Читать книгу Men of Honour: Ready, Set, Jett / When You Dare / Trace of Fever / Savor the Danger / A Perfect Storm / What Chris Wants / Bare It All - Lori Foster - Страница 35

MOLLY SWALLOWED HARD as Dare slipped out of the room. Her heart thundered and her flushed skin felt too tight as she waited for a horrible conflict.

The door opened. Male chuckling. The rustle of people coming into the apartment. Female giggling and … smooching.

Her brows knit together. Something about that masculine laugh sounded familiar.

Dare would be so angry at her if she moved, but … she couldn’t stop herself.

She peeked around the corner just in time to see Adrian practically fall into the apartment with a very pretty woman. They were all over each other.

In her apartment.

Furious, Molly pushed up to her feet almost at the same time that Dare stepped out from behind the couch, the gun aimed at the two intruders.

Oblivious to the danger, Adrian shut the door one-handed, then groaned and grabbed the woman’s behind. Shadows enveloped them as they wrapped around each other, fondling, kissing, moving against the wall to grind a little, then stumbling free again.

Amplified by all she’d endured lately, rage boiled inside Molly, threatening to combust. But she stayed put.

She could see Dare’s confusion in his stance. He didn’t lower the gun, but he did flip on the light.

In an instant, the woman screeched and Adrian jerked around. They both went white.

“Let me guess,” Dare said. “Adrian?”

Her idiot ex-fiancé stammered and slumped back to the wall, using it for support. The woman clung to him, horrified, uncertain.

They both looked lit. Drunk or high. Maybe both.

Molly cleared her throat. “Dare?”

Without looking back at her, he said, “Yeah?”

“It’s safe enough for me, right?”

He didn’t answer right away. “Just a second.”

Adrian quailed in fear when Dare strode over to him. Dare held out his hand and said, “Keys.”

Adrian handed them over with shaking alacrity.

After pocketing them, Dare frisked Adrian by roughly running his hands over his back, seat, legs and arms. It was unnecessary, Molly was sure, but she didn’t stop Dare.

Finding nothing, Dare pushed her ex into a chair.

Molly stepped out of the kitchen. “What are you doing here, Adrian?”

Finally seeing her, Adrian shot to his feet. “Molly, thank God!”

Dare shoved him back in the chair so hard it almost overturned. “Sit.”

Alarmed, Adrian looked toward her for help, and seeing her calm and collected helped him to calm down, too. As his panic receded, his surroundings sank in, and he noticed the state of the apartment. “Good God, Molly. What did you do?”

Dare said to him, “Just shut up.” He turned to the woman, giving her a once-over.

Adrian’s latest conquest wore very little, just a scanty, very tight black dress that showed a yard of cleavage and mile-high legs in open-toed heels. Tumbled bleach-blond hair and painted lips gave her the look of a starlet wannabe.

Dare moved toward her.

And Molly snapped, “Dare!”

He hesitated but didn’t take his gaze off the woman. “What?”

Heat crawled up her neck. Talk about awkward.

But damn it, she didn’t care. Molly filled her lungs with righteous umbrage. “I do not want your hands on her.”

A heavy pause settled over the room. Dare slanted a fleeting look her way. “Because?”

Because … If he ran his hands over that overblown, on-display body, Molly would … Well, she didn’t know what she’d do. Her jaw hurt from all the teeth-clenching she’d done lately. “I wouldn’t like it.”

He glanced toward her, and Molly saw the faintest sign of humor in his expression. “What she’s wearing is so tight, I can’t see how she’d be hiding a weapon anyway.”

“Well … good.” God, she felt ridiculous.

Dare held out a hand to the woman. “Give me your purse.”

She handed it over.

Dare stepped away from them both. “Well, Molly?” He reached out a hand to her. “I’m just dying for an introduction.”

Yeah, she could imagine. But it was sort of embarrassing for Dare to meet her creep of an ex under these circumstances.

Joining Dare in his stance before the intruders, Molly crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “What are you doing here, Adrian?”

He opened his mouth, glanced at the blonde and snapped it shut again.

Very blasé, Dare asked Molly, “Want me to beat it out of him?”

“I’m thinking about it,” Molly said, and she prayed Dare was just joking.

Adrian couldn’t make that assumption. “You haven’t been here.”

“It’d be hard for me not to notice where I have or haven’t been, Adrian. What does that have to do with anything?”

He shook his head, keeping a watchful eye on Dare as if he expected him to attack at any minute.

Dare did make a rather imposing figure with his height, his muscle and that not-too-happy expression on his face. Not to mention the gun still in his hands.

For her part, the blonde stood there with her mouth shut tight.

Adrian licked his lips. “You sort of … disappeared.”

“How do you know she wasn’t here?” Dare asked.

“Her sister has been driving everyone insane, looking for her.” And then to Molly, “But no one knew where you were, and when you didn’t answer your calls, even on your cell, I thought maybe you had … abandoned the place.”

“And you thought … what?” Molly couldn’t fathom his reason for being in her apartment. “That you’d just move in?”

“No, of course not. I have my own place.” He looked at the blonde, sat forward and appealed to Molly. “You know how private I am with my place.”

“Private?”

“Yeah, I don’t …” He glanced at the blonde again, and now she looked back, her brows starting to bunch together. “I like to keep my personal life freed up.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Dare told him. “Just spit it out, will you?”

Showing some backbone, Adrian glared at him. “It’s never good policy to take a one-night stand into your home. Everyone knows that.”

The blonde said, “One-night stand?”

Molly’s brain froze up at that awful thought. “You were coming here to have sex? In my apartment?” Her stomach recoiled and she yelled, “In my bed?”

With a shrug, Adrian said, “Yeah.”

Molly launched herself at him, but Dare caught her with an arm around her waist. Adrian scrambled out of the chair and got behind it.

“You son of a bitch!”

Dare chuckled.

That infuriated Molly enough that she brought her elbow back hard into Dare’s ribs. He stopped laughing but didn’t loosen his hold on her.

“Settle down.”

“I will, after I kill him.”

Truly alarmed again, Adrian excused his behavior by saying, “I thought you were gone!”

“And you thought I’d never come back, you jackass? Is that it?” She redoubled her effort to get to him, which only caused Dare to lift her off her feet. “Are you the one responsible for this? Are you?”

“Easy,” Dare cautioned.

His hold wasn’t painful, but Molly knew she only looked foolish flailing around, trying to free herself when that wouldn’t happen.

She couldn’t really imagine Adrian orchestrating a kidnapping and transport over the border, but at the moment, she wanted it to be him. “Put me down,” she told Dare.

He did, immediately. But he kept his arm around her and even gave her a warning squeeze.

Breathing hard, Molly said to Dare, “Do your thing, whatever it is, because I want him out of here, the sooner the better.”

Dare released her and stepped in front of her to speak to Adrian. “You felt comfortable coming into her home, assuming she wouldn’t be back to catch you at it. Why?”

“Molly never leaves without telling her sister. Since Natalie didn’t know anything about it, I assumed she’d gone off to find herself or something. I called her cell but didn’t get an answer.” He shrugged. “If she was here, she would have picked up.”

Dare crossed his arms. “How’d you get in?”

“The first night I dropped by, the door was unlocked.”

Incredulous, Molly peered around Dare and repeated, “The first time?”

Dare moved to block her again. “Go on.”

Uncertain, it took Adrian a few seconds to find his voice. “I found her keys in the kitchen, and, like any good friend, I locked her door.”

“And kept the keys so you could get back in?”

“I … ah …”

“Look,” the blonde suddenly said. “I have nothing to do with whatever’s going on here. I only met the jerk tonight.”

Adrian’s mood went from scared to belligerent. “Shut up, Sally.”

“You shut up!” Flouncing, she went to Adrian and poked him hard in the chest. “You’re a miserable liar. You misrepresented yourself.”

His lip curled. “Yeah, like you were all that discerning anyway?”

Fuming, Sally drew back and slapped him hard enough to unbalance him.

He stumbled, regained his balance and, with a feral growl, reached for Sally.

Before he could touch her, Dare caught his wrist. With only a simple shake of his head, Dare reined him in.

Satisfied, Sally gave her attention back to Molly. “So, can I have my purse? I’d like to get out of here.”

Molly handed it over to her. “I’m sorry about this.”

Dare gave her an incredulous look.

Molly ignored him. It wasn’t Sally’s fault that Adrian had duped her into a possible criminal act. “Do you need to call a cab?”

Sally put her nose in the air. “I have my cell phone with me.”

Fretting, Molly said, “It’s not really all that safe out front.”

But the woman didn’t agree. “It’s not all that safe in here, either, so I’ll take my chances.” After another scathing look at Adrian, who smiled sickly in return, she headed for the door.

Dare stepped in front of her. She stopped short of plowing into his chest and, very slowly, put her head back to look up at him.

Dare didn’t smile. “Are you a smart girl, Sally?”

She cast a quick glance at Molly, but Molly knew better than to interfere.

Seeing no help forthcoming, Sally stared up at Dare. “I like to think so.”

“Good.” Now Dare smiled, but it wasn’t with humor.

In fact, to Molly, it looked outright threatening. Poor Sally. She could only imagine what the girl felt.

“You were never here, Sally. This never happened.” Dare’s eyes narrowed the smallest bit. “You got that?”

Her blond curls bobbed with her fast but uncertain nod. “Absolutely. I went straight from the club to home.”

After a long, assessing look, Dare must have believed her, because he stepped out of her way and even opened the door for her.

Sulking, Adrian watched her leave. When the door shut, he let out a pent-up breath and turned back to Molly. “So.” He tried to brazen it out. “What now?”

“Now you answer some questions.” Dare’s quiet tone did nothing to lessen the implied menace. “And unless I’m satisfied that your biggest transgression is trespassing, I just might take you apart.”

“You’re threatening me?”

Surely that was a redundant question, Molly thought. Adrian wasn’t stupid.

“I’m explaining things to you,” Dare said, “so there won’t be any confusion.”

“Well, your explanation doesn’t help.” A touch of panic raised the octave of Adrian’s complaint. “I still don’t have any idea what the hell is going on.”

Molly took great pleasure in stepping around Dare and confronting Adrian close up. “You want to know why I wasn’t here, Adrian?”

“Uh … yes? I suppose that’s as good a start as any.”

He didn’t sound very sure of himself. But then, he never did. The stark differences between him and Dare were too many to count. Dare stood there, ready to do whatever was necessary to help her get her life straightened out. He had walked into danger for her without hesitation and without fear. All Adrian wanted was a quick escape from possible harm.

One man was a hero, the other a coward.

Shaking her head, Molly pondered aloud, “What did I ever see in you, Adrian?”

Dare snorted. “I was just wondering the same thing.”

That insulted Adrian. “I’m a hell of a good catch!”

“No.” Molly shook her head. “You were just … handy. A convenient companion. Handsome, yes. Educated. But now … now I can’t believe that I was ever so dumb, or so desperate.”

Dare frowned down at her. “You were desperate?”

She couldn’t explain to Dare. Not here, not now. He was so independent, so capable and secure in his ability, he would never understand a woman’s need to find the right man, to secure her future happiness, to have babies and a family and love everlasting.

Molly knew that she’d always wanted more than Adrian. Not better looking or richer, but someone with real honor, someone faithful and brave and … everything that was Dare.

But in thirty years, she hadn’t met that person. She’d met others like Adrian. Some better-looking but not as settled. Some kinder but without means of support. She sighed.

Dare watched her, so she hedged by asking, “You don’t think Adrian is handsome?”

Distaste narrowed his eyes. “Now you’re just fucking with me.”

The laugh surprised her; in the middle of so much turmoil, Dare could still do that for her.

Grinning, she said, “Now, Dare. He’s not as tall as you, but he’s tall enough.” She pretended to examine Adrian. “He’s not as muscular as you, either, but he takes care of himself.”

Red-faced and outraged, Adrian said, “I go to the gym every damn day!”

“Blond hair,” Molly continued, “green eyes, a nice smile.” Why she teased Dare, she didn’t know. But with him looking so resentful over her past relationship, she couldn’t seem to help herself. “And when Adrian wants, he can be pretty charismatic.”

“Yeah, I bet.” On to her, Dare took an aggrieved stance and flattened his mouth. “You finished now?”

She tried to hide her smile. It seemed a million years ago that she had settled for steady dating, good looks, intelligence and a pleasant personality. But now she knew something about her own strengths. Now she knew that she could get through just about anything.

Never again would a man of Adrian’s ilk be good enough for her. She deserved it all.

She deserved … Dare.

“Yes.” Now that she’d come to that conclusion, she felt more at peace than she had in a very long time. She patted Dare’s chest. “I’m done.”

The look he gave her was long and intimate. He took her hand in his own and kissed her knuckles before he turned back to Adrian.

Flummoxed, Molly stared at Dare’s profile. She sensed there was some significance behind that tender kiss, but she wasn’t sure of the meaning.

Dare brought her back around with a stark statement. “She was kidnapped.”

“What?” Adrian looked from Molly to Dare and back again. His gaze sharpened on the lingering bruises visible on her face and arms. “Dear God.”

Judging Adrian’s reaction to that, Dare continued, saying, “Men grabbed her from right out front of this apartment.”

He shook his head. “But why?”

As Dare took a step closer, Adrian backed up a step.

“They stuffed her into the back of a van, transported her across the damn country and then took her over the border into Tijuana.”

“Tijuana?”

The genuine, undiluted shock on Adrian’s face convinced Molly one hundred percent that he had nothing to do with her kidnapping. He was a snake, but he wasn’t a criminal of that caliber.

“When I found her,” Dare told him, “she was chained to the wall of an airless hut, half-starved, drugged and abused.”

Eyes bugging, Adrian struggled to lift his slackened jaw. “But that … that’s not possible. Not here.” He pointed at Molly. “Not her.”

Dare advanced again, and Adrian ended up with his back to the wall. “Why not her?”

“It doesn’t make any sense, that’s why. She’s not a politician’s daughter or a starlet or a wealthy heir.” His eyes bugged again. “Aren’t women taken across the border to sell as sex slaves or something?”

“More often than you’d like to think.”

Clearly baffled that anyone would take Molly for that purpose, Adrian shook his head. “You said you found her there.” His brows knit as he struggled to piece it all together. “What were you doing there? And what do you have to do with any of this?”

“I got her out of there.” They were now almost chest to chest.

“But … how?”

“It’s what I do.”

In a sudden turnaround, Adrian’s expression lightened and became shrewd. “Let me understand this. You rescue people … for compensation?”

Crossing his arms over his chest and looking down his nose at Adrian, Dare said, “That’s how it usually works.”

“No fucking way!” Adrian shoved against Dare, but didn’t budge him at all. “I see what this is now. You want me to pay her ransom, don’t you?” Rage distorted his better sense, and he pointed past Dare to Molly. “She dropped me. Did she tell you that?”

“She mentioned it,” Dare said, very deadpan.

“So I’m not responsible for her!”

“Not at all.”

Adrian continued to fume. “I don’t have that kind of money, and she knows it. If you thought to squeeze me for payment, well, then, you can damn well forget it.”

A stillness filled the room as Dare expanded in fury, and Molly held her breath.

Too stupid to sense his own peril, Adrian added, “What happens to her now is no concern of mine.”