Men of Honour: Ready, Set, Jett / When You Dare / Trace of Fever / Savor the Danger / A Perfect Storm / What Chris Wants / Bare It All

Her legs were around him, leaving her flush against his hard abdomen. His hand on her bottom kept flexing, feeling her, keeping her close.

Molly nodded. “Okay.”

His expression heated. Slowly, he bent to kiss her again, softer this time. Against her cheek, he breathed, “Soon as we’re done eating, we’ll hit the road.”

“Okay.” She tipped her head back.

He put a gentle love bite to her throat. “And tonight …”

Molly’s heart pounded. “Tonight?”

He touched his tongue to her ear, and whispered, “I’m going to be inside you, and I can’t fucking wait.”

In the next instant, he lifted her off the counter and onto a stool. Before she could catch her breath, Chris peered back in. He looked from Dare to Molly, and seeing them separated, walked on in.

“Glad you two worked that out, because I’m hungry again.”

Through a haze, Molly watched Dare. He acted like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t just made that provocative promise to her. He poured a glass of milk and set it before her, then sat down to eat while he and Chris talked.

In more ways than one, she was out of her league.

She picked up her fork with a shaking hand, and as she dipped her crepe in the dollop of whipped cream, she let out a pent-up breath.

Dare had managed to balance her apprehension about going home with an urgency to get there. Even knowing that he couldn’t feel the same as she did, she wanted to cherish every second with him.

She believed that he’d protect her from threats. It was up to Molly to protect her heart.

AT CLOSE TO SIX THAT evening, Dare pulled down the street to Molly’s apartment building.

He could feel her nervousness growing, but there was no help for it. On the drive, he’d told her about meeting her father, leaving out some of what Bishop had said. Not that it mattered. Molly knew her father, and, as Dare had suspected, she filled in the blanks on her own.

Because she didn’t socialize in her father’s circles, she hadn’t met many of his business cronies. She knew nothing of Warwick or Sagan. Dare told her about the connections because she needed to know. If it turned out that her father was responsible in some way, better that she had the facts early on.

“I just thought of something.” Molly kept one hand clamped on the seat, the other on the dash as she stared out the windshield, looking everywhere as if she expected the same goons to show up and make another play for her.

“Relax, Molly. It’s going to be okay.”

“I know.” She remained alert. “But how are we going to get in? I don’t have any keys with me. I left my purse in the apartment and …” With a groan, she turned her wide-eyed gaze on Dare. “I didn’t even have my door locked, because I thought I’d be going right back in. I didn’t remember that until now.”

“Then it’s probably still unlocked.” Either way, Dare wasn’t concerned about it. He could pick a lock in no time at all, and would, if it proved necessary. “Stop worrying.”

“You keep saying that.” She returned her attention to the area.

Through mirrored, aviator sunglasses, Dare glanced at her and saw her unease. He reached over and put a hand on her slim thigh. “Try trusting me a little, will you?”

“This has nothing to do with trust.”

It had everything to do with trust, but he could feel her trembling, so he let that go for now. “Where do you want me to park?”

She swallowed. “Across the street. If no one stole it, my car should still be over there.”

It didn’t surprise him that Molly had thought ahead. If someone wanted her absence to look uneventful, taking her car would have shored up that ruse. Folks would assume she’d left for a trip.

Dare turned where she indicated into a small parking lot. As Molly had claimed, there were floodlights mounted on poles to keep the area lit at night. He’d also noted some older people sitting on their porches, to take advantage of the warmer day. The area was a mix of stately, single-family homes and homes converted into apartments.

Typical of older structures, the buildings had a lot of character and structural details. The area was clean and well maintained and, as she’d said, quiet.

Hard to believe that no one had noticed her being snatched.

With relief, she said, “There it is.” She pointed to a sporty little Mazda Miata in cherry red.

Huh. So her captors weren’t concerned with appearances. “Cute car.”

“Cute?” Pretending offense, she glared at him. “That was my gift to myself from my last contract.”

“Personal reward, huh?” Glad to see her less focused on the danger, Dare said, “I like it.” It was a little small for him to fit comfortably into, but he could see Molly behind the wheel. “It suits you.”

After parking next to her car, he stored the sunglasses above the visor and turned to her. He hadn’t known her long, but already he could pick up on her moods. He wished he could somehow make this easier for her.

And maybe he could. Looking at her mouth, at the way she worried her bottom lip, he reached for her. “Come here.”

Surprise overtook the worry as he tugged her toward him. “Dare?”

Holding her face in his hands, he took her mouth in a kiss that started slow but quickly turned into a deep, soft distraction.

When she relaxed against him, he eased her back into her seat. Soothing her bottom lip with his thumb, he whispered, “Ready?”

Those beautiful, dark eyes of hers refocused and slowly filled with accusation. “You did that on purpose.”

“Yeah.” He bent forward and kissed her again, light and quick. “Just reminding you that you’re not alone. I’m here, and there’s no way in hell I’d let anyone hurt you.”

“You are so cocky.” She smiled when she said it, making it sound like a compliment instead of an insult. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” She turned and opened her door.

As she walked around the hood toward him, Dare took a minute to look over her car. Molly thought he was admiring it, but really he wanted to make sure that it hadn’t been tampered with. He’d have someone give it a more thorough going-over before she drove it again, but for now, it seemed fine.

Constantly scanning the area, Dare retrieved his duffel bag and a small suitcase for Molly’s clothes. His hand at her back, they started across the street to the building where she lived. Her next-door neighbors, sitting on their porches, made obvious note of the bags and Dare’s presence.

“I thought you said no one paid any attention around here.”

“All day long, you don’t see a soul, especially in the colder months. But I guess it was warm enough today to entice some folks out.”

He nodded to an older couple who stared at him, but said in an aside to Molly, “I take it you don’t bring many guys around?”

Molly refused to look up at anyone. “Just Adrian, but not even him for a while.”

She went in through the unlocked front door that let them into a foyer of sorts. Beyond them were two doors on either side of the building, presumably for apartments. On the right wall were four mailboxes.

Molly went to the stairs at the left. “I’m upstairs.”

Dare kept her ahead of him, but only by a few steps. Something didn’t feel right to him. He’d always been a gut-instinct type, and right now, his instincts were kicking hard.

There were two more units at the top of the stairs, one to the left and one to the right.

When Molly headed to the door on the right, Dare stopped her. “Let me go in first.”

Catching on to his concern, Molly froze. “You think something is wrong?”

“I don’t know.” He kept his tone low as he opened a compartment in his duffel and withdrew his Glock.

Staring at the weapon, Molly pressed back to the wall. “What are you doing?”

Keeping his gaze on the door, Dare set the bags beside her. “Wait right here. Don’t move. If you see anyone, call out to me. Otherwise, be quiet.” He stepped away.

Her hand snagged his arm in a desperate hold. “Dare?”

Sparing her a quick glance, he asked, “What?”

“You’re scaring me.”

“Not now, Molly.” This wasn’t the time to soothe her, or to explain. At the door, he listened but didn’t hear anything. The knob turned and the unlocked door opened with an ominous squeak typical to old homes. Even with the room in shadows, Dare could see the evidence of a search.

“Shit.”

“What?” she asked in a harsh whisper. “What is it?”

Dare spared her a warning glance that silenced her again, and then he slipped into the apartment. Someone had trashed her place.

Dare took it all in with a fast glance: furniture overturned, drawers ransacked, papers scattered. Books everywhere. Damn, but the woman had a lot of books.

She was not going to be happy.

Trusting her to stay where he’d left her, Dare ventured farther inside. Whoever had searched her place had left the kitchen lights on, but the drapes closed. Without making a sound, Dare went through each room. He found most of them in total disarray, but empty of intruders. Stepping over toppled furniture, clothes, books and garbage, Dare went back for Molly.

He found her standing in the open doorway, her face pinched and her eyes burning with anger.

“Damn it.” While stowing the gun at the small of his back, Dare strode over to her. “I told you to stay put.”

Her slim shoulders were weighed down by their heavy bags, with one hanging from each hand. Molly didn’t seem to notice as she stared around at her destroyed living room. “Who would do this?”

“Neither of us knows, and that’s why you damn well should have waited like you were told.” He took the bags from her and set them inside, then caught her arm and pulled her in, too. He closed and locked the door, caught her shoulders and pinned her to the wall.

She stared up at him without fear, her dark eyes huge—and, damn it, wounded.

But he couldn’t let her slide on this. Her safety depended on her following his every order to the letter.

Dare gripped her shoulders. “Here’s how this is going to work.” She felt so small and delicate in his hold that he had to struggle not to hug her close. “From now on, you’re going to do exactly what I tell you to do, how I tell you to do it. Do you understand me?”

She looked beyond him to the living room. Dare gently shook her. “This is important, Molly.”

“I know.” She sounded numb. “I guess I should have expected this. But the idea of someone going through my personal things …”

For now, Dare gave up. Later, he’d again go over the importance of her following his instructions. “It’s mostly just dumped, not broken.” He righted the chair closest to them and replaced the cushion. “We can straighten it up.”

Her tongue slicked out over dry lips. “I didn’t know you’d brought the gun.”

Damn, but he wanted her. When he had her climaxing under him, she wouldn’t worry about her rummaged apartment or his weapon. “I don’t go anywhere without it.”

“I should have remembered that.” Her gaze went to his hands, then back to his face. “If you’d found someone in here, would you have shot him?”

“What do you think?”

After a second of thought, she said, “Only if you had to.” She shuddered. “But I’m glad you had it, just in case.”

She was glad? So why, then, did she look so rattled?

Molly picked up a floral throw pillow from the floor. “As much as I hate to ask this, should we call the police?”

He hadn’t yet decided. “Why don’t you look around and see if anything is missing?”

As she did that, she removed her corduroy jacket and the colorful scarf and dropped them over the back of the couch, which was the only piece of furniture that hadn’t been turned or taken apart.

Arms crossed, she studied the room—and suddenly her eyes widened. “My manuscript.”

Forgoing concern for her shelves, broken pictures and a dumped plant, Molly launched over and around the mess to race into her bedroom.

Dare followed right behind her.

At a large desk, she drew up short and groaned.

The keyboard hung off the front of the desk, still connected by the cord. Papers were strewn everywhere, and scattered clothes half covered the area.

But the large flat-screen monitor appeared unbroken and all the cords seemed intact.

She picked up some papers, saying, “My contracts are all mixed up now.” She set the papers aside and turned full circle to see the room.

Dare did his own scrutiny, but for different reasons. Now that he knew there weren’t any intruders still lurking about, he realized that Molly’s regular wardrobe included a lot of provocative stuff. Panties in every color were mixed with camisoles and lacy bras. Draped over the open closet door was a skimpy red dress, and at the foot of the bed, a silky purple blouse lay bunched up with skinny jeans.

Huh. Somehow, he hadn’t pictured her like this. He’d figured her more for a T-shirt and sneakers kind of woman. Basic. Unadorned. Earthy.

And she could be.

But he liked the new image in his head a lot.

In his quick surveillance of the place, he hadn’t failed to notice the claw-footed tub in her bathroom, or the black-and-white tile, brightened with red towels and dishes of potpourri.

There was a decidedly sensual side to Ms. Molly Alexander. “You surprise me.”

“What?” She followed his gaze to a floral demi-bra. With a gasp, she snatched it up and hid it behind her back. “You thought I did all my shopping at discount department stores?”

He sort of had. “You’re adaptable.”

Her chin came up. “Yeah, so?”

It amused him that she sounded so defensive. “It’s an admirable quality, Molly, that’s all. Sort of sexy, even.”

“Yeah, right.” Huffing, she threw the bra toward the bed and went to her knees in front of the desk. “Not like anyone sees me in any of that stuff anyway.”

He would. Soon.

He watched as she moved a lot of stuff out of her way to search beneath the desk.

“What are you looking for?”

“My flash drive. It was in the computer, because I was working on the book when I …” She went still, shook her head. “I was writing before I took a break and went outside. It should be here. I was going to mesh the papers I’d written at your place into the pages I already have.”

Would someone have reason to steal her work? Dare took a bundle of clothes from her and put them on the chair. “Did you keep a backup?”

“The flash drive is my backup.” She pushed aside a box, and a broken dry-erase board.

Dare cursed low—and Molly said, “Found it!”

Amazed, he watched as she lifted the flash drive from a narrow space on the floor between her chair and the desk. She closed her fist around it and let out a long breath.

Sorting out his thoughts, Dare turned to scrutinize the rest of her bedroom. “Involving the police will hinder what I can find out.”

Now that she’d found her work, she seemed calmer. “Why?”

“Because I’d be their first suspect.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MOLLY STARED AT HIM, aghast. “What are you talking about? Why would anyone suspect you?”

“I’m the least-known person in this equation. And it’ll only make the police suspicious if they start digging into my history, because they won’t find much.”

“They won’t?”

“I’ve made a point to always cover my tracks.” The last thing he needed was a public profile. “It goes with the security of the job. But cops don’t like that. They see any concealment as a guilty verdict.”

Molly accepted that without question, but the authorities wouldn’t. And he didn’t want them sidetracked investigating him, instead of getting to the real instigators.

Dare put his hands on his hips and looked at her full-size bed. The bedding was displaced, her clothes dumped, but otherwise the room seemed okay. “Another problem is that the police have an uncanny knack for forewarning every real suspect. It’s the way they investigate.”

Molly pushed up from the floor. “What do you mean?” She stowed the memory device in her pocket and began picking up clothes.

“They’re upfront about everything. They have rules to follow, legal procedures to adhere to.” Someone might have gone through her things in an effort to discover her whereabouts. Had Bishop Alexander put someone up to that task? It seemed possible. “But I don’t.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“The easiest way to catch people is to take them off guard. Whoever kidnapped you is a pro with connections. If they were involved in this—” he looked at a dumped dresser drawer “—they wouldn’t leave behind evidence.”

“Since my door wasn’t locked, anyone could have come in.”

Dare considered that. “Where do you keep your keys?”

“In the kitchen on a utility cabinet. I always leave my purse in there, too.” She started that way and Dare followed. The kitchen wasn’t in as bad shape as the bedroom. Her purse had been dumped on the table, and two drawers were emptied of paper and pens.

Molly looked around but didn’t find the keys anywhere. “They’re gone.”

“Anyone else have keys to your place?”

“My sister, and the landlord.”

Dare opened a few cabinets that held food and dishes, and drawers filled with silverware, pot holders and dishcloths. They were undisturbed.

That told him a lot. “Whoever went through here was looking for something specific. He wasn’t just trashing the place.”

Frowning, Molly went back into the living room and looked around, and then back into her bedroom. Dare could tell she was studying the carnage, trying to make sense of it.

She stared at her desk, rearranged some of the displaced papers. After a minute, she said, “Whoever was here went through my printed notes, and he left my computer on.”

Dare frowned. “Put the drive in the computer and see if your work is okay.”

“I was working on my book before I went outside and got grabbed. That’s the last file I had opened up.”

Standing over her, he waited as Molly organized her desk, replacing the keyboard and the mouse. She hadn’t yet put the flash drive back in before the movement brought the sleeping monitor flickering back to life. Rather than Molly’s current manuscript showing, her iCal popped up.

“That’s my calendar.” She stared at the screen. “It’s one of the programs I use most often, but I hadn’t put anything new in there for a while.”

“You didn’t have it open?”

She shook her head. “Not for … I don’t know, a few days at least.”

So, whoever had broken in had been searching her ap pointments. “Someone found it.”

“Seems so.”

Reaching around her for the mouse, Dare minimized the calendar on the screen, and behind it they found an Evite—an emailed invitation—that Molly had added to her calendar. Dare straightened and put his hands on her shoulders.

As Molly read the reminder, her shoulders tensed. “I was supposed to attend a book signing yesterday.” She twisted to see Dare. “I don’t have a current book release, but this was a special occasion to honor a local bookseller who’s retiring.”

Dare had no idea what to say to her.

She turned back to the screen. “Thank God I wasn’t the only author scheduled to be there. But I can’t imagine what everyone thought when I just didn’t show up.”

“I can’t imagine what your intruder thought, because I’m betting he was at the signing, looking for you.”

She stiffened. “That’s why the last Evite was still up on the screen.”

He rubbed her shoulders. “Whoever was here was looking for a clue to your whereabouts, but he didn’t have anything else to go on.”

“God,” she groaned. Elbow propped on the desk, she put her forehead in her hand. “I’ve probably missed a ton of promotional stuff.”

“Let’s don’t worry about that right now, okay?” Dare noticed that Molly’s other hand, resting on the desktop, was fisted, giving away her anger at being violated yet again. She understood the seriousness of this invasion and how determined someone was to find her again.

But true to her nature, she kept it together, reacting in a calm, sensible way that helped rather than hindered.

He urged her from the chair. “Let me.”

She vacated the seat without argument. “What are you going to do?”

“Just take a quick look to see when our guy was here, and any other places he might’ve gone on the computer.”

“You can do that?”

“I have some tech savvy, yeah.” Actually he had a lot more than the average person, but he didn’t consider himself a pro. “Trace is the real computer guy, but since you have a Mac, some things are pretty easy to find. Hopefully you haven’t changed your settings to delete your history each time the computer is used.”

“I didn’t. I wouldn’t even know how to do that.”

Her lack of knowledge amazed Dare. “You work on this computer.”

Shrugging, she dismissed that little fact. “I email, surf the Net for research and write. But believe me, no one would accuse me of being a computer geek.”

Eventually, Dare decided, he’d give her a basic education on how her computer worked and what it could do. Right now it just didn’t matter. “If we know everything that the guy looked at, we’ll have a better idea about what he wanted.”

“He wanted to know my schedule.”

“Yeah, but why?” Thinking aloud, Dare said, “He couldn’t have thought to snatch you out of a book signing, right? There would be other people, and the bookstore manager. So what was his plan?”

Wrapping her arms around herself, she shuddered. “You really think he wanted to kidnap me again?”

“Right now, I don’t know what to think.” It could be that Bishop was searching for her to get a handle on things and keep her kidnapping out of the news. But why trash her place?

Dare’s attention went from her to a tiny scrap of lace and silk showing from a bundle of clothes on the floor near the desk. He reached for the panties, but Molly beat him to it.

“Not funny, Dare.” She tossed them toward her bed. “I hate it that anyone touched my stuff. I ought to just burn everything and start over.”

“Hey.” Dare pulled her down to his lap. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.” Somehow he’d make it true.

Rather than debate that, Molly put a hand to his jaw and leaned forward to kiss him. She kept it brief, and still he felt burned. “It helps so much that you’re here with me. Thank you.”

Dare brought her back for a hotter, deeper kiss. It was a little more satisfying, but he didn’t let it get out of hand. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

A crooked grin tipped her soft lips. “Yeah, it’s a laugh a minute around me.”

“Molly,” he admonished. “Don’t do that. Don’t minimize the situation. I’m glad that I’m with you. Hell, there’s no way I wouldn’t be.”

As if she didn’t quite believe him, she lowered her gaze. “I know you miss Tai and Sargie.”

“True, but they adore Chris. He takes good care of them, and that includes playing with them and cuddling them.” Dare leaned down to catch her gaze. “Until recently, I was gone more than I was home.”

“And now your schedule is finally freed up, and here I am, dragging you away from home again.”

It was too soon for him to tell her how she mattered to him, too soon for him to even feel that way. “No one drags me anywhere, Molly.” He tipped up her chin. “I’m here because I want to be.”

For several seconds, they stared at each other—until Molly masked her reaction of disbelief with a long sigh.

Gazing around at her bedroom, she said, “While you snoop, is it okay if I start putting some of this stuff away?”

For now, Dare gave up on convincing her of his free participation. In the end, when he refused payment, she’d know the truth. “I don’t see why not.”

She left his lap. “The sooner I get everything back to normal, the sooner it’ll feel like home to me again.”

Damn, but he admired her. Not only didn’t she fall apart, she sought ways to cope.