Читать книгу Desert Ice Daddy - Dana Marton - Страница 7

One look at the thunder on Akeem’s face told Taylor she better head off conflict while she could. “Would you mind checking on the officers to make sure everything’s okay in there?”

“You want me to keep them out of this?”

She watched his handsome face harden as Gary kept calling for her outside. Gary could be difficult to handle when he was like this, and Akeem had never been good at suffering fools. She didn’t need a fight on her hands. “Please,” she said.

“And you want me to keep myself out of it.” Akeem held her gaze, then nodded after another second. “Of course,” he said, already walking out the door.

The tension in her shoulders relaxed a little. He wouldn’t cause any problems for her. When had he ever not done as she’d asked him? She could only think of one extremely embarrassing occasion, when she’d turned nineteen and gone to a clam bake at a friend’s house that morphed into a keg party. She’d come home, wasted, in the middle off the night, snuck into the guest bedroom and practically begged Akeem to take her virginity. He’d been visiting Flint to strategize some deal they were putting together.

Not only had he said no—emphatically—but he ran. He was gone by the time everyone got up in the morning, with some business-emergency excuse to Flint. They were wheeling and dealing even back then, in college.

She always traced the awkwardness that had entered their easy friendship back to that night. And she found now that she could still blush at the memory.

She rubbed her hands over her face before calling out an “In here” and watching through the open door as the two men passed and measured each other up in the yard.

They were nothing alike. Gary was blond, Akeem darker in coloring. Gary was the taller of the two but Akeem much better built. Gary had on a stained, olive-green T-shirt with equally stained blue jeans. Akeem wore suit pants with a crisp, white shirt—had probably come from work. But the main difference was in their faces, in their eyes that reflected the essence of each. Gary’s gaze was hazy, anger deepening the lines of his face, his mouth set in a leer, his chest puffed out. Akeem’s stance conveyed effortless power, his gaze holding concern for her as he glanced back.

She put on her “I’m fine here” smile. One dark eyebrow slid up his forehead, but then he nodded again as if to say “As you wish” and kept going.

She closed the door behind Gary the second he stepped over the threshold. Just in time.

“Who the hell is that? Your new boyfriend? What is he, Mexican? Ain’t there a border patrol looking for him someplace?” He laughed at his own joke, smelling of cigarette smoke and beer.

“One of Flint’s friends. Just trying to help.” She backed into the room, putting a small table between them that held a handful of flyers for the next open day at the ranch, and two coffee mugs that had been left out. When the alarm had been raised about Christopher being missing, everyone had rushed out to help.

“The pigs in the kitchen say Chris is still missin’. Shouldn’t have never let you take ‘im. What in hell was more important than watchin’ my boy? Playing with your Mexican friend?”

She knew better than to respond to his accusation when he was like this. Her gaze landed on the mugs. “I’m making coffee. Would you like some?”

He took a step forward, none too steady on his feet.

When had he changed from the charming, full-of-life rodeo cowboy to the bitter man he was now, one who regularly got drunk by noon? Once upon a time, he’d been her knight in shining armor, or so she’d thought.

He’d dazzled her with his larger-than-life personality, his outrageous courting and endless promises. Having just inherited money from his father, he’d shown her a side of life she had never known. He’d showered her with gifts and attention when Flint was one hundred percent focused on building a business out of nothing, and Akeem, the man she had a major crush on, always kept himself frustratingly out of reach.

Gary had introduced her to the fast life, and they had been happy for a while. By the time she figured out that they weren’t as much in love with each other as they’d thought, Christopher was on his way. Then Gary had run out of his father’s money and had no idea how to make more. The drinking began. When Flint had become more and more successful, the demands for her brother’s money started. And when after a while she refused, hatred and verbal abuse followed. Then more.

“I miss you, you know,” he said with drunk melancholy and walked around the table, put on that rodeo cowboy smile that used to make her heart beat faster, flashed those strong teeth.

She turned to the coffeepot, hoping some caffeine would sober him up.

“If your brother helped us, we could make it together. We should try again, babe.” He pressed against her back and put his hands on her waist. “We could make that little girl you wanted.”

She slipped out of his hold, away from the stench of stale beer on his breath. “Why don’t you sit down? I’ll get you a cup.”

He followed her to the cupboard, looked around. “We can even live here, if you want to be close to your family. Flint would put up a decent house for you if you asked.”

Here we go again. She put the dirty dishes into the sink in the corner and set the two clean cups on the table. If Gary was willing to move to the ranch, that meant he must have run up enough debt to have to worry about losing his house. She felt sorry for him, but she knew now that she couldn’t help him. God knew, she had tried. Truth was, nobody could help him until he was ready to help himself, until he was willing to acknowledge his problems.

Gary didn’t want help to kick his beer habit. All he wanted was money. Flint’s money, to be more specific.

“I know you miss me, babe.” He grabbed her from behind and crushed her to his chest, dipping his mouth to her neck.

His touch was…irritating. She had trouble remembering a time when it had made her feel anything but disappointed that she had fallen for his seduction in the first place. She’d been young and naïve. Time had cured her of both those problems.

She pushed away, had to put effort into working herself loose. She turned to make sure he would see in her eyes how serious she was. “We’re divorced, Gary. I’m not coming back.”

“Why the hell not?” Anger melted the smile off his face. “You screwing someone else?” His voice rose. “That Mexican?”

She tamped down her anger and frustration. She so didn’t need this right now.

“I was generous letting you have the boy.” His blue eyes flashed. “But you ain’t takin’ too good care of him. Maybe when they find him, I’ll take him home with me.”

Her heart clenched, a brand-new wave of fear obliterating all other emotion. She’d been given sole custody, but only because Gary agreed. If he brought it to a fight…

She would smile if it killed her. “Please.” She tried to placate him, the role she’d grown into over the years.

And not for the first time, she considered that maybe she should have been fighting all along. Maybe she should be yelling back that he’d given up Christopher only because he didn’t feel like taking care of him. He didn’t want to be staying home instead of hitting the bars, didn’t feel like giving up his beer money to support his son. But she had, from the beginning, always chosen the path of backing down, of accommodation, because giving Christopher a home with as much peace and normalcy as possible had always been her first priority. So she had compromised, had put on a good face and covered up for Gary as much as she’d been able to.

“Please,” she said again. “We agreed. You don’t have time to watch him. You’re looking for a job. I’ll ask Flint to help.” Preferably out of state. “Please.”

“Please like hell!” he shouted and grabbed the end of the table, sending the two mugs crashing to the floor, tipping the table after them.

The door slammed open the next second, startling her worse than the table had. She had expected that. But she hadn’t expected Akeem, who stood in the doorway with the sun at his back. His gaze went to Gary first, then to her.

“You need any help in here?” He stepped inside, his shoulders held rigid, his jaw tight.

A whole new level of tension filled the air as she looked between the two.

A dangerous glint was coming into Gary’s eyes as he stepped forward. “Yeah. You can help by getting the hell out of my business and staying the hell away from my woman.”

She could smell the fighting hormones in the air and couldn’t fully trust the men to control themselves. “Just bumped into the table. It was an accident.” She stepped between the two.

Akeem said nothing, just straightened the table then squatted for the china shards, placing them in his palm. It appeared that, for her sake, he wasn’t going to push the situation, but he wasn’t going to leave her alone with Gary again, either.

Which meant that Gary shouldn’t stay. She couldn’t count on him not to pick a fight, and she couldn’t handle that now on top of everything else. But she couldn’t in good conscience send him home in his car. He was a jerk, but he was Christopher’s father. And even if he weren’t, nobody should drive in his condition. Him not caring about his own life was one thing, but there were others on the road.

She glanced toward the main house through the open door where the cops were probably all set up for whatever call might come in. God, she couldn’t think about that. She pressed the heel of her palm to her sternum. She wanted to stay here, needed to stay here. She took Gary by the elbow. “I’ll get someone to drive you home.”

He shrugged her off. “Like hell,” he muttered and was about to say more, but her cell phone’s sharp ring cut him off.

Everyone went still, the tension doubling in the room, which was a feat, all considered. Her fingers trembled as she flipped the phone open and lifted it to her ear.

“I want you to bring the cash to Route 109, keep driving until further instruction. We’ll be expecting you on Thursday morning, at seven. Come alone or your son dies. Tell anyone and your son dies. Be late and your son dies. Get the picture here?”

Her throat was so tight she could barely say the single word, “Yes.”

Today was Monday, was all she could think. She couldn’t bear the thought of them having Christopher for three more days. He was just a little kid. Didn’t they realize what they were doing to him? Didn’t they know that he might never fully recover from this ordeal? And even three days…

“I don’t think I can get that much money that fast.” She knew for sure, in fact. Flint had money and would give it to her without question—and this once, she wasn’t too proud to ask—but he didn’t keep his money in cash. She knew—she handled his accounts. He kept some cash for emergencies but nowhere near two million dollars. His money was in horses and land, neither of which could be made liquid in a matter of days.

“You want your kid back, you get the damn money!” The man was shouting now.

Then Akeem was there, taking the phone from her before she realized what he was doing. Alarm snapped through her. This was her son, her business. She didn’t trust anyone with this but herself. She grabbed after the phone, missed as he turned. Oh, God. They couldn’t afford to do anything to upset the man on the other end. She clutched Akeem’s arm, scared breathless.

“No, I’m not a cop. I’m your money man. You can have the money today. You tell me where, and I’ll bring the ransom,” he was saying.

She couldn’t hear what the man responded on the other end.

“If you want the money, I’ll drive her.” Akeem’s voice was hard power.

He listened again.

This was so not going to work. Whoever had her son was the one calling the shots. They shouldn’t have done anything to make them angry. If this hurt Christopher, she could never forgive—

“That’s the deal,” Akeem was saying, then after a moment, “Okay. We’ll be there.”

“What happened?” Her hand shook as she reached for the closed phone. The call was over. And once again she hadn’t gotten to ask to speak to her son. She could have cried with frustration and fear.

“The exchange will be tomorrow morning at seven. It’s the best he would agree to,” Akeem said.

She caught her breath at the sudden ray of hope and felt the anger leak out of her. He had somehow worked it so that her son would be home sooner. Still, every minute stretched like an eternity before her, could bring new dangers to Christopher. But sooner was better.

“I’ll drive you.” Concern for her sat in his eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do better. They wouldn’t let me go alone. They want you there.”

She wouldn’t let him go alone, either. Christopher was her son. A minefield couldn’t have kept her away from him. But there were other obstacles.

“The money—”

“Don’t worry about the money.” He dismissed that with a shrug, as if two million dollars was nothing to lose sleep over.

“I’m the father. I’ll be driving. He’s my son. I’ll damn well be there.” Gary had apparently figured out what was going on, and for a moment he even managed to look together and almost heroic. Then a sly look came over his face. “How much money?”

Akeem said nothing, wouldn’t even look at him.

“Two million,” she said because she knew that ignoring him would make him start yelling once again. “We are paying the ransom.” The idea of having that much money and handing it over to someone was still bewildering, but she would have handed over the Gross National Product—if she could get her hands on it—to save her son.

She couldn’t quite believe that Akeem had that kind of cash lying around and was willing to give it to her, but whether swallowing all her pride and accepting it from him or having to beg, steal and borrow—or sell her internal organs to scientific research—she knew she would have that money come morning.

But she had to deal with Gary first. He was the wild card, unpredictable, with a way of always making things more difficult than they had to be. But she would make sure he didn’t mess this up.

“If we go to the police with this, those people will—” She couldn’t bring herself to repeat the threats. She couldn’t even think of them. She firmly fixed a picture of a positive outcome in her mind. That would be the only thing she would allow herself to focus on. “So don’t say anything to anyone. Okay?”

Gary harrumphed, a sullen expression on his face. He didn’t like her taking over like this, as she had known he wouldn’t. He very much insisted on wearing the pants in the family, whether competently or not, and making all decisions. But for once, she couldn’t afford to humor him.

Akeem stepped to the door and held it open. “Let’s get going then. We have plenty to do to get ready. I’ll take Gary home.”

She was so surprised she could hardly move. Instead, she watched them for a second or two.

“I think I…” What she thought was that allowing the two men to leave together was a really bad idea, but she couldn’t say that without getting Gary angry and possibly offending Akeem. She didn’t want to offend Akeem. It was such a relief to have him around, and he was being so incredibly nice. So she looked for an excuse to keep them apart.

But Akeem said “I’m here to help” in that mild voice of his that was full of calm strength and had always worked miracles with even the wildest horses.

Worked on her, too, even now. She let go of trying to control every detail of the situation and reluctantly nodded.

For a moment it looked like Gary might object, but one look from Akeem actually had him complying with only a few muttered curses, miracle of miracles.

He only tossed in one objection, and that only when he was halfway across the yard. “I ain’t leavin’ without my pickup.”

“Yes, you are,” Akeem said in that voice again. “One of Flint’s men will drive it over to your place later.”

Gary’s face was turning red. But even drunk, he seemed to know enough not to pick a fight with Akeem. Or so she hoped. She didn’t breathe easier and believe that he was actually going until he got into Akeem’s car and slammed the door shut. And still she didn’t fully trust them not to do anything stupid on the way. She knew Gary’s temper well.

But she was too worried about Christopher to worry any longer about the men.

The white Navigator was just disappearing behind the paddocks as her phone rang again.

HE HATED LEAVING TAYLOR, but if getting her ex out of her face would help her, then that was what he would do, although he would have been happy not to go within a mile of the man. Akeem drove faster than necessary, eager to be rid of Gary.

“So you gonna pay the money for my boy?” Gary had been watching him the whole trip, asking questions between giving directions.

“Yes.”

“And what do you expect from my wife in exchange?” he asked just as Akeem pulled into the driveway of what once had been an elegant country house and was now falling into disrepair.

Anger boiled close to the surface. He held it in check, as he normally held all emotion. Because he needed to prove to himself that he wasn’t like his grandfather. Because a wild desert warrior would be no use to Taylor. To win her, he had to become what his friends and business associates thought he already was—a true Texas gentleman. “She’s my best friend’s sister.”

“That all? You sure you’re not boinkin’ her?” Gary gave a grating laugh.

The gentleman veneer was wearing awfully thin. He’d shown admirable self-restraint during the drive, but now Akeem’s arm shot out, his wrist catching the man’s neck at his Adam’s apple and pressing him against his seat. He was glad that Taylor couldn’t see him now.

“Maybe it’d be best if we didn’t discuss Taylor.” He held on to that razor edge of control. Because he wanted to do so much more to Gary than restrain him for the moment.

Like hell Taylor’s divorce had been as amicable as she’d been telling everyone. Like hell they’d just grown apart. The bastard was a drunk and he was a violent drunk at that. And if Akeem allowed himself to think what might have happened to make Taylor pick up Christopher and leave…

But he couldn’t think of that, because more than anything he wanted to help Taylor now and he couldn’t do that from jail.

So he didn’t push harder, and he didn’t drag the bastard out of the car to—He drew a deep breath and held his anger in check.

“You’ll be at the ranch tomorrow morning at six. You’ll be sober.” He congratulated himself on how reasonable his voice sounded. “You’ll stay at the house, keeping vigil with the cops so Taylor can ride out with the search teams. She’ll be frantic. She’ll say that she can’t sit still at the house anymore. And if you tell anyone about the ransom—” He paused, took a moment to get a firmer hold on his famous calm. “It’d be better for the both of us if you didn’t.”

Gary’s face was turning a pale purple, his watery blue eyes bulging, his lips forming a barely audible “Yes.”

With effort, Akeem relaxed his hand, watched the guy scamper out of the car, then he backed down the driveway without looking at that sorry excuse for a man again.

He was dialing his phone as soon as he was back on the highway, calling the bank, telling them to have his money ready within the hour. The next call went to Mike, his security manager.

“I’m going to need a handgun,” he said. He had hunting rifles at home, but for this trip to the desert, he had different needs altogether.

“Yes, sir. I’ll have one cleaned, checked and ready for whenever you stop in.” Mike was good that way, didn’t ask too many questions, but was always prepared to do whatever needed doing.

“I might not make it into the office for the next couple of days.” If there was anything Taylor and Flint needed, he would be there for them for as long as they needed it. He could even sleep out there, which he hadn’t done in ages.

“Can you bring the gun over to my place in about two hours? Ammunition, too. And two bulletproof vests. One small,” he added after some thought.

“Yes, sir.”

Taylor would be going with him. He would have been willing to do anything to avoid that, to keep her from danger, but the kidnapper had been adamant. And it didn’t make all that much sense. What did they care, as long as they got the money? They probably figured Taylor would be easier to intimidate. They were wrong about that.

He’d seen the steel in her eyes. And didn’t want to think about what had to have happened to that tomboyish but still sweet and innocent girl he had once known to put all that hardness in her. Because if he thought about it, he would have to turn the car right around and go back to Gary. Which wouldn’t be the most productive thing at the moment, even if it would be the most satisfying.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Mike was asking.

“Maybe. We’ll talk when you get to my place.” He thanked Mike and hung up the phone, his thoughts already on the next morning, on what he needed to do to protect Taylor and her son.

Route 109 led through a vast area the locals fondly called Hell’s Porch. While it wasn’t an official desert, its thousands of acres supported nothing but some brush and countless scorpions and snakes, some coyotes, quite a few wild hogs and the occasional cougar. The combination of which provided endless possibilities for anyone entering the area to get into some serious trouble.

But aside from all the wildlife, tomorrow it would also hide an unknown number of kidnappers probably all armed to the teeth and a little boy who was likely scared to death.

Enter the woman he loved.

With nothing but him to stand between them and out-and-out disaster.

“EVERYTHING GOOD?” the voice asked.

Jake Kenner grinned into the phone. “Better than good, boss. We’re getting the money today.” He ought to get a bonus for that. He sure hated waiting. The longer you sat around, the more chances for someone to figure something out or mess something up.

“What in blister-blazing hell are you talking about?”

“They wanted to bring the money early. It’s all set up,” he boasted, more than pleased with himself. He’d had his doubts about all this at the beginning, but he had handled it well, yessir, and he was really looking forward to that money. He shifted the chewing tobacco along his gum and spit some juice out, careful with his new boots he’d bought in anticipation of the money coming in.

“And who authorized that?” the voice shouted in rage, instead of praising him.

“I th-thought—” he stammered, growing uncertain now. “Sooner the better, ain’t it?” He shoved away the jewelry catalog his girlfriend had been leaving around her apartment for him as a hint, angry now that he’d brought it along. It’d be just his luck to have the whole job come to nothing and not get the money after all.

“Wasn’t I specific with the timing?” said the voice of dread.

He didn’t dare respond to that.

“What do you mean, they?” the voice asked then.

“Some guy’s gonna drive her.”

“For your sake, I hope this is some sick joke you’re making up.”

He stayed silent again, looking at the kid, who was watching him with hurt and betrayal in his large blue eyes, always watching. Jake didn’t bother with a mask. The kid would have recognized his voice anyway. And since he’d gone missing the same time as Christopher had, everyone already knew that he was involved. He was confident that when this was over, he could buy himself a new identity and disappear forever with his share of the money. He glanced at the boy again. He was a smart little kid, had a way with the horses, too, as little as he was, which Jake, a trainer, could appreciate.

He shrugged off the prickle of conscience. The kid would be back with his mother soon enough.

The boss growled. “Who in hell is coming with her?”

“Probably her brother,” he guessed.

“That bastard is out leading the search in a chopper. Watch out for that.”

Jake’s stomach clenched. The whole business was beginning to look bad suddenly. “You think she called in the pigs? She’s bringing an undercover cop?”

“Not a cop,” the voice snapped.

And the man ought to know. He’d assured Jake at the start that he had an inside connection with the cops, that everything would be taken care of. Jake would get his money with very little risk of trouble. Which he counted on. He had plenty of trouble from his creditors already.

“Probably some thug his brother hired to protect her. Do whatever you want with him. He’s dispensable. But whatever you do, you can’t let her and the boy go. I need time. Two more days. Can you idiots understand that?”

He didn’t like the tone of warning. He glanced at the other five guys the boss had recruited for the job. One was checking his gun, the other three were still sleeping. When had he become responsible for all of them?

He said the only thing he could. “Yes, sir.”