Anna shifted, and a shaft of pain shot from her head down her shoulder, numbing her left arm. The noises she could hear were muffled. Everything was black. She tried to scream, but all that escaped was a hoarse mmph as the gag bit into the side of her mouth. Fabric pulled tight across her nostrils as she attempted to drag in a lungful of panicked air.
Her brain scrambled to come up with the who, what, where, when, why, and how of her situation. Start with what you know, girl. She’d been at the asado in Tiago’s backyard. The children—Madre de Dios, the children. Were they okay?
A loud bang sounded beneath her, and a microsecond later her head connected with something hard. Her senses were sharpening, but everything was still fuzzy around the edges. Have I been drugged? The urge to slip back into oblivion was strong.
Focus on the facts. It felt like she was lying in the back of a moving vehicle, not one particularly well made. She struggled to sit up and knocked into a solid object. Another body? It was too large to be a child. Although at this point, she wasn’t sure if that was good news or bad. She’d figured out the where, sort of. Now to figure out the how.
Back at the barbecue, the children had sung her a song and asked if she’d sing it with them after they’d all eaten. She’d promised, and then they’d raced off together to tell the other adults.
She’d lingered next to the rotunda in the rose garden where the children had put on their audition. She’d wanted to absorb all the feelings: the familiarity of an Argentine national past-time, the love and friendship of being with people who knew her as Anna and expected nothing more than kindness from her. And Eduardo, always Eduardo. He was so handsome in his jeans and light blue polo shirt that she wanted to stride over to him and claim him for the world to see. He’d consumed her senses, overthrown her world, awakened her to new possibilities. A song had popped, fully formed, into her brain.
She’d taken one step towards him…
Then woken up here.
The lump next to her moved again. “Are you okay?” it whispered. A man. Speaking French-accented English.
“Mm hm.” She tried to mumble an affirmative.
“You are gagged, and there is something over your head. We are both tied up. We are in the back of a van, headed, it seems, up a gravel mountain road.”
She tried to ask who he was, but all that came out was “ooh ahh ou?” Was he one of her captors, trying to make her feel better? But why?
“I am one of the commandos who didn’t do his job very well. They got me first: a needle in the neck while I was distracted. I am not gagged and bagged like you. But I am tied up like a badly wrapped Christmas present.” He sounded almost insulted that he hadn’t merited harsher treatment. “These guys must be amateurs. Professionals would have blindfolded and muted the trained soldier, not the singing superstar. I’m a big fan, by the way.”
Well, at least she wasn’t alone. That would be more terrifying. Had Eduardo noticed her missing yet? Was he frantic? Angry that she’d wandered off when she knew her life was in danger?
Would she ever see him again? Hold him? Love him?
Her heart pounded in her chest. Panicking wasn’t going to help, but it seemed all she could manage.
The vehicle took a sharp turn and she slid against the side of the van, which winded her.
“If you can, swivel your body so our backs are against each other. Then if we brace our feet against the sides, we won’t slide around so much.”
Must be nice to be so calm after being drugged and kidnapped. But she did as he suggested.
“Don’t worry. Help is on the way,” he said reassuringly.
She wanted to believe him, but since she still had no idea who was behind all this, it was hard to work out how they could be saved. Were they going to ransom her? Her money was mostly tied up in trusts and long-term investments. It would take weeks for her team to liquidate enough assets to pay a decent amount. Would her kidnappers agree to a payment plan?
A hysterical giggle welled up inside her. Imagine the press report if she were released for $250,000, three supercars, and six pairs of Manolo Blahniks, with an IOU for the rest.
“My name is Paul, by the way. May I call you Anna?”
“Mm hm,” she replied.
He continued to talk softly, telling her that he’d been in much worse situations and they’d all turned out okay. She knew he was trying to reassure her, but from her point of view, it seemed like she’d been kidnapped with someone who routinely got himself in trouble. For a second, she wondered which of them had been the true target.
But she was no closer to figuring out who wanted her taken. Simon’s children must know that even if she were out of the picture, their father had named two alternates to head up his foundation. The bulk of the money would never come to them. And despite what Eduardo had suggested, her mother couldn’t be involved. Sure, they’d never really seen eye to eye, and the normal familial bond had been reduced to a monthly stipend.
Dios. Could her mother really want her dead? She was a beneficiary of Anna’s will. Was this just a way to a bigger payout? Why didn’t she just ask me for the money? Would I have given it to her? It was so screwed up. And now Paul was caught up in the middle of things. Although, in truth, he seemed happier about the current situation than she was.
“And then this one time I was in… Well, I guess I shouldn’t tell you where I was. Let’s just say the country name ended in -stan—”
The van came to a screeching halt, the back end sliding from side to side. She braced for impact and sent up a quick prayer that they didn’t go over the edge of a mountain cliff. The loud whump-whump of a helicopter sounded nearby, and the vehicle rocked slightly from side to side with the downforce.
“See, I told you help was on the way,” Paul said, way too calmly for the situation. “Lie flat. I’ll cover you if there’s gunfire.”
She complied. Her breathing was erratic, and her heartbeat was too loud in her ears to hear anything. Was there shooting? Oddly, the silence was worse. At least in movies you had scary music to warn you.
The quiet went on too long. Even Paul, who lay almost on top of her, seemed tense.
Suddenly, the rear doors of the van were flung open. The blackness became slightly less oppressive. Was she being rescued? Or transferred to another vehicle?
Paul shifted off her. “Salut, Capitaine. I kept the subject safe, as promised.”
“You were to prevent her from being taken, not go along for the ride.” She recognized the voice of Pierre, Vivi’s father. He’d come up to the house soon after Vivi had returned from France. “But good job activating your tracker device. We were able to follow you with ease.”
Gentle hands helped her into a sitting position and carefully removed the fabric bag from her head. A large body dressed all in black blocked the bright light now flooding the back of the van. Was it daytime already?
“Is she okay?” Eduardo’s worried question came from somewhere behind the man.
“Looks fine to me,” Vivi’s father called out, although he never turned from examining her. “There’s no other way to do this. Sorry, it’s going to hurt,” he said. He peeled away one edge of the tape covering her mouth, then pulled it off quickly.
She could probably cancel her facial waxing appointments for the next ten years.
“Let me in.” It was Eduardo again.
“Hold.” The command in Pierre’s voice halted even her breathing. “I need to make sure she’s not wired with an explosive.”
A nervous giggle escaped her. “Please do. I prefer dramatic entrances over exits.”
Her body began to shake as adrenaline eked out of her system. For a day that had started with such promise in Eduardo’s arms, it certainly had ended on a bum note.
Pierre patted her down. “Feel anything odd?” he asked.
She shook her head. Speech was impossible.
“Then I think you’re good to go.” He helped her to her feet, and she awkwardly made her way to the back of the van. The brightness she’d assumed was sunshine was a huge spotlight on the back of the Jeep parked across the mountain path. There was a pink tinge in the eastern sky, however, so dawn wasn’t far away.
Six men in full Kevlar, with assault weapons at the ready, stood guard. Two other men dressed in black, their hands and ankles bound, sat on the ground with guns pointed at them. Her kidnappers, she assumed. But she didn’t recognize them. At least it wasn’t her mother and stepfather.
Before she’d crossed the bumper, Eduardo had her in his arms, striding towards the helicopter blocking the road ahead. His grip was hard on her thighs, the muscles against her body tense.
She opened her mouth, but the fierce look on his face froze the words on her tongue. If he blamed her for this, she was going to beg a ride back to Mendoza with Pierre.
The helicopter rotors were whirling again before the door was even closed behind them, and they lifted off the second her seat belt was latched. A set of headphones was placed over her ears and a bottle of water put in her hands. She turned towards her benefactor. “Wow, I didn’t expect you to be here.”
Vivi had a huge smile on her face. “I insisted on coming,” she said. “I figured you’d want to see a friendly face, since all Eduardo has done the past twelve hours is scowl and bark at everyone.” She leaned forward to check out the man who sat rigidly on Anna’s other side. He did indeed still have a scowl on his face, his fists clenched either side of his thighs. Vivi’s light laugh only tightened his lips. “Tiago is back at the villa having his own personal meltdown. I had to promise to stay in the helicopter or he threatened to lock me in my room until I’m sixty. Maya wanted to come as well. Jacques almost passed out when she suggested it. But she figured that her baby belly would get in the way of a good takedown.”
Anna smiled, imagining the scene. “Weren’t you afraid of triggering your PTSD?” Vivi had risked so much to come to her rescue.
“I’ve discovered that if children aren’t involved, I’m fine.” She inclined her head towards Eduardo. “I can’t say the same about him. It was my job to secure him if things went sideways when we found you.” There was a look in her eye that said the woman had skills beyond a few self-defense classes. And considering her father had been an elite army commando, she probably could keep Eduardo from doing something stupid. Gracias a Dios, it hadn’t come to that.
He still sat like a statue beside her, his hands curled into fists. The only words he’d spoken were the six asking to see her in the van. He stared straight ahead, although the muscle pulsing in his jaw proved he still breathed.
“Any idea who took me?” Anna asked Vivi.
“Not yet. But my father will get the info out of the two back there. He’s very good at that sort of thing. Even though he wasn’t around much when I was a teen, I still never got anything past him.”
Anna did not need details of how Pierre intended to extract the information. Her tremors became earthquakes, and Vivi pulled a blanket off the seat opposite and placed it around Anna’s shoulders.
Eduardo snapped out of his trance at the movement and wrapped an arm around her, cradling her against his chest. The rhythmic beat of his heart beneath her ear, and whatever drugs were still circulating in her system, put her asleep before five minutes passed.
***
Eduardo struggled to pull in a deep breath. Tension still held him in its merciless grip. Dios. He’d come so close to losing her today. But what about tomorrow? Even if they’d finally caught the bastards who were targeting Anna, she still wouldn’t stay. He’d heard her end of the telephone conversation with her assistant. Anna’s life was back in LA. And it wouldn’t wait much longer.
Meanwhile, he had three projects under construction, the community center demolition to get back on track, and a pitch to prepare for a new development in Montevideo. He’d be lucky to find five minutes to eat. There’d be no time to fly to LA for a booty call.
Anna stirred in his arms as the helicopter touched down in front of the mansion. As soon as the rotors slowed a little, the front door of the house flew open. Tiago raced to the chopper, wrenched open the door, and pulled his wife into his arms.
“I’ve decided. I am going to tie you to the bed,” he said.
“Sounds like fun,” Vivi replied with a laugh. She stopped whatever else Tiago was about to say with a lingering kiss on his lips.
Eduardo looked away. He’d seen his friend teeter on the edge of sanity when Vivi had been kidnapped. But at least he’d known that when he got his wife back, they’d be together. Anna may have been found safe, but there wasn’t a happily-ever-after on their horizon. He ground his molars together to stop the shout that threatened to escape.
He sat Anna upright, slipped from the helicopter, and lifted her into his arms to carry her into the house. She was so tiny, delicate. This could have had an entirely different ending.
“I can walk,” she mumbled half-heartedly into his neck.
“Probably. But I don’t seem to be able to let you go.”
“Fair enough. Take me to your bed, Eduardo. I want to wake one more day in your arms.” His heart thudded heavily in his chest. He wanted more than a day.
Jacques waited inside the foyer, his normally immaculate hair tousled. “Everything go okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.
Eduardo nodded, still not able to speak of the abduction without wanting to smash his fist through a wall. “As well as expected. Pierre is handling the cleanup.”
“Perfect. I’m glad to see you’re safe, Anna. The doctor is in the sitting room, ready to check you out. I’ll go tell Maya. She wanted to wait here as well, but her ankles are swollen…” Jacques took the stairs two at a time.
“I don’t need the doctor,” Anna said as Eduardo headed towards the sitting room.
“Humor me, okay?”
The doctor was efficient in his examination. He drew a vial of blood so he could verify what she’d been drugged with. But as she was responsive and knew the date, her location, and Eduardo’s middle name—Andres—the doctor figured she’d be fine following a good rest.
“Will you stay?” she asked after Eduardo laid her gently on his bed and began removing her shoes. His hands shook as he slid the dress from her body. Was this the last time he’d do that?
“I need to speak with Pierre when he returns.” Even more important, he had to keep his focus on reality. Find who did this, crush them beyond recognition, and then let the woman he loved leave again.
Good times.
“Please.” The plea he could never resist.
“I’ll stay until you fall asleep. I have things to do.”
“I’d like to be one of them.” Her hands slid under his shirt as he lay next to her. Although her fingers were cold, they sent sparks racing across his skin.
“Anna—”
Whatever protest his brain was formulating died a sudden, swift death as her lips settled on his. She straddled him, her thighs spread wide as she lowered herself to rub against his growing erection. He’d left her underwear on in a vain attempt to either preserve her modesty or prevent himself having an aneurysm—his actual motivation was a vague thing. Now it just seemed stupid.
As if reading his thoughts, she reached behind her, unclipped her bra, and tossed it across the room. The hell of the past twelve hours was put aside as he glimpsed heaven.
He let her take the lead and set the pace, although it nearly killed him. She continued to grind her pelvis against his as she unbuttoned his shirt and kissed his chest as each inch of skin was revealed. He held onto her breasts, massaging them and plucking at her nipples, but she stayed too far away to allow him to feast on them with his mouth. By the time she had his shirt undone, he was panting beneath her.
His jeans were her next target. He tried desperately to recall rugby rules as she slid the zipper down with torturous slowness. For a woman who’d been a virgin thirty-six hours ago, she’d quickly learned how to drive him wild. He dutifully lifted his hips so she could shimmy off his pants and boxers. However, when he tried to flip her onto her back, she was having none of it.
Time ceased to exist as she explored his body with her hands and lips. There was something urgent he needed to do, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what.
When eventually she slid down onto his rigid length, encasing him in her wet heat, he pulled her head down to his. “Dios, Anna. When I thought I’d never see you alive again…”
She put a finger over his lips. “I’m here. I’m safe.”
He was going to have to learn to take what he could and be content with that. It went against his very nature. He’d always worked hard to get more. With Anna, that didn’t seem to be an option.
She moved on him, and he relegated worries about tomorrow until then. Her gaze locked on his, their fingers entwined, and in a rare occurrence of synchronicity, they climaxed together. As they drifted back to earth, she flopped onto his chest and within a minute was fast asleep.
Eduardo joined Tiago in his home office twenty minutes later.
“I didn’t expect to see you until at least late afternoon,” Tiago said.
“Anna’s sleeping,” he replied, knowing that would be enough of an explanation for his friend. “Has Pierre returned yet?”
“No, but he called. The thugs apprehended were hired by Theo Carsdale. That name mean anything to you?” As he asked, he poured Eduardo a mug of steaming coffee from a carafe on the sideboard.
Eduardo accepted the hot beverage with thanks. Having been awake all night worrying about Anna and then the 5:00 a.m. rescue mission, he was running on fumes of adrenaline.
“No. But according to Jacques’s source, Anna’s mother is involved in some shady business. It could be someone connected with that.”
“Does that mean her mother is behind this?” Tiago refreshed his own coffee and sat back behind the desk.
“I hope not. Anna may not have the best relationship with her parent, but she’s the only family she has.”
“She has you.”
He sipped the coffee, trying to get his brain and his heart to work in tandem. “I’m just a temporary stopover on her world tour. If her security issues are resolved, she’ll be returning to LA by the end of the week.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No, dammit. But you saw the way Vivi reacted when Anna sang. The world needs her songs.”
“And you need her.”
“Probably. But I’ve lived without her before. I’ll do so again.”
Tiago opened his mouth then shut it again.
Change of subject required. “Did you have the Skype meeting with the woman from the community center protest group?” Eduardo asked.
“Yes, and it went very well. She’s excited for the opportunities for the area’s youth and has a lead on a suitable location. If we can get something to her in writing stating our commitment to sponsor the programs, she’ll present it to the other members of her group. Providing all goes well, they’ll endorse our planning application and we could be breaking ground as soon as next month.”
“Excellent,” Eduardo said.
That would coincide nicely with his upcoming personal breakdown.