Trust With Your Life. M.L. Gamble

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      Chapter Three

      Alec Steele stood in Molly Jakes’s kitchen berating himself for allowing a bad situation to get so much further out of hand. He never should have abducted her; he should have walked off the freeway and found another car.

      But seeing her had given him such a start. He couldn’t believe it was the same attractive woman he had last seen on the night he had stood on Fred Brooker’s boat and watched as the businessman shot and killed another human being.

      Alec had thought of her several times in the months between that night and this, especially when he was alone on his boat, the Strewth, in the blue-green waters off Australia’s coast. He had even planned to look her up when he was in the area, having kept the business card she had snapped down so primly on Fred Brooker’s desk.

      Could it be a coincidence that she was here? In a city of millions, what the hell had she been doing leaning beside the corpse of a man who had tried to kill him?

      With a shiver, Alec threw down four aspirin tablets and took a long swallow of water. The single handcuff pinged against the glass and he frowned. It was time to check and make sure Molly Jakes was recovering from that bonk on the head he had given her.

      As well as to find out if she was as innocent as those warm brown eyes made her seem.

      * * *

      MOLLY CAME TO SLOWLY, wanting to believe what she was remembering had not really happened. But, judging from the throbbing in her head, it had.

      She was lying on her bed, the afghan, knitted by her best friend’s mother, tossed over her bare legs. She was still wearing her stained T-shirt and skirt, but the Aussie had washed her hands and arms.

      The thought of some man washing her down while she was out cold sent a wave of anger and embarrassment spilling down her body, an emotion quickly replaced by the terror of the situation. Molly struggled to sit up, which was a bad move, for immediately her stomach contracted and her head felt as if it had been used as a strike ball in a bowling alley.

      She wiggled up against the headboard, sank back onto the thick pillows and stared at the door. It was closed, and she guessed, locked, as well. She was now a victim of her own nesting instincts, which had her install old-fashioned locks with keys sporting lovely silk tassels. Trouble was, they could lock a person in as easily as out.

      This imprisonment in her own home made her angry enough to attempt to sit up again. She remembered in time to avoid the pain and made herself lie quietly and smolder. Her gaze roamed the room for help or protection. The Aussie had unplugged and removed the phone. Her windows did not open, except for the louvered ones eight feet up the glass.

      The town house faced a hill and was alone in the last unit save for her upstairs neighbor, who drove a long-distance rig and was never home on Thursday. Of course, today was Thursday.

      Molly swore when she was really frustrated. She knew it was immature, but the vulgar phrases passing her lips relieved some of her anxiety. Only for a moment, however. Fear returned like a growling bear at the sound of the doorknob turning. The tiny hairs on her arms rose above the goose bumps, and she drew her legs up defensively.

      She was scanning the room again, trying to focus on something she could use for a weapon, when in walked the person about whom all the curses had been uttered. The stranger looked as bad as Molly felt. For the first time, she noticed that his clothing was also soiled, probably from the deep scrape down the side of his right arm.

      It was after six. Sunlight streamed through the white linen drapes. The intruder squinted at Molly and walked toward the bed, halting about two feet away.

      She wanted to spit at him but settled for yelling, “You son of a bitch. Do all the men from down under beat women, or just scum like you?”

      “Well, glad to see your sweet personality wasn’t altered by our little ruckus.” He took a step closer and Molly flinched, which stopped him in his tracks.

      “Ruckus?” she sputtered. “Let’s use the right word here, mate. In the States, we call it kidnapping, assault and battery, attempted murder.”

      “Now hold on. I never meant to hurt you. I was just trying to get my hand away from your damn teeth.”

      He held up his hand, showing how he had bandaged himself with some adhesive tape and gauze. He’d made a real mess of it; the tape was all lumpy where it had stuck to itself before he’d got it stuck to him.

      “I bit you in self-defense.”

      He made a grunting sound. “I’m sorry you got hurt, Molly. I really never meant to do that.” He ventured a step closer and stared intently into her face, not to see into her thoughts, she realized, only her eyes.

      “Your pupils are the same size. I’d say you don’t have a concussion.”

      “Are you a doctor?” Molly demanded.

      “No,” he countered. “Are you?”

      “No. For the tenth or so time, I work for the phone company. Remember my boys with hard hats?”

      “Hard heads, as well, if they’re having to work for you, Molly Jakes.” The intruder flushed under his tan as his voice roughened. “If you don’t mind me saying, you’re out of your mind, acting like some damn female John Wayne. Don’t you American women have any sense at all? Don’t you know enough not to attack a man twice as big as you? If I were a criminal, I could have killed you when you pulled that gunslinger stunt of yours.”

      Molly glared. “Who the devil do you think you are, lecturing me like my dad used to? And what is all this John Wayne stuff? Don’t you get any current movies in Australia?”

      “I think you’re being hysterical, Molly.”

      “And what are you talking about, saying if you were a bad guy? If you’re not a bad guy, what do you call what you’ve done to me the past few hours? If you’re not a bad guy, call the police and get them out here, and we can all listen to your explanation together.”

      He rose abruptly, walked over to the bedroom window and peered through the curtains. Molly felt her fear flare up again as she realized just how big he was. The man rubbed at СКАЧАТЬ