Page 26 of Dirty Gambit

He faltered just long enough to narrow his eyes and study her as if she was out of her damn mind. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Diplomacy out the window, Lena threw up one hand in exasperation. “Stop pissing me off and I won’t drug you again! And stop swearing. Jessie can hear you.”

“Don’t sound like you care about what happens to her.”

The offense nearly had her pulling the car over and rounding on him. “How dare you think I don’t care about Jessie. Everything I am doing is for her. She means everything to me.”

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be taking her from the only family she’s ever known.”

A weight settled on her chest, making it hard to breathe, let alone speak. It took a great deal of effort to wrap her voice around each word.

“She’s not your family. She doesn’t belong with you.”

“But she belongs to someone who has no problem holding her family at gunpoint and dragging her across the country to … what? What exactly do you think is going to happen? There isn’t a place on earth that you could go that I won’t find you.”

For a heartbeat of a second, their eyes locked in the mirror, a hot wave of tension reverberating with his promise. The mixture of hot and cold coming off him sent a shiver skating through her. It turned the pit of her stomach to liquid, a side effect he probably hadn’t intended.

She broke the connection first, telling herself it was because she needed to focus on the road, but she knew better. He was getting under her skin, or maybe he’d always been there. The only thing she did know for certain was that, if she didn’t get her head on straight quickly, she’d lose it and her heart to this guy and she damn sure was not ready for that. Too much was already at stake and they’d gone too far to turn back now.

“It’s not going to work, you know.”

It had been a solid fifteen minutes of silence broken occasionally by Jessie’s mindless garble and grind of rubber over gravel. Hearing him break into her solitude nearly made her jump.

“What?”

He’d been staring adamantly out the window at the passing cornfields but turned his head to find her gaze in the mirror.

“You’re going to cross the border, right? Head into the US, then down into Mexico. At least, that’s what I would do. The only problem is making it over the border, then across the country without being spotted. My parents won’t just put posters up in Canada. They’ll make sure it’s all over the world, in every terminal, every bus stop, every coffee shop. So, even if you made it into Mexico, someone will recognize you.”

“I’m not going to Mexico,” she lied, surprised at how smoothly she did so, too.

He hummed, disbelief practically oozing from the sound. “Well, you can’t stay in Canada. That wouldn’t be smart and you seem to have mapped this all out to the last letter so that just seems sloppy. You could leave the whole western hemisphere, maybe go to Europe, but you’re moving away from the ocean unless you plan on—”

“Will you stop!” she snapped, fingers whitening around the wheel. “Stop guessing. You’re wrong on all accounts.”

His eyes narrowed, but there was a sort of amusement in them that made the back of her neck prickle. It was the arrogant smirk of a man who knew he was getting to you when he knew just how to push your buttons.

“So, I’m close.”

“No, you actually couldn’t get further away.” She broke her gaze from his and stared furiously out the window. “You’re just giving me a headache.”

“I’m curious,” he began, completely ignoring her comment. “How long did it take you to put this all together. It seems really thought out. I’m guessing less than a year.”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because you don’t strike me as a criminal.”

The comment had her gaze darting back up to meet his.

“You don’t know me.”

“True, but—”

“Do you know a lot of criminals?”

He had the good graces to wince. “No, but—”

“Is this your attempts at empathizing with your captor? Next, you’ll tell me that I have the potential to change, to be better, and if I let you go, you and your family won’t press charges, right?”

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