Mountain Rescue, page 23
He was too close. She darted to the right, then a few minutes later to the left. She had to lose him. The sound of his footsteps faded, but she didn’t celebrate. He wouldn’t give up until he found her.
She slid down, planting her butt on the ground behind a boulder and tried to catch her breath without wheezing and giving away her position. If only she had her phone so she could call Dallas. He and the guys were at the other cabin, waiting for Robert to show up, having no idea that he had found her.
A baseball-size rock poked into her leg, and she pushed it aside. At this point, Robert probably wouldn’t bother raping her before just shooting her. Not being raped would be a blessing if he did manage to kill her, but she had no intention of dying.
Think, Rachel. Realizing she still had the blade in her hand, she slid it back in its slot as she tried to come up with a plan to save herself.
“Where are you, bitch?” he yelled.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Come out now, and I won’t torture you.”
Yeah, right. She was already lost and didn’t know which way the cabin was. If she ran deeper into the woods, she could become lost forever, wandering around until she died of thirst or a bear ate her. The guys didn’t even know she was missing, and even if they did, they didn’t know where she was. The only way out of this was to go on the attack. To surprise him. She looked at her paracord bracelet, then at the rock she’d tossed aside as an idea formed. It could work.
She scanned the area around her, her gaze landing on two trees about four feet apart. Pushing up, she grabbed the rock before running to the trees. This had to work, she thought as she unraveled the paracord. She wrapped the line about two feet from the ground around the first tree, then hurried to the second one and tied the ends of the paracord together.
Timing was going to be everything, and as she positioned herself a few feet behind the cord next to the boulder, she squeezed her hand around the rock and tried to calm her breathing.
“Where the hell are you?” Robert called out. “The longer I have to chase you, the worse it’s going to be for you.” He was close now.
She blew out a long breath, then called on all her acting skills. “Oomph.” She dropped to her knees. “Damn, that hurt,” she cried out, revealing her location.
As soon as Robert appeared, she kept her body behind the boulder as she peeked around it. “Please. You don’t have to do this.” His eyes, so full of evil, stayed on her face as he stepped toward her. She’d counted on that, on him not looking down.
“By the time I’m done with you, doll, you’re going to beg me to kill you.” He had his gun down at his side as he started for her, and she kept her eyes on it. If he lifted it and pointed it her, she’d start running again. When he was only feet from her trip line, she ducked behind the rock, hoping he’d think she’d taken off.
“Fucking bitch!”
She peeked around the boulder. Yes, he was chasing her.
“Aghh.”
The second she heard him crash to the ground, she stepped around the boulder, took aim, and threw the rock as hard as she could, hitting him in the head. Who knew having to learn to throw a spear accurately in one of her movies would pay off in a way she’d never expected? Go her!
Before he had a chance to recover, she raced to the gun he’d dropped and picked it up. He wasn’t moving, but she wasn’t about to check for a pulse. Not taking her eyes off him, she backed up until she was out of his reach.
Now what? She couldn’t leave him out here and chance he’d get away again. If she knew for sure he was out cold, she’d tie him up with her paracord line, but that would mean getting close to him. What if he was faking it?
“I should just shoot you and be done with it,” she said. He groaned. Okay, not dead. That was too bad, but she couldn’t bring herself to shoot him even though he deserved it.
Robert groaned again, then rolled over. When he saw her, he sat up. “Your death is going to be slow and painful.”
She held the gun in front of her with both hands the way she’d learned to do when handling a weapon in the movies. “Shut up, or I swear, I’ll shoot you.”
He laughed. “You don’t have it in you to kill someone, doll.”
“Maybe not, but I do,” Dallas said, walking into view, his gun aimed at Robert.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You okay, sugar?” Dallas was asking her that question entirely too often because of this bastard. He called on every bit of his discipline to keep from shooting Hargrove and then scooping Rachel up in his arms, never letting her go. Keeping his weapon trained on Hargrove, he stepped next to her.
Bella had led him straight to them, and when he’d heard their voices before getting eyes on them, he’d had to force himself to not rush in and reveal his presence. If Hargrove knew he was here, Dallas didn’t want to think what the man would do. Well, he knew what Hargrove would have done. He’d have killed her.
When she’d goaded Hargrove into chasing her, his heart had about stopped. From his vantage point, he couldn’t see the trip line she’d rigged, and he’d taken aim, ready to take Hargrove down. Before he could fire, the man had fallen on his face. Then Rachel had bashed him in the head with a perfectly aimed rock. He chuckled. His girl had a thing about braining people.
“No, I’m not okay. Take this, please.”
She held the gun out, and he took it from her shaking hand. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”
“Not going to argue that, but I’m done with being amazing, okay?”
She would always be amazing to him. He stuck the gun she gave him into his waistband but kept his pointed at Hargrove, then wrapped an arm around her and tucked her against his side. “I don’t think she likes him,” he said, lifting his chin toward Bella, who was busy growling at Hargrove.
“Smart dog. So, what do we do with him?”
He glanced down at her, noticing for the first time the cut and purple bruise on her swollen cheek. “What’s this? He do that do you?”
“Yeah, when he tried to shoot me but hit the tree in front of me instead. A piece of bark got me.”
“Can I kill him?”
She leaned her head against his chest. “Tempting, but I don’t think you’d look good in orange.”
Hargrove groaned as he pushed to his feet. He gave Bella a wary look, then his eyes slid to Rachel. Dallas wanted to kill the bastard if for no other reason than the way he looked at her.
His gaze landed on Dallas. “A million dollars if you let me walk away.”
Dallas snorted. “You’re going to walk all right, but it’s going to be straight to prison.” Between his trust fund, his investments, his share in the ranch, and his bank account, he was worth considerably more than a measly million. But even if he didn’t have a penny to his name, he wouldn’t touch the man’s money. He’d just as soon send Hargrove to hell.
“Two million.”
“Not interested. Start walking. If you try to run, I’ll shoot you, then let Bella have at you.” He took Rachel’s hand.
They’d only taken a few steps when she grunted. “Sorry. My feet are a little sore.”
He glanced down at her bare feet. “Where are your shoes?”
“I couldn’t run in sandals.” She lifted a foot, showing him the bottom. The sole was torn up and bleeding.
“Are you sure I can’t kill him?”
“Still tempting, but no.”
“You’re no fun.” He turned. “Climb on my back.”
“I can walk, just not fast.”
She wasn’t walking out of here on those feet. “On my back, sugar.” She sighed as if he was being unreasonable but slid her arms over his neck. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”
When they came around the corner of the cabin, Jack was leaning against the hood of his car, next to Deke. A dark blue car was parked behind Jack’s that he pegged as a typical detective’s vehicle. As they walked toward the men, a police cruiser pulled up and parked.
He poked Hargrove in the back with the barrel of his gun. “I do believe your chariot has arrived.”
Hargrove came to a sudden stop, turned, and glared past him at Rachel. “You should sleep with one eye open, bitch, because the day will come when you’ll be sorry you interfered in my business.”
Blood red rage tinged Dallas’s vision. He pried Rachel’s legs from around his waist and pulled her hands away from his neck, easing her down, then let his fist fly, sending the bastard to the ground.
He put his booted foot on Hargrove’s chest and pressed hard as he leaned over the man’s face. “You fucking come near her, you send anyone else to do your dirty work, it will be the last thing on this earth that you do.” He dug the heel of his boot into Hargrove’s chest. “If you’re wondering if that’s a threat or a promise, it’s both.”
“He’s assaulting me.” Hargrove looked over at Jack and Deke. “You saw that. I want him arrested.”
Jack and Deke eyed each other. “What’s he talking about? I didn’t see anything,” Jack said.
Deke shrugged. “Beats me.” He glanced at the uniformed officer who’d come to stand next to them. “You see an assault happen here, Mike?”
With a puzzled expression on his face, the officer said, “Huh?” Then he looked at Rachel and winked.
Her giggle was a mighty fine thing to hear. He walked away from Hargrove. “He’s all yours.”
Rachel decided she was a bad, bad person for taking pleasure in watching Dallas punch Robert. But whatever. It was peanuts compared to what Robert planned to do to her.
The police officer and Deke got Robert up, handcuffed him, put him in the back of the cruiser, and then the officer got in the car and drove away. Bella circled her, sniffing her, and Rachel kneeled. She laughed as she wrapped her arms around the dog and buried her face in Bella’s fur.
“You okay, Rachel?” Jack said, stepping in front of her.
“No, she is not,” Dallas answered for her. “Her jaw is purple, and her feet are ripped to shreds.”
“I’ll live.” She stood and fluttered her fingers at Deke as he joined them. “Hi, Deke. Fancy meeting you here.”
He smiled. “Let’s try not to make it a habit.”
She was all for that.
Dallas glanced at her. “I’d really like to get her feet taken care of, and her jaw has to be hurting.”
“Take pictures of her face and feet,” Deke said. “We’re going to need a statement. Can you come down to the station later today?”
“You bet. Whatever it takes to make sure Robert stays in jail.” For his entire life, she prayed.
“Great. Jack’s got my number. Just give me a call when you’re headed my way. I’m really glad Dallas got to you before Hargrove had a chance to hurt you worse than he did.”
Dallas grinned at her. “I had nothing to do with it, man. By the time I found her, she had Hargrove knocked out on the ground, his gun in her hand.”
A warm feeling traveled through her at the pride for her she heard in his voice.
Both Jack and Deke raised their eyebrows. “I gotta hear this story,” Jack said.
“Well, it started...oomph,” she muttered when Dallas scooped her up.
“If you’re going to tell us what happened, you’re going to do it sitting down.” He carried her to the porch and lowered her to a rocking chair. “Now you can talk.” He leaned back against the porch rail, Jack and Deke doing the same.
“Okay, it started with Robert kicking the front door of your cabin in.” All three men eyed the splintered door with identical scowls on their faces, and that made her grin. Now that it was over, she was feeling pretty pleased with herself. By the time she finished her story, all three of them were wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
“Badass,” Deke said.
Jack shook his head. “Remind me never to mess with you.”
Dallas laughed. “Yeah, don’t piss off a wildcat. Right now, though, she needs a little doctoring. We’ll call when she’s ready to come make her statement.”
“Now that Hargrove and his men are in custody, I’m going to get my wife and bring her home,” Jack said. “Why don’t y’all plan on coming over after you finish with the police? We’ll throw some burgers on the grill.” He glanced at Deke. “You and Heather should come over, too.”
“We will if she’s up to it. I’ll let you know.”
“His wife is due any day now,” Jack told Dallas.
“Overdue, actually, and she’s past ready for that little boy to show his self,” Deke said as the two of them headed for their vehicles. “I’ll send someone to get Hargrove’s car.”
Jack lifted a hand and waved. “And I’ll call Noah and tell him to get the cabin door replaced.”
“You good with dinner at Jack’s?” Dallas said, picking her up after they drove away.
“What are you doing? I can walk.”
“And I can make sure you don’t have to. I promised you a date tonight, so if you want to go out, just us, I’ll tell Jack we have other plans. Or after what you went through today, would you rather stay at the cabin tonight? I’ll cook for you.”
“I’m good with dinner at Jack’s, but maybe we don’t hang around after we eat.” She actually would prefer to stay in with him, especially since she’d be leaving soon, but she also wanted to see Nichole.
“That works. You really were amazing today, but don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I’ll try not to. How did you know to come look for me?”
“Hargrove’s man told me Ebers put a tracker on the Jeep. That meant he knew we’d moved to this cabin. All I could think was, what if I didn’t find you before...” He shook his head as if he couldn’t finish that thought, then stared down at her, his emotions fully open to her for the first time since she’d met him.
Did he even realize he was letting her see the depth of his fear when he didn’t know what Robert might have done to her? She put her hand on his cheek. “Hey, I’m safe, and it’s over. He’ll rot in prison, and that will be the worst punishment for a man like him.” She sure hoped that would be the outcome. “You can put me down now.”
The ghost of a smile appeared as he stared down at her. “I could, but I won’t.” He carried her straight to the bathroom and lowered her to the counter.
“First, I have to do this.” His mouth crashed down on hers, his hands landed on her hips, and he pushed his body between her legs.
He kissed her as if he was a starving man, and she was the meal that would sustain his life. He wasn’t gentle, and she didn’t want gentle. After almost dying, she needed his raw hunger. He made her feel alive. His tongue tangled with hers...no, they fought, their two tongues. A feverish battle of wills.
She put her hands on his jeans and fumbled for the button. “Need you,” she murmured against his mouth.
“Let me take care of your feet first.”
“Later. I need you now, Dallas, so much.” She needed him to make her forget, to erase the image of Robert telling her to get on her knees.
A growl deep from his throat was her only answer. He broke the kiss, yanked his shirt over his head, and then her shirt and bra were next to go. Their jeans, his boxer briefs, and her panties quickly followed.
“Wow. You’re good at that clothes removal stuff. You learn that in SEAL school or from cowboying?”
He laughed. “It’s all about motivation, sugar, and you have me very motivated.” His expression sobered. “Are you sure about this? After what you’ve been—”
She put her fingers over his lips. “Make me forget.”
“Thinking of him having his hands on you isn’t something I want to remember either.”
“Let’s forget together then.” He picked up the condom, and she took it from him. “Let me.”
“With pleasure.”
It was hot the way he watched her put the condom on him, and as he slid inside her, his eyes never left hers, and in their depths, she saw desire and something else. She wanted to believe it was love she saw, or at least, the beginning of love.
He wrapped his hand around her neck. “I can’t go easy, Rachel. Not now.”
“I don’t want easy. Not today.” She needed that raw hunger she’d seen on his face when he’d torn off their clothes. At hearing her answer, he seemed to surrender to whatever this thing between them was.
That thrilled her because he’d been closed off to her particular talent until recently. It had to mean that he was healing, that he was done with hiding. She didn’t think he even knew he’d closed himself off from the world, from his friends and family. There was nothing more she wanted than to see him happy. She wanted that more than she wanted her own happiness.
Was that love?
His mouth came down on hers, his tongue found hers, he dug his fingers into the skin of her hips, and then he plunged deep inside her. As his thrusts grew faster, harder, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck. He made a strangled noise when she clenched her core muscles around him.
“Aah. Good, Rachel. Feels so damn good.”
She did it again, and he went wild. Pleasure grew inside her, building until she couldn’t contain it anymore, and she screamed his name. His body stilled, a great shudder traveled through him, then he buried his face against her neck, and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.
“Wow,” she said between gasps for breath. She rested her head on his chest and listened to the pounding of his heart.
He chuckled, his lips vibrating on her skin. “Yeah, wow.”
Would he miss her when she left, and how long would it take her to stop missing him? She’d admitted to herself that this was a man she could love, but she was afraid her heart had taken that as a green light to belong to him. What if she never stopped missing him?
