Dare To Love

2

MATT TORE HIS GAZE from her. He had found himself falling helplessly into those wide, understanding emerald eyes. Kai’s compassion for others jarred him to the core. He had expected a twenty-three-year-old woman who had a reputation in Houston for being a spoiled brat. Instead they had captured Kai, who seemed to be a diametric opposite to Susan. What a pity, he thought. He could at least have reconciled himself to the fact that the experience might have made her a bit humbler. He had rubbed elbows with the wealthy enough times and found them an interesting lot. They lived by a different code, a different set of principles. He returned his attention to Kai.

“Feeling any better?”

“A little more coherent. My right thigh aches, and my wrists—”

“There was no need to hurt you.”

A shiver coursed up her arm from where his fingers rested. My God, did Matt affect her that much? Quickly she reorganized her thoughts and began focusing on her plight.

“So you’re the boss?” Her voice was whiplash taut.

“That’s right.”

Kai was annoyed with herself. She prided herself on her ability to judge people. If Matt Taylor had masterminded this whole fiasco, then he was the worst of the lot! She jerked her wrist away.

“You bastard.” She struggled to sit up, suddenly aware that as the blanket fell away, her sweat shirt was revealed, clinging to her like a second skin and outlining her full breasts, flat stomach and slender waist. Heat rushed from her throat up into her face. She was blushing. As much as the recuperating military officers and enlisted men ogled her in the hospital words, or teased her good-naturedly, she never blushed. But this man made her excruciatingly aware of her femininity, exhilarated and uneasy all in the same breath. Infuriated with herself and frightened, Kai was not in full control of her emotions, and her anger ballooned.

“I take that back. I’m a true bastard. But you—” her voice shook with feeling “—you’re the worst kind of human being. You’re a parasite. Someone who bleeds off people’s losses and misfortunes.”

Matt resigned himself to the tirade. Color had rushed back to her cheeks, and her eyes had a flicker of life in them once again. It appeared that she was beginning to throw off the effects of the drug. He drew an inner sigh of relief, willing to have her recuperation compensate for her anger.

“Let me finish cleaning your wrists,” he told her in a level voice that was meant to defuse her rage.

“I’ll do it myself! Just hand me that—”

“You’re shaking like a leaf, Kai. You couldn’t even hold—”

She drew her knees up against her chest, her body pressed to the wall. “I don’t want you to touch me!” she cried fiercely. That was a lie. Matt’s touch gave her an instant’s reprieve from this unfolding nightmare. He imparted strength, stability and some intangible emotion that made her feel protected.

His eyes grew cold and unreadable. “Tough. Knock it off, and give me your wrist.”

They stared at each other with the silence engulfing them. Exhaustion was thinning Matt’s reserve of patience; he hadn’t slept in the past twenty-four hours. He didn’t believe in using unncessary force, either. Especially on a helpless child or a woman.

“You’re upset. We’ve got a long way to go, Kai. Don’t start fighting me now. I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll try to make it easier on you. After I get you bandaged up, I’ll find you something to eat. Are you hungry?”

Kai tucked her trembling lower lip between her teeth, afraid she would begin bawling in earnest. Just the rough velvet of his voice destroyed the anger she had aimed at him.

Matt groaned inwardly. Why the hell did she have to look like a helpless, vulnerable child in that moment? She was tearing down defenses he had erected two years ago. He cocked his head, studying her, trying to ferret out the answer. Her ponytail had loosened, the auburn hair framing her square face with softened waves. Her eyes were large, the color of flawless emeralds. High cheekbones gave her eyes almost a tilted, catlike appearance. She was exotic looking. Her mouth was generous and asymmetrical, one corner curving up more than the other. He liked her nose, patrician but with a slight hump, making it a bit less than perfect. An arresting face filled with contrast. The sort of face he could spend the rest of his life mapping with his eyes.

“Please,” Kai quavered, breaking into his thoughts, “let me go. My father will pay the ransom. All I want to do is go home….”

She was little-girl scared, and that fact tore yet another wall away from his heavily guarded heart. He hung his head momentarily.

“I can’t do that. There’s much more at stake here than you realize.” Matt closed his eyes. He knew this whole operation was going to be tough. But he had never envisioned this kind of emotional impact on him. Kai Easton was magically affecting him on every sensory level. And in those precious seconds of discovery, Matt realized he felt the first stirrings of wanting to live again.

“Kai, you have to trust me. Just do as I ask. Those two guys out there are hard. They won’t listen to your pleas or—”

“Or feel sorry for me like you do?” she hurled back contemptuously.

Matt leaned forward, gently recapturing her arm. “Lady, what I feel is hardly pity,” he warned her in a vibrating voice.

Matt’s touch was electrifying, and Kai bit back a gasp. His strong, tanned fingers wrapped firmly around her forearm, and she surrendered, remaining silent. After cleaning her wrist, he gave her an apologetic look. “All I’ve got is Vaseline so those cuts won’t stick to the gauze.” He allowed her to pull back her wrist while he drew out the ointment and smeared it across the dressing.

Kai said nothing, trying desperately to ignore him and his sensual touch as he carefully wrapped her wrist. He looked satisfied with the attempt.

“Not hospital-recommended,” Matt conceded, “but it’ll do for now.” His gray eyes lightened as he sought her approval. “You’re a nurse. What do you think?”

Kai glared down at her wrist. “Blood poisoning is a good bet,” she muttered, refusing to be drawn into his banter. Anger was replacing her wooziness. Right now all she wanted to do was slap his handsome face. Kai instantly regretted the thought. She could see exhaustion shadowing his pewter eyes. He had saved her from the humiliation of Boyce’s advances. She gave him her other wrist to clean, and the silence heightened unmercifully between them.

“At least tell me where I’m being held.”

“You’re at an abandoned warehouse near the gulf.”

Kai could hear the rain pelting against the roof and slashing against the sides of the empty building. The hollow, drumlike sound intensified in her head. Her burgeoning headache was growing to mammoth proportions. She closed her eyes, tipping her head back against the wall.

“Kai?”

She barely opened her eyes, the garish light hurting them. Matt Taylor’s concerned expression came into view. “What?” Kai sounded churlish. Ordinarily she never allowed her feelings to show. How many times had she coaxed, cajoled and needled her injured patients into trying to walk again? Kai had urged them to their feet when they had thought it an impossibility. And sometimes, especially at first, they had glared at her, cursed her and cried with her. She tried not to take their harsh words or looks personally. But she did at times; she was only human. She had forced herself to try to become detached and allow their epithets to bounce harmlessly off her. That technique didn’t always work.

With Matt, she took everything he said personally and then some. Kai felt helplessness and anger welling up inside her like a volcano, and she wanted to lash out at him. She wanted to hurt him as much as he had already hurt her.

“Come on,” she heard him say, “lie down. You’re getting pale again.”

Stubbornly Kai raised her head and glared at him, no matter how much it hurt to open her eyes. “Go to hell.”

One corner of his mouth quirked inward. “If you don’t lie down you’re going to collapse. You have a headache?”

Kai couldn’t deal with his kindness. “Just leave me alone!”

“Look,” he said in an exasperated tone, “we’ve already contacted your father. He knows how much we’re asking in ransom. As soon as he gets the four million together, I’ll meet with him. You’ll be home in no time.”

She grimaced. “That’s really funny, Taylor. The captor trying to comfort the victim.” She placed her fingers against her brow and forced out, “Who are you?”

Matt smeared the Vaseline on the gauze. “What do you mean?”

Kai tenderly rubbed her temple, which seemed to assuage the needlelike pain stabbing at her. “You know what I’m talking about. You’re not like those other two criminals.”

“Afraid I am.”

She opened her eyes, giving him an irritated look. “You’re not a very convincing liar, Taylor. In my business I’m trained to see men at their bottom line, and I can see through the games and manpulation you’re pretending with me.”

Matt carefully knotted the gauze around her other wrist. He scowled as he got up and retrieved a thermos filled with coffee and a chipped plastic cup. He poured her some. “Here, you’d better start drinking this.” He reached into the pocket of his pale blue shirt, producing a tin of aspirin. “And take a couple of these.” At the door he turned and looked back at her. Even in the damp, unflattering jogging clothes, she had a look of refinement.

Matt smothered the wistful images he conjured up of her in a long, sophisticated gown with her rich auburn hair arranged in a tasteful Gibson-girl hairdo. “Elegant” was the word that came to mind to describe Kai Easton. Maybe the rich were different. But Kai differed from her half sister. Susan epitomized the enfant terrible attitude that stalked some of the wealthy, whereas Kai’s lack of snobbery placed her at the opposite end of the spectrum. Matt reined in his rampant thoughts; he had to keep his mind on the business at hand. Kai Easton’s life was at stake in more ways than she could possibly fathom.

“I’ll be back later. Lie down and rest and don’t try to leave the room.” He motioned toward one corner. “The social amenities aren’t much, but they’ll have to do.”

Kai’s heart gave a resounding thud when she thought of Boyce. “They’ll leave me alone?”

Matt opened the door. “They won’t lay a hand on you.” He saw the momentary relief in her dark jade eyes. His scowl deepened as he closed the door and made sure it was locked.

Boyce and Wright raised their heads. Both sat around a dusty table shuffling a deck of cards. The grayness filtered through the shattered windows and afforded them precious little light to play poker by. The warehouse was one of the oldest on the dock; a broken-down wooden structure surrounded by newer ones with corrugated aluminum skins. Matt had chosen it because of its proximity to the gulf. If things to got too hot, they could escape in the forty-foot cabin cruiser floating in a nearby quay.

“How’s my girlfriend?” Boyce asked, grinning.

Matt’s eyes turned the color of charcoal. “Forget about her, Boyce.”

Boyce placed his cards on the table. He was a large, hulking man, half again Matt’s size. “Look, I don’t like these society dames, Taylor. The rich always think they’re better than the rest of us.”

“You screwed up. We kidnapped Kai Easton instead of her sister, Susan. Both of them have red hair and are the same height.”

Boyce looked momentarily shocked and then shrugged noncommittally. “Doesn’t make any difference. She’s an Easton. One’s as good as another.”

“Kai Easton’s a nurse. She works for a living.”

“You’re breaking my heart, Taylor. Now she’s Miss Goody Two Shoes. What she needs is a real man to show her what life’s about.”

Matt glanced at his watch. Boyce couldn’t be trusted. And he had to meet with Drummond in forty minutes. “Make that second phone call to Easton’s home. Be sure—”

Boyce slowly rosé. “I know. Make it from a different phone booth each time. Don’t worry, Taylor, I know my job.” He flashed a disdainful look. “This is my sixth kidnapping. It’s your first. So don’t try to tell me what to do. You’re supposed to coordinate and pick up the money. It’s my job to make the calls and take care of the broad.”

Matt’s face remained closed and unreadable. “Let’s go,” he ordered, motioning Boyce toward the corrugated door located at the other end of the warehouse.

The rain was coming down in earnest, soaking Matt’s shirt and stretching the thin material across his muscled back before he could reach the car at the end of the wharf-side dock. As always, he and Boyce split up, each taking a different route and vehicle. Even in the gloom of the shroudlike morning, Matt restlessly combed the deserted strip of wharf for any suspicious activity. No one but Drummond knew of their whereabouts…. He shut off his thinking there, allowing his instincts to override his mind. With his five senses Matt scanned the area. No sight, sound or smell escaped his abilities, honed to radar precision. It seemed he could almost feel danger, too—taste it when it was in the air.

For the past two years he had lived and behaved like an animal, rubbing elbows with the criminal element. A grimace pulled at his mouth as he peered through the slashing rain. His human side remained in hibernation. Until now…. Kai Easton was responsible for its reawakening. My God, why now? Why her? She was out of his league in every sense of the word. She was born rich. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. According to Drummond, Kai’s wildcatting father had had every last penny riding on one last oil well. The day Kai had been born, Paul Easton had gained a red-haired baby daughter, a multimillion-dollar producing well and had married his love hours after Kai’s birth. Two days later he had lost his adored wife, Rae, to post-labor complications.

Matt hesitated at his dark blue Toyota Celica. His sharpened gaze missed nothing as he looked over the sports car. Satisfied that it hadn’t been tampered with, he slipped the key into the lock and opened the door. Water trickled down the length of his strong jawline as he leaned over, placing the key in the ignition. One more look around the area and Matt slowly drove away from the wharf, heading toward the prearranged destination point.

He saw Boyce’s black Mustang easing out from another entrance. Matt braked to a crawl, wanting to make sure Boyce was heading in the opposite direction before turning left into the dreary noon-hour traffic. Drummond would be waiting….

* * *

BOB DRUMMOND slid into the Toyota Celica, his meaty face a dull red as if he was experiencing a high-blood-pressure attack. He slid a glance over at Taylor.

“How’s it going, Matt?”

“Murphy’s Law is in effect.”

“Yeah, I heard you got the wrong Easton girl. She okay?”

“Boyce roughed her up. She’s still coming out of a drug overdose, and her wrists are in bad shape. She’ll have scars there the rest of her life.”

“Let’s just get her out of this alive, shall we? That damn Boyce. I’m sorry we didn’t take him out before.”

“I can’t stay long, Bob. Boyce tried getting smart with her already.” Matt rubbed his reddened eyes. “How’s it going from your end?”

“We’ve got a special team from the police department assigned to run you down. Trammel’s got it.”

“And my people?”

“Inspector Anderson from the local FBI office is interfacing with Trammel. We’ve got more federal agencies involved in this than you can shake a stick at. After five kidnappings in a row, you know they want to solve this one real bad.”

“God, that’s got to be a picnic for Anderson. I feel sorry for him.”

Drummond managed a sour grin. “My office is staying clear, like I promised your people back in D.C. when we first hatched this plan.”

“Good, then your chief of police isn’t aware of the undercover operation at all?”

“Nope, just you and me at the local level, friend. I’m filing a report back to your D.C. office as soon as we conclude this meeting. Has Garcia contacted you yet?”

“Not yet. I don’t think he’ll surface until we’ve got the money.”

Drummond shook his massive gray head soulfully. “Look, I don’t mean to put more pressure on you, Matt, but you realize the five women kidnapped before you got involved were murdered. You can provide Kai Easton with the protection she needs. It’ll be the last kidnapping of this kind. I only wish we could tell Paul Easton the truth. Maybe he’d take this a little easier.”

“Even with me there isn’t any guarantee. Boyce could get rabid and put a slug through me just as easily. I didn’t get involved soon enough to foil the other kidnappings. I got a last-minute call from Garcia’s right-hand man, Emilio Dante, and he told me to take a flight out here to Houston. Boyce met me at the airport, and then we waited for the Easton woman to go jogging as she always does.” He grimaced. “Boyce made a hell of an error in mistaking Kai for Susan Easton. All we can do is ride this one out.”

Bob agreed and handed him a sheaf of neatly typed papers. “You’re lucky you were at the right place and time at all, so quit bitching. It’s not every day we’re lucky enough to get a deep-undercover agent in place behind the lines. Take a quick read. I got these reports through your Washington office. It’s a profile on Kai.”

Matt glanced up momentarily from the report. “How’s the rest of the family taking it?”

“According to Trammel, Kai’s half brother and sisters are pretty upset about the whole thing. I guess he overheard Frank Holt bewailing the fact that the four million Garcia’s demanding is going to be waisted on Kai.”

Matt’s nostrils flared, and his gray eyes turned black. “No wonder Kai doesn’t stick around Houston. I wouldn’t either, overwhelmed by that kind of family welcome. She’s been brave, and she’s a fighter. It’s a crying shame her family doesn’t appreciate her courage.”

“You see family problems like that all the time around here, Matt. We have special trouble with Houston’s ‘new rich.’ The families either get possessive wives or greedy children as a result of money flowing in by the millions. Kai just happens to be one of the many who are wounded in action over this type of thing.”

Matt completed the report, lifting his head. “I wonder how in the hell Kai came out ‘normal’?”

“Ask her. You got plenty of time on your hands until Easton can get the money together to buy her back.”

Matt glanced at his watch. “I’m going to have to stick closer to her than I had originally planned, Bob. Boyce is dangerous.”

“Yeah, stick real close. Just for your info, Easton’s having trouble putting the four mil together. Holidays and all. Trammel thinks the old man is gonna have a stroke before this is all over. You know he’s sixty-eight.”

“Judging from this report, he and Kai are close.”

“Yeah, I guess they are, and just thank God you were already undercover in Garcia’s operation before they pulled this sixth kidnapping. Otherwise, I think we’d stand every chance of loosing Kai just like we did the other victims.”

Matt gave him an unfathomable look. “I’m going to get Garcia. I’m close. I’ve waited two years working my way up to that slime, and Kai Easton’s my ticket to him. I’ll make damn sure she comes out of this alive.”

“Make sure you both come out of this alive,” Drummond growled. “If you don’t have the money by tomorrow, I’ll meet you at Bilbert’s at ten in the morning. By then, this operation should have shaped up, and we can get your people in place to nail Garcia.”

* * *

KAI GROGGILY TURNED onto her back. Pain was throbbing incessantly through her wrists. Her mind focused on Matt Taylor and his sensitive nature despite the bizarre situation they found themselves in. He wasn’t like the others, she told herself, while the remnants of the drug made her head pound. She needed two more aspirin to quell the ferocious headache. Struggling into a sitting position, Kai drew her legs across the bunk and sat up. She held her head between her hands, allowing the pain to recede before moving. Disoriented, Kai stared at the Rolex for several moments before the time registered on her foggy brain. It was 4:00 P.M.

The door opened, and she raised her head with a great deal of effort. A small gasp escaped. Bennie Boyce grinned at her as he silently slipped into the room, shutting the door behind him with finality.

“Admiring your Rolex, honey?” he asked silkily.

Her heart began a slow, dreaded pounding in her chest. Kai licked her dry, chapped lips. His feral eyes rested on her breasts, and she wanted to cross her arms in defense of his ruthless gaze.

“No,” she said, her voice unsteady. “I wanted to see what time it was.”

“Liar. I’m surprised you don’t have a gold Rolex. What made you settle for something less? Couldn’t be money. Your old man is busy forking over the four mil for ya right now.” He pushed himself away from the door, walking with deliberate strides to the bunk.

Kai’s breathing became forced, and she winced as he lifted his hand and pushed his fingers through her unbound hair.

“You like all the rest of the rich women, honey? Bored with their husbands? Got a tennis pro on the side you’re lying around with?”

She inhaled sharply, pulling her head away. “Leave me alone!”

Boyce laughed. It was a low, gutteral laugh. “Why, here I’d thought you’d be like all the rest, bored and wanting something different. Well, I’m different, doll face. And just your type.”

Before Kai could move, Boyce wound his fingers through her shoulder-length hair, yanking her back on the bed. A cry of anguish tore from her lips; she lashed out with her right hand. The sharp slap of flesh meeting flesh sounded throughout the room. Boyce jerked back, grunting in surprise, and released her.

Panic set in. Kai scrambled off the bunk, making a lunge for the door. She ripped off fingernails frantically twisting the doorknob. Instantly Boyce assaulted her from behind. His fingers dug into her shoulders. He hauled her down onto the dusty floor.

Blackness rimmed her vision. Kai struggled beneath him and screamed weakly, unable to stop him. “Benny!” Wright bellowed, charging past the door, “you crazy—”

Kai felt Boyce’s weight suddenly lifted off her. She lay gasping, tears running down her face.

“You heard Taylor, dammit! Now come on, leave her alone,” Wright begged.

Boyce touched his smarting cheek where she had hit him. “No way, Hank. I want to tame her. Put her in her place once and for all.”

Wright looked down at the woman; Taylor would kill both of them. His grip on Boyce tightened. “Look,” he hissed, “when we got the money and Taylor’s gone, we’ll have the woman the way you want. Like you had all the rest, Benny. Now come on, Taylor’s gonna be back anytime….” The door slammed shut.

Dazed, Kai dragged herself to the nearest corner, fear pushing away every shred of rational thought. She shut her eyes tightly and turned her face to the wall, wrapping her arms around her trembling body.

3

MATT NOTICED Boyce sulking over his cards when he reentered the warehouse. Wright raised his head, a guilty look etched in his eyes. Tucking the sack of food more firmly under his arm, Matt stopped in front of them.