Trace & Tori [The ShadowDance Club 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (12 page)

“Tori Paulson. I saw her, I met her gaze, and something seemed off…like she wasn’t well or something and then her eyes rolled up and then she just dropped from my view!” By the time Rissa had gotten it all out, Alex was already on his phone and men were pushing through the back door. Rissa could hear the newly installed outside alarms blaring just as the cold outside air blasted by her, causing her to shiver. Honestly she wasn’t sure it was just the frigid air that had chilled her to the bone, but her deep fear for the other woman’s safety that was sending a steady stream of chills up and down her spine.

Bryant grabbed her hand and led her quickly to Alex and Zach’s office and sat her on the leather sofa. Just as he was turning to speak to her, Colt Matthews rushed in and seated his new bride, Jenna, next to Rissa. Colt looked at them both and warned, “Either of you move from this room without one of us and you’ll get such a paddling you won’t be able to sit for a week, understood?” When they both nodded, the men sprinted from the room.

“Holy shit, I’ve never seen Mr. Charming ever be so…well, Dom-like.” Rissa saw Jenna to shudder from head to toe, and then a grin spread across her face just as a blush colored her cheeks a nice deep rose. “Well, I’m guessing that tone is reserved for playtime ordinarily, am I right?” Now Rissa was nearly laughing out loud at the look on Jenna’s face. “Oh for God’s sake, woman, we are both newlyweds, and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be shocked by anything you could tell me. Remember, I’ve worked with the members of this Club for a while, and they’ve shared some pretty amazing stories with me.”

“Okay, okay enough of that. Now fill me in, what the hell happened out there?” Jenna told Rissa that she had been standing next to Colt, lost in thought about starting classes in a couple weeks, their impending move in to the addition being built on to the ShadowDance mansion and the hundred and fifty-three things she needed to get started on when Colt had answered his cell and then drug her to her brothers’ office before she’d even had time to blink, and then he’d barked his order to stay put and had been gone before she had even asked a single question.

As Rissa told Jenna what had happened, they both moved to the windows and watched as the entire mountain seemed to have come alive. After the trouble a couple months ago, the lighting and security systems had been enhanced to the point the name ShadowDance was something of a joke. If all the lightening was activated, the mountain was so brightly lit it would have been seen as a glow for miles around, and there wasn’t a chance in hell of a shadow surviving.

“Damn, those brothers of mine really are the masters of overkill, aren’t they? God help their children because they’ll probably wrap the poor kids in Bubble Wrap for their first, oh I don’t know, forty years or so!”

Rissa laughed with her friend and agreed that their actions were usually completely over the top most of the time, but right now she was awfully glad for their efforts. Wringing her hands, she turned to Jenna and asked, “Do you think she’s all right? I mean, where on earth could she have gone? One minute she was right there, and then she was just
gone
!”

“Oh shit, Rissa, I’m so sorry, I was so insensitive. They’ll find her, you’ll see. Cripes, girlfriend, no one is getting off this mountain without getting a fucking sunburn from all those lights. Hell, remember that Chevy Chase movie where he puts all those Christmas lights on his house and it blinds their neighbors? Just imagine trying to walk around out there without sunglasses.” Rissa smiled at Jenna and was grateful for her kind words. Jenna’s grin had turned mischievous when she said, “Now, let’s call Kat and give her the scoop. You know they have her under house arrest, too. We might as well settle in and make the best of our lockdown!”

* * * *

Kat had been thrilled that her friends had called to fill her in on the excitement at The Club, but she was worried sick for the sweet woman she’d talked with a few times when she’d had her over for tea. Trace had brought her to dinner also, but the chaos that was a ShadowDance meal wasn’t exactly conducive to chit-chat. Kat had sat with Tori and chatted about how she’d come to return to ShadowDance and had listened as Tori shared the horrors of being stalked by a police officer in Houston. Friendships forged through a shared history of being a victim seemed to be fast and strong ties that Kat had noticed usually ran soul deep. When she finally came back from her little emotional side trip, Kat had asked rhetorically, “God, what is wrong with people these days?” She sighed and continued. “I swear some men just don’t fucking get it…hey, do you hear that? Is that a siren? Look out the windows…my insane husbands installed those damned sliding, bulletproof doors over my windows, and the minute somebody farts in the wrong direction those things slide closed over my windows, and every door in this mansion locks electronically, and I’m a prisoner in thirty seconds flat.”

Jenna and Rissa smiled at each other as they moved to the windows and watched as the Climax County EMS pulled to a stop in front of The Club. They watched as Trace ran toward the ambulance carrying Tori in his arms. She looked like a rag doll, and it took Rissa’s breath away, and she had to back up and sit down before she dropped. Jenna disconnected the call, and just as she noticed Rissa lowering her head to between her knees, Colt, Mitch, and Bryant stormed into the room.
 

Trace had been in the back hallway explaining to a very irate Mitch Grayson that he hadn’t been ignoring Tori, but had in fact had been meeting with a fellow Dom who also happens to be a jeweler. His friend had designed the most amazing engagement ring Trace had ever laid eyes on, and he had been planning to propose to Tori at the stroke of midnight. He admitted he’d been so nervous that he hadn’t even noticed her tension and his heart had nearly broken in two when Mitch had explained how Tori had interpreted his actions. They had just turned to make their way back to where Mitch had left her when they’d heard Rissa’s scream, and all hell had broken lose.

Both men had heard her explanation to Bryant and had hit the back door at a full run. They had been able to easily track whoever had taken Tori by his tracks in the freshly fallen snow, and the minute the security staff had hit the lights, the kidnapper had wisely dropped his precious cargo and made a run for it. Trace had stopped to tend to Tori while Mitch had continued to pursue the man who had left her lying nearly naked in the snow. Mitch had cornered the man, and Dylan Marshall, the local sheriff, had taken him in to custody.

When Mitch made his way back to The Club where Trace held Tori waiting for the ambulance, he’d told Trace that it was likely the kid they had in custody was a patsy and wouldn’t even know who he was working for. Trace didn’t think there was any doubt who the young man was working for, but proving it would be another matter.

* * * *

Tori’s heart and respiration rates were awfully slow, but they were both steady, and that was the only thing keeping Trace from falling over the edge in to full-blown panic. He just kept thinking about how close he’d come to losing her, he’d already lost one woman he had loved deeply, and he wasn’t sure his soul would be able to walk that dark path again. When they’d heard the ambulance coming up the drive, Trace had run out to meet them, knowing full well she’d been drugged and that a few seconds could make all the difference in the world…how many times had he replayed the argument he and Nan had the night she’d stormed from the house for the last time? It he’d just talked to her for a few more seconds, she wouldn’t have been T-boned at the intersection at the main highway…Or if he hadn’t held her arm for those last few seconds, begging her to reconsider her plans to leave, she would still be alive today. Shaking his head in an attempt to leave those thoughts behind, he walked in to the emergency room at the local hospital right behind the EMTs and followed them in to the examination room despite the protests of the nursing staff.

Doc Woods was just a few steps behind him and assured the nurse Trace had valuable information relevant to the patient’s care, so the nurse Trace decided was surely possessed by the devil himself finally backed off. Trace had a lot of respect for the elderly doctor he’d known his entire life and smiled when Doc looked at him and simply said, “Talk to me” as he set about examining Tori.

Trace had filled him in on everything that had happened, including her past experiences at the hands of a stalker before she’d moved to Climax. Considering the fact that they lived in a very small community where the grapevine conveys information faster than the Internet, Trace figured it was likely Doc already knew who she was, where she’d been living, and all about her taking over old man Sherman’s law practice. Doc finally paused his examination and asked, “Any idea what she was drugged with?” When Trace shook his head, the elderly man yelled down the hall asking what the hell was taking the lab staff so long. If Trace hadn’t been so worried about the beautiful woman lying too quietly in front of him, he might have been amused at Doc’s gruff bedside manner, as it was he was simply terrified of losing his precious snow angel.

* * * *

Trace paced the crowded waiting room, trying to tune out the cacophony of sounds surrounding him. He had been run out of Tori’s room while the nurses got her settled in a room in the small hospital’s Critical Care Unit. Since it would be a couple hours before the lab results were in, Doc had said he wanted to “Err on the side of the Angels” and keep her under careful watch until they knew exactly what she’d been injected with. He wondered how on earth it could take so damned long to settle one tiny woman in a bed and was just ready to storm down the hall when Doc strode into the room. Walking directly up to Trace, he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, but kept focused on Trace as he spoke. “We’ll have the tests back in an hour or so, but truthfully, I’m fairly certain it isn’t anything we need to worry about. All her vitals are strong, and from what you have told me it’s more likely this was just meant to make it easier to take her, the intent wouldn’t have been to harm her.” He patted Trace on the forearm and continued. “We’ll take good care of her, I promise you, I’m not losing another one of your women. Damn, it broke my heart we didn’t get Nan in here in time…” The sadness was so evident on the elderly man’s face that Trace’s heart went out to him.

Rissa stepped up and gave Doc a long hug, the two of them had a lot of history between them, most of which Rissa had just recently learned. Finding out the man she’d always known as her grandmother’s best friend was in fact her grandfather had been a shock, and Trace knew they had just recently sat down and worked it all out between them. “Doc, everyone knows how dedicated you are. Don’t you be blaming yourself for things you can’t control.” The old man smiled at Rissa and pulled her close for another hug, and his deep sigh showed just how much her sweet words had meant to him.

“Clarissa Jean, your granny is surely looking down with pride overflowing in her heart at how you turned out. I know that I’m mighty proud of you.”

When Doc turned to leave, Rissa linked her arm in his and walked out, and the last thing Trace heard was her insisting that he come to dinner the next evening and reminding him that he’d promised to cut back his long hours after the first of the year. Before they’d gotten far she’d turned and motioned Trace to follow them as they’d made their way to Tori’s room.

* * * *

Trace sat in the chair next to Tori’s bed holding her small left hand in both of his and stroked her ring finger absently as he talked to her despite her unconscious state. “Princess, I am so sorry I wasn’t with you, I should have been there to protect you. I’ll never forget the terror I felt when I knew someone had taken you. I swear to you I lost at least a decade, hell maybe two, off my life in that moment.” He took several deep breaths trying to center himself before he could continue. “You really need to come back to me, princess, I need to explain some things to you - mainly that I wasn’t trying to ignore you or gain distance. Quite the opposite actually.” He chuckled softly at the irony of the whole thing.

“I was trying to set up everything for an elaborate proposal. I want you to be my wife, and I had this whole romantic scenario worked out, and I was getting the ring from a fellow club member who is a jeweler…and…fuck…I’m so sorry.” He laid his head on his forearm and just let the tears fall.

He hoped that there was at least some small part of Tori that had been listening. That on some level of her consciousness Tori had been tuned into him, and she would have heard his desperate words. He asked her to fight her way back to him and when she finally squeezed his fingers the feeling of relieve that washed through him almost took his breath away. He froze and searched her sweet face for any flicker of response.

Watching as she seemed to make a Herculean effort to open her eyes he simply waited. When she finally got them to flutter open, she quickly closed them and he heard her soft groan of pain. The sound tore at his heart and brought him to his feet. “Hang on, baby, I’ll get the nurse.”

Just as he reached for the door, he heard her pleading words. “No, please don’t leave me.” Trace quickly shouted out the door without leaving the room and was back at her side within a few seconds. He was grateful that as soon as she’d felt his fingers softly caressing the sides of her face, she sighed. She looked so contented and relaxed. She seemed to have slipped back in to a drowsy state between sleep and awake. He couldn’t say as he blamed her, no doubt that was easier than dealing with the flood of people who’d come storming in to the room.