Bride of the Tiger by Heather Graham (best large ereader .txt) 📗

would do exactly what he had promised, that he wouldn’t go to the police, that he would be where he’d said at midnight.

Midnight would be too late.

CHAPTER 14

They stopped once along the way. Tine got out of the car, but when Tara and Jimmy would have burst into conversation, they halted, because the man who had met them in the lobby took Tine’s place—smiling and pointing a pistol at Jimmy’s face.

Tine returned, pleasantly informing her that he’d made an important call. She knew that he wanted her to cry and plead and question him, so she didn’t. He had contacted Rafe, she knew. She didn’t need to ask, and she was sure that he wouldn’t tell her anything until he felt like it, so she was determined not give him the pleasure of her anguish.

But with him next to her, Tara’s only help was a complete retreat into herself. She had to think about something else. Of course, that was nearly as painful, because she thought about Rafe. The funny thing was that she’d felt that she had been betrayed by him just as she had been by Tine.

And now she knew. There were no comparisons between the two men. Rafe had lied to her—by omission. But he would never have hurt her. And he had lied only because he’d loved his brother.

And she’d never known fear with Rafe. Not the kind of horrible fear that was engulfing her now. He’d tried to talk to her.

She lowered her head, wishing bitterly that she’d given Rafe a chance. She’d been afraid to believe him. Afraid because she loved him so much. And right now she wanted nothing more in the world than to be back with him. To give him the chance to tell her that though their love might have begun in deception, the magic between them had been stronger than anything else, and if they let it, it could be with them forever.

But oh, God, did he really love her?

What did it matter now? She was certain that whatever else he had in mind, Tine did not intend to let her go.

By the time they came to a halt, Tara was numb—it was her only defense. She didn’t know where they were, only that they had left the sophistication of the city behind, and the poor ramshackle cliff dwellings that crowded the mountains were far behind, too. They had climbed deep into the upper countryside, where there were few roads and few houses, and where the bracken and trees were the only life to be found. Rocks and treacherous ledges abounded here, and the darkness had fallen swiftly tonight, like evil wings.

“Here we are, love,” Tine said. “Home. Please, come in.”

He didn’t help her out of the back; he jerked her out. Jimmy started to protest.

“Should have left that mask alone, kid,” Tine said, then added, “along with the lovely Miss Hill. Let’s keep moving, huh?”

Tara was glad to move, except that she didn’t know where to go. She could barely make out the dusky path before her. As soon as they had gotten out of the car, it had been driven away. She realized with a sinking sensation that it appeared that there was nothing up here, nothing at all.

No one would find them.

“You remember the way, Saunders, don’t you?” Tine asked pleasantly. “Back to the great scene of your crime.”

“Where are Ashley and the others?” Tara demanded.

“Straight ahead, love. We’ll have a nice little reunion with them, and then we’ll have a nice little reunion alone. Sound cozy?”

She didn’t answer. He prodded the small of her back, and she started walking along a narrow pathway through the trees.

She spun around to face him. “You can let Ashley go now. What good is she going to do you? And Tanya. Why on earth—”

“Tara, shut up. Go.”

She turned around and started walking again. Jimmy was behind Tine. Tanya silently followed him.

The man with the pistol was behind Tanya.

Tara wouldn’t have known that they had arrived if the hut hadn’t been pointed out to her. It was made of wood and tin and seemed to blend right into the cliff that harbored it. As they approached, the door burst outward. There she saw the man who had nearly abducted her. He spoke to Tine in Spanish; Tine answered him.

“Go on, love. You want to see Ashley, huh?”

Tara went in, stepping past her assailant with distaste. She entered some kind of a crude living room with an ugly-looking fifties couch and a few chairs and a table.

She didn’t see Ashley or Sam, or the unknown detective. She looked at Tine, and he indicated that she should go down a hallway.

She did; there was another man standing in a doorway. Tara ignored the massive weapon slung over his shoulder and raced past him.

Ashley was there. Ashley and Sam and a young, strapping Venezuelan man. The detective, she assumed. Sam and the detective were sitting on a cot; Ashley was pacing.

“Ashley!”

The door slammed and was bolted behind the newcomers; Tara was barely aware of it. She was dizzy with relief that Ashley seemed to be unharmed.

Tara rushed to her. The two of them clasped their arms about each other. Tara felt Ashley quiver, and felt her self-loathing grow stronger, having dragged others into this. “Oh, Ashley!” she said, then turned. “Oh, Sam…”

But Sam, straight and proud, was standing with a wonderful grin on his face despite the circumstances. He had seen Jimmy, and they were in each other’s arms, a barrage of questions and answers going back and forth between them. Then the detective starting talking in Spanish, and Tanya entered the conversation, but Tara finally got Sam’s attention so she could make sure he was all right.

“Meaning no disrespect, Miss Hill. I may be mature, but I’m not useless. Those scoundrels knocked us out unawares, and that was all there was to it.”

She was glad that so far Sam seemed okay, just indignant that she had worried that he was