being this close to her. All of that pinpointed until he had no choice but to move inside her.

Rosalie moved, too, going right into the rhythm of the strokes that would finally get them what they wanted.

Release.

Austin managed to snag her gaze at the moment that she climaxed. Her eyes were unfocused. Her breath wild. But he caught on to her chin and held the eye contact so he could watch her go over.

“Austin,” she repeated.

No more hurry-up tone. Just Rosalie saying his name, just her urging him to join her as she fell.

So, that’s what Austin did.