Taken (27 page)

It took her a moment to realize what he was asking.

“I . . . I don’t have it.”

“You’re lying.” His arm tightened around her neck, threatening to cut off her air supply.

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“I don’t have it,” she said again. “Evan took it from me. The man I married in Tahoe, he took it. He has it. I swear.”

“Who has the other watches? Who?” he demanded in a deep, impatient, angry voice. “The girl you were just talking to?”

She put her hands on his arm, trying to pull it loose, but her efforts were futile. “I don’t know.”

The door to the casino opened and a young couple came out. The man behind her gave her a shove, and she landed on her knees on the ground. She looked around, trying to see who had assaulted her. But he was gone, vanishing as quickly as he’d come. The couple had taken another path, completely unaware of what they’d interrupted. She looked down at Nick. He was starting to stir, thank God.

She crawled over to him, putting her hand on his arm.

“Nick, are you all right?”

He groaned and tried to roll over. She helped him sit up. There was blood dripping down his face from a cut on his forehead. He looked dazed, confused, and he put a hand to the back of his head with a decided wince. “What happened?”

“Someone knocked you out.”

He stared at her. “Who?”

“I don’t know. He grabbed me, but some people came out and he let me go.”

“Evan?”

“I don’t think so. His body felt different, and his voice was wrong. He asked me who had the other watch.” She tried to make sense of what had just happened. “He came up behind me. I couldn’t see him. He was strong, though.

He had his arm around my neck. I thought he was going
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to strangle me.” She stopped talking, realizing Nick still looked dazed. “We need to get you to the doctor.” She dug through her purse, found some Kleenex, and pressed a tissue gently to his head.

“It’s okay. I just need some ice,” he said, pushing her arm away.

“Nick. You’re hurt. You’re bleeding.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Can you help me up, Kayla?”

She assisted him to his feet, and he hung on to her for one long, unsteady moment. “Whoa.”

“Do you want to head for the car? I’ll take you to the emergency room.”

“No, let’s just go to the room. I’m okay.”

She could see that he wasn’t all right, but that he was going to be extremely stubborn about it. So she let him lean on her as they went back into the hotel and up the elevator to their floor. Fortunately, they didn’t see anyone else.

She opened the door and Nick stumbled across the room, sitting down on the bed. “I’m going to get some ice,” she said quickly, reaching for the bucket.

“Be careful,” he told her.

“I will.” As she picked up the ice bucket, she was reminded of when Evan had made the same move on their wedding night, only he never came back. That wasn’t going to be the case tonight.

Her pause drew Nick’s attention. “Maybe I should go,” he said.

“No. You sit.” She pushed him gently down on the bed when he tried to stand. “The machine is just by the elevator. I’ll be quick. I promise.”

As she left the room, she looked down the corridor.

There was no one around. She walked to the end of the
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hall and opened the door to the small room where the ice machine was located. She emptied the ice into the bucket as fast as she could, her heart beating triple-time. At any moment, she expected the man who had grabbed her to come back.

When the bucket was full, she turned to leave. Just then the door opened.

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A man entered the small room. He had bright red hair and wore a yellow Hawaiian shirt that fit tightly over his stomach. He had an ice bucket in one hand. She let out a breath of relief. It was no one, just another guest.

“How you doing, little lady?” he asked in a Texas drawl.

“Okay,” she said, trying to move around him, but he was blocking the door.

“Having any luck here in Reno?” he said in a chatty voice.

“Not much.”

“You’re a pretty thing. You got a boyfriend?”

“Yes,” she said quickly, her relief turning to worry. “I have to get back to him. Do you mind?”

He hesitated and then stepped to one side.

As she passed by him, she looked directly into his eyes — his twinkling blue eyes. Something inside her turned over. She didn’t know him. Did she?

“Evan?” she whispered.

“Honey, you can call me anything you want if you let me buy you a drink.”

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She shook her head. Her brain was playing tricks on her. It wasn’t Evan. The man didn’t look anything like Evan — except maybe in the eyes. She pushed open the door and headed back to their room.

Nick was getting to his feet when she walked in.

“What took you so long?” he asked grumpily.

“I ran into someone getting ice. He wanted to chat.”

“Who?”

She hesitated. “He had red hair and a paunch and looked nothing like Evan, but there was something about his eyes. . . . It couldn’t have been him. He was big and pudgy.”

“Ever hear of a fat suit or padding stuffed under your shirt? I’m going down there.”

“No, you’re not,” she said, putting a hand on his chest.

“You need ice and rest. If it was Evan, I think he would have said more to me than he did. I’m sure it was just my imagination. I’m seeing Evan everywhere these days.”

“You know he wears disguises.”

“It wasn’t him, okay?”

Nick looked like he was going to ignore her, but as he moved he swayed and had to sit down on the bed.

“Maybe I’ll check in a minute,” he muttered.

“Sure.” Kayla went into the bathroom and put some ice in a towel, then took it back out to him. He placed it on his head with a wince.

“It hurts, huh?” she said sympathetically.

“It’s all right.”

“Do you want some ice for your forehead, too? I think you landed on your face. Good thing you were on the grass and not on the pavement.” She sat down on the bed next to him. “I’m sorry I ran outside like I did. This never
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would have happened if I hadn’t panicked. I just felt like I needed some air.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you go. That’s why I came after you. Tell me about the man who grabbed you.” Nick swung his legs up on the bed and stretched out, leaning back against the pillows.

“I didn’t see him. But he asked me where the watch was — if I had it.”

Nick sent her a puzzled frown. “So he thought you had a watch? I wonder which watch he was talking about.”

“He also asked me if the girl we were talking to had one of the other watches. I told him I didn’t know. Then some people came out and he took off. Who is he?” she murmured. “What does he have to do with this? It doesn’t sound like he’s working with Evan.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I wonder if Evan knows about him,” she muttered.

“This is getting complicated.”

“You can say that again,” Nick said, closing his eyes.

She stared at his face for a long moment. There was a bump on his forehead that was turning black-and-blue.

She had a feeling the bruise would only make him more handsome. He had a beautiful face, she thought idly —

tan skin, thick, dark brows, long black lashes, strong cheekbones, and a wide, generous mouth just perfect for kissing. She had the urge to trace his lips with her fingers, and mentally gave herself a pinch for traveling down that road again. Nick needed to rest.

Unfortunately when she looked away from his face, her gaze moved down his long, lean body, his broad shoulders, and nice chest. She liked the little dark hairs she could see through the open buttons of his polo shirt.

She liked running her fingers through them most of all.

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Okay, she really needed to put on the brakes. Visualizing Nick naked was not a productive use of her time.

But it was difficult to look away from this man. He was connected to her, in her head, in her heart, under her skin. She could gaze at him all day, touch him, kiss him, make love to him, and once wouldn’t be enough. She’d want to do it again and again.

“Kayla?”

She jumped at the sound of his voice.

He opened one eye. “What are you doing?”

“Just sitting here, thinking.”

“About what?”

She was definitely not going to tell him. “Everything,”

she lied. “You should rest, but maybe not sleep. You could have a concussion. I still think I should call the doctor. Don’t they have a casino medic or something?”

“I’m fine. I just have a headache. I don’t suppose you have any aspirin?”

“Actually, I think I do.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a small bottle. “I’ll get you some water.” She was grateful for the distraction.

Nick took the pills, then patted the bed next to him.

“Why don’t you sit down? I just need a few minutes to re-cuperate.”

“I think you’re going to need more than a few minutes.”

“We have to meet Lisa at ten.”

Kayla checked her watch. “We have about an hour, but I don’t know if you’re going to be in any condition to go anywhere.”

“I’ll make it. I just need the pounding in my temples to stop.”

“Maybe the aspirin will help,” she said.

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“I hope so.”

He closed his eyes, and after a few moments of silence she thought he’d drifted off to sleep. She started to get up, thinking she’d sit in the chair by the window so she wouldn’t disturb him, but he reached for her. “Don’t go,”

he said, opening his eyes again. “Just . . . stay with me.”

There was something in his eyes that spoke of a need he couldn’t verbally express, and it touched her. Nick was such a strong man. He hated to show any kind of weak-ness.

“Okay.” She stretched out next to him. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her up against his side.

She rested her head on his chest and let out a sigh as her world tilted back into place. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. It was surprisingly easy. In Nick’s arms, her tension evaporated. She felt safe and secure — and that was the last thought she had until she woke up abruptly, startled by the ringing of a phone.

She glanced at the clock. It was two o’clock in the morning, and Nick’s cell phone was ringing. She tried to move, and then realized that she and Nick were completely entangled. His arm was around her waist; one of his legs pinned her down as if he’d worried that she might try to leave while he was sleeping.

Kayla gave him a gentle push. “Nick, wake up,” she said.

He blinked sleepily, his face just inches from her own.

“Hmm,” he murmured, then leaned over and kissed her.

Kayla’s mouth opened to say no, but she couldn’t get the word out because Nick’s tongue was sliding into her mouth, tasting, exploring, driving all thoughts of
no
completely out of her mind. She wrapped her arms around his
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back, pulling him down on top of her, loving the feel of his chest against her breasts, his leg between her thighs.

She ran her hands under his shirt, tracing the contours of his muscles. He groaned at her touch, and a second later he sat up and pulled his shirt over his head. The sleep slowly faded from his eyes, awareness settling in.

He touched her mouth with his fingers, then let his hand drift down her chin, dropping to her collarbone, skimming her breasts, making her nerves tingle and desire sweep through her. She put a hand around his neck and pulled him down to her. His lips had barely grazed hers when his cell phone rang. She suddenly realized what had woken her up in the first place. “Your phone,”

she said.

Nick glanced at her, then over at the phone on the bedside table. “It’s never good news in the middle of the night.”

“You’d better answer it.”

He reached out and grabbed his phone. “Hello.” A moment later she heard him suck in a deep gulp of air.

“What? Are you serious?”

Kayla sat up in bed. Nick’s entire body had stiffened, and his lips were drawn in a tight line. “Right. Yes, I’ve got it.”

He closed the phone and tossed it on the table.

“What’s happened?” she asked impatiently. “Who was that?”

“J.T.” Nick turned to face her. “Lisa Palmer was assaulted when she got home tonight. She’s in the hospital.

J.T. said her house was searched. The watch is more than likely gone.”

Kayla clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my God! We were supposed to meet her at ten. We fell asleep. We
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didn’t go.” It took her a minute to catch up. “What happened to her? Is she going to be all right?”

“J.T. says she’s unconscious. It looks like someone pushed her down the stairs.”

“Do you think it was the same guy who knocked you out?”

“It’s a good bet that it was either him or Evan. We know both of them are here in Reno.”

“I can’t believe it. Everywhere we go trouble follows.”

“J.T. will meet us here in the morning. He said to stay put. Not to go anywhere. Not to talk to anyone. The usual drill.”

Kayla drew her legs up beneath her, feeling chilled.

“That poor woman. We did this, Nick. We found her. We led the bad guys straight to her. And now she’s hurt. God, I feel terrible.”

Nick sat down next to her, resting his back against the headboard. “Evan was at Lisa’s house before we even got here. Remember?”

“That’s true. He found her first. I wonder how.”

“Who knows? The bottom line is that the watch is probably gone. That’s two down, one to go.”

“Which leaves Frankie and his watch.” She slid down in the bed, resting her head on the pillows. “Every time we talk to someone, they get hurt. I don’t know how to keep searching without leaving chaos and pain in our wake. I’m frustrated, Nick.”

“Me, too.” He stretched out next to her, his head propped up by his elbow. “I wish I hadn’t answered the phone — for a lot of reasons.”