Where?
At the back of the loft.
Her head was pounding, the pain competing with her arousal.
She wanted to tell him to slow down. Or was that what she really wanted?
He climbed to his feet and helped her up. It was dark in the room now, and she felt disoriented.
Of course, he knew that.
“I’ll turn on the light.”
He crossed the room and flipped the switch.
“Hold it right there,” a rough voice said.
She gasped, whirling to confront the man who had been in her shop. The man Jake had knocked out. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been lying unconscious on the floor. Then he’d managed to get free and disappear, leaving a pool of blood behind.
Had he hidden outside and followed them here? However he’d found them, he stood in the doorway, a gun in his hand.
It was hard to think over the pounding in her head. The pain was worse than it had been moments ago.
“Now I’ve got you both, and you’re going to be very sorry you messed with me,” he said.
Cold fear was like a glacier in the pit of Rachel’s stomach. This man had already tried to handcuff her. Then Jake hadcome in and hit him over the head. Now he was back and roaring mad.
The guy kept his distance, looking from Rachel to Jake and back again. He picked up the gun Jake had left on the table and put it in his own waistband, but somehow he’d acquired a second weapon.
She stood where she was, desperately trying to contact Jake the way they’d done before. Maybe together they could do something. A few minutes ago they’d been inside each other’s minds, but they’d been touching intimately and she was sure that had made the difference.
They were separated by nine feet of space, and there was no way she could achieve the kind of contact that they’d had on the sofa.
She saw the strained expression on his face and knew he was trying to reach out to her. But it seemed he couldn’t do it either. His thoughts just weren’t available to her. Maybe the headache had wiped the ability away.
“We’re not taking any chances,” the man with the gun said. “First you’re going to tie up your lover boy. Then I’ll cuff you, and he can watch the questioning.”
“Stay the hell away from her!” Jake growled.
“I don’t think you can do much about it, smart guy.”
He looked around the room and spotted a table and two wooden chairs.
“Pull out one of the chairs,” he said to Jake. “And sit down so your girlfriend can tie you up. Move slowly, and don’t try anything tricky.”
As a sliver of hope bloomed inside Rachel, she struggled to keep her face a mask of fear. If she and Jake were going to do anything . . . mental to get away, they’d have to be touching, and their captor had just given them the opportunity to do that.
Jake was still glaring at the guy, but Rachel had come to know him very well, and she sensed the defiance in his eyes.
The guy had a coil of rope under his jacket. He tossed it toward Rachel. When it landed on the floor, she stood staring at it like she was afraid of what was coming next.
Shewasafraid, but not for the reason he assumed.
“Pick it up!”
She bent and picked up the rope, then walked stiff-legged toward Jake.
“Tie his hands behind him. And no playing around this time. Or Iwillshoot.”
