Page 46 of For the Birds

Chapter10

I liftedmy chin and gave him a hard stare, hoping he didn’t see my shaking hands. “If you wanted me to landscape your yard, all you had to do was call my office for an appointment.”

He laughed. “You’re funny.”

“Strange,” I said, getting ticked. “Because I’m not feelin’ very funny rightnow.”

He held up a hand. “Now calm down, Lady.”

Lady.There it was again, but then Buck had learned my identity at the parley. “I’m not forhire.”

“See, I think you are . . . for the right price.”

I balled my hands at my sides. “Are you threatenin’me?”

He pulled a pocket knife out of his jeans pocket and flicked it open. He gave me a cold stare as he advanced toward me with the four-inch blade pointed at my chest. Everything in me screamed to run, but I was barefoot and wouldn’t make it three feet before he caught me. I’d rather piss him off for standing up to him without flinching.

But that was easier said than done when he brought the blade to rest on my throat.

My breath was coming in rapid pants, and I was worried the blade would be jarred by my jerky movement. But he surprised me by hooking the knife under the cloth that had been tied around my head and giving it a jerk, cutting the gag intwo.

Buck leaned close enough for me to smell his bad breath. “You seem pretty ungrateful considerin’ we just saved your life,” he said in a drytone.

Maybe he had a point, but I wasn’t about to let on how much he intimidated me. “How do I know you didn’t orchestrate this whole scheme to convince me to trustyou?”

Wearing a smug smile, he stepped back, stuffed the knife back into his pocket, then held out his hands. “The only thing I arranged was your safe rescue.”

“And yet you knew exactly where I was when Skeeter Malcolm had noidea.”

Tim Dermot laughed. “So, he’s Skeeter now. And that’s sayin’ a whole helluva lot about him if he lets two different groups snatch you. Malcolm’s getting sloppy.”

“So you’re not denying you were part of this?” No matter how he answered, I didn’t trust him one iota. I needed to focus on getting myself out of here. Buck had two men with him, but maybe I could get to the car that had been used in my kidnapping. It would be foolhardy to try it, and they would definitely chase me down. Was it worth therisk?

“I would have had to sacrifice two of my men to stage this,” Buck said with a shake of his head. “Malcolm may find his men expendable, but I can assure you that I’d not be so careless withmine.”

There was no good way to answer. To defend James would hint that I had a special relationship with him. To remain silent would suggest I was condoning the actions Buck was accusing him of. I chose to ignore it. “If you had nothing to do with this, then how did you find me so quickly?”

“The how of it was simple enough. We’ve been watching you, bidin’ our time. You’re a very popular woman, Lady. You’re almost constantly with someone, and when you were finally alone, you were snatched out from under our noses.”

If Buck hadn’t staged my kidnapping, then who had? “For the sake of argument, let’s say I buy that you followed me and dispensed with the two men who took me. Who werethey?”

“We’re about to find out.” He walked a couple of feet past me before glancing over his shoulder. “Well, come on. You want to know as much as Ido.”

I grabbed the cloth still looped around the back of my neck and tossed it onto the ground as I followed him. I was halfway tempted to head for the kidnappers’ car after all, but I suspected the keys were in one of the dead men’s pants.

Buck had longer legs than I did, and he wasn’t waiting for me. Dermot, on the other hand, was sticking close, probably to make sure I didn’t run off. So much for escaping in thecar.

Dammit.

I didn’t like this one bit. Buck had said he wanted to hire me, but he hadn’t so much as hinted at what he wanted me to do, although calling me Lady indicated it was criminal in nature. Did he know about my visions?

Buck was standing in front of the two dead men when I caught up tohim.

“Do you recognize them?” he grunted.

Was he talking to me or to his buddy?

When Dermot didn’t answer, I said, “No.” But then I took another look at the driver and said, “Wait. Yes. That one.” I pointed to him. “I saw him this afternoon in that car.” I gestured behindme.

---