Heart of the wolf (27 page)

Wolf's gut warned him that Sarah wasn't safe at all. But what could he do? He couldn't kidnap her. He wouldn't force himself on her in any way. The hot memory of their explosive kiss seared him. Maybe Sarah was right: The emotions that leaped to life between them were too much for either of them to deal with right now. Maybe they needed a cooling-off period.

"Okay," he growled, finally. "I'll go back to the house and pick up your clothes and the
faceter
."

Relief tunneled through Sarah. "I know how hard it is for you to let me go
  
"

Grimly Wolf held her tearful gaze. Words choked in his throat, and all he could do was nod.

Drowning in his lambent gaze, Sarah whispered, "It's nice having someone in my corner who believes in me."

"I've got to get going," Wolf heard himself say. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sarah nodded and took a step back from his imposing height. "I have to, Wolf."

"I'll be back in about two hours," he promised. Fear for her safety ate away at him. He felt completely helpless. "Be careful," he warned, and then he left.

It was almost nine in the evening when Sarah got ready to take her shower. Wolf had been gone almost an hour, and she knew he'd be home by now, packing her clothes. The kiss still hovered hotly on her
lips,
she caught herself touching them, feeling the power of Wolf's mouth molding against her own. Never had she been kissed like that. She'd tasted him, felt his heart thudding in unison with her own. Most of all, she'd felt as if she were merged with him, all the way to his tired, wounded soul.

Absently Sarah touched the broken rocking chair, caught up in her escaped feelings for Wolf. The kiss had ripped away her pretenses, her lies to herself about not trusting Wolf. Standing there, she shut her eyes and felt a new kind of pain drift through her vulnerable heart. Did she know what real love was? She wished she could talk to her mother about the wildly fluctuating feelings she had for Wolf. In comparison, the relationship she'd had with Philip had been tame.

Opening her eyes, Sarah chastised herself for thinking too much. Her mother had always told her to flow with her feelings and not let her head interfere. But if she allowed her feelings to flow, they would wrap around Wolf in every way. It wasn't that she couldn't live her life without Wolf's presence; it was simply that her life was better with him around. He somehow enhanced her, and it made her feel awakened as a woman, made her feel that she possessed sensual longings she hadn't known existed.

As she walked across the living room toward the bathroom, Sarah glanced up. She jerked to a halt, thinking she must be imagining things. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shadow of a man cross the darkened window. Her heart started a slow, uneven pounding. Was it her overactive imagination playing tricks on her? Ever since Wolf had left, she'd felt nervous and vulnerable.

Licking her lower lip, Sarah stared hard at the curtained window. There! Another shadow! A small cry broke from her. It wasn't her imagination. It was
Summers's
men! Because her feet were healing, Sarah couldn't turn quickly. Awkward in her movements, she lurched toward the bedroom to get the rifle that sat in the corner. Hurry! The door in the kitchen was being jimmied. Her throat constricted.

A cry broke from Sarah as she saw three men with bandaged faces rush through the door into the cabin. The cedar floor was highly polished, and she was in her stocking feet. Rattled, she slipped in the hallway and fell. She heard one man grunt as he came closer to her. Sarah scrambled to her knees. Forgetting the rifle, she lunged to her feet and ran toward the front door of the cabin.

Jamming her hand around the doorknob, she tried to
puii
the door open. Escape! She had to escape!

"Hold it!" a man snarled, settling his hand on her shoulder and gripping her hard.

Blindly Sarah lashed out with her elbow as she was dragged backward. Pain and light exploded along the side of her face and jaw. She slammed against the door and crumpled to the floor.

"Don't move."

Gulping for breath, Sarah opened her eyes. Three men dressed in cowboy shirts, jeans and boots were hunkered over her. They moved aside when a fourth man entered the cabin.

"
Summers
," Sarah hissed.

Shakily
Sarah passed her hand against
lier
smarting cheek. It was Moody. Trying to steady her breathing, she glared up at Summers as he approached. He wore a suit, and, as always, he appeared freshly groomed. In his hand he held a sheaf of papers.

"Sign this."

"Like hell I will."

Summers's mouth curled. "It's an agreement,
Sarah, that
you're turning over the mine to me for the tidy sum of fifty thousand dollars. Now, that's not a bad profit for a quarter of this mountain, is it?"

Sarah pushed herself to her feet, using the door as a support because her knees were wobbly. Looking around at the hardened faces of
Summers's
men, she realized that two of them were the same men who'd attacked her before. One grinned at her. She shrank back against the door.

"You can kill me,
Summers
, but I'll never turn this place over to you. Never!" she cried.

Summers gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Billy here said he owes you for cold-cocking him with that prospector's hammer." Summers smiled evenly. "You've always been wild, Sarah. Your reputation precedes you. Billy, wouldn't you like to even the score?" He turned to the man, who nodded, his angry gaze riveted on Sarah. Summers smiled a little more. "If you sign, we'll leave right now, Sarah."

Her heart pounding in her chest, Sarah crouched, fear overcoming her. Billy's large nose was bandaged. Wolf must have broken it the day before.

"What if I don't sign?"

"Well, first I'll let Billy even the score with you, and then we'll leave. But we'll be back tomorrow night. The boys might get bored fighting you and want some other kind of fun." Summers looked around the cabin. "Be a shame if this place went up in smoke. . ."

"No!" Sarah's voice cracked with fury and disbelief.

He lost his smile. "And if you refuse even after you've got cinders at your feet, Sarah, we'll keep harassing you until you do sign. Understand?" He held out the paper and pen once more. "Make it easy on yourself. Sign now."

Rage exploded violently within Sarah. Without thinking, she pushed away from the door and lunged for
Summers
. He barely dodged her flailing fists, knocking over the other man as he stumbled backward to dodge her attack.

"Get her!" Summers roared as he fell to the floor.

Sarah scrambled toward the kitchen. Throwing herself out the back door, she dug her toes into the pine needles and dry soil, disappearing into the darkness. Pain shot through her feet and ankles, but she ignored it as she raced away from the cabin. No one knew this mountain more intimately than she did. Two of the men were coming after her. The night was bathed in black. Sarah swerved to the left. There was a ten-foot drop-off just ahead. If she could make it without breaking an ankle or her leg, she could lose her pursuers.

Wind tore past her as she stretched her stride to the maximum. Both men were bearing down upon her, and she heard them cursing and gasping for air. Just a few
moie
feet! The edge of the rock ledge was coming up fast. Sarah threw herself off it, bending her knees to take the impact of landing.

She hit the ground hard, automatically flexing and rolling to absorb the jarring shock. Quickly she scrambled to her hands and knees,
then
pushed to a standing position. A scream lurched from one of the men above her. There was no time to take satisfaction in the thought of the two men falling over the cliff. Sarah ran to the right and crouched down, pushing through several bushes. Behind the shrubbery was a small cranny in the rock, a
cavelike
depression.

Sarah pressed her hands across her nose and mouth to try to soften the sound of her breathing. She heard both men strike the forest floor, one groaning loudly. The other cursed. She sat very still, her knees jammed against her chest and chin. Rock wall bit into her back, but she ignored the discomfort. Anything was better than being beaten or raped.
Anything.
Shaky with adrenaline, Sarah concentrated on trying to breathe quietly.

The cursing grew louder. Sarah hunched down as one of the shadowy figures came close to her hiding spot.

"Son of a bitch!"
Billy yelled. "She got away!"

"Screw the bitch," the other one groaned. "Come back here and help me.
I
think I busted my ankle, Billy.
Dammit
to hell!"

Sarah's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she saw Billy hesitate near the bushes where she hid, then turn back to help the other man. Burying her head in her arms, Sarah breathed through her mouth, trying to stay quiet. Both men hobbled off, and in a few minutes the forest had grown quiet
agaia.

How long Sarah waited, she didn't know. Finally, the urgent need to warn Wolf
thai
Summers and his
meo
were at the cabin got the better of her. Disregarding her painful feet, she slowly extricated herself from the depression and carefully moved along the cliff wall, A deer path led back toward the cabin and the road, she knew. She had to warn Wolf before he ran into
Summers
and his gang!

By the time Sarah made it back to her cabin,
Summers
and his men were gone. She stood just inside the tree line, wondering if it was a trick. No tracks were in her driveway. It was quiet.
Deathly quiet.
Beginning to tremble in earnest, Sarah wrapped her arms around herself. The summer nights were always cool in the mountains, and sometimes chilly. Her keen hearing picked up the sound of a truck being driven at high speed down the dirt road toward her cabin. Was it Wolf, or was it
Summers
returning?

Sarah waited, positioning herself so that the headlights wouldn't flash over her and give away her position. As the track drove into the driveway and braked to a halt next to the cabin, she realized it was Wolf.

With a little cry, Sarah lurched out of the forest. Sobbing Wolf's name, she ran toward him, her arms open.

Wolf emerged from the pickup and heard Sarah's cry. Startled, he jerked around toward the sound. His eyes widened enormously. Sarah's shadowed features were twisted with fear, and blood was smeared along her cheek. Wolf grabbed his rifle off the rack and loaded a round in the chamber. Skeet leaped down, remaining at his side. His breathing was strangled, and his heart was beating hard in fear. Terrible flashbacks of finding the Peruvian villagers slaughtered slammed into Wolf as he stood frozen for that moment.