Hunted, A Romantic Suspence Novel (14 page)

Staying against the wall, she silently made her way toward the sound. At the stairs’ bottom she took a deep breath, lifted her gun then slowly looked around the wall into the other side.

Relief flooded her then her breath stopped in her throat.

Matt, dressed only in a pair of boxer shorts, his hands and feet wrapped with tape, had his back to her as he rhythmically boxed and kicked at a large leather bag suspended in the center of the home gym.

His dark hair lay wet against his neck and face. His broad back glistened with sweat. Each muscle tightened and stretched with his exertion. The powerful muscles of his long legs flexed and relaxed with the effort he put into his kicks.

There wasn’t a mark on his body. He was perfection.

Men had always been a source of pain and suffering for her. But this man—with his rules, his compassion, and his flawless body—made her want things.

She ached to touch him. In all her life she’d never wanted to touch someone as much as she wanted to stroke her hand over his skin at this minute.

Matt’s hands and feet stung with each thrust against the leather bag. After holding Katie while she wept, he’d needed to work off the anger surging through him.

How could anyone torture another human being like she’d been tortured?

He slammed his taped knuckles into the bag once, twice, three times. The sting felt good. He only wished it was Strict’s face he was smashing.

What kind of sick man would take out such hatred on a young girl?

With a swell of raw power his left foot slapped the bag’s side.

Forget lethal injection. He wanted just ten minutes alone with the bastard.

Bouncing on the balls of his feet, he slammed his fists back into the bag. His chest heaved. With slower movements he rolled his shoulders forward and back. How long had he been down in Craig’s gym?

Long enough to work out some of my rage.

Women and children were meant to be cherished and protected. Katie never had that. He wanted to avenge the young girl who’d suffered so greatly at the hands of a monster.

Was there a way to erase all the pain and betrayal Katie had dealt to her in the past? Matt wanted to protect the woman she was now. How did he keep her safe? And how did he convince her to let him?

He ran his hands through his hair.

It wasn’t just his rage he’d needed to work off either. Since the first day he’d seen Katie she’d intrigued him. At first it was just her beautiful face with those entrancing eyes.

Hell, don’t lie to yourself. You wanted to make love to her at first sight.

With a wave of frustration he attacked the bag again. The voice in his head was right. Since the day he’d met her, he’d fought this underlying urge to sink himself inside her. The primal need was a constant electrical current humming inside him.

Despite the strength she showed the world around her, Katie possessed a very vulnerable core. It was what kept his own needs in check.

That and having sex with a witness is a major rule-breaker.

Technically, she wasn’t a witness for any case his department was investigating, yet.

Yeah, but she’s under my protection and wrong is just wrong.

Hell, she’d been taken advantage of enough in her life. He’d just have to find some way to curb his own desires. Focusing on Katie’s physical protection instead of her physical pleasure was his priority.

A soft sound came from behind him. His body hardened with her nearness.

Slowly, he turned.

The fragile woman he’d held in his arms hid behind her tough exterior shell once again. Only this time something was different.

Her breasts rose and fell with each breath. Her eyes wide with desire, her lips parted and she slid her pink tongue out to wet them.

Desire, hot and needy slammed deep into his gut. His body responded to the wanton passion emanating from her as she stood in the door staring at him.

Without thinking, he crossed the small distance separating them, and stopped inches from her. Cupping his hands around her face, he slowly forced her to look into his eyes.

Her lips parted again.

Her unconscious invitation pushed him over the edge.

Holding her still, he took her mouth in a devouring kiss. He stroked her lips then pressed his tongue deep inside. With all the passion humming through his body he probed inside her. He needed to taste her like a man in the desert needed water.

The sound of the gun falling from her hand to the concrete floor clattered in his brain.

A little moan escaped her. She gripped his elbows then slid around to spread her hands across his back as she pressed herself closer to him.

Suddenly it wasn’t just his need he fed, but hers. As her fingers dug into his back muscles, he slid his hands down her shoulders and back, finally gripping her buttocks. With a groan he pressed her closer, grinding his erection into the junction of her thighs.

Not breaking the deep kiss between them, he maneuvered her the short distance to the wall. Holding her beneath her soft bottom, he pressed her against the cold concrete.

The need inside him boiled uncontrolled. He wanted to possess her, all of her.

Don’t break this rule, man. Not like this, not now. If you make love to her before she’s sure of what she wants, you’ll be no better than all the people in her life who’ve used her.

The unbidden thought acted like a bucket of cold water splashed on his senses.

He wouldn’t take her, even if she appeared so willing. Until he had her trust, this would be nothing more than pure sex for either one of them.

With great effort, he released his hold on her bottom, gently easing her away from his raging hard-on. Reaching behind him, he pried her fingers loose from his damp skin where she clung to his muscles.

He wrapped his fingers in hers, pushing her gently against the wall.
Lastly, he eased their torrid kiss into something gentle, soft, almost caressing. Their lips slowly separated.

Bringing their entwined hands up between them, he softly kissed each finger as her violet eyes blinked then opened, confusion and passion swirling in her gaze.

“Why?”

“Because you’re not ready.” He released her hands, once again cupping her face.

“Oh, yes I am.”

Standing so close, he felt her tense from head to toe.

“Katie, you’re a federal witness. I’m a cop. My job is to protect you, not take advantage of your weakness.”

“I’m not weak.” She shoved at his chest.

He held his ground. Damn the woman. Didn’t she know he was trying to protect her from more hurt?

“Okay, call it vulnerabilities, then. Right now, we’re in a highly dangerous situation. You’ve been injured. Your life and mine have been threatened. You’re feeling things intensely. You don’t know what you want. If we do this now, it will be just sex.”

“So, you’re saving me from myself?”

Something in the way she said that set off his internal warning system. He chose his next words carefully. “No, I’m saving us both from making a mistake we’ll regret later.”

“Let go of me.” She pushed him again.

This time he moved back a pace, giving her room.

“You understand, don’t you?”

“Oh, I understand all right.”

The muscles around her mouth tightened. Anger resonated from every inch of her.

“You’re a liar. If you find me revolting, not as perfect as you, all you had to do was say so.” With lightning speed, she slapped him. “You won’t be the first person to reject me. I just wish you’d been honest about it.”

Stunned as much by her accusation as the stinging slap he didn’t try to stop her as she ran from the room.

Katie stood beneath the stream of hot water pouring from the shower, her hands covering her face, tears of humiliation coursing down her cheeks.

How could I be so stupid?

She’d trusted him with her body and all its imperfections. She’d been ready to give him all of her, and he rejected her. All her life she’d been unlovable. She’d hoped maybe somehow Matt had found something about her to love.

The taste of his kiss still lingered on her lips. She could still feel his body pressed against hers. Her hands ached to hold his firm muscles and smooth skin once more. For the first time in her life she’d wanted to make love to someone, and he called it just sex.

When would she learn? Her father died when she needed him, then her mother put her in the hands of the Devil and she died, too. She’d tried to fit into the Family, but even there she was such a failure. After
Billy Hagen died because of her, she knew she was cursed.

You’re useless, girl. If I didn’t need your skills, I’d bury you with your piece-of-trash mother.
With a groan, Katie covered her head with her arms and huddled into the shower’s corner.
There will be no place safe for the traitor.

She didn’t want to remember how Strict made her feel, his berating comments about her and her mother, the way he tore her ego down.

“No, no, no.” Slowly, she rocked herself. Visions of that first night her torture began flashed in her mind.

The Devil grabbed her by the hair as she stared at the badly burned body of fifteen-year old Billy.

“Girl, you screwed up. Look what you did! We needed that bomb for tomorrow’s attack.” He dragged her back to the bomb-making shack, more concerned about the setback in his plans than the young life that had just ended. “You will get back in there and make me another one, or I’ll beat you until you can’t stand!”

“I won’t.”

The words actually came out of her mouth.

Except for the wails of Billy’s poor mother, silence descended on the Family. No one in the Family had ever defied Strict, their Prophet—certainly not his stepdaughter.

“You think you can refuse me, girl?” He released her hair with one hand, as the other delivered a stinging open-handed slap to her face.

Her head jerked to the side, blood oozing from her lip. She wiped at the blood and stared defiantly at him. At that moment she’d made her decision. No matter what he did, she would never build another bomb.

“I won’t build another one.” Strength surged through her body once the words were out.

“No one defies me, girl.”

He grabbed her again, this time, hauling her to the wooden flagpole centered on the main meeting room’s front lawn. “Gideon, get the whip and rope.”

Women in the group gasped, the men cheered their leader on. She didn’t care. Her soul already ached. Dying was preferable than causing another death.

His second-in-command returned with the rope. She didn’t struggle as they lashed her arms above her head to the pole. Billy was dead because of her. She deserved this punishment.

“You have one chance to change your mind, girl.”

“I won’t ever change my mind.”

“Yes you will, bitch.”

He grabbed her shirt by the collar and yanked, ripping the worn out material off her body and exposing her flesh to everyone watching.

The horsewhip’s first blow stung so badly, she thought she’d die. Then the second one came and she prayed for death. The men in the crowd began to count.

She listened to the numbers, forcing her mind to focus on something other than the pain; the first time Billy watched her working in the explosives shack. She’d protested, but Strict had insisted he learn from her. The boy had seemed happy to be around her.

Eight…Nine…

God, her back was on fire.

Think of something else. Billy had gone to the explosives shack to load their creation into the bag. She’d wanted to do it, but Strict had insisted the boy do it, not a girl.

Thirteen…Fourteen…

Please let me die.

The pain cut deeper with each lash.

Think about Billy. He’d stopped in the drive and reached into the bag. Knowing how delicate the device was, she’d watched him, horrified. Then the explosion ripped through the night.

Nineteen…Twenty.

“Enough, Jacob. If she dies, no one will know how to make the bombs. Right now she’s the only one who can.” Gideon’s words stopped his master before another lash fell on her back.

“Cut her down. If she refuses again, then she’ll get thirty.”

Gideon had been the one who cut her down, cleaned her back and slathered salve all over the cuts. He’d whispered to her as he worked. “He’ll kill you, Sarah. Don’t doubt it.”

“I don’t care. I won’t kill another person.”

“So be it.”

She’d heard his voice predict her future, even as she collapsed to unconsciousness on the bed.

That was the day her nightmares began.

The water in the shower grew cold, bringing her back to the present.

Why couldn’t she get Strict and the memories out of her head? For years she’d ignored him, shoved him into her mind’s darkest recesses. In the last few days his presence resurfaced in her life. He wanted to control her, to defeat her.

Well, he wouldn’t win this time. She wouldn’t let him.

With every ounce of determination she forced herself to stand.

Come hell or high water, she’d beat the Devil. She’d survived this long. No matter the cost, she planned to outlive Jacob Strict.

Turning off the shower, she considered her next step. It was time to attack. If she learned anything from Strict, it was power lay in the offense’s hands.

But who, when, where and how?

The prison log hadn’t helped. Maybe she could glean some information from the pictures Matt’s brother-in-law had sent. She needed to figure out who the Devil had sent after her. Then she’d know how to find them.

* * * * *

Robert Hagen stepped into the south-side bar and immediately felt transported back a decade. Seventies classic rock music blared from the jukebox. The neon Budweiser mirror flashed in the dark, smoke-filled room.