Rancher's Hostage Rescue. Beth Cornelison

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СКАЧАТЬ shot him, he wouldn’t have needed medical attention, and he wouldn’t have come here.”

      He felt the movement, the stir of her hair as she shook her head. “No. I’m glad you shot him. You saved lives. He was panicking and firing at anyone who moved. Things were spiraling out of control, and you helped put an end to his reign of terror.”

      Dave expelled a weary breath. “Until he ended up here, holding us hostage.”

      She snorted. “Yeah. Right.”

      “Look, Lilly, if anyone is to blame for our situation, it is him. He robbed the bank. He broke into the house. He tied us up. Don’t take this on yourself.” He turned his head, wishing he could look into her eyes as he pleaded with her, but could only manage a glimpse of her slumped shoulder. “Okay?”

      “Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced.

      “Now say it like you mean it.”

      “Okay!” Her answer was edged with irritation, but he preferred that to her self-pity.

      Dave inched his hands to hers and hooked a couple fingers with hers, the closest he could come to holding her hand while his wrists were bound as tightly as they were.

      “I’m going to find a way to get you out of this mess, Lilly. I promise.”

      “Don’t you mean get us out of this mess?” She gave a low, wry chuckle. “Seems to me you’re right in the middle of it yourself.”

      “True enough, but...you’re my priority. If something happens to me, so be it. But I will do everything in my power to see you through this ordeal safely. I swear.”

      She was silent, and he could imagine her skepticism.

      “I know I don’t have a good track record, based on the promises I made Helen, but... I want to make up for all that.” He felt Lilly stiffen, her back straightening behind his. “For disappointing her. For falling short too many times. Her death was a wake-up call. Too late to do anything for her, I know. But... I will try to do better. For you.”

      They sat in the silent room for several minutes. Then her hand moved. Her fingers curled to grip his more tightly. And a lightness spiraled through him. He’d been given a second chance. Although he’d failed Lilly’s sister, he had an opportunity to make a difference for Lilly.

      Somehow he would. Or he’d die trying.

      * * *

      Lilly flinched when she heard the back door slam and the heavy footsteps of the robber returning.

      “Listen, Lilly. If, at any time, he shoots at us,” Dave said, in a hushed and hurried voice, “get low. Try to get under the bed. I’ll do my best to cover you.”

      Lilly’s heartbeat accelerated. While she’d been dwelling on the horridness of their situation, Dave had been working through strategies, possibilities. Plans that involved him sacrificing himself to protect her. “Dave, you can’t—”

      “Just do it! Roll under the bed if at all possible. I’ll—”

      “Hey!” The robber appeared again at the door of the bedroom, an orange prescription bottle in his hand, and he sent them a warning look. “What are you two talking about?”

      Dave sat taller, and against her back, she felt the tension enter his body. “Nothing.”

      The robber stepped into the room, his expression darkening. “Don’t lie. I heard you talking.”

      “He was asking me if I was all right. If you’d hurt me,” Lilly said, hoping her apparent cooperation would win points, maybe a degree of trust. “I told him you hadn’t. That I’d helped you with your wound and that was it.”

      The robber lifted an eyebrow and nodded slowly. As if remembering the pills in his hand, he twisted off the childproof lid, shook out a capsule and swallowed it without water. When he pressed the cap back on, he fumbled the bottle. It fell to the floor and rolled toward Lilly. The robber grumbled and trudged over to pick it up.

      Lilly cut a quick glance to the prescription bottle, reading the label to see what he was taking, an address, anything she could glean about the man before he recovered the pills.

      The chain-drugstore logo jumped out at her and below that tramadol and Wayne Mo—

      Their captor snatched up the bottle and shoved it in his pocket.

      “Wayne,” she said quietly, and he jerked is head around to glare at her.

      “What?”

      “That’s your name. Isn’t it? Wayne.”

      He frowned as he blinked at her. “How’d you guess?”

      “It was on the pills.”

      He twisted his mouth in frustration and defeat but didn’t confirm her assertion.

      “Tramadol,” she continued. “That’s heavy-duty stuff.”

      His pale-eyed stare met hers. “Cancer causes heavy-duty pain.”

      Dave raised his chin, his attention clearly snagged by this information.

      The robber—Wayne—angled his head as he growled, “That’s right, Hero. I got cancer. So what? It doesn’t change a thing about this situation.” He motioned with the gun, indicating all three of them. “Now, you two behave yourselves while I go find something to eat and get some rest. I need to be sharp to figure out what’s gotta happen next, and right now, I feel like crap.”

      He stopped at the door and pulled something from his back pocket. “Oh, and in case you were hoping to get your hands on this—”

      He held up her cell phone, and Lilly’s gut swooped. Obviously he’d ransacked her stolen purse.

      “—thinking you’d call the cops or someone would track you by it...think again.”

      He stashed the gun in his waistband to free that hand and pried the protective, butterfly-decorated case off her phone. Wayne flipped over her phone, and thumb-scrolled one-handed through her screens of personal information.

      “By the way,” he said with a smirk, “Gloria sends her best. Says she knows how hard this is for you and proposes you two go out for drinks when you get back.” He thumb-scrolled again, still reading her texts.

      Lilly clenched her back teeth, fighting tears of outrage for his violation of her privacy. She hated being at this man’s mercy, feeling so helpless.

      “Jillian is canceling for the thirtieth.” Wayne flicked a casual glance at her. “Forgot her kid had an orthodontist appointment. Wants to reschedule when you get back.” With a gloating grin twisting his mouth, he gazed at her from under hooded eyes. “Maybe she should say if you get back. Alan says the alimony check will be late next month. Still waiting for a client to pay their bill before he can pay you.” Wayne cast her a curious look. “Alimony, huh? Good news, Alan. You may soon be off the hook for that.”

      “You СКАЧАТЬ