Erin framed his face with her hands and rested her face against his. “I’m here, Alec. For whatever you need. Always. I promise.”

He sank his fingers into her hair, holding her close and covering her face with achingly tender kisses. Desperate kisses. Kisses full of affection and emotion and words left unsaid. Words that hovered near the surface. Words she saw reflected in his azure eyes.

She felt the tremor that shook him, and her body answered with a quaking need and clamoring hunger. She held him tighter, angling her hips and shifting her legs, wishing she could climb inside him. Fill him. Give him all the love he’d been denied and had denied himself for too many years.

About the Author

BETH CORNELISON started writing stories as a child when she penned a tale about the adventures of her cat, Ajax. A Georgia native, she received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Georgia. After working in public relations for a little more than a year, she moved with her husband to Louisiana, where she decided to pursue her love of writing fiction.

Since that first time, Beth has written many more stories of adventure and romantic suspense and has won numerous honors for her work, including a coveted Golden Heart Award in romantic suspense from Romance Writers of America. She is active on the board of directors for the North Louisiana Storytellers and Authors of Romance (NOLA STARS) and loves reading, traveling, Peanuts’ Snoopy and spending downtime with her family.

She writes from her home in Louisiana, where she lives with her husband, one son and two cats who think they are people. Beth loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her at PO Box 5418, Bossier City, LA 71171, USA or visit her website at www.bethcornelison.com.

Soldier’s
Pregnancy
Protocol
Beth Cornelison

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Keyren Gerlach, who gave Alec and Erin new life!

I appreciate all you do.

Prologue

Without a sound, Alec Kincaid inched on his belly through the sticky black mud of the South American jungle until he had a clearer view of the Cessna awaiting takeoff from the small clearing. The acrid scent of jet fuel and jeep exhaust tinged the smell of rotting vegetation and the fragrance of the orchids blooming around his hiding place. His body ached from lying motionless for the past twelve hours, but his gut told him his efforts would soon pay off. In spades.

After ten years, working black ops for a counterterrorist team so secret the group didn’t even have a name, Alec had learned to rely on his instincts and not much else. Except training. Except Daniel LeCroix, aka Lafitte.

He trusted his partner with his life. And had many times. Just this week.

In the past five years, Alec had lost count how many times he and Lafitte had relied on each other for survival in the murky world of espionage and counterterrorism.

Because of the risks they took, their rogue lifestyle, the pirate code names they’d adopted seemed apropos. Blackbeard and Lafitte.

He clicked his tongue three times into his lip mic. Three tangos.

In his earpiece, he heard Daniel’s reply, a short puff of air. Affirmative.

Alec sighted his AK-47 on the rebel fighters as they loaded boxes of weapons into the aircraft. But these drones were not his ultimate target. Intel indicated General Ramirez, the murderous leader of the rebel fighters, would be leaving on this flight.

If they netted Ramirez today, he and Daniel could be swilling rum with a couple senoritas on a beach in Acapulco by nightfall—Lafitte and Blackbeard savoring the spoils of a completed mission. Three years of mucking through mosquito-infested rain forests and living weeks at a time off grubs and stubborn determination had led to this moment.

Anticipation thrummed through Alec. His nerves jangled, but he didn’t so much as draw a deep breath. Any movement, any noise could give away his position. He held his post without flinching, even when one of the deadliest spiders in Colombia dropped from an overhanging branch and crept up his arm. To his neck. Inside his mud-caked camo T-shirt …

His gut pitched. Mother of Joe, he hated spiders!

Through his headset, Daniel could probably hear the rapid fire of Alec’s pulse as the arachnid skulked down his back.

The rumble of a motor cued him to an approaching jeep. Spider or not, Alec forced his focus to the new arrival, years of training kicking into high gear.

Daniel grunted. See that?

Alec puffed on the mike. Affirmative.

Daniel clicked twice. Two more men.

General Ramirez and a guard. Five tangos against the two of them. A cakewalk.

But foreboding rolled through Alec like a thundercloud. It didn’t add up. Why wasn’t the general better guarded? Alec held his breath as General Ramirez climbed from the jeep, shouting directions in Spanish to his men. With a low whine, the Cessna engine turned over, and the nose propeller spun.

Every muscle in Alec’s body tensed. Ready.

All of his senses honed in on the scene before him. Waiting for the right moment …

Ramirez stepped away from the jeep, turned his back. Alec had a clear shot, but Uncle Sam wanted Ramirez taken alive. The general’s guards were fair game, though. Alec curled his finger around the trigger of his assault rifle. Took aim. Prepared to charge the aircraft and kick some rebel ass.

But across the clearing, a blast of gunfire ripped from the jungle. Peppered the jeep, the Cessna. The aircraft exploded in a ball of flame and black smoke. The concussion shook the ground and reverberated in Alec’s chest.

What the hell?

In his earpiece, he heard Daniel mutter the same expletive that popped in his mind.

Chaos erupted. Ramirez clutched his chest. Fell.

The rebels returned fire. Shooting blindly. Spraying the area with a hail of bullets.

Uniformed men, a rival militia force, surged from the line of trees.

Mud splattered, and the foliage hiding Alec shredded under the barrage of gunfire.

“Pull back! Abort!” he grated into his mic.

Daniel didn’t respond.

“Copy, pirate? Abort!” Alec repeated as he shimmied backward through the black ooze, scrambled to his feet, and shook the nasty spider out of his shirt. Still crouched low, he wove through the maze of trees while three years of tedious undercover work went to hell in the clearing.

Where was Daniel, damn it? Why didn’t he answer?

A helicopter buzzed low over the clearing. Suddenly the jungle teemed with enemy fighters.

Don’t jeopardize the mission. If things go south, it’s every man for himself. He and Daniel had sworn to abide by the agreement as they broke camp yesterday morning. But yesterday, Alec had arrogantly believed nothing could stop him and his partner from bringing the general in.

Sweat and mud stung Alec’s eyes as he plowed through the dense rain forest. A bright green bird shrieked and took flight as Alec charged through the mist-shrouded jungle. He pressed on, despite stiff muscles and the encumbering weight of the black sludge he’d smeared on his skin for camouflage.

Daniel was as highly trained as Alec. His partner would be fine.

Alec glided through the rain forest like a jaguar, already mentally regrouping. Ramirez had been shot. If the general died, the sources he and Daniel had cultivated would hear the news and report to them at the rat-nest motel in Medellin. If Daniel made it out, he’d know to meet Alec there.

If Daniel made it out? Alec clenched his teeth and shoved the negativity aside. His partner would make it out of this hellhole and meet him in Medellin. Or, regardless of what they’d agreed, Alec would find his partner. No matter what it took.

Chapter 1

Cherry Creek, Colorado—Nine months later

Alec stood in the motel bathroom, ready to chuck his cell phone into the toilet. The water would render the phone and all the data on it useless, erasing the last traces of his trail before he went underground. He’d been followed for a couple of days. The time had come for Alec Kincaid to disappear.

When he’d called the black ops team leader and told him he was going dark and extending his leave of absence indefinitely, he’d received an earful. Time for Alec to get his ass back on assignment, Briggs had bellowed. The team needed him.

Maybe so. But first Alec needed to lose his tail.

Though their orders came from unnamed officials within the U.S. government, the elite twelve-man team operated off the grid, an independent entity funded through offshore investments and hidden behind dummy corporations. Long before the Office of Homeland Security was formed, the team had been working for Uncle Sam in foreign hot spots or doing jobs the U.S. military couldn’t legally tackle. The work was covert, dangerous … and lucrative.

At thirty-five, Alec could easily retire and live off his investments, so extending his personal leave time was not a hardship.

But, as Briggs had reminded him, the team was already short one man due to Daniel’s disappearance. The team had changed Daniel’s status from MIA to presumed dead after five months and given up their search.

Daniel. The only person he’d allowed himself to trust or give a damn about since his mother taught him his first hard lesson in misplaced loyalty, the pain of betrayal. Then Alec had abandoned his only friend. Maybe he was more like his mom than he wanted to believe. Didn’t matter that he’d personally looked for Daniel for nine months. He’d gotten nowhere. He had no more information now about his partner’s disappearance than he’d had that hellish afternoon in the Colombian jungle.

Alec swallowed the bile and sour guilt that swelled in his throat. As he held the phone out over the toilet, the screen lit up like the Christmas trees currently lining the streets of Denver. He paused, considered ignoring the ring. But Alec pulled the phone back and flipped it over. Just in case the call was Daniel, finally surfacing.

Checking the caller I.D., Alec recognized the name of the woman who’d bought his house in Cherry Creek last week. He frowned. Why the hell was she calling?

He conjured a mental image of the woman, and a kick of libido replaced his suspicion. Alec never forgot a face, especially one as stunning as Erin Bauer’s. He’d ogled more than her face last week as he’d toted cardboard boxes out, and she’d carried wicker baskets and flowery pillows into his old house.

He started to toss the phone without answering, but a prick of unease stopped him. Not answering felt too much like leaving a loose end unresolved. Better to see what she wanted. “H’lo?”

“Um … Mr. Kincaid?” her sweet female voice chirped. “This is Erin Bauer. I bought your house on Hurley Street.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, you have some mail here, and I was hoping you’d give me your forwarding address.”

“Don’t have one.”

“Oh. Then … maybe you could stop by and pick it up? Although a lot of it’s probably junk, there’s a bill from the power company and a personal letter that looks impor—”

“Toss it all,” he interrupted. He also remembered the woman’s tendency to chatter nonstop.

“But—”

“I don’t need it.”

“Even the letter?” She sounded appalled. “It was hand-delivered by messenger this afternoon. It looks important.”

“Hand-delivered?” Suspicion reared its head again. “Who’s it from?”

In his line of work letters could be deadly. A piece of Deta-sheet fit easily inside an envelope to make a letter bomb. He preferred to deal by phone. By encrypted email.

“There’s no return address,” Erin said. “I could open it and read it to you if—”

“No!” A cold sweat popped out on his lip thinking of Erin’s lush little body, blown to bits by an incendiary device intended for him.

She snorted indignantly. “Ooo-kay. Just an idea.”

He’d have to go to the house and pick up the damn letter, if only to be sure she didn’t snoop and get toasted in the process.

“There’s a name or something in a corner on the back,” she said.

His old house was almost certainly being watched. He couldn’t just waltz up to the door without being seen. Alec rubbed the back of his neck and stewed over this hitch in his plans. Delays didn’t sit well with him.

“It’s hard to read the writing, but it looks like La-something.” Erin paused. “Lafire, maybe?”

Alec jolted. “What?”

“The word in the corner of the envelope. It’s written in chicken scratch, but it looks like Lafire or—”

A chill skittered down his neck. “Lafitte?”

“Uh, yeah. Maybe.”

Alec’s stomach somersaulted. His mind leapfrogged as he strode toward the motel door. “Listen carefully, Erin. Put the letter down.” He kept his voice under tight control, even as adrenaline and hope surged through him. “Don’t touch it again. Got it?”

He prayed she hadn’t already obliterated any fingerprints on the envelope, destroyed evidence that could help him find Daniel.

“Uh, yeah. I got it.” Her tone was rife with unspoken questions.

He expelled a harsh breath. “Look, I’ll be there as soon as I can. In the meantime—”

He jammed on his shades and scanned the parking lot before stepping out into the December sunshine. Alec jerked open the driver’s door of his rental car and dropped onto the front seat. Was the letter really from Daniel? And if it was, why hadn’t Daniel come in person? Or sent an encrypted email? A letter was not protocol. Yet this letter could answer all his questions about what had happened to Daniel that fateful day months ago.

Or it could be a trap.

“In the meantime, what?” Erin asked.

Alec squeezed the phone. “Just sit tight. I’m on my way.”

As he sped out of the parking lot, Alec pitched the cell phone in the motel swimming pool.

Lifting her face to the sun, Erin Bauer savored the unseasonably warm day before she stooped to collect her newspaper from the end of her driveway. By tomorrow, the weatherman said, conditions more typical of the Christmas season in Colorado would blast into town.

As she unfolded the newspaper, Erin scanned Hurley Street for signs of Alec Kincaid. More than two hours had passed since he’d said he was on his way. Not that she was watching the clock.

She skimmed the front page and gave the headlines a cursory glance. The top story remained the U.S. senator’s daughter who’d disappeared from the charity medical delegation in Colombia. The senator was pleading for information about his only child’s disappearance. Erin rubbed a hand over her abdomen. Her loose peasant shirt hid the fact that she could no longer button even her “fat jeans,” though she was still a long way from needing maternity clothes. Tucking the newspaper under her arm, she sighed her sympathy for the senator whose daughter was missing. Erin understood loss.

Shoving down a twinge of loneliness, she swiped an errant curl of light brown hair from her eyes. Turning to go inside, she cast another expectant glance down the street. Okay, maybe she was looking forward to seeing Alec a little bit. After all, God didn’t give many men the drool-worthy physique He’d gifted Alec with. Or eyes blue enough to send quivers to her core. So who could blame her for wanting another chance to goggle at the man?

Considering Alec had ignored her attempts to make friendly conversation, she’d had little else to do but admire his good looks as they moved their belongings last week.

If he weren’t so … well, unapproachable … she’d consider inviting him to dinner or asking if he’d meet her for lunch one day. If she was truly making a fresh start in her life, she should think about dating again. It had been two years …

But the timing is all wrong now. Maybe next year …

A sharp pang twisted through her chest, and she sighed. She had to stop dwelling on Bradley’s death, on the Finley child. She needed to push the horrid memories aside and move forward.

Pivoting on her toe, she headed inside to unpack another box in her study. One thing was certain—the next man she let into her life had to be the safe, reliable, homebody sort. No more following her man off the edge of mountains, jumping from planes or diving in treacherous waters. She had other people to think about, other lives to consider, responsibilities. She had guilt.

Erin puffed stray hair out of her face and pushed the gloomy thoughts aside. She set out the few Christmas decorations she owned—a jolly Santa, her mother’s nativity set and a pine garland, which gave her new mantel a touch of holiday cheer. For the next half hour, she immersed herself in unpacking her collection of books. Beloved original copies of Faulkner, Caldwell and Steinbeck, passed down from her father, graced the shelves next to signed copies of her favorite romance novels and mysteries. Textbooks on topics as varied as meteorology and art history testified to her thirst for knowledge, inherited from her mother and the reason she’d become a teacher. Again pain filtered through her chest. She would teach again. But she’d be more careful this time. Much more careful.

She heard a car in her driveway and moved to the window to peer outside, hoping Alec had finally arrived. Instead she found a delivery van from a local florist pulling to a stop by her sidewalk.

Erin hurried to the front door in time to see a man dressed in a Santa suit slide out of the van. Not Alec. Disappointment spiraled through her, followed closely by curiosity. Who could be sending her flowers? He had to have the wrong address.

She grinned, remembering the silly ads she’d seen for the innovative florist, touting their army of Santas on staff to make special deliveries more festive. The Santas would even sing for an extra fee. The Santa in her driveway unloaded a large poinsettia, tugged his fur-trimmed hat lower over his ears and marched up the walk to her porch.

She stepped out on her porch and called a greeting to the elderly gentleman. He gave her a small nod of acknowledgment. Erin couldn’t hide the note of amusement in her voice when she asked, “Hello, Santa. Are you sure those are for me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He lumbered awkwardly in his overstuffed costume up her porch stairs and raised his head. The piercing blue eyes that greeted Erin and her answering bone-deep tremor sent a crackling jolt of awareness through her.

“And you have a letter of mine,” Alec said.

She gasped her surprise. Even at close range, the white beard and chubby cheeks looked real. “Mr. Kincaid?”

Alec held a hand up and shook his head slightly. “Inside.”

“After you.” She stepped back and waved him inside. “So, moonlighting as an elf?”

His expression was hard and unamused. Erin’s grin faltered. She had known Alec was remote, but his lack of humor was unsettling. Once inside, Alec placed the poinsettia on her end table and fiddled a bit with the bow before turning.

Erin waved a hand toward her unpacked boxes. “Sorry it’s such a mess. I haven’t finished in here. I thought the kitchen was—”

Alec turned his back to her and walked down the hall, opening closet doors and casting a sweeping gaze into each room. She followed him, bristling at his rudeness. He may have lived here once, but this was her home now.

“Looking for something, Santa?” She didn’t bother to hide the irritation in her voice. “I have your letter out here—” she hitched a thumb over her shoulder “—if that’s what—”

He closed the blinds in her bedroom before he faced her. “Have you noticed anyone hanging around the area? Any weird phone calls or strangers come by here?”

This from a man wearing red velvet pants and a fake white beard?

Erin couldn’t resist. “You mean stranger than you?”

He scowled and moved toward her. “Just answer the question. Have you seen anyone watching the house?”

A tingle of alarm skipped down her back. “No. Should I have?”

“Not necessarily.” He peeled off the faux beard, which he’d apparently applied with some sticky gluelike substance, and rubbed the black stubble on his square jaw. “Can I see the letter now?”

Erin stared at him, puzzling over his peculiar demeanor before backing toward the hall. “Sure. In here.”

She led him to the living room and collected his letter from the coffee table. When she thrust it toward him, he hissed and winced.

“I asked you not to touch it again,” he grated through his teeth. He took the letter from her carefully, holding it by the edges.

She gave her head a little shake and drew a slow breath. “Sorry.”

He grunted and bent his head to study the envelope.

Just humor him a little longer. Erin shifted her weight and rubbed her palms on the seat of her jeans. “So … you recognize the handwriting or anything?”

He didn’t answer at first, but when he raised his gaze, she’d swear she saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Her pulse stumbled.

“Never mind that,” he said huskily. “Don’t tell anyone I was here or say anything about having seen the letter. Understand?” A muscle in his rugged jaw twitched.

“Well … yeah. But why?”

His stern demeanor had returned so quickly, she wondered if she’d really seen the flash of pain and vulnerability she’d imagined.

“Just keep quiet about it. Do you have a zip-seal bag I can put this in?”

“A bag?”

“To preserve it.”

“In the kitchen. I’ll be right back.” Erin hustled past Alec, bemused by his dictate of silence.

When she returned with a zip-sealing sandwich bag, Alec gently slid the letter into it and tucked it inside the fuzzy lapel of the Santa suit. Immediately he headed for the door with a long-legged stride. “Remember, you never saw this letter. Keep your doors locked, and if you think you’re being followed, don’t take any chances. Go to the cops. Got it?”

Erin’s pulse did a little two-step in her chest. “Alec, is there a reason you think I might be followed or in danger? If so, I think I have a right to know what—”

“No.” Alec grimaced and sighed heavily. “I … just think women like you, who live alone, should … be careful.” He quirked his mouth up in a lopsided grin that looked more like a wince. “Merry Christmas.” Quickly he replaced the fake beard and shouldered through the front door, changing his gait as he stepped out on the porch to an old man’s shuffle.

“Thanks for the poinsettia, Al—uh, Santa.” Rolling her eyes, Erin closed the front door. “Weird.”

Maybe she was better off not dating if Alec was the sort of fruitcake that the bachelor world had to offer.

Her stomach rumbled. Mmm, fruitcake.

She glanced at her watch and decided to have a snack before doing any more unpacking. On her way into the kitchen, Erin stuck her finger in the soil around the poinsettia. Bone dry. Carrying the plant to the kitchen sink, she gave it a drink from the spray nozzle. While that water soaked in, she opened a cabinet and took down a glass.

A floorboard behind her creaked, her only warning before a powerful hand was clapped over her mouth. She loosed a muffled scream, and the glass fell to the floor, shattering.

“Shut up, and do what I say!” a low voice hissed. The hand over her mouth was removed, and a cool knife blade pressed against her throat. In the tinted glass of the microwave, Erin caught a reflection of the paunchy man behind her.

Her knees trembled, but she fought not to let them buckle. Not with the thug’s knife squeezing her jugular.

Focus. Don’t let fear win, she heard Bradley saying as clearly as if he were still around, goading her into doing another daring stunt. She remembered steeling her nerves to launch her hang glider on her first trip with Bradley, calming her jitters in order to think clearly the first time she parachuted solo. She had to muster the same clearheaded thinking now, despite her fear.

“Where’s LeCroix’s letter?” the man growled.

Her stomach churned as she recalled Alec’s warning. He’d known she would be in danger, yet he’d given her nothing but a warning to deny seeing his letter. Damn him!

“Wh-what letter?”

Her captor shook her, and the blade nicked her neck. His grip around her waist tightened.

Erin gasped and slid a protective hand to her lower abdomen.

A second man appeared from behind her and began ransacking her kitchen drawers.

“Come on, sweetheart. I know you called Kincaid. Now where’s Daniel LeCroix’s letter?”

“I don’t know anything about a letter. Please let me go!”

“Lady, either you talk now, or I’ll cut you until you tell us what we want. Where is the letter that was delivered here this afternoon?”

Erin whimpered as the knife pressed harder against her neck. She was out of her league here, as well as outnumbered. Her captor knew she was lying, had clearly tapped her phone, probably had been watching her house. Alec had suspected as much, ergo the disguise and the drawn blinds.

Whatever Alec was involved in, she wanted nothing to do with it or the seedy men who were after him. Despite Alec’s warning, she refused to anger these men by lying. She wouldn’t risk her life for something she knew nothing about.

“I don’t have the letter. Not anymore.”

Even as Alec adjusted the tiny listening device in his ear, he heard the growling threats against Erin, heard her give him up.

Damn. They’d been closer behind him than he’d thought.

“I swear. The letter isn’t here anymore,” Erin said, the fear in her voice coming clearly through the microphone hidden in the poinsettia. Alec thought of the shadows that had clouded Erin’s wide dark eyes as he’d left. The doubts. The vulnerability.

He cursed the twist of fate that had put Erin in the line of fire.

“Where is it?” the male voice growled.

“Alec has it. He just left. In a florist’s van.”

So much for denials. Alec finished stripping off the bulky Santa suit and fled the delivery van Erin had just identified. Checking the chamber of his SIG-Sauer pistol, Alec crept from behind the van to the cover of a large holly bush.

Don’t jeopardize the mission. If things go south, it’s every man for himself.

The principle wasn’t complicated. Easy enough to understand. Just not so easy to follow through on. Not when the man involved is your partner, your best friend.

Or an innocent woman with wounded, puppy-dog brown eyes.

Alec bit out an expletive. He couldn’t abandon Erin to the thugs who had her. Not when he was the one they wanted. Him—and Daniel’s letter. Though he knew civilian casualties were sometimes unavoidable in counterterrorism, he wasn’t ready to write Erin Bauer off as a cost of war just yet.

Having parked the van out of sight a few blocks from Erin’s house, he now ran through his former neighbors’ backyards, listening closely to the exchange playing from his earphone as he circled back to Erin’s house.

“How long ago did Kincaid leave?”

“Just a few minutes.”

With a running leap, Alec hurtled the picket fence at 217 Hurley Street, dodged the garbage cans at 215 and raced through the lines of drying laundry behind 213.

“Did he read the letter before he left?”

“No.”

“Who delivered it? What did it say?”

Jumping the hedge between 211 and 209, he sprinted to the backyard of Erin’s next-door neighbor. From behind a giant shrub, he surveyed the scene at his old house.

“I don’t know. I s-swear. I d-don’t know anything.”

“We’ll see about that.”

He heard Erin yelp. In pain or fear? Adrenaline kicked in his chest. Needing to get a better fix on the situation, he calculated his best approach.

“Come on, sweetheart. You’re coming with us.”

What?

“What?” Erin’s terrified voice echoed Alec’s reaction. He pressed a hand to his ear, holding the tiny receiver closer.

“Kincaid couldn’t have gotten far. We’ll take you with us as a bargaining chip, offer you as trade. His girlfriend for the letter.”

Girlfriend? Alec cursed again under his breath. If they thought Erin meant something to him, her life was in even more danger.

“But I’m not—”

“Shut up, lady. Move it.”

“No, wait! I—”

Alec heard an oof, a grunt. The scuffle of feet. A crash.

From his hiding place at the side of the house, he heard the back door open. Muffled voices. He peered around the corner and saw them drag Erin at knifepoint toward a white SUV. The hair at Alec’s nape bristled. If they harmed so much as a hair on Erin’s head …

Guilt wrenched inside him. This was his fault. She was at risk because of him. Obviously, the thugs planned to use her as bait to draw him out. Therefore, freeing her, protecting her was his duty, his obligation.

Another man had joined the knife-wielding cretin and climbed behind the steering wheel. Alec didn’t recognize either of the men, but he memorized their faces now. As the guy manhandling Erin shoved her in the back seat, he snarled some kind of warning. Despite her obvious fear, Erin lifted her chin defiantly.

Alec’s lips twitched at her show of moxie. He’d found no shortage of things to admire about Erin Bauer. He couldn’t blame her for giving up the information about the letter so easily. She had no way to know what was at stake, no reason to do as he’d directed. Even he didn’t know what was at play or why. But now Erin was a part of it … which left him rescuing her. The old-fashioned way. The hard way.

He gritted his teeth, irritated by the diversion from his plans. He’d finally picked up Daniel’s trail. He needed to be studying the message his partner had sent, going underground, lying low until he lost the tail he’d picked up. But he wouldn’t, couldn’t abandon Erin to these men.

Like you abandoned Daniel.

The white SUV turned down Hurley Street, and Alec retraced his path, running through the neighbors’ yards, keeping the vehicle in sight. He kept pace with the SUV until it turned onto the main street leading to the interstate.

Time for wheels.

A pickup truck stopped at the intersection, and Alec snatched open the door. “Police! Follow that white SUV. Don’t lose them!”

The college-aged driver scowled his doubt. “Let’s see some I.D., bud.”

Alec pulled his SIG-Sauer from his shoulder holster. “Move it!”

The young man paled and raised his palms. “Easy, bro. I’m going!”

Alec pointed. “There! They just got on the interstate. Hurry!”

His driver punched the gas, wove through traffic like an expert, and merged onto the interstate doing close to eighty.

Alec spotted the SUV several cars ahead and calculated his best attack. He didn’t want Erin’s captors to see him and risk a car chase that put innocent lives at risk. An eighteen-wheeler occupied the next lane, and Alec sized up his options. Doable.

“Pull as close to the back of that truck as you can and hold it steady. Got it?”

The college kid looked at him and nodded. “Check.”

While his chauffeur aligned his pickup with the larger truck, Alec rolled down the passenger window and secured his SIG-Sauer in his holster.

“Thanks for the lift,” Alec said as he wedged his body through the window and hoisted himself out. While they rocketed down the interstate, Alec climbed into the pickup’s bed. Braced against the air current. Focused on his task, his mission.

The pickup moved beside the rear of the eighteen-wheeler, and Alec eyed the bar ladder on the back end of the truck. He prepared. Calculated. Jumped.

His foot slipped as the truck bounced over a pothole. Adrenaline spiking, he groped for a rung of the bar-ladder. The jolt as he caught himself tugged viciously on his shoulder. Pain slithered down his arm, but he held on, found a foothold.

Over the whoosh of air and rumble of engines, he heard the pickup’s driver whoop. He nodded to the young man as the pickup eased back into the correct lane.

“Kids, don’t try this at home.” Alec scaled the rungs on the back of the eighteen-wheeler and levered himself to the roof. The truck rocked and shimmied as it barreled down the road. The slipstream pushed and pulled at him as Alec found his footing. Like surfing in a hurricane.

Keeping his center of balance low, he edged along the roof of the truck’s trailer. Scanning the road in front of him, he spotted the SUV. The luggage rack on its roof. Target located.

The eighteen-wheeler changed lanes, easing forward. That’s it. A little further.

A passing car honked, and a passenger gestured wildly at the driver of the eighteen-wheeler.

Alec gritted his teeth. Damn it, he didn’t want attention drawn to him! But, realistically, he had to accept that his highway gymnastics would cause spectator concern. The sooner he acted, the better.

Alec edged into position. The SUV was still almost a car length away, but he couldn’t wait much longer, couldn’t risk Erin’s captors seeing him. He braced himself and judged the distance to the roof of the SUV.

A challenge. But doable.

What could she do? Erin squeezed the door handle and weighed her options. Jumping out of the car at highway speed would be suicide. But when they left the interstate, if they stopped for a traffic light …

She rubbed her palm on the leg of her jeans, over her belly. She had to be careful. Couldn’t take unnecessary risks.

But she refused to let these men harm her, kidnap her without even a token resistance. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

She thought of Alec Kincaid, the selfish bastard, walking out on her, leaving her to fend for her life. Alone. She was in this mess because of his stupid letter! She worked up a good mad and funneled the energy toward planning her escape. They had to get off the interstate sometime. And when they did …

A car behind them honked, and she absently turned her attention to the passenger-side mirror. An idea niggled. Maybe she could signal someone in another car….

She glanced sideways to the knife-wielding maniac who rode beside her and nixed that thought. She couldn’t tip her hand. When she acted, she had to catch the men totally off guard.

She returned her gaze to the side mirror with a wistful glance. If only—

Erin sat straighter in the seat and narrowed her gazed in disbelief. A man was on top of the eighteen-wheeler behind them!

What kind of idiot—?

Her breath caught, and she blinked to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.

No trick. It was Alec.

Her heart, responding to Alec’s daring with a drumroll, rose to her throat. She stifled the gasp that threatened, determined not to give Alec’s presence away to Mr. Knife and his buddy. Her gaze riveted to the SUV’s side mirror. Her fingernails cut into her palms.

Horrified, she watched Alec inch along the roof of the truck’s trailer. He crouched low, adjusted his arms for balance.

Dear God! What was he planning?

An image of Bradley’s broken body flashed in Erin’s mind, and her stomach rolled. Alec was coming to help her. Like Bradley had been. Putting himself in danger. Risking his life. Taking foolish chances. For her.

The bitter taste of fear filled her mouth, and Erin swallowed a moan. Not again.

“You say something, sweetheart?”

Erin jerked her head around to face Knife. “N-no.”

“Take it easy, darlin’,” Knife said with a sadistic leer. “Soon as we get that letter back from Kincaid, you’ll be free to go.”

The man driving grunted. “For a swim with the fishies maybe.”

Knife laughed and gave Erin a salacious wink. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll take care of ya.”

A shudder raced down her spine. She worked to form enough spit to swallow the knot in her throat as she swung her gaze back to the mirror. The truck was closer. Alec perched on the edge of the trailer, crouching. Springing.

Erin gasped, but the sound was lost as Alec landed with a thump on the roof of the SUV.

“What the hell was that?” the driver barked.

Trembling all over, Erin held her breath.

Knife angled his head, looking up. “Something hit the roof.”

Suddenly the window beside Knife shattered. Erin jolted as glass shards blasted across the seat.

“What the—!” The SUV swerved as the startled driver twisted toward the smashed window.

“It’s Kincaid!” Knife brushed broken glass off his shirt and surged forward to shout to his cohort. “He’s on the roof! Shake him!”

Erin gripped the edge of the seat as their driver snatched the steering wheel hard to the left then right again. Alec’s legs slid off the passenger side of the roof, scrambling to find purchase.

Panic roiled inside her. “No!”

The driver yanked the steering wheel again. Alec slipped farther down the side of the SUV. He needed help. Her help.

Snatching off her seat belt, Erin lunged for the front seat, the driver, the steering wheel.

“Hey, get back here!” Knife grabbed the back of her shirt. She fought like a wildcat to grab the wheel, steady the SUV.

Erin heard a thump, a smack. When Knife’s hold on her suddenly fell away, she darted a glance over her shoulder.

Alec hung over the other side of the car now. He reached in through the broken window to land a punch in Knife’s jaw.

Knife’s eyes rolled back. Before the man could even slump all the way to the seat, Alec slid, feet first, through the broken window.

“Manny?” the driver called as he checked the rearview mirror.

“Manny’s taking a nap,” her rescuer said.

“Alec!” Relief swamped her so hard and fast she nearly choked on the tears.

But her relief came too soon. The driver raised an arm, turned, and leveled a gun at her.

She saw the flash from the muzzle in the same instant the ear-shattering blast rang in her ears. She screamed and curled forward to protect her abdomen.

More glass rained on her as the passenger-side window shattered.

“Get up!” Alec shouted.

She glanced up and realized the command was directed to her. He struggled to restrain the driver, keep the thug from shooting again and steer the SUV at the same time. She met Alec’s blazing blue gaze, and instant admiration stole her breath.

He hitched his head toward the front seat. “Hurry! Grab the wheel!”

Erin scrambled to suit orders to action. Somehow Alec managed to hold the SUV in one lane. But as the thug struggled with Alec, the man’s foot moved on and off the accelerator making the SUV jerk, lunge and stall. They drifted toward the next lane and swapped paint with a school bus. Alec cursed.

Heart thundering, Erin clambered into the front seat, wedged her left foot over to the accelerator pedal and wrapped her hands around the steering wheel.

Freed of needing to steady the vehicle, Alec squeezed the driver’s throat, held him immobile until the man went limp.

Erin gawked and leaned out of the way as Alec dragged the man’s body into the back seat. “Is he dead?”

“No. I want these jokers alive to answer questions.”

Erin slid into the driver’s seat and brought the SUV under control.

“You okay?” Alec asked.

“Depends. Define okay.” She met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “If I were shaking any harder, my t-teeth would rattle, and I feel like I m-might throw up, but … I’m not hurt. Does that count?”

“Can you drive for a while?” His face was hard, his gaze razor sharp.

She nodded.

“Good enough for me.” He situated the thugs on the back seat, tying their hands with the seat belt. “Take the next exit, but don’t stop. Drive until you find a place that has some privacy.”

“O-okay.” Erin flipped on her turn signal and changed lanes, heading for the exit he indicated.

Alec climbed into the front seat beside her and raised his shirt to pull out the envelope tucked in the waist of his jeans. He heaved a relieved-sounding sigh and closed his eyes.

Crisis averted. Thanks to Alec’s heroics. Erin exhaled her own relieved sigh, but her hands still trembled. She cast a sideways glance at Alec, and for a moment, she simply savored the sight of his black, windblown hair, the stark bone structure of his brow and jaw, the full cut of his mouth.

When they’d been hauling boxes last week, she’d been transfixed by his taut, muscular frame, by his intensely blue eyes. But it seemed this man’s face was perhaps the most striking, the most interesting of his features. Without being classically handsome, he had a rugged sort of appeal. A muscle in his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth and opened his eyes. She followed his lowered gaze to the envelope in his lap.

She scowled. “That dumb letter must be awfully important.”

He cut her a sideways glance. “It is to me.”

Harsh lines bracketed his mouth, his eyes, and spoke of hard living. A thin, pale scar on his cheek evidenced a past injury. Alec Kincaid was clearly no stranger to a dangerous lifestyle.

Her annoyance cooled when she realized the lengths to which he’d gone to rescue her. He was either the craziest man on the planet or the bravest. She’d wager on the latter.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “For helping me. Saving me.”

He didn’t answer. Instead he turned to stare out the side window, his face an emotionless mask. Finally he slanted a hooded look at her and grunted. “Your gratitude may be premature.”

Chapter 2

Following Alec’s directions, Erin pulled the SUV behind a self-storage building and cut the engine. She cast him a wary gaze across the front seat. “Now what?”

Alec scanned the area with predatory eyes. “I’m going to have a little talk with these cretins. I need to find out who they are and who sent them.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Still shivering from cold and fear, Erin chafed her arms. The action drew Alec’s attention and a dark frown.

“No police.”

“What?” Erin blinked her shock. “They broke into my house, held me at knifepoint, kidnapped me, threatened to kill me…. You better believe I’m calling the cops!”

His expression grew flinty. “No. I’ll handle this.”

“Why? Are you FBI or something?”

“Or something.” Alec climbed out of the SUV and opened the back door. He checked the two unconscious men, then used the knife the first man had held at her throat to slice through the seat belt. With amazing ease and his impressive muscles taut, Alec hoisted the unconscious driver over his shoulder and carried him to the side of the self-storage building.

A funny catch lodged in Erin’s chest as she watched Alec pat the thug down, ostensibly checking for other weapons, then return to the SUV. He’d saved her life. For that, she figured she owed him the benefit of the doubt, even if the notion of not reporting this terrifying incident to the police galled her. She glanced at the letter sitting on the console between the front seats. What was so darned important about that letter that men were willing to kill for it?

Alec ducked his head in the back seat again and sawed on the strap securing the second man.

“So what am I supposed to do?” she asked. “Just go back home and pretend nothing happened?”

Alec’s hands stilled, and he glanced up at her, his mouth set in a grim line.

Erin wondered if Alec ever smiled, wondered about the life he led that kept his expression so hard and humorless. Wondered how a smile would transform his stony features.

“Once I get this guy out, I want you to dump this vehicle somewhere, then walk about a mile before you call a cab. Don’t go back to your house. They know you live there, and you’d be an easy mark.”

Erin pressed a hand to her stomach as anxiety fueled the wave of nausea that swamped her. “And why would they come back for me? I thought it was you and this Daniel LeCroix person’s letter that they were after.”

He sighed, and the muscles in his jaw jumped. “Because I made a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

He grunted and continued his work. “I came back for you. Rescued you from them.”

She scoffed. “You see that as a mistake?”

“Now they believe I care whether you live or die. They’ll see you as a way to get to me.”

Dread settled in her chest like a rock.

“Do you have a friend or relative you can stay with for a while?”

A hollow ache plucked at her. Loneliness. Grief. And guilt, her constant companion of late. “No. My parents are dead, and I just moved into town last week.”

He scowled. “Then go to a hotel. And be careful. Keep your door locked and don’t talk to anyone.”

“But—” Before she had a chance to voice her complaint, the scuffle of feet drew Alec’s attention to the side of the storage building. The SUV driver had regained consciousness. Hands still bound by the seat belt, the groggy man stumbled to his feet. And ran.

“Damn!” Alec snatched his gun from his waistband and foisted it toward her. “Watch this guy. If he so much as blinks, shoot him!”

Spinning away, Alec sprinted after the fleeing driver. Erin gaped at Alec’s retreating back then down at the weapon he’d shoved in her hands. Shoot Mr. Knife? Even if her own life were at stake, she wasn’t sure she could ever pull the trigger, kill another human being.

Her stomach swirled, and she wished she had some crackers to settle the queasiness. She’d moved to Colorado hoping to build a new life, to escape the turmoil and tragedy that had plagued her the past two years. To heal, to make a fresh start, and to nurture Bradley’s last gift to her. But she’d only been in her new home a week, and already bad luck and danger had found her again. She had to be jinxed.

Hands shaking, she set the gun on the passenger’s seat, terrified her trembling hands would make the gun fire accidentally.

Her gaze darted to the letter—the root of this whole fiasco, the source of the danger she was in. She lifted the missive and held it to the sunlight, trying to see what was inside. Useless. The envelope paper was too thick.

It occurred to her that, like the driver, Knife could rouse, could surprise her, could overpower her. Could steal the letter and escape.

Then all of Alec’s efforts to hold on to the letter and rescue her would have been in vain. Mind spinning, Erin turned the letter over in her hand. Maybe she couldn’t bring herself to shoot Knife if needed, but she could do something to protect Daniel’s letter.

Grumbling to himself in disgust, Alec balled his hands as he stormed back to the storage units where he’d left Erin. He’d lost his prey in the maze of alleys, small homes and parked cars. Worse than that, he’d taken off after the cretin so fast, he’d left Daniel’s letter sitting on the front console of the SUV. While mapping out a plan to keep Erin safe, he’d allowed her fearful eyes, her rebellious pout to distract him. For a man who prided himself on perfection, today’s accumulating list of mistakes chafed.

He sidled up to the back wall of the storage building and peered around the corner to survey the scene at the SUV. If Erin had lost control of the situation, he didn’t want to walk into a confrontation unaware.

Erin paced back and forth behind the rear bumper. Her attention remained glued down the driveway, in the direction he’d pursued the driver. As she marched back and forth, she gnawed a thumbnail, then frowned at the chewed finger. A bulge at the small of her back told him where she’d stashed his SIG-Sauer.

He didn’t see the other thug, but that could mean the man was still slumped in the back seat.

A shadow shifted near the front fender, and Alec tensed. He pulled out the knife he’d been using to cut the seat belts and narrowed his gaze. Grass rustled by the driver’s-side tire.

Alec moved out, skulking toward the SUV with the knife ready. He’d only made it a few steps before cretin number two sprang from behind the vehicle.

The bastard lofted a thick branch and closed in on Erin.

“Erin, look out!” Alec shouted.

Too late. The heavy branch crashed down on her skull, and she crumpled to the ground. Alec’s gut lurched with a sickening dread.

As her assailant bolted down the driveway, he snatched something from the front pocket of her jeans. An envelope.

Alec cursed. Racing to Erin, he fished the SIG-Sauer out from under her shirt and darted down the drive after the escaping thief. He fired a shot as the man dashed around the corner of a clapboard house. Training told Alec to go after the fleeing suspect, but the woman lying, unmoving, in the dirt spoke to something deeper in Alec’s soul.

You left Daniel.

He stared at the spot where Erin’s assailant had disappeared another moment, a razor pain slicing through him when he thought of the lost letter, the danger Daniel could be in with his missive in the wrong hands.

Yet seeing Daniel’s handwriting had fired new hope in him that his partner was alive. Guilt and regret fueled his determination to get his search back on track.

As soon as he was certain Erin was safe.

He’d be damned if he knew why this woman compelled him to break with procedure, to jeopardize his mission, to act counter to everything he’d been trained to do. The inconsistency needled him.

Rushing back down the driveway, he dropped to his knees beside the unconscious woman and felt for a pulse. He released a deep breath when he found a strong throbbing beat in her neck.

Pulling her into his lap, he carefully examined her head for the goose egg sure to be swelling on her scalp. Her feminine scent teased him, and her silky curls coiled seductively around his fingers. Her limp body, her slack face, her vulnerability speared to his core. He’d been trained to steel himself against softer emotions, sympathies that could jeopardize a mission and blur his professional focus. But something about this woman slipped under his defenses and burrowed deep inside him.

Wincing, Erin jerked and raised a hand to the spot on her head where he probed. “Ow.”

Her eyelids fluttered open. With a gasp, she tried to sit up, but he caught her shoulders and eased her back to his lap. “Easy. You took a nasty blow. Go slow.”

Her puppy-dog eyes turned up to his face. “Alec?”

So she could talk and her short-term memory was intact. Both good signs. He focused on her pupils rather than the sexy sweetness of her mahogany eyes. Even. No abnormal dilation.

“Are you dizzy? Numb anywhere?” he asked.

She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her head. “I … No. My head hurts like fire, though. What happened?”

“Your charge cracked a limb over your head.” He was prepared to chastise her for her inattention to her prisoner, but she moaned in misery as she sat up.

“Knife! Where’d he—” She whipped her head around, apparently looking for the thug, then yelped and cradled her head again.

“I said go slow.” He slid a hand under her elbow to steady her. “And your man got away after he whacked you.”

“Sorry.” She grimaced, and her face paled as she clapped a hand to her jeans pocket. “It’s gone. The envelope—”

Alec gritted his teeth as renewed frustration wrenched inside him. “He took it.”

Next, Erin patted her chest, and a corner of her mouth curled up. When she unfastened the top button of her shirt and jammed her hand inside her bra, Alec arched an eyebrow, undeniably intrigued. A flash of heat spun through his blood as his attention was drawn to the curve of breast that peeked from her open neckline.

Erin chuckled and drew something out of her clothes. A folded paper.

He sent her a dubious frown. “What’s that?”

Her answering smile beamed, its wattage hitting him like a punch in the solar plexus. “Your letter.”

Alec stilled. “What?”

She extended the folded sheet to him, smug satisfaction glowing in her eyes. “I figured Knife might try to steal the letter again, so I hid the contents of the envelope. Just in case. I put the envelope in my pocket, so it’d look like I was at least trying to protect it. I figured if I left it completely unguarded Knife might get suspicious. I made the slit in the side as small and inconspicuous as I could.”

As Erin prattled on, explaining her reasoning, Alec slipped the letter from her fingers and heaved a mental sigh of relief. Amazing. Erin’s forethought and creativity, the fact that she’d bothered at all to protect Daniel’s letter, stunned him. Impressed the hell out of him.

When she stopped chattering about her ingenuity, she met his gaze with an expectant expression. “Pretty good, huh?”

“Smart thinking. I could kiss you.”

She sent him a startled look, and he realized belatedly what he’d said.

When her gaze shifted to his mouth, adrenaline kicked his pulse up a notch. As if he’d just spotted a tango in the jungle. As if he’d just blown a hole in a building with a chunk of C4. As if … he had the opportunity to taste the lips of a gorgeous woman.

He dropped his gaze to her mouth, and the air around him charged with a crackling energy. Acting purely on impulse, Alec leaned toward Erin, zeroing in on his target. But before he reached his goal, Erin drew a sharp breath, moaned softly and clutched her gut. “Oh, geez. I—I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Alec shook off the fog that had momentarily muddled his mind. Another lapse in his thinking, another failure to let his training guide his actions.

He clenched his teeth, shoved to his feet and turned his attention back to the pale-faced woman who held her stomach. “What kind of pain are you having? Any dizziness or ringing ears?”

She flashed a chagrined smile. “Nausea. Sorry, this won’t be pretty.”

With that, she rolled to her hands and knees and retched. Not good. Vomiting was indication she could have a concussion. He crouched beside her and helped her trap her long hair inside the collar of her shirt. A loose curl escaped, and he held it away from her face as she heaved again. “You need to see a doctor.”

She shook her head and several hanks of hair fell loose again. “I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

Like he had room to talk. He’d almost kissed her. Stupid, stupid …

Slipups like that in the field could get you killed. Falling for a pair of seductive brown eyes or the temptation of a kiss was just the kind of mistake his enemies banked on. If he was going to find Daniel, he had to pull himself together.

Erin glared at him over her shoulder.

He gentled his voice. “You’ve had a serious head trauma, and you’re throwing up. You could have a concussion. You need a CT scan.” He gathered her loose hair again and re-tucked it in her shirt, painfully aware of the silky texture against his skin.

She rocked back on her heels and swiped her mouth with her sleeve. “All I need is some crackers or something to settle my stomach. I’ll be fine.”

He narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. He didn’t have time to argue with her. “You’re going to see a doctor.”

Erin twisted her lips in a frown of disagreement. Pushing to her feet, she dusted the seat of her jeans and, with a wobble, stepped toward the SUV. “Just take me home. Please?”

He shadowed her, ready to catch the stubborn woman if she toppled over. “I already told you why you can’t go back to your house. Especially now with your buddy Knife, as you called him, and his cohort on the loose again.”

“You really think they’ll come after me again?” She furrowed her brow and held a hand to the knot rising on her scalp.

An external knot. A good sign.

“You really think they’ll give up?” he returned.

Fear flickered across her face, and her shoulders drooped. “Great.”

Alec calculated which emergency room was closest and internally groaned at the three- to four-hour wait they’d likely have on a Saturday afternoon. He toyed with, then nixed, the idea of leaving Erin at the hospital. She was in no condition to take care of herself. Hell.

More delays. More time for the people on his trail to track him. More opportunity for Erin to be found, caught, used against him, perhaps killed when Knife figured out she’d duped him and he didn’t have Daniel’s letter. He’d have to stay with her. Rather, she’d have to stay with him….

His gut tightened at the thought. Could he risk taking her with him to the safe house in the mountains? And did he really have any other options if he was going to keep her safe?

Maybe if she weren’t in danger because of him, he could justify leaving her at the E.R. The staff at the hospital would take care of her injuries. But the staff couldn’t guard her from knife-wielding thugs the way he could. And Alec was certain the men who’d kidnapped her to force his hand would try again.

“Look, I appreciate your concern, Alec.” Erin’s face had more color, but she still visibly trembled. “But my head already feels better. It’s only a sharp throb now.” She tossed him a wry grin. “And I’m only sick to my stomach because I’m—” Her eyes slid closed, and she staggered. “Whoa, why is the ground moving?”

Alec caught her as she toppled. “That settles it, sweetcakes. You’re coming with me.”

“I don’t—”

“Stop arguing and get in the truck.”

While he helped her to the front seat of the SUV, Alec mentally ran down his list of contacts in the area, wishing he hadn’t tossed his cell phone quite so soon. He stopped at a small insurance office, parking the damaged SUV out of sight, and convinced the receptionist to let him borrow the office phone and call in a few favors.

Within minutes he was escorting Erin into a private, outpatient radiology lab. The facility’s owner was the brother of a former black ops teammate Alec had once rescued from a Honduran prison. Though the private lab was typically closed on Saturdays, the owner/radiologist met Alec to repay his brother’s debt. While Erin was in the back getting her scan, Alec took a seat in the waiting area and recalculated his plans, adding Erin into the mix. Inconvenient, but doable.

He pulled Daniel’s letter out and stared at the folded sheet. Erin had been lucky as hell the letter hadn’t been a bomb. He’d been waiting until he could dust the envelope for fingerprints, x-ray it and check for explosives before he opened the letter. Now there seemed no reason not to take his first close look at his only clue to Daniel’s whereabouts.

Carefully, Alec unfolded the stiff paper. Colorful artwork and old-fashioned script decorated the page. Dotted lines connected one small drawing to another, superimposed on a map of a fictional Caribbean isle. In the top corner, the skull and crossbones of a pirate’s flag smirked at Alec.

He frowned. Why would Daniel send him this child’s souvenir? Was his partner simply telling him he was alive or did the map mean something else?

“Good news.”

Drawn from his perusal of the pirate map by the radiologist’s voice, Alec hastily refolded the sheet and shoved it in his pocket.

“Your friend has only a minor concussion,” the radiologist said with a grin. “Chances are she’ll have a whopping headache for a few days, but I see no other damage, nothing that concerns me. She should be just fine.”

Alec nodded. “Can she travel?”

“Some, but she’ll need lots of rest. Keep tabs on her, especially for the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Watch her pupils, her pulse rate. And wake her every couple hours and ask her basic questions about her name and the date. If her condition goes south, get her to a hospital immediately.”

A technician escorted Erin into the waiting room, and Erin glared at Alec. “If you have any humanity at all, you will stop at the first hamburger joint we see and buy me a large cheeseburger with fries. I was hungry before. Now I’m famished.”

Hypoglycemia, Alec thought, sizing up Erin’s glower. That’d explain her crankiness, too.

He drove them to a fast-food restaurant drive-through where he ordered himself a double hamburger, then watched in amazement as Erin put away her dinner in record time. After devouring her meal, she settled back in the seat with a satisfied sigh.

“If you’re sure I can’t go home …” Erin yawned. “Then drop me at a hotel. This has been a heck of a day, and I’m bushed.” Her eyelids drooped, and she nestled her cheek against the shoulder strap of the seat belt.

“Don’t worry,” Alec said. “I’m taking you someplace safe.”

Erin woke to a loud droning sound and a throbbing ache at her temple. The pounding headache she understood—Knife had clobbered her when he escaped. The noisy rumble confused her, concerned her.

She cracked open her eyes and surveyed the dim, confined space where she lay. This wasn’t the SUV. “Alec?”

“You’re awake. Good.”

She angled her head toward his voice and found him peering over his shoulder from a narrow seat at the front of the confined space. He wore a headset over one ear with a microphone at his mouth. The green glow of a control panel cast harsh shadows on his angular face and square jaw. “I was just about to wake you. Can you tell me who the president is?”

She did. “Now can you tell me where the heck we are?”

“North of Denver. At about 15,000 feet.”

The tiny space she was in jostled and dipped. Her stomach rose to her throat. “15,000 feet? In the air?”

“Don’t panic. I have hundreds of hours’ flying experience.”

Despite the hammering protest of her head, Erin struggled to sit up and take stock of her situation. “Oh God.”

She was in a small propeller plane from the looks of it. And Alec was alone at the controls. She fought the swell of nausea and anxiety that swamped her. “Wh-why am I here? Where are you taking me?” She heard the shrill note in her voice but didn’t care.

“Easy, sweetcakes. I’ve got everything under control.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

Deep breath. Slow exhale. The exercise didn’t help. Her nerves still jangled, and her stomach pitched.

“Alec, why am I in this plane? How did I get on this plane? I thought you were taking me to a hotel!”

He angled another look over his shoulder. “Anyone ever tell you that you sleep like the dead? I decided I’d get fewer arguments from you if I didn’t wake you until we were in the air.”

“You’re kidnapping me now?” She gaped at him, stunned by his stunt.

“Trust me. It’s better this way. Because of your concussion—a minor one, the doc assures me—you needed someone to watch you for the next day or two.”

Erin’s heart gave a little kick. She hadn’t had anyone looking out for her interests in a very long time.

“But I had to get out of town, shake the men who’ve been following me.” Alec returned his attention to the dials and gauges in front of him. “At the safe house, I’ll have the facilities to start tracking Daniel and protect you at the same time.”

She grabbed the back of Alec’s seat as the plane jolted through another air pocket. “So why are these men following you? What do they want?”

Alec didn’t answer.

“Can you at least tell me which side of the law you’re on? Are you one of the good guys?”

He shrugged. “Depends who you ask. We’re getting close. Better get ready to go.”

Erin shifted to look out the front windshield at the mountainous terrain. “I don’t see any airstrip. Where are we supposed to land?”

“We’re not landing.”

A prickle started at the base of Erin’s neck. “Pardon me?”

“We’re jumping. I only had one chute in the plane, so I picked up a tandem harness before we took off.”

Pinpricks of dread crept down her spine. “We’re jumping? As in parachuting? As in … No!” A cold sweat beaded on her lip as an image of Bradley’s final moments flashed in her mind. “No, Alec! I can’t!”

He flipped some switches and slid out from behind the controls. “Fine. Stay on the plane. Although you only have a couple minutes’ worth of fuel. Do you know how to land a Cessna?”

“No. I—” Erin’s breathing grew ragged, and her heart clambered. “A couple minutes of fuel? But if we jump, the plane—”

“Crashes. I know. That’s the point. With luck, the people after us will believe we’re dead.” Alec stepped over her toward the back cargo area of the tiny plane.

“But—” Erin’s head pounded, and her mind spun.

This was a nightmare. No, worse than a nightmare. This was real.

“Please, Alec. There’s got to be another way to do this! I can’t jump!”

“You’ll be strapped to me. Perfectly safe. I’ve done this dozens of times.” He handed her a nylon mesh harness. “Put this on.”

Bile burned her throat, and she swallowed hard, searching for her voice. “Alec, wait! You don’t understand. Bradley died—”

A screeching siren from the controls interrupted her. “Low fuel! Low fuel!”

“This is our stop.” Alec cinched a strap tighter across his chest, then looked at the harness still in her hand. “You coming or not?”

Erin scrambled to don the device, and Alec stepped closer to show her how to arrange the straps and clips. “Please, don’t make me do this, Alec! Stay with me! Turn the plane around and land it somewhere. I can’t do this!”

He tested one of her straps with a firm tug. Then, grasping her shoulders with strong hands, he met her eyes with his piercing blue gaze. “Yes, you can. I’ll be right there with you the whole time. I won’t let you get hurt.”

His assurances echoed with a distant familiarity. Her stomach lurched. “That’s what Bradley always said.”

Alec forcibly quashed the sympathy that stirred in him when he looked in Erin’s terror-stricken eyes. “Turn around so I can hook up your harness.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, and a tear leaked onto her cheek. The sight of that tear as she dutifully complied with his directive landed a sucker punch in his gut.

He had to shove down his reactions to Erin and focus on the jump, focus on getting them both safely to the ground. Drawing a cleansing breath, Alec slid a hand around her waist and pulled her back against him. With his hand splayed on her belly, he held her in place while he fastened the D-rings of her harness to his. With effort, he shut out the sweet scent of her hair, the odd firmness and round swell of her stomach, the shudder that shimmied through her.

“Alec,” she said, her voice trembling, “It has to be dangerous for a woman in my condition to—”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll protect your head when we land.”

“I don’t mean—”

“Time to go. Walk with me.” He nudged her forward. Opened the rear cargo door. Braced as the slipstream roared into the plane.

“Alec!”

“We jump on three! One … two …”

“Alec!”

“Three!”

Chapter 3

After their canopy opened with a crisp snap, Erin opened her eyes and drank in the view of sprawling mountains, the terra-cotta sunset, and the bushy evergreens dotting the jagged slopes of the Rockies. Beautiful.

She inhaled the pine-scented air and felt the tension in her muscles seep away. The spectacular view, the exhilarating freedom as they floated on a pillow of air was heady stuff. Despite her fears, every adventure Bradley had taken her on had given her something she treasured. She came away from each challenge energized with the joy of being alive.

The joy of being alive …

In a flash, the thrill of their descent evaporated, replaced with chilling memories of the last trip she’d made with Bradley, the trip that had left her bereft and alone. Erin tensed every muscle and turned her attention from the sunset to their rapid approach to terra firma. Rather, toward a stand of lodgepole pines.

“Alec, we’re headed for those trees!” Erin gripped Alec’s arm, digging her fingers into his hard muscles, as he toggled their parachute toward the hillside below. She could barely hear herself over the swoosh of blood in her ears and the adrenaline-charged cadence of her heart.

“We’re fine, sweetcakes.” His voice was irritatingly calm and assured.

When they landed, she was going to deck him for putting her through this.

“Right on target,” he crooned.

“You’re aiming for the trees?”

She felt the vibration of his answering grunt against her back, reverberating in her own chest as if they were one.

“Of course not. I’m gonna set us down in that clearing to the left. When we land, bend your knees—”

“And roll. I know. I’ve done this before.” But when she’d parachuted with Bradley, she hadn’t had a throbbing knot on her head or memories of her husband’s death replaying in her mind like a film clip looped to repeat ad nauseam.

“You’ve been skydiving before?” Alec sounded truly shocked.

“A couple times. With Bradley.”

They glided over the treetops, and she heard Alec’s smug hum of satisfaction, imagined the I-told-you-so gleam in his eyes. As they sailed smoothly to earth, Erin readied herself for landing as Bradley had taught her. Alec wrapped his arm around the top of her head and held it securely against him, protecting her head from further injury as he’d promised he would.

Her feet met the rocky ground with a jarring thud, and her knees buckled. She tried to roll as Alec had instructed, but he lunged the opposite direction. She was hauled with him in a tumbling heap, falling awkwardly on top of him, butt first.

Alec groaned. “I told you to roll!”

“I tried to, but you went the other way! Next time, be more specific about direction.”

He snorted. “Roger that, sweetcakes.”

She heard the click of metal, and the pressure of the straps restraining her loosened. With a firm shove, Alec scooted her off him and sat up. Erin crawled to her hands and knees and stayed there while she fought for control over her ragged breathing and scampering nerves.

Alec cupped her chin in his hand and brought her head up. “Look at me.”

She did, jolting again when her eyes connected with the stunning color and intensity of his. The warmth of his hand on her chin and steadiness of his gaze made her pulse stagger for reasons that had nothing to do with their perilous jump from the airplane.

“Pupils are still normal and even,” he said matter-of-factly.

A twinge of disappointment plucked her. The intent of his touch, his level look was clinical, not comforting. Yet he didn’t release her chin. “You all right?”

“I’ll live.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. The closest thing to a smile she’d ever seen cross his face. “See. That wasn’t so bad.”

She scoffed.

His thumb stroked her cheek, and ribbons of warm sensation streaked from the spot he caressed to pool in her core.

“I know you were scared, but you did great. Good job, sweetcakes.”

Erin sighed and tugged her chin from his grasp. “Stop calling me that. My name is Erin, not sweetcakes.”

His expression hardening, Alec squared his shoulders and started unfastening the parachute straps crisscrossing his chest.

“Roger that.” His tone was as biting as the rocks cutting into her knees.

She tugged at her own harness, wondering where the chastisement about his moniker for her came from. She’d never detected any condescension when he used the name, and she could think of plenty of things worse than sweetcakes he could call her. Hormones, she supposed. She’d been emotional and moody a lot lately.

“Who’s Bradley?”

Erin snapped her head up. “What?”

“You said you’d parachuted before with Bradley. Is he your brother?”

“I’m an only child. Bradley was my husband.”

Alec hesitated before tossing aside his parachute harness. He lifted one black eyebrow. “Was?”

The usual twist of grief squeezed her chest. “He … died two years ago.”

The grim slash of Alec’s mouth softened. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

Alec balled the parachute and stuffed it in its pack along with the riser cords and his harness. “Let’s get moving. We still have two miles to hike, and it’ll be dark soon.”

“Two miles?” She gaped at Alec as he hoisted the parachute pack onto his back.

He gave a quick nod. “Uphill. If you’re not up to it—”

“What? You’ll leave me here to fend for myself?” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

His scowl returned, and before he turned his back, she thought she saw a flicker of pain in his eyes. “If I were going to leave you behind, I’d have done that long ago. But since we’ve come this far, it looks like I’m stuck with you for the foreseeable future.”

Erin raised her chin and fought back the sting of tears. Darned hormones! She didn’t want to cry in front of Mr. Macho. “I didn’t ask to be involved in your problems! Or to have my life turned upside down by men who want to get at you through me!”

He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. His stony expression relaxed a crumb, though whether from resignation or remorse, Erin couldn’t be sure.

“You’re right. You’re in danger because of me. So I will do everything I can to protect you. But I have other objectives that need attention, and I won’t coddle or babysit you.”

She bristled. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Good.” He started climbing the steep slope. “If the hike is too difficult for you—” he paused and gave her an as-I-was-saying look “—I’ll carry you.”

His offer caught Erin off guard, landed square in her chest, leaving her speechless. Humbled. She had no doubt this man of many talents and reckless daring could carry her any distance he needed. She’d seen the ease with which he’d lifted the SUV driver at the storage building and had admired Alec’s muscular chest and arms from the first day she laid eyes on him.

And he’d obviously already carried her from the SUV to the plane while she slept. The idea taunted her. She had no business entertaining thoughts of getting close to a man with a lifestyle as full of danger as Alec’s, but there it was. His drop-dead physique, shocking blue eyes and breathtaking heroics on her behalf were a potent mix.

“I can handle two miles.” She fell in step behind him, sticking close despite his quick pace. The sinking sun drew the shadows of the trees and mountaintops in ever-deepening pockets of darkness. The sound of her own labored breaths—Alec didn’t seem winded in the least, darn him—blended with the crack of twigs and shuffle of leaves as nocturnal creatures stirred in the settling night.

The frosty bite of the air at this higher elevation burrowed to Erin’s bones. Before long, she couldn’t control the chattering of her teeth or the shivering in her limbs. “H-how much farther? I’m fr-freezing.”

Alec stopped and faced her. “Not far.”

He raked a measuring scrutiny over her and stepped toward her. “How’s your head?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but he chose that moment to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to his chest. He chafed his hands along her arms and back in brisk strokes. With her nose pressed against his chest, the tangy scent of soap and man surrounding her and his calloused hands moving over her, all rational thought fled. She leaned into him and closed her eyes. Relying on Alec for support and warmth seemed as natural as breathing.

Even with her nap earlier, she was bone-tired, and she savored the chance to rest. She knew fatigue was normal for a woman in her condition, even before factoring in the kind of emotional and physical extremes she’d been through today.

“Erin?” Grasping her shoulders, he pushed her to arm’s length, and she lamented the lost warmth of his body against hers. He peered down at her, his eyes cutting like lasers through the gathering darkness. “Can you make it just a little farther? The entrance to the safe house is just over the next ridge.”

“Is there anything to eat at this safe house?”

He grunted. “The food thing again? Do you always eat this much?”

His sarcasm nettled her. After all, she’d tried several times to explain the reason behind her huge appetite, and he’d been so busy ordering her around, he hadn’t listened. She brushed past him. “I promise not to eat more than my share.”

She heard the scuff of rocks as he followed her up the hill.

“I keep a couple months’ supply of food up here along with clothes, ammunition, batteries. Whatever I think I might need.”

A chill that had nothing to do with the cold tingled down her spine. “Ammunition?”

“I have to be prepared for anything.” His grim tone and stark warning were reminder enough of his dubious, dangerous existence. And the jeopardy she was in by association with him.

Hardly the peaceful, low-profile life she’d imagined for herself when she moved to Cherry Creek.

They cleared a grouping of trees, and the fading sunlight cast a dim glow over a deep crevasse and the moss-speckled granite face of the mountain on the other side.

Erin looked left and right. The trail, such as it was, seemed to hit a dead end. “Which way?”

“Straight,” he said, moving around her and toward the narrow ravine.

She gave him a humorless laugh. Fatigue, cold and her pounding head were making her sick to her stomach again. “Um, in case you missed it … there’s a big gulch there.”

“Mmm-hmm. That’s why there’s a bridge.” Alec started down the slope toward the ravine.

“There is?” She inched forward but saw nothing except a few ropes strung across the gaping space to the rocky slope on the other side. A knowing quiver started in her gut. No.

“Don’t tell me those sorry, rotten-looking bits of twine are the bridge you’re talking about!”

But before she’d finished protesting, Alec put one foot on the bottom rope and gave it a test bounce. The bridge creaked but held his weight. “It’ll hold. You go first.”

Laughter borne of terror and disbelief bubbled up from her chest. “You’re crazy! There’s got to be another way across.”

Heaving a sigh that said she was wearing on his patience, Alec’s shoulders drooped, and he scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s like this, swee … uh … Erin. In about five minutes, it will be completely dark. You won’t be able to see where you’re putting your feet. This bridge is the only way to get to the safe house, and I, for one, don’t intend to freeze my butt off out here after dark.” He climbed up to where she stood again and tipped his head toward the ropes. “We don’t have time for you to be a chicken about this.”

Her spine straightened. “Excuse me! I’ll have you know that I’ve—”

Alec clapped a hand over her mouth. “Spare me the indignant tirade and hustle your pretty buns out there before we lose all our daylight.”

She glared at him. She was no chicken! She’d hung with Bradley on even the wildest of his adventures. Just because she voiced a bit of skepticism and wanted to explore other options didn’t mean she was chicken!

Pulling away from his grip, she peered over the edge of the crevasse into the fathomless shadows. Her heartbeat skittered. Bock, bock. Okay, so she was a little scared. But Bradley used to tell her a little fear was good. It kept you sharp, alert, careful.

“Hold the top ropes for balance, and take it slow and steady.”

She snorted. “No kidding.”

Trembling so hard she was sure her tremors alone would throw her off balance, Erin eased out on the taut rope. She focused on the few inches right in front of her and nothing else. Despite the frigid temperatures, sweat beaded on her face, her back.

One step. One more. On some level, she was aware of the soothing tone of Alec’s voice behind her. He maintained a litany of encouragement, talking her across, praising her every step. His baritone voice lulled her and filtered deep into the cracks in her soul.

When she reached the far side and had scrambled several feet from the edge, her gelatin legs collapsed beneath her. Erin hugged her knees to her chest and gasped deep breaths of icy air, while part of her gave an exulted leap of triumph. She’d done it. She watched Alec cross the ropes in five easy strides, barely wobbling on the swaying ropes. A stroll in the park for him. She groaned. Was there anything this man couldn’t do? Once across the ropes, Alec dug in the parachute pack and pulled out a collapsible knife, flicking open the blade.

Erin frowned. “What are you—?”

She gasped as he sawed through the first rope and let it fall into the crevasse. Then the next. And the next.

“What did you do that for? How are we supposed to cross that ravine without the ropes?”

“We’re not,” he said flatly. He closed the knife and stood. “But neither will anyone else, without a lot of trouble. Which is the point.” He offered her a hand up, but she only gaped at him, at the severed ropes.

“Then how—?”

“Trust me, okay? I know what I’m doing.”

The adrenaline crash, her surging hormones, her fatigue ganged up on her. Tears stung her eyes. “I just want to go home.”

She hated crying in front of him but couldn’t seem to stop. Heck, even television commercials for jewelry stores made her weepy these days.

Alec stooped over and lifted her into his arms. He cradled her against his chest and murmured reassurances under his breath. “For the next several days, this is home. Let’s get you inside and fix us something hot to eat.”

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