“Go.” He nudged her to turn around.
“But-” She fought him and turned to face him again, all the while maintaining her balance on the beam.
He was beginning to see how she’d gotten herself so roughed up last night. But when he felt the fear coming off her in waves, he gave her one last squeeze. “Look, I’m coming right back for you,” he promised, although he never made promises. “Go, Tess.”
Then he physically turned her away from him once more, and gave her a little shove. This involved putting his hands on her and shockingly, he wanted to linger. Soothe. Calm.
Wasn’t that the damnedest thing.
But to do what he had to do, he put her firmly out of his mind with one deep breath. Despite being starving and half naked, he now concentrated on the task at hand.
That being not getting his ass kicked again.
5
WHEN TESSA KNEW A BETTER WAY, she wasn’t particularly good at following directions. She tried though, she really did. She understood Reilly wanted her out of the way so he wouldn’t have to worry about her as he dropped down into the house and tried to get them out safely.
She got that.
And she knew she’d never forget the sight of him forging ahead. Not afraid or uneasy-except for his aversion to the dark. Nope, no holding back for this man. And he hadn’t simply crawled along either.
He’d prowled. Like an animal on the hunt.
It occurred to her, and not for the first time, that under certain circumstances Reilly Ledger could be a dangerous man. Which, really, would only matter to her if she was attracted to him.
Damn it, she was attracted to him. That in turn was as unsettling as the sound of something scurrying off in the darkness.
Probably just a mouse, but she had a general thing against mice. Even so, she made it all the way back to the attic access above the room in which they’d spent the night. Huddling at the opening, arms wrapped around her knees, she looked down at the cot where they’d slept together, and that’s where she went wrong.
She started thinking.
Too much.
She started obsessing over what could be happening to Reilly right at that very moment. Clearly the guy thought he was invincible. He thought he could handle anything.
But despite his tough attitude, he was just an accountant. What if he didn’t make it? What then? What if they caught him and killed him this time?
No, she told herself when she started to shake. Reilly could take care of himself. She’d never met anyone more capable of taking care of himself.
After all, he’d had a gun.
Don’t be the stupid chick, she reminded herself. Just climb back down into the room and huddle in a corner and be a good girl.
She had just hooked a leg over the opening when a sound from below stopped her cold. Her heart took off racing as she went as still as she could while shaking like a leaf, but it was no good. With her blood roaring through her ears she couldn’t hear.
What if someone was down there waiting for her?
Suddenly, the stupid chick idea of going back to Reilly seemed like the
Once the decision was made, she carefully turned around, but still managed to move too quickly and lost a shoe. She watched it fall into the gray room and gave a sort of fatalistic shrug. In the scheme of things, if all she lost was a shoe, she’d feel pretty darn lucky.
Crawling back wasn’t as easy alone. She religiously followed the exact path they’d taken earlier, only this time without her six-foot human shield, removing the cobwebs that she felt certain held big, hairy spiders. She tried not to think about that, tried to think of other things…such as what could be happening to Reilly at this very moment.
She crawled faster. When she got halfway, she paused to listen for clues, but silence reigned. As quietly as she could and holding her breath, she continued past the point where she’d left Reilly. She could see another access panel up ahead, but still couldn’t hear a single sign of life. When she got to it, she could see this was where Reilly had dropped down. He’d muscled off the cover and left a gaping hole revealing what looked like a pristine tiled guest bathroom.
Speaking of which, after a long night, she needed one badly. Stomach growling as well, she carefully lowered her head into the opening. Yep, a bathroom. She reversed her position and stuck her feet through, thinking if she could just keep a good hold on the edge, she could lower herself down the entire length of her body, and hopefully reduce her fall by a full five feet, three inches.
Okay, five feet two.
She slid through, her dress snagging up around her hips as she hung there by her fingers, praying she really was the only one in the room, otherwise she was presenting quite the picture.
She took one last peek over her shoulder, and had just enough time to realize it was still a long fall when her fingers gave way.
She crumpled to the floor with a crash-landing that wasn’t the quiet one she’d hoped for. Quick as she could, she leaped to her feet and took a quick inventory.
No broken bones, just a sore butt. Good thing for her extra padding then. She was still missing a shoe, but she could live with that. Because she had to, she made use of the facilities, and then looked around her for something, anything, to use to protect herself. Silver tile, silver towels with gold bows, silver gilt around the mirrors and a bar of silver soap in the shape of a sea-shell. She needed…ah-ha. On the back of the toilet, she grabbed up one of two long silver candlestick holders, tossing aside the pretty ivory candle.
She hefted the thing in her hand like a weapon and was gratified by the weight.
What she wasn’t gratified by was the sick pit in her stomach. How many times had her big brother tried to teach her self-defense? How many times had she ended up on the mat laughing with Rafe shaking his head in disgust. She wasn’t laughing now, and with all her might she wished he was here.
Tiptoeing to the door, she cracked it open and peeked out. Nothing. She stepped out of the bathroom, brandishing the candlestick out in front of her as if she knew what she was doing.
Up ahead, she could see the vast living room, and beyond that, the kitchen. Then she caught a flash of movement in there and plastered herself against the wall, nearly hyperventilating.
With her pulse at a full marathon rate, she scooted her way down the hallway to the opening of the living room. No one. She moved toward the sliding glass door.
On the other side, in the kitchen before the island, facing away from her, Reilly suddenly appeared. Then he bent down, momentarily disappearing from her view, and when he came up again, there was a gun in his hand.
An involuntary gasp escaped her, and gun out, he whirled. For one dizzy moment all she could see was the muzzle pointed right at her. Before she could blink, he’d uncocked it, or whatever one did when one didn’t intend to shoot after all, and was standing before her, jerking her out of the living room, into the kitchen and around the corner. His laser beam eyes demanded answers but when she opened her mouth he put a hand to it, just as her thug came around the corner, still wearing his jeans and dirty thermal shirt.
When he saw them he raised an arm with a knife.
Reilly shoved her down and kicked the knife out of the guy’s hands with chilling ease, adding another well- placed kick to his stomach.
The guy doubled over, then fell to his knees, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water before he flopped all the way to the floor.
