Page 40 of Ice Cold Christmas
Her hair flew around her face, and he automatically lifted a hand to tuck the heavy locks back behind her ear.
She sucked in a sharp breath and immediately backed away.
Dammit.
But her gaze never wavered.
The blades on the chopper slowed. The snow that had been flurrying around them fell back to the ground.
“Tell me I’ll be safe with you,” she said.
“You will be safe with me.” A vow. Should he offer to be a perfect gentleman? Nah. Screw that shit. I dreamed about her for a year. The woman is lucky she’s not currently handcuffed to my side. Honestly, that was an option that he was considering. Because she would not vanish again.
The chopper had stilled. Victor angled toward the helicopter. The door on the left opened. A figure emerged, hurrying toward him. A man, tall, with broad shoulders covered by a thick, black sweater. Dark hair and eyes. Those eyes immediately met Victor’s.
Backup—and an escape plan—had arrived in the form of Hunter McQueen.
Hunter was a fairly new acquaintance of Victor’s, someone he’d met when he’d been desperately searching for Melody. A former Ranger, Hunter now worked part-time with the Ice Breakers. Part-time when the guy wasn’t running security for one seriously secretive bastard named Declan Flynn.
During their short acquaintance, Victor had discovered that Hunter had quite a few admirable skills. And the ability to fly a chopper and land it under basically any conditions? Definitely admirable. And useful, particularly at that moment.
“Well, well…” Hunter closed in on them. “Someone is back in the land of the living.” A low whistle escaped him as he surveyed Melody. “Got to say, you look pretty good for a ghost.”
She hunched into her brown coat.
Was she trying to figure out if she was supposed to know Hunter or not? Hell, how on earth had she thought her ruse would work? It had been immediately obvious to everyone that there was something very different about her. The woman had been like a lamb prancing straight into a den of sharp-toothed lions.
“This is Hunter McQueen,” Victor explained, voice curt. “Hunter, stop staring at her so fucking hard. Fly us the hell out of here, and then we’ll talk, cool?”
Hunter’s lips curled into a half-smile. “Do you realize there are about three people standing up at the house glaring at us right now? If you think I’m staring hard, then you really don’t want to get a look at them.”
But he did turn to look at them. He glared right back at them. Dario. Olivia. Hatterson.
“And…” Hunter’s voice pulled Victor’s focus back to him. “I’m pretty sure that I saw a sheriff’s car heading this way when I was overhead.” He rocked forward onto the balls of his feet. “Roads are being cleared as fast as possible. You could just, you know, wait. Drive out after what I’m sure will be a super friendly chat with the sheriff.”
Super friendly, his ass. It wasn’t a damn social call. Jamal Wroth had a job to do. “I told you already.” And he had. He’d spoken to both Memphis Camden and Hunter earlier. Hunter was just being a dick. “Someone shot at her. We’re getting out. Now.” He could fly the chopper himself, but, honestly, Hunter was a better pilot. Still, if the guy didn’t get his ass moving in the next thirty seconds, Victor would be taking the pilot’s seat.
Hunter stepped to the side and motioned with one hand. “Your carriage awaits.”
Oh, yeah, total dick. But also a smart, savvy, and dangerous guy. One who had been digging hard as hell with the Ice Breakers to try and help Victor find Melody.
And now I have her. Only getting Melody back had just opened up even more of a mystery.
“I’m not getting in the carriage.” Melody’s voice. Very flat. Very definite.
Very expected. He’d had to practically drag her outside with him. And he might have needed to lie a bit in order to get her out there. Perhaps he’d said that he had to return to town. And that he wanted to talk more with her.
Both true points, actually. He did have to return to town. And he wanted to talk with her. He just wanted her in town with him as they talked. Thus, the chopper trip.
The woman was determined to stay at the nightmare of a house where she’d been shot at so that she could continue her investigation. Nah, fuck that. “Did you bring the handcuffs?” he asked Hunter.
Sighing, Hunter hauled the cuffs from his pocket. “I did, but I’m pretty sure what you have planned is called kidnapping so…let’s rethink it, shall we?”
Melody instantly backed up a step. More fear flashed in her eyes. “What in the hell?”
“Easy.” Victor kept his voice low. Calming. Or at least, he hoped it sounded calming. “Everything is all right.”
“Everything is not all right. It hasn’t been all right for a very long time.” Another step back. More like a leap back, away from him and away from Hunter. “You want to go somewhere? Then fine. You go. You get into the helicopter and fly off. I came out just to see you off. You never said I was part of your departure deal.”
