Falling for Sarah (42 page)

He stared at her for several seconds as she gripped her hand against the napkin resting on her lap, bracing herself for another blow.

“I ordered them while I was over in England two years ago.”

She relaxed when he began to eat. “Do you travel to Europe often?”

“When it suits me. My business has become very successful, so I don’t have a lot of time for traveling anymore.”

Sarah glanced toward the window as a vehicle drove by. The dark gray of what she swore was a Range Rover caused her to look again, but it was gone. Maybe it was Ethan, or maybe she was desperate to believe he had come for her.

Would she ever see him again? Would she ever snuggle with Kylee and read until she fell asleep? Her eyes watered and tears threatened. Fighting to hold them back, she took another bite of bisque. Matthew seemed calmer. She wanted to keep him that way. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to save a little of this to enjoy with my salad. We are having salad, right?”

“Yes. A house salad with a warm honey mustard drizzle. Like I said, we’re sampling your favorites tonight. I’ll go get the second course.”

Sarah wanted to ask him how he knew her favorites but stopped herself. The answer would probably be more than she could handle, much like the medicine cabinet full of cosmetics.

Matthew took his dish away and she turned, watching him disappear into the kitchen. When she heard the refrigerator door open and dishes clatter against the marble countertop, Sarah inched her chair to the left, craning her neck to see if she could catch another glimpse of the Rover she hoped she hadn’t imagined. Hope began to fade—Ethan wasn’t there.

“What are you doing?”

She jumped, whirling around in her seat, heart pounding. “Nothing. I was enjoying the breeze coming in from the window. Most people hate the smell of low tide, but there’s something so…earthy about it.”

Matthew studied her face, eyes narrowed, as he moved forward with their plates. He set an elegantly prepared salad down. The presentation was excellent, with vivid colors from the deep greens of the lettuce, red of tomatoes, orange from shredded carrots.

“I think you have two callings, Matthew—flowers and food.” Afraid she’d overdone the compliments, she glanced at him, gauging his reaction. She let out a long, quiet breath when he only appeared pleased.

As Sarah chewed a bite and listened to Matthew talk about himself with half an ear, she planned. If she could convince him to open the window just a bit further, she would dive through the screen when he went in to prepare the next course. No one was coming for her and time was almost up. Lights had come on in the homes across the street. If she dove and screamed as soon as she hit the ground, she’d draw someone’s attention before he could get outside and take her back in.

She took another bite, swallowed. “Matthew, would you be willing to slide the window up just a touch more? I really do love the breeze. It would make this the perfect evening.”

He paused with a cherry tomato on his fork, refusal on his tongue.

She gave him an encouraging smile, regretting it instantly as pain radiated through her lip, but he set his fork down.

“Just a little more,” he said, standing, pushing the frame as far as it could go.

“Thank you.” She had no doubt she would fit through.

Sarah brought another bite of salad to her mouth, ready to move things along. It was time to save her own life.

Ethan crouched back against the thick bushes, using the shadows dusk provided, listening to Sarah’s voice carry through the window screen. If he didn’t know her as well as he did, he would’ve believed she were enjoying herself, but the tension was there, in every careful word she spoke.

Rage choked him as he inched his way forward and saw her face in the candlelight. He watched her wince ever so slightly as she brought a spoon to her swollen, split lip. A deep purple bruise bloomed over her cheekbone, another along her jaw. He had to get her out of there.

He looked for a shot on Denmire right then, but he sat too close to Sarah in the elegant dining room. Ethan hesitated, not wanting to lose sight of Sarah, but moved to the side of the house until he made it to the unlit room beyond the kitchen. The window he would use to gain entry was open six inches. Ethan slit a hole in the screen, tugged on the frame, removed it. He pushed up on the windowsill next, wincing, praying it wouldn’t make a noise. As he boosted himself up, he glanced back, just in time to see S.W.A.T pull up down the street. Men and women dressed in black carried sniper rifles and moved in different directions through the neighborhood, preparing to execute their crisis response. They were going to fuck everything up.

Breaking silence, Ethan spoke as quietly as he could. “S.W.A.T’s here. Move.”

Two taps echoed in his ear, followed by two more. He took a deep breath. They were all inside now. One of them had to get to Sarah before S.W.A.T initiated their first phone call. That would be the end. Ezekiel would kill her right then. He had nothing left to lose.

Ethan took the Glock from his holster, released the safety, held the gun in both hands, arms braced against his chest, ready to fire. He walked down the hall, silently, keeping his back to the wall, concentrating on the sound of Sarah’s voice getting closer with every footstep.

As he made his way to the living room, just steps away from Sarah, Austin appeared from a door on the opposite side of the room, mirroring his stance with his own pistol. “Optimal position upstairs,” echoed in his earpiece when Hunter whispered.

“I have to use the bathroom, Matthew.”

“We just sat down. Is this some sort of game, bitch?”

“No. The baby sits on my bladder and—”

“I don’t want to hear about your little bastard,” Matthew hollered, making Ethan’s finger dance on the trigger. That asshole wouldn’t hit Sarah again. He would die first.

“I’m sorry, but I really do have to go. You can stand outside the door if you like. I thought it best to use the restroom now before you bring out the main dish, which smells amazing, by the way.”

“Master Cooke’s little bastard’s fucking it all up,” he muttered, enraged. “Fine, but don’t try anything. I’ll have to punch you again, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”

Two dining room chairs slid over wood.

Ethan met Austin’s gaze as Austin eased back into the dark of the room he’d come from, disappearing from sight. Ethan glanced around. There was nowhere for him to hide. He backtracked toward the office, but it was too late. Sarah stepped into the living room, glanced to her right, paused, eyes locking on his before she looked straight ahead and kept going.

A million thoughts passed between them in that second. There was nothing he wanted more than to grab her up and take her away from this nightmare, but he couldn’t. He stayed where he was, watching her eyes fill and her lips tremble as she continued forward, as if she hadn’t seen him in her dress that pressed snug against her body, accentuating her pregnancy, gaping open in the back, exposing her white bra and smooth skin.

Good job, Sarah
.
Keep going and we’ll end this.

She’d only taken two steps into the room when Matthew, or Ezekiel, or whatever the hell his name was, yanked her back against him. “What are you sniveling about?”

“Nothing. I’m just a little tired.”

“Yeah, well by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be way past that.” He grazed his mouth against her ear. “Maybe I should give you something worth crying about.”

“No, please don’t.”

“You said you had to piss, so get on with it. The haddock’s going to dry out, then I really will have to punish you. I’m beginning to think you like it.” Matthew shoved Sarah with such force, she almost fell.

A red haze of fury all but blinded Ethan as he stepped forward. Enough was enough. He pointed his gun, surging toward her.

Matthew’s eyes widened in surprise. “What the
fuck
?” He stepped back, dragging Sarah as he grabbed a butcher’s knife from the antique woodblock decorating his buffet table. “Get out of my house before I kill her.”

Tears streamed down Sarah’s ghostly pale cheeks as she stood trembling with the knife pressed against her throat.

“I’ll put down the gun, but I’m not leaving.” Ethan placed the weapon at his feet, never taking his eyes from hers.

“I say you are.” He skimmed the knife against her skin and she whimpered, tightening her grip on the arm Matthew wrapped around her waist as a small trickle of blood dribbled down her neck.

Hunter’s voice sounded in his ear again. “Get him to move a little more to the left. Austin should be able to get a shot on him.”

“Confirm that,” Austin said.

Ethan put his hands in the air, took a step forward, toward the door. “Okay, I’ll go. Just don’t hurt her anymore.”

Matthew’s eyes gleamed bright as he began to laugh. “You’re not so tough now, are you, pretty boy? All those muscles aren’t doing you a damn bit of good. Zeke Denmire’s in charge now, and don’t you forget it.”

Sarah choked out a breath. “Take care of Kylee, Ethan.”

“You shut
up
,” Matthew said as he skimmed the knife against her again, causing her to gasp. Blood seeped and she closed her eyes as pain and terror radiated across her face.

“That’s enough! Stop it! ” He couldn’t take it anymore. “I said I would go.”

Matthew stepped to the left as Hunter had wanted, blocking Ethan’s path to the door.

Hunter spoke again. “No good. He needs to move further into the room.”

Ethan wanted to punch and rage with the helplessness he felt, but he took another step forward, mindful not to get too far from his gun. “I’m going. See? I’m going.”

“You know what? I don’t think that’ll work for me anymore. I had other plans for Sarah tonight, but I just thought of something even better. You’re going to watch her die, Master Cooke. You’re going to watch them both die.”

A thousand waves of fear washed through him as Matthew moved the knife, pointing the tip straight at Sarah’s belly.

“I’m going to gut her like a pig and take your fucking kid along with her.” He raised the knife, ready to plunge.

Sarah’s eyes widened and she sobbed. “I love you, Ethan.”

“No shot. No shot,” Austin yelled as he stormed from the room directly behind Matthew and Sarah. Hunter ran down the stairs, vaulting over the banister halfway down the staircase.

Matthew turned, staring, before gripping the knife high again. “You can all watch her die!”

Ethan grabbed his gun, saw his shot as the knife descended in Matthew’s grip. Without hesitation, he took it. The bullet exploded, along with the left side of Matthew’s face. Spatter covered Sarah as Matthew fell sideways to the floor.

Ragged breathing filled the sudden silence before Sarah dropped to her knees, weeping. Ethan ran forward on trembling legs, scooped her up and away from the mess pooling on the floor. “It’s okay, Sarah. It’s over. I’ve got you.”

S.W.A.T rushed in and chaos reigned while Ethan gripped her tight, unwilling to let her go.

Tucker Campbell came through the door, gun raised, meeting Ethan’s glinty stare. He holstered his weapon. “Get her out of here, Cooke. There’s an ambulance outside.”

“Thanks for nothing, Campbell.”

Hunter touched his shoulder and all four left Matthew Denmire’s home.

“I’ll have questions for you,” Campbell called out the door.

“It was self-defense. You see the knife on the floor. You can ask your questions later,” Austin said as they continued forward.

Ethan walked to the ambulance, tried to set Sarah on the waiting stretcher. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. “Please, no. I’m not ready to let you go.”

Drops of blood covered her hair and face. Tears dripped down her swollen cheek as she trembled against his grip. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Ma’am, we need to put you on the stretcher,” the paramedic said.

“You’ll have to put us both on.”

The man opened his mouth to argue, met Ethan’s stare, stopped, nodded. “Okay.”

Ethan sat down with Sarah, swinging his legs up to the bed, resting his weary body against the cushion. He clutched Sarah as tightly as she clutched him. He stared at Hunter and Austin as the doors closed and the ambulance drove off.

Chapter 31

H
OURS LATER, AS DAWN BROKE, Sarah lay in Ethan’s bed, clean, bandaged and sleeping. She clung to his body, arms wrapped around his waist, as she had since he’d picked her up off of Denmire’s wooden floor.

Simmering in the rage he hadn’t been able to leave behind, he stared down at her battered face, at her lip that had required two stitches. The bastard had almost taken her away, had almost killed her and their child.

Ethan moved his hand to rest against the baby and closed his eyes. The vision of a butcher knife traveling toward Sarah’s belly flashed through his mind. He sat up as nausea clutched in his stomach, unable to handle what might have been.

Sarah stirred and opened her eyes, still pale but smiling. “Hi there.”

“Hey.”

She brushed her fingers through his hair. “You don’t look like you’ve gotten any sleep.”

He smiled back, kissed the tip of her nose. “I was too busy looking at you.”

“That’s what you said an hour ago, and two hours before that. I’m not that interesting, especially when my eyes are closed and I’m not moving.”

He skimmed his knuckles against her temple, unable to stop touching her. “We’ll have to disagree there.”

“Why don’t I make us some breakfast? I’m starving.” She started to sit up, but he held her down by the shoulder.