When You Dare

To cover his surprise, Dare said, “We’re flying out in three hours.”

Her eyes flared. “Okay. But … going where, exactly?”

As if he dragged home rescue victims on a regular basis, Dare shrugged. “My place, first. I have a few things I have to do at home. Then I’ll accompany you to your place.”

Taking his words like a blow, she went to the bed and gingerly sat at the edge. “Oh. Okay.”

“I’ll be with you.”

She tried a smile that fell flat.

“Molly. You have to go back to your place sooner or later, right?”

“Of course I do.” She put her shoulders back in telling reaction. “I need to talk with my editor and agent. I have … plants to water.” She chewed her lip. “I need my flash drives and my own clothes and …” She shook her head. “Going back will be good.”

Had she considered refusing? Dare frowned, then retrieved the first-aid kit from his bag. Given his line of work, he carried a more extensive supply of medicines and bandages than what was found in an average first-aid kit. He dragged a chair over and turned it to face her.

When he sat, he looked at her and saw again that she avoided his gaze. “That’s it? Wholehearted acceptance, but no questions?”

She inhaled, expanding that impressive chest so that she filled out the oversized shirt. Her gaze skittered up to meet his. “You don’t seem real forthcoming with information, and I don’t want to do anything to make you regret your decision to stick with me.”

An upfront answer. He should have known where her thoughts had taken her. “You think you’ve been a big imposition?”

She eyed the first-aid kit warily, but didn’t mention it. “If not for me, you’d already be home, right? Instead, you had to deal with me and my problems. I don’t like being dependent on anyone, and I really don’t like putting you out.”

“Since we’re flying out today, I was only delayed one night. And if you mean the clothes and food—”

“Well, that and …” Her tongue flicked over her bottom lip with nervousness. “Sleeping with you.”

There was that. “You had a nightmare. Don’t worry about it.”

She glanced up and away. “Logically I know I’m okay now, but at night, in the dark …”

“Yeah.” He’d saved women before, but he hadn’t slept with them. Hell, he’d had sex with plenty of women without sleeping with them.

“Usually,” he said, “once I have a woman out of harm’s way, she goes immediately to someone else—someone she trusts. Most often it’s the person who paid me to get her out in the first place.” And if the woman had nightmares, well, she had someone other than Dare to get her through it.

Molly nodded. “And with me, you not only haven’t been paid, you’re sort of stuck with me.”

“Not stuck, no.” He’d made the decision that she would remain with him. He never allowed others to coerce him, not in any way. “But understand, Molly—for now, I’m going to keep you safe. After I figure out the threat and decide how best to resolve it, then we’ll come to terms on our agreement.”

“Financially, you mean.”

What else? He nodded affirmation, but said, “That, and more.”

“Such as …?”

He opened the first-aid kit. “If I’m going to be in charge of your safety, you have to follow my directions to the letter. No balking, no arguments.”

She licked her lips again—and nodded.

“Good. We’ll start with me checking out some of these cuts and scrapes that you have. The last thing you need is an infection.” He looked at her. “Give me your arm.”

As if only then realizing that she might have cuts, Molly looked at each arm. “I can take care of it.”

“I can take care of it better.”

“Who says?”

“I say.” Hadn’t he already proven his capability with her hair?

Dare caught her arm and pulled her forward to reach the injury. Ignoring her protestation, he said, “This’ll sting a little.” He swiped the cut with the antiseptic and heard her hiss in a breath, but she didn’t move and she didn’t complain. The cut wasn’t deep and didn’t need stitches, but he dabbed it with an antibiotic ointment and covered it with a bandage.

The procedure was repeated on a small spot on her other arm, and when he looked down at her legs, her toes curled.

“Dare, really …” He bent to a scrape on her inner thigh, and she said in a rush, “Shouldn’t I at least know your last name?”

Her high, shrill voice amused him. It wasn’t from fear that she nearly screeched at him. No, it was … something else. But definitely not fear.

“Macintosh.”

“Well, surely, Dare Macintosh, you will admit I can reach my own legs!”

She could—but he wanted to do it. Why, he couldn’t honestly say, but a small lie would work. “I need to know it’s done right, so just hush and sit still.”

Molly had sleek, shapely legs and small feet. Her skin, where it wasn’t hurt, was smooth and soft. He cupped the back of her knee and lifted her leg to treat what looked like rug burns. Since there’d been no carpeting in the trailer, he assumed the injuries were caused during her abduction. He wanted to know more about that, and would, soon.

He found two more deep scratches on her legs, and a cut on the side of her foot. As he treated her foot, he decided she’d need more than loose sandals to keep it protected.

He sat back. “Anywhere else?”

She rolled in her lips, released them, and gave in, putting a hand to the back of her neck. “I’m not sure, but there might be something here. It stung a little when I was showering.” Lifting her hair, she turned to show him.

Dare flinched in rage. Clearly, someone had choked her, given the finger marks on her slender throat. Above the faded bruising, a deep scratch showed.

Under his breath, but not softly enough, Dare whispered, “Fuckers.”

She swallowed. “The bruises are left over from when I was first taken. I didn’t go along easily.”

And so someone had choked her?

“They’re almost gone now,” she said, as if trying to reassure him.

“Not gone enough.” He touched her shoulder, and felt her shiver as he turned her a little more so he could better see.

While holding up her hair, she dropped her head forward, and the pose was so innocently provocative, and yet so trusting, that he felt himself stir.

Damn it, it wasn’t lust. What she made him feel was something more powerful than that—and more disturbing. He shook it off to concentrate on her injuries.

“How’d you get this scratch?” It looked deep, healed over a little, but still painful.

Her narrow shoulders lifted. “One of them wore an ornate ring.”

And the bastard had been manhandling her enough to cut her with it? Yeah, Dare decided, he’d be protecting her—but he decided against sharing solid decisions with her yet. He needed a lot more info, and it’d be best if she thought his compliance hinged on her giving full truths.

In his experience, too many people had secrets that could alter the outcome of an event.

Dare treated the scratch, but didn’t bandage it. “Done.”

“So …” She turned on the bed again, facing him as he replaced the chair. “You’ve made plans to leave.”

“In a few hours. Soon as we can get packed up, we’re out of here.”

She nodded, but hesitated. “I, um … Not that it matters in the long run, I guess, but … I feel conspicuous boarding a plane like this.” She held out the hem of the big shirt he’d given her. “Do we have time for me to just buy some jeans and maybe … a bra?”

His mouth firmed. Looking at her, he could see the need for the bra, especially with her nipples puckered, pressing against the thin cotton of the shirt.

Yeah, he could make time for that. If she knew they’d be on a chartered plane, away from any crowds, she might not think that shopping was necessary, but it wouldn’t hurt for her to get some shoes and socks, too. “We can spare about twenty minutes or so.”

“I promise I can find what I need in that time.” Hustling now, moving faster than he’d seen her move before this, she gathered up the few things he’d gotten her.

Dare nodded toward his bag on the bed. “Stow it in there.”

“What will you do about your weapons?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Chris had already cleared it with the pilots of the chartered plane.

In no time, they were checked out and leaving the motel. Dare scanned the parking lot but didn’t see anyone watching them. Making yet another trip to Walmart, he drove across the street and parked away from other shoppers.

Though she could no doubt afford to shop in a pricey boutique, Molly didn’t turn up her nose at the racks. She looked tired, but it didn’t slow her down as she located a pair of jeans, three pairs of socks, low boots, a bra, more underwear and a zip-up hooded sweatshirt in under the twenty minutes allotted.

She was a power-shopper—like him.

Impressed, Dare paid for the purchases and started back out to the lot with her.

That’s when he spotted the red Ford truck. Handing the bag to Molly, he steered her to the side of the front doors and said, “Stay here until I come back for you. Don’t move. Period. Do you understand me?”

“What? Wait.” She grabbed for his arm in a flash of panic. “Where are you going?”

Dare scanned the area, deciding on the best advantage. Through his teeth, he said, “Tell me you understand.”

She released her death grip on him. “I understand.” Fear put a quaver in her voice. “I won’t move from this spot.”

“Good girl.” Keeping his gaze on the truck driver, who hadn’t yet noticed them, Dare darted out alongside a driver looking for a parking place. Staying low, uncaring of what others might surmise, he used the parking-lot traffic to conceal him until he could get to the other side of the truck.

Using an SUV for cover, he checked to see that Molly remained near the front doors. The driver of the red truck stepped out. He’d spotted Molly, was looking right at her, and then he started searching for Dare.

The driver, a dark guy with black hair and mirrored sunglasses, held a cell phone in his hand. For backup, or to report to someone?

Darting from car to car, Dare positioned himself behind the unsuspecting driver, and then he stepped out and straightened. Luckily they were far enough away from the front of the store that most of the bustling shoppers wouldn’t notice them.

His heart beat slow and steady. His breath remained even; not too fast, not too shallow. He was in his element now, and he would damn well get answers.

Clearing his throat to draw the man’s attention, Dare watched as the driver shifted his balance in surprise. Before he could turn, Dare kicked out his supporting knee, but he didn’t let him fall. He grabbed his arm in a chicken-wing hold.

The driver cried out in mingled rage, fear and panic.

“Who are you?” Deliberately, Dare torqued the arm a little more. “Answer quick before I snap it.”

In Spanish, he muttered, “No one. I was hired, that is all.”

“Hired to do what?” And when the guy started to speak, Dare said, “In English, asshole.”

“Call when you left the store, so the girl could be retrieved.”

Ah. He’d told him to speak in English, and now that the man did, Dare didn’t hear an accent. “Who wants her dead?”

“Dead?” He shook his head. “All I know is she escaped when she shouldn’t have.”

And so someone wanted her back? But why? Dare released the man’s arm and jerked him around to face him. “Take off the sunglasses.”

“Fuck you.”

Moving so fast that the guy couldn’t brace for it, Dare hit him hard in the gut. The blow stole his wind, collapsing him forward as he wheezed. Dare knocked the sunglasses off his face and, with a hand knotted in his shirtfront, lifted him to his toes.

American, not Mexican. Dare’s jaw clenched. When he’d carried Molly out of the trailer, he hadn’t left behind any witnesses to recognize him. Someone must have checked in after that, and realized she was gone. Tracking down an American woman rescued from Tijuana would be tough—unless someone had the same level of contacts as Dare. “Who are you supposed to call?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.” The man briefly tried to struggle, but maintaining his hold on the guy’s shirt, Dare drew the knife and pressed it just beneath the bastard’s ribs. “You’re really blowing my patience, amigo.”

Very still now, his eyes wide at how hard that knife pressed into him, the guy spilled his guts. “Whoever had her wants her back. That’s all I know, I swear.”

Shoving him back against the vehicle, Dare said, “Dial it.” Whoever the man was, Dare would talk to him himself. At the very least, he’d let him know the futility of continuing this pursuit.

The shaken driver punched in the numbers and started to hand the phone to Dare.

A ringing sounded over the parking lot.

Stunned, Dare’s gaze shot up and locked onto a pay phone near the front entrance to the store … right where he’d left Molly.

Fuck. He leveled the driver with an elbow to the jaw and was already running flat out when he saw someone grab Molly from behind, wrapping an arm around her throat and clamping his other hand over her mouth.

Dare’s vision went red.

Charging without making a sound, he closed the distance to Molly. The man holding her tried to drag her toward an idling Charger, but she thrashed and fought, and her captor had a hell of a time keeping control.

People around them watched in horror but offered no assistance.

Dare didn’t need any.

Before the fuckers could stuff her in that car, he’d get them. It didn’t matter that there were two of them. It wouldn’t have mattered if there were four.

He would not let them take her again.

At a shout from the driver of the car, her assailant looked up and saw Dare gunning for him. Eyes widening with comprehension of Dare’s rage, the man released Molly with a shove and jumped into the already moving black Charger. The car screeched out of the parking lot.

Stumbling into the brick facing of the store, her purchases scattered around her, Molly coughed and gasped for air. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks, more from being choked than weeping.

Bystanders gathered around her. One woman collected Molly’s dumped belongings for her and, when she didn’t accept them, set them near her feet.

His gaze glued to her, Dare elbowed his way through the crowd and reached out. “Molly.”

She launched against him.

Tightening his arms around her, he tucked her face in close and let her hide from their gaping audience. “I’ve got you, Molly. It’s okay now.”

But it wasn’t, and they both knew it.

Someone wanted her badly enough to risk grabbing her in the middle of a busy parking lot. The truck driver had been no more than a diversion for him—and he’d fallen for it.

Fury, aimed at himself, made Dare a little more gruff than necessary when he pushed her back to see her face.

“Are you hurt?”

Eyes a little wild, face still white, she shook her head, saying shakily, “No. I don’t think so.”

But her knees were bleeding, and her hair was again a mess. He’d seen many things in his lifetime, and he’d gained a reputation for his calm, calculated response. Seeing Molly this way left him churning with very unfamiliar feelings.

Cold and precise, he caught Molly’s elbow and grabbed up her bags. “Let’s go.”

He practically dragged her along, but he didn’t want to take any more chances. Someone behind them yelled, “I called the cops. They’re on the way.”

Dare ignored him. Cops would want Molly to stick around answering questions, and that went against what Dare wanted—which was to get her the fuck out of there, away from danger.

No way in hell would he miss their chartered flight.

He opened the door of the rented van, shoved her purchases to the floor, and all but put her in the passenger seat. He even buckled her in—and she didn’t protest.

She looked to be in shock, white-faced, shaken and so silent that it hurt him. Damn it, he wasn’t a man to act without thinking things through, but now, with her …

The insane pressure built until he couldn’t bear it anymore.

Dare cupped her face, leaned in and gave her a hard, fast kiss on the mouth.

That got her focused again. Heat flooded her face, and she inhaled sharply. As she touched shaking fingertips to her mouth, her wide-eyed gaze locked on his.

Still with his hand covering the coolness of her cheek, Dare said, “I’m not going to let them hurt you again, Molly. I swear it.”

Two deep breaths expanded her chest. She rolled her lips in, stared a moment more, and then nodded. “Okay. I …” She blinked. “Thank you, Dare.”

Her gratitude made him growl, but damn it, he didn’t have time to explain something to her that even he still didn’t understand. He slammed her door and jogged around to the driver’s side. If he didn’t hurry, they’d be there when the cops arrived and then he’d lose control of the situation. He needed to focus on protecting her, not dwell on how soft and sweet her mouth felt under his.

Within minutes they were well away from the Walmart and the possibility of police delays.

On the ride to the airstrip where they’d catch the charter plane, Dare questioned her. “Did the guy who grabbed you say anything?”

She held her hands in her lap, her face filled with confusion, maybe as much from his kiss as her near abduction. Dare could still taste her, and that brief touch of her mouth on his had stirred him and left him more determined than ever to keep her safe.

“They said to come along or I’d die.” She looked over at him. “But … they probably planned to kill me either way, don’t you think? That’s why I fought them.”

“You did good. You slowed them down.”

“I knew you were close by, and I knew that you’d get to me in time.”

Her faith struck him even more than that kiss had.

With still-wavering composure, she said, “Thank you, Dare. That’s twice now—”

His temper all but snapped. “Damn it, Molly.”

She jumped, and, feeling like a bully, he moderated his tone.

“I wasn’t careful enough,” Dare told her. “I didn’t think that through. The minute I saw that idiot in the parking lot, I should have counted on a trap. I should have—”

“Stop it.” The quietness of her trembling voice added gravity to the command. “You don’t have psychic powers, so you couldn’t have known.”

“No, but I have experience and training.”

She reached over and touched his shoulder. “God’s truth, Dare, I feel safer with you than I possibly could with anyone else, so please don’t get discouraged.”

For Christ’s sake. She was all but in shock—again—and through his ill humor, he’d given her the wrong impression. He drew one breath, then another. “I am not discouraged, Molly. Just the opposite, from here on out I’m going to be a hell of a lot more careful. Got it?”

“Oh. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.”

Seeing that she was back to being super-proper again, Dare sighed. “Tell me about your family.”

“Why?”

“You said it yourself, Molly. It could be anyone doing this to you. You need an outside perspective on things. It’s always easiest to start with those closest to you.”

Humoring him, she said, “And that’d be my family.”

“Right. So tell me everything you can and let me sort out what’s important and what isn’t.”

With a shrug, she pondered things. “Well, like I told you, I ended things with my boyfriend. Actually, he was a fiancé before we separated, but we hadn’t yet picked a date to marry or anything.”

Fiancé? That nettled him, sent a cold fist tightening in his gut. Why, he didn’t want to ponder—except that he couldn’t believe Molly had loved Adrian.

Maybe she’d realized that, too, which was why she’d used a good excuse to break things off with him. “Did your family like him?”

“There’s only my Dad and Kathi, and my sister, Natalie. My dad’s parents are deceased. He was an only child. There are aunts and uncles and all that on my mother’s side, but they don’t live near us, and I think I’ve met most of them only a couple of times in my entire life.”

Trying to figure out the family dynamics, Dare asked, “So Kathi isn’t your mother?”

“Stepmother.” Without missing a beat, she said, “My mom threw herself off a bridge—twice—years ago.”

Dare did a double take. Molly announced her mother’s suicide so casually, it threw him. “I’m sorry.”

Antsy, still shaking, Molly stared out the side window. “Dad made Mom miserable. I was twelve the first time she tried to kill herself. She jumped off a bridge, but there was a rescue team doing drills in the river. She didn’t know they were there until they fished her out.”

“Damn. That had to be rough.”

She made a noncommittal sound. “Mom spent some time in the hospital, all the while with my dad harping over her selfishness and her weakness. For a few years after they released her, I thought she’d be okay.”

“But she wasn’t?”

“No.” Molly shook her head, and her voice lowered. “When I was fifteen, Dad cheated on her, and I guess it was too much.” She looked at Dare. “When she threw herself off the bridge the next time, she made sure it was a bridge over a highway, not water.”

Sorry he’d brought up such painful memories, Dare muttered, “Jesus.”

“Yeah.” Her hands knotted together, and she stared off at nothing. “Dad never showed much remorse, but he didn’t see the other woman again, either. I don’t think either of them, my mom or the woman he cheated with, ever meant that much to him.”

“Your dad sounds like a real prince.”

“He’s a selfish, pampered, class-A snob, believe me. He finds fault with everyone or everything.”

“Including his daughters?”

“Especially his daughters.” She glanced at Dare, her nose wrinkling. “I sometimes wonder how Kathi puts up with him.”

Hoping to get her back on track, Dare asked, “Did Kathi like Adrian?”

“She thought he was nice and wished us well. But Kathi is like that. Despite being rich even before she married my dad, who is pretty darned well-to-do, she tends to be very accepting of most people.”

Interesting. “So you get along with Kathi?”

Molly shrugged. “We don’t have a lot in common, really. She’s into social clubs and designer clothes, and she likes decorating, art and museums.”

“You said your dad is rich, so you must be used to those things, too.”

“No, Dad wanted Natalie and me to make it on our own, to earn our keep, as he put it. We skipped the private schools and travel abroad, and we always had summer jobs. I’m glad he took that attitude, because I wouldn’t want to be like him. And I’m not. But now, even though I’ve made it on my own, he finds me something of an embarrassment.”

With a red haze still crowding in around his vision, Dare knew that he didn’t like her father at all, and he wanted to put him at the top of his list of suspects. But he needed to be cold and methodical, not emotional and irrational.

Needing more info, he took a breath, locked his teeth, and asked, “How so?”

“It’s funny, really. Well, maybe ironic is a better word. See, all of Dad’s friends’ daughters are active in the community, heading up charitable events and stuff—as they were groomed to do. Some of them even work with Kathi. She’s a regular philanthropist. But thanks to how Dad raised us, that world is alien to me. So while the daughters of Dad’s peers are being revered in the press for their activism, all I do is mail off a check.”

“It’s more than most people do.” At least he’d distracted her, Dare decided. Her trembling had subsided, and she wasn’t so pale.

“Maybe.” She gave him a look and then shrugged. “In hindsight, I think Dad feels slighted that his offspring are so dismissed.”

“He sounds like an ass.”

She smiled and said again, “Maybe,” then added, “Most society women live in influential neighborhoods with posh accommodations, but my apartment is pretty simple.”