Chapter Ten
Linc continued to drive the road, searching for any sign of where the vehicle holding Carly might have pulled off the highway. But the rain had returned, become a steady downpour, and any tracks that might have shown up had been washed away.
“We aren’t going to find her,” Ross said. “We need to call the sheriff, get some deputies out to help with the search.”
Linc’s insides tightened. Deep down, his gut was telling him that getting the cops involved was exactly the wrong thing to do. But Ross was right. He couldn’t just leave her out there. He had to do something and he had to do it soon.
He slowed, turned the truck around, and headed back toward Carly’s pickup. Frank was there in case she returned. Linc wanted to take a last look around before he called Howler—before he put Carly’s life in the hands of a man he didn’t trust.
He pushed down on the accelerator, worry gnawing at his insides. He should have handled things differently, found a way to convince her of the danger. She was his responsibility. He’d given Joe his word.
“Slow down,” Ross said. “There’s someone walking on the road up ahead.”
He braked a little, spotted the lone figure moving along the edge of the pavement in the direction of the pickup, head down against the rain, hands jammed into the pockets of a pair of rain-soaked jeans. The headlights outlined a woman he recognized immediately. Linc slid to a halt behind her, jammed the truck into PARK, jumped down, and started running.
“Carly!”
She turned at the sound of her name, realized who had called out to her, and started running toward him. “Linc!” She reached him, collided with his chest, and his arms went hard around her.
“Carly. Honey, are you okay?” He was shaking. He didn’t know if it was relief or fear.
A sob escaped. Her fingers curled into the nylon jacket he was wearing over his T-shirt. She buried her face in his chest and just hung on.
He cradled the back of her head. “It’s okay, honey. Everything’s okay.”
Carly looked up, stared into his face, and for the first time seemed to realize what was going on. “I’m . . . I’m wet and . . . and muddy. I’ll ruin your clothes.”
He pulled her closer. “I don’t care about my damned clothes. Just tell me you’re okay.”
She swallowed and nodded. “I’m . . . I’m all right.”
He didn’t let go, just scooped her up in his arms, and started striding back to his truck. Her body softened against him and he prayed she was telling the truth, that whoever had taken her hadn’t hurt her.
Ross slid over behind the steering wheel. Linc climbed in on the passenger side, settled Carly in his lap and turned up the heater, hoping it would stop the shivers running through her body.
“That’s Ross Townsend,” he said, working to stay calm. “He’s the P.I. you talked to on the phone.”
Ross flicked her a glance. “Glad you’re okay, Ms. Drake.”
“It’s . . . it’s just Carly.” She returned her attention to Linc. “It was El Jefe. You were right. I should have listened to you.”
“I don’t want to be right. I just want you safe.”
For several moments, she let herself rest against his chest. As the shaking began to ease, she sat up and slid off his lap, onto the seat beside him. “I need to tell you what happened, but first I . . . I’ve got to get my truck. It’s just . . . it’s only a little ways down the road.”
“We’ll pick it up tomorrow,” he said.
“Please, I just . . . I want to go home, Linc, please.”
He looked down at her, saw that her bottom lip was puffy in one corner, and a wave of fury hit him. He wanted to know what the hell had happened, what the hell was going on. He wanted to make sure nothing like this happened to her again.
“You heard the lady,” he said to Ross. “Take her back to her pickup. You can drive it back to her house and Frank can follow you.” He didn’t mention that once he got there, he’d be staying with Carly while Frank drove Ross back to the ranch.
Ross put the GMC in gear and headed down the road.
A few minutes later, after only a minor protest, Carly was belted into the passenger seat of his truck, Linc back behind the wheel. Ross and Frank followed in the F-150 and Frank’s Chevy Malibu.
The rain picked up again, battering the windshield as he drove back toward Iron Springs. The slap, slap of the wipers filled the quiet inside the cab.
Carly remained silent.
Worried, Linc started talking, telling her how they had found her, hoping his words would somehow make things easier.
“After you left Frank at the market, he decided to stop by your house, make sure you’d gotten home okay. When you didn’t show up, he went back to the Stop and Shop and tracked you from there. He found your pickup on the side of the road, but you weren’t in it so he called Townsend, who’s staying at the ranch. Ross and I went back to your truck and started trying to track you from there.”
She looked up at him. “I’m glad you didn’t call the sheriff. If the cops had shown up . . .” She let the sentence trail off, went back to staring out the window.
“That’s the reason I didn’t call. I was afraid it would only make things worse for you.”
She leaned back in the seat, kept her eyes fixed on the beads of rain rolling down the glass.
“They took my gun,” she said softly. “I got off a few shots, but there were four of them. They pinned me down and the shots went wild.”
He clamped down on his temper. If she realized how upset he really was, it would only make things worse. “Where did they take you?”
“I don’t know. I was blindfolded. The only thing I know about El Jefe is he wears thousand-dollar high-top sneakers and they were at least a size twelve.”
“So you never got a look at him.”
“No. But the guy has kind of a deep raspy voice and he speaks with a Spanish accent. I remember his feet pointed in like he was slightly pigeon-toed.”
“He hit you?” he asked, making the question sound casual when he was feeling exactly the opposite.
“He slapped me a few times to make his point.”
His hands tightened around the wheel. “Which was?”
“He wants Drake Trucking to start working for him. We’re supposed to haul his goods—whatever they are—take them wherever he wants them taken. No questions asked. In return, he pays me a boatload of money.”
“And if you don’t do it?”
“He didn’t say exactly, but I’m guessing he kills me.”
* * *
Carly let Linc help her out of the truck and walk her into the house. He checked the place over while Ross Townsend parked her pickup in the garage and drove off with Frank.
“Nobody here,” Linc said. “Doesn’t look like there has been.”
“I think they’ll leave me alone for a while.” She crossed the living room to the front door. She needed him to leave. She needed to get herself together. “I really appreciate everything you did tonight. You’ve been a good friend, Linc. Grandpa Joe would be very grateful.”
She started to open the door, but Linc pushed it closed.
“Why don’t you go in and take a shower? Get cleaned up and go to bed? I’ll sleep out here on the sofa.”
She started shaking her head. “You don’t have to do that. Those guys aren’t coming back tonight. El Jefe delivered his message loud and clear. You can go home. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not leaving, Carly. Not tonight. I need to be here. I need to be sure you’re okay.”
There was something in those green eyes she couldn’t read. Worry, perhaps? Regret that he hadn’t been able to protect her?
She reached toward him, set her palm against his cheek, felt the roughness of his late-night beard. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Linc, I really do, but—”
“I’m staying,” he said, and all the soft feelings those green eyes summoned flew right out the window.
“You’re leaving and that’s the end of it.” She took a couple of steps and jerked open the door.
Linc slammed it closed. “I’m staying. I have to be back in Dallas in the morning. Tonight I’m staying right here.”
She jammed her hands on her hips. “Damn you, I can’t do this! Not tonight!” Her eyes welled. “Don’t you understand? I can’t have you here, not after what happened!”
He reached out and caught her shoulders. “You said he didn’t hurt you. You said—”
“He didn’t hurt me! He just scared the hell out of me! I’m still scared! That’s why I need you to leave!”
“You aren’t making any sense.”
A sob escaped. She turned away from him and walked into the kitchen, her eyes glazed with tears. She felt him come up behind her, ease her back against his chest. She wanted to turn around and just burrow into him, feel those big hard arms go around her, hear him tell her she was safe.
“What is it?” Linc asked softly. “Tell me.”
She turned and looked up at him, wiped tears from her cheeks. “You’re so strong, so damned big and capable. Whenever you’re around, I turn into a helpless, crying female. I just want to hand all my troubles over to you and let you take care of them, take care of me. I hate myself for it. I won’t be that person. I’ve worked too hard learning to take care of myself.”
“I’ve got broad shoulders, Carly. Taking a little of the weight off yours doesn’t bother me.”
“It bothers me, Linc! I don’t want to be dependent on you or anyone else!”
His jaw hardened. “Unless you’re willing to call the sheriff and have me thrown out, I’m staying. Tomorrow I’m setting up a protection detail—a real one this time. You’ll have a bodyguard twenty-four/seven. I promised your grandfather. I won’t break my word.”
Frustration rolled through her, along with a shot of temper. Her hand flew back. She took a swing at his too-handsome face, but it never connected. Instead, he caught her wrist and didn’t let go. The heat of his fingers, the calluses she didn’t expect to feel, made her nipples tighten. He was so close, she could see the gold around the pupils in his eyes.
His nostrils flared. His eyes locked with hers and her breathing went ragged. She wanted to kiss him even more than she wanted to hit him.
He drew her closer, until their bodies were touching full length. Her breath caught at the feel of the hard ridge beneath his zipper, the knowledge that he was as fiercely aroused as she.
“We . . . we can’t do this,” she whispered.
For several long moments they just stood there staring at each other, both of them breathing too fast. Then Linc let her go and stepped back out of her space.
“Go take your shower,” he said softly. “Get out of those wet clothes and get warmed up. Tonight I’ll sleep on the sofa. Tomorrow we’ll work this out, find a way to compromise, okay?”
She swallowed. Her lip throbbed; her body hurt all over. She felt like crying again.
He reached up and touched her cheek. “We’ll talk things over, come up with a solution. You can trust me to make this right, Carly.”
She finally nodded. Turning away, she started down the hall. He was Lincoln Cain. He’d made a fortune at the bargaining table. He knew how to handle people, knew how to get whatever he wanted. He knew she was attracted to him. He could use that attraction to manipulate her, bend her to his will.
And yet she trusted him. Aside from Grandpa Joe, more than any man she had ever known.
Carly thought of him in her living room, six-foot-five-inches, two hundred plus pounds of pure male muscle watching over her.
No matter what she’d told him, it was good to feel that at least for tonight she was safe.
* * *
Linc punched the uncomfortable pillow he’d found in the hall closet and stuffed it beneath his head. He was too long for the sofa, which was old and lumpy at best. Sometime during the night, he’d heard soft footsteps, realized it was Carly bringing him a blanket, draping it over him while she thought he was asleep.
He’d caught a few hours off and on, not enough. At least there hadn’t been any more trouble.
He thought about what she’d said, that she refused to be the person who needed someone to take care of her, that she’d worked too hard learning to take care of herself.
He knew her story, that her mother had been a junkie who had died of an overdose when Carly was ten. Joe had taken her in and raised her. Both his daughters had been fragile women, unable to cope with life, Joe had said. According to Joe, both were now dead.
Joe had taught Carly to be self-reliant, to make her way in the world without him—or anyone else.
Linc smiled darkly. When it came to El Jefe, Joe’s careful planning had backfired. Carly needed help but she was determined not to take it.
The rain had stopped hours ago. Gray light filtered in through the living room curtains, brightening the dingy room. Linc rolled off the sofa, pulled his jeans on over his briefs, and padded down the hall to the bathroom at the end.
Returning to the kitchen a few minutes later, he spotted the coffeemaker on the counter and went to work brewing a pot.
He had to get going. His pilot would be picking him up at the ranch in a little over an hour. The coffee began to brew, dripping into the carafe, giving off that robust, first-cup aroma.
He found a couple of mugs and set them on the counter, glanced up to see Carly walking down the hall in a pair of boxer brief pajama bottoms that showed off her long, sexy legs. A tank top shifted softly over the fullness of her breasts while a tangle of long blond waves cascaded around her shoulders.
He thought of what had almost happened last night and desire flared hot and thick in his blood.
As she neared the kitchen, Carly spotted him in front of the counter and jerked as if she’d awakened from a trance. Her big blue eyes ran over his bare chest, over the tat on his bicep, down to the bulge in his jeans. He felt the contact like a cattle prod, making him even harder.
“I-I need a shower,” she said, then turned and started back down the hall in the opposite direction.
He needed a shower himself, a long, ice-cold one, but he didn’t have time right now. “Give me a minute before you go. I’ve got to get back to Dallas. I’d appreciate if we could talk for a minute before I leave.”
She took a deep breath, turned around, and walked into the living room, plunked down in a chair. “What is it?”
When he grabbed his T-shirt and dragged it on, Carly seemed to relax. Linc sat down across from her. “How long has it been since you’ve had a day off ?”
A smile touched her lips. “You mean since I’ve been back in Texas? Let me see . . . if you count Granddad’s funeral—one.”
“That’s what I thought. I have to go back to Dallas, but I don’t have to stay. I was thinking maybe you could come with me. I chopper in and out so it only takes a few minutes to get there. As soon as I wrap up my business, we can come back here.”
“What am I supposed to do while you’re working? I can’t go shopping—I don’t have any money. Even if I did, I don’t need any clothes. Besides, I have a lot of work to do at the office.”
“You could take some of it with you. We’d set you up at a desk somewhere. You’d get a little break from Iron Springs and I’d feel better knowing you’re safe.”
She sat forward in the chair and he forced himself not to stare at the soft mounds beneath the tank top. He clenched his hands into fists to keep from reaching out to cup them.
“What about tomorrow, Linc, and the day after that? You can’t protect me every minute.”
“Maybe not completely, but if . . .” He paused when she narrowed her eyes as if she saw the blow coming.
“If what?” she asked.
“If you stayed out at the ranch, you’d be a helluva lot safer than you are here.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you crazy? I can’t just move in with you.”
“The house is fifteen thousand square feet, Carly. It wouldn’t be like we were living together. All the bedrooms are suites. We wouldn’t even have to see each other. The thing is, the property’s gated and there’s security twenty-four/seven.”
She started shaking her head.
“A lot of people stay there. Ross Townsend stayed at the house last night.” He reached over and caught her hand. The contact speared heat into his groin. A flush rose in Carly’s face and spread across her chest.
Linc let go of her hand but kept talking. “I’m asking this as a favor. I made a promise. I need you to help me keep it.”
He glanced around the dingy, worn-out living room. Back in the day, Joe could have afforded to remodel if he’d wanted, but after Carly left, he was comfortable with the place the way it was.
“There’s a swimming pool,” he said, hoping to tempt her. “And a couple of smaller heated pools. There’s a Jacuzzi tub in every guest suite. I’ll have the chef come in and take care of meals. You could think of it as a mini vacation.”
She eyed him across the space between them. She’d cleared a lot of stuff out of the house and painted the kitchen, but even fixed up, it was no Blackland Ranch. What woman wouldn’t enjoy a few days of living in undeniable luxury?
“You’d still be working in Dallas, right?” she said.
“Not this week, but next week, yes.” Unless he needed to be closer, but he didn’t say that.
“And I could still go to work every day?”
“I’d want you to have some kind of personal protection, but yes, you could definitely go to work or anywhere else you wanted to go.”
She sighed. “Even if I agree, it doesn’t solve the problem. What am I going to do about El Jefe? The man expects me to join his criminal empire. God only knows what he wants me to do. Whatever it is, if I do it, I could go to prison. If I don’t, I could end up dead.”
“Come to Dallas. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but we need to talk them over, and right now I have to leave. Will you come with me?”
Carly hesitated too long to suit him, then sighed and slowly stood up from the chair. “All right, but I need a few minutes to get ready. Once you’re back in Dallas, you’ll be Lincoln Cain, hotshot millionaire. I don’t want to look like one of your poor relations.”
Linc chuckled. “Take your time.” He needed to get to the office, but he’d find a way to make it work. He didn’t tell her his meeting this morning was with the governor.
He didn’t want her to change her mind.