“Does Rafe know about his son? Or is there some other unlucky fellow still wondering whatever happened to his sweet little Laura?” Nick snarled like the wounded animal he was.
In a self-protective gesture, Laura braced her hands against his chest, unknowingly wreaking havoc with his senses. How could she still affect him this way? Her scent tantalized him, made him want to touch her, taste her, in all the ways he had that one night. Every muscle in his body hardened at the imagined sensation of touching Laura again. When she turned that sweet face up to his, her eyes wide with worry and pleading for his understanding, his resolve cracked….
“He doesn’t know about Robby.” She licked those full pink lips and a single tear slid slowly down one porcelain cheek. “I’m afraid I won’t find him, Nick. Please help me.”
…his resolve crumbled. Nick allowed himself to touch her. His fingertips glided over smooth, perfect skin, tracing the path of that lone tear. The sensation of touching Laura like he had dreamed of doing for so very long short-circuited all rational thought.
Slowly, regret nipping at his heels already, Nick lowered his head. He saw her lips tremble just before he took them with his own. Her soft, yielding sigh sent a ripple of sensual pleasure through him. She tasted just like he remembered, sweet and innocent and so very delicate. Like a cherished rose trustingly opening to the sun’s warmth, Laura opened for him. And when he thrust his tongue inside her sweet, inviting mouth the past slipped away. Only the moment remained…touching Laura, tasting her and holding her close, then closer still.
Nick threaded his fingers into her long blond hair, reveling in the silky texture as he cradled the back of her head. “Laura,” he murmured against her mouth, and she responded, knotting her fists in his shirt and pulling him closer. His body melded with hers, her softness molding to his every hard contour as he deepened the already mind-blowing kiss.
Lust pounded through him with every beat of his heart. Nick traced the outline of Laura’s soft body, his palms lingering over the rise of her breasts, then moved lower to cup her bottom and pull her more firmly into him. She slid one tentative hand down his chest, then between their grinding bodies. Laura caressed him intimately. Nick groaned loudly into her mouth as she rubbed his erection again and again through his jeans.
Her tongue dueled with his, taking control of the kiss, just as her body now controlled his. Her firm breasts pressed into his chest, her nipples pebbled peaks beneath the thin cotton of her T-shirt. The urge to make love to Laura—here, now—overwhelmed all else as she propelled him ever closer toward climax with nothing more than her hand, and in spite of the layers of clothing still separating them.
The unexpected blow to the side of his head sent Nick’s equilibrium reeling. He staggered back a couple of steps and Laura took off like a shot. He stared at the thick ceramic mug shattered on the primitive wooden floor. He hadn’t even noticed it on the counter. Nick shook his head to clear it and took several halting steps in the general direction of the door. When he got his hands on Laura he intended to wring her neck. At the moment he had to focus on reversing the flow of blood from below his belt to above his neck.
She was already at the car when he stumbled across the porch, his body still reeling from her touch. He rubbed the throbbing place just behind his temple then checked his fingertips for any sign of blood. No blood, just a hell of a lump rising. A half dozen or so four-letter words tumbled from his mouth as he lurched toward the car, his knee throbbing with each unsteady step. Pure, unadulterated rage flashed through him like a wild fire. She would regret this, he promised himself.
Nick knew by Laura’s horrified expression that she had just discovered that the keys weren’t in the ignition. Did she think he was stupid as well as gullible? In a last-ditch effort to save herself, she locked the doors.
Grinning like the idiot he now recognized himself to be, Nick reached into his pocket and retrieved the keys, then proceeded to dangle them at her. “Going somewhere?” He inserted the key into the door’s lock and glared at her. “I don’t think so.” He jerked the door open and leaned inside.
Laura tried to climb over the seat and into the back but Nick caught her by the waist.
“Let me go!” she screamed, slapping, scratching and kicking with all her might. “I have to find my son!”
Once Nick had restrained her against the passenger-side door, he glowered at Laura for three long beats before he spoke. “You have two choices,” he growled. “You can sit here quietly while I drive to Jackson, or I can tie you up and put you in the trunk. It’s your call, Laura, what’s it going to be?”
Chapter Three
Laura sat absolutely still as Nick parked the car at the rear of James Ed’s private estate per security’s instructions. She forced away the thoughts and emotions that tugged at her senses. Nick’s touch, his kiss, the feel of his arms around her once more. She still wanted him, no matter that her whole world was spinning out of control. Commanding her attention back to the newest level of her nightmare, Laura lifted her gaze to the stately residence before her. The place was every bit as ostentatious as she had expected. Nothing but the best for James Ed, she thought with disgust.
In a few hours every available space out front would be filled with Mercedes, Cadillacs and limousines as the official victory party got under way. According to Nick’s telephone conversation with James Ed, of which Laura had only overheard Nick’s end, a celebration was planned for the Governor’s cohorts who had won big in today’s election. Laura was to be taken in through the back. That way there would be no chance that a guest arriving early or some of the hired help might see her. James Ed was still protecting his good name.
But Laura didn’t care. A kind of numbness had settled over her at this point. The knowledge that she might never see Robby again, and that she was going to die had drained her of all energy. She felt spent, useless.
She surveyed again the well-lit mansion and considered what appeared to make her brother happy. Money and power. Those were the things that mattered to him. He could keep Laura’s trust fund. She didn’t care. She only wanted her son back. But James Ed wouldn’t care what Laura wanted. He had never cared about her. Otherwise he would have left her alone after she disappeared rather than hunting her down like an animal. She had barely escaped his hired gunmen on two other occasions. And now Laura would answer doubly to James Ed for all the trouble she had caused him.
But he couldn’t hurt her anymore, that was a fact. He had already taken away the only thing in this world that mattered to Laura.
Laura looked up to find Nick reaching back inside the car to unbuckle her seat belt. His lips were moving, so she knew he was speaking to her, but his words didn’t register. On autopilot, Laura scooted across the seat and pushed out into the cold night air to stand next to Nick. She looked up at him, the light from a nearby lamppost casting his handsome face in shadows and angles. She knew Nick was a good man, but he had been blinded by her brother’s charisma just like everyone else. None of this was Nick’s fault, not really. He was only doing what he thought was right. His job.
Would Robby look like him when he grew up? she suddenly wondered. Even at fifteen months, he already had those devilish green eyes and that thick black hair.
Yes, Laura decided, her son would grow up to be every bit as handsome as his father. She frowned and her mouth went unbearably dry. The father he would never know…and the mother he wouldn’t remember. She blinked—too late. Hot tears leaked past her lashes.
“They’re waiting for us inside,” Nick said, drawing her back to the present.
Laura swallowed but it didn’t help. She brushed the moisture from her cheeks with the back of her hands and took a deep, fortifying breath. She might as well get this over with. No point in dragging it out.
“I’m ready,” she managed.
“Good.”
Nick smiled then and Laura’s heart fluttered beneath