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  Shoving aside the covers, she sat up in bed and pulled her long white sleep-tee over her head and tossed it away. She had taken the combs out of her hair, but hadn’t rebraided it. Maybe she had been planning to go to Ian all along.

  She grabbed her pink flannel robe, wishing it were silk, shrugged it on and headed for the door. Feet bare, naked beneath the robe, she padded quietly down the hall.

  As she glanced back over her shoulder, she considered knocking on Ian’s door, giving him some warning, but the sound might wake Lily and she didn’t want to take the chance.

  Turning the knob, she quietly slipped into the bedroom. The curtains were open, moonlight streaming in to softly light the darkness. She could see Ian lying in bed, his muscular chest bare, the covers pushed down to his waist. She saw that his beautiful blue eyes were open and watching her as she entered his room.

  She didn’t speak and neither did he. For several seconds, she just stood there, giving him the chance to send her away. Instead, he swung his long legs to the side of the bed and stood up completely naked, started walking toward her without the least embarrassment. With a body as amazing as his, she didn’t blame him.

  “Meri . . .”

  A little sound escaped from her throat as he drew her into his arms and his mouth came down over hers in a long, taking kiss, a kiss that seemed to brand her as his.

  One of his big hands sifted through her hair, gliding through the strands, spreading the wavy mass around her shoulders.

  “Like silk,” he said. “And fire.” Ian kissed her again, a deep, burning kiss that sent heat spearing out through her limbs. His lips traveled to the side of her neck, pressing softly, trailing fire wherever they touched.

  “I need you,” he whispered. “I need you so much.”

  She reached up and cupped his cheek, felt the roughness of his late-night beard. “I need you, too, Ian.”

  Gently, he stripped off her robe, then stood back to look at her. “God, you’re beautiful. I tried to imagine what you’d look like this way, but I wasn’t even close.” Kissing her again, he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed, settled her in the middle of the mattress and followed her down.

  “I’ve dreamed of this,” he said between soft kisses that turned deep and erotic. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.”

  Her heart squeezed. She loved him so much. “I only have tonight. I want to spend it with you.”

  Ian kissed her long and deep, and everything inside turned hot and liquid.

  “I should send you away,” he said, “but I can’t. Not tonight.”

  “I know.” She had known from the look in his eyes at supper that if she came to him tonight, he would make love to her.

  She felt his big hard hands cupping her breasts, taking their measure, testing the weight, urging her nipple into an aching bud. His mouth followed his hands, his tongue gliding over the crest, nipping and tasting, making her skin feel stretched tight, sending warm moisture into her core.

  She was hot. So hot she began to shift restlessly beneath him on the bed. She could feel his erection pressing between her legs, thick and hard, demanding the warm, welcoming heat of her body. She parted her legs, heard Ian’s quick intake of breath. He kissed her deeply, taking his time; then he left her for a moment, returned and began to ease himself inside. Meri arched upward, taking him deeper, wanting more, eager to feel all of him, eager to be joined with him, if only for tonight.

  “Meri,” he whispered, claiming her mouth in a wet, erotic kiss as he buried himself in her soft, slick heat. “I’ve wanted you for so long,” he said. “It seems like I’ve been waiting forever.”

  Meri bowed beneath him, taking him deeper still, feeling the hot rush of pleasure, the building need.

  Ian groaned. “I want to please you,” he said. “I want to make it good for you, Meri.”

  Her fingers dug into his powerful shoulders as he started to move. Just the words, letting her know that she mattered, that she was in some way important to him, were enough to send a burst of heat rolling through her. She arched upward, moving in rhythm to his heavy thrusts, their bodies aligned as if they had been designed for each other.

  He began to move faster, deeper, harder. “Come for me,” he said. “Please, Meri.” And the soft command sent her over the edge.

  She cried out his name as sweet pleasure tore through her, a rush so hot and pure she closed her eyes, wishing she could hold on to the moment forever.

  She felt Ian’s muscles tighten, knew a second sweet rush of pleasure as he continued to drive in and out, heard the low groan deep in his throat as he reached his own powerful release.

  Long seconds passed, their hearts beating in unison, their breath mingling in the darkness. When he started to lift himself away, she clung to him, refusing to let him go.

  Ian kissed her one last time. “Sweet Meri,” he said. “My beautiful sweet Meri.”

  Closing her eyes, she turned away, thinking how much she loved him, knowing how lonely she would be without him, praying Ian wouldn’t see the tears that tracked down her cheeks.

  Chapter Nine

  Morning sunlight streamed into the kitchen. Ian flicked a glance at his father, who stood gazing out the window, watching Meri on her way out to the barn to get Lily. Her car was already packed with the meager possessions she owned. Ian had been trying all morning to find an opportunity to talk to her, convince her to stay.

  “So you’re just going to let her go?” Daniel asked darkly. Ian wasn’t sure what time his father had come home from Heddy’s, but it was late, sometime early this morning. By then, Meri had returned to her room down the hall.

  “You think I want her to leave? She’s in trouble, Dad. I knew it when she came. I don’t want her to leave any more than you do. I want her to stay here where she’ll be safe.”

  Ian dug out his iPhone, showed his father the email he had received that morning from LA. “I ran a background check, started doing some digging. I didn’t like doing it, but I was out of alternatives.”

  “What is it? Is Meri a criminal or something? Because if that’s what you’re saying, I don’t believe it.”

  “She isn’t a criminal. From what I can tell, she’s exactly what she seems. She was born in San Bernardino. Her folks were killed in a car wreck when she was ten. After that, she was raised in a series of foster homes. She got in trouble a couple of times, shoplifting once, vandalism—though she claimed she was trying to stop the kids who were actually doing it.”

  “Sounds like our Meri.”

  He looked down at the email message. “At sixteen, she was sent to a foster home run by a woman named Eleanor Vandermeer. Apparently the two of them connected. Vandermeer helped her get through high school and two years of city college before Meri went off on her own. She was working as a bookkeeper for a guy named Arthur Battis-tone, an attorney in LA, when she got pregnant. She was twenty-three.”

  “If you called LA, you must have been talking to Ty.”

  Ty Brodie, one of his cousins, was a PI in Los Angeles and damn good at his job. Ian had a lot of Brodie cousins scattered around. The men tended to be ex-military, or work in some kind of law enforcement. And with all of them, family came first.

  “I talked to him. He sent this email an hour ago. According to Ty, a guy named Joey Bandini is listed as Lily’s father on her birth certificate. One of Meri’s friends said he was a good-looking guy she met on a too-much-tequila night, a one-night stand she’s regretted ever since—except for Lily, of course.”

  “So this is the guy giving her trouble? This Bandini fellow?”

  Ian nodded. “Apparently Meri and Mrs. Vandermeer stayed close over the years. When she died six months ago, she left Meri a small inheritance. Bandini showed up a few weeks later. According to this friend Ty talked to, Bandini figured there was a lot more money than there actually was and started harassing her, threatening to take Lily away from her if she didn’t give him more of the cash she’d rece
ived. Meri took off. Spokane is as far as she got before she ran out of money.”

  “So she’s running from this Bandini. What’s his story?”

  “A total loser. Drug user. Got out of jail about a year ago for selling crack cocaine. He’s got a record for assault but it’s always been against women. I guess Meri figures if she can get far enough away from him, she can have a normal life.”

  “You’ve got to stop her. You’ve got to help her before this guy hurts her, maybe even hurts Lily.”

  Ian’s gaze went to the window. “I need to talk to her, but I’m afraid if I push her, she’ll run again, and I won’t be able to find her.”

  “Why don’t you just marry her? You’re in love with her. I can see it in your face every time you look at her. Or maybe you don’t think she’s good enough for you.”

  Ian felt the words like a knife in the heart. “Her past has nothing to do with it. I’m just . . . I’m not ready to get married. I’ve never even thought about it.”

  “You don’t think you could be faithful to one woman?”

  He thought of Meri in his bed last night, how right it had felt, how perfectly they fit together. How he wanted her again right now, right this very minute. The idea of sleeping with another woman made his stomach burn. “That isn’t it.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “It’s not that simple. Marriage is a lifetime commitment. It isn’t something you rush into.”

  A woman’s high-pitched scream interrupted whatever his father might have replied.

  “Meri!” Ian bolted for the mudroom, slammed out the back door and started running toward the barn. Meri raced toward him, braids flying, her face as pale as last night’s moon.

  “Ian! Ian, he took Lily! Oh God, Ian, he has Lily!”

  Ian felt the words like a physical blow. He caught Meri hard against him. She was shaking all over, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Bandini, right?”

  She wildly nodded.

  “We’ll find her, Meri. I promise you, we’ll find her.” Dammit, he should have acted sooner. Now if something happened to Lily . . . Ian refused to think of it. He’d find Meri’s sweet little girl, bring her home safely. He wouldn’t fail either of them again.

  “He-he wants money.” Meri swallowed, her fingers trembling as she pressed a piece of paper into Ian’s hand. “I found this in the barn. He wants fifty thousand dollars. Oh God, Ian, I don’t have that kind of money. What am I going to do?”

  Daniel spoke up from beside her. “You listen to me, young lady. Ian and I . . . we aren’t going to let anyone hurt your little girl. You hear me?”

  She buried her face in Ian’s chest, her tears soaking through the front of his T-shirt. He ran a hand over the top of her head, felt the silky strands beneath his fingers, thought of the way she had looked with her hair unbound last night.

  If this was happening to another woman, he might think it was a con. But he had no doubts about Meri, a truth that hit him squarely in the chest.

  “We’ll find her, honey,” he said. “Finding people is one of the things I do.”

  “I don’t know what . . . what he’ll do to her, Ian. She’ll be so scared. Joey hates kids, and if she cries . . . oh God, if she cries . . .” A sob escaped and he pulled her back into his arms.

  “Listen to me, okay? We’re going to get her back, just like I said.” He looked down at the paper, read the words out loud. “‘Fifty thousand. I’m Lily’s father. I deserve it. Midnight tonight. No police. I’ll call and tell you where to meet. Joey.’”

  Meri looked into his face. “He . . . he’s crazy. He thinks because he’s Lily’s father, he should get half the money I inherited from my foster mom. But it wasn’t that much and now it’s gone.”

  “You’re talking about Mrs. Vandermeer.”

  She blinked up at him, for the first time grasping how much he knew about her. “How . . . how did you know about Mrs. Vandermeer? And Joey? How did you know about Joey?”

  “I ran a check on you, did some digging. I gave you a chance to tell me yourself. When you didn’t, you left me no choice.”

  Angry heat flooded her cheeks. “You had no right, Ian. I haven’t done anything to you. I didn’t deserve to have you prying into my past.”

  “I wanted to help you. I still do.”

  Embarrassment washed into her face. Her gaze slid down to the pink sneakers on her feet. “I didn’t want you to know the kind of life I’ve led. I wanted to leave while you still believed I was the person you thought I was.”

  Ian caught her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “This doesn’t change anything, Meri. It just helps me understand you a little better.”

  She shook her head. “I wish you hadn’t done it.” She wiped away the wetness on her cheeks. “But I’m too scared to stay mad at you.” When she tipped her head back to look at him, he couldn’t resist bending down and very softly kissing her.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

  Daniel cleared his throat, letting them know he was still there. “Let’s go into the house. We’ve got plans to make.”

  * * *

  “The money isn’t a problem.” Daniel walked into the kitchen, a canvas satchel in his hand. He dropped the bag in the middle of the round oak table.

  Meri stared up at him. “You . . . you’ve got fifty thousand dollars in that bag?”

  “What the hell, Dad? You keep money like that here in the house? Don’t you know that’s dangerous?”

  “With all the trouble in the world, it could be dangerous not to have emergency money around. Better to be prepared. Haven’t you heard of the ‘doomsday prep-pers’?”

  Ian just shook his head. “Well, I guess that’s one problem handled.”

  Meri reached across the table and covered his father’s hand. “I’ll pay you back, Daniel. I swear it. I’ll work here for free for as long as it takes, or I’ll get a job somewhere else. I’ll pay back every cent. No matter what I have to do.”

  Daniel squeezed her fingers.

  “With any luck,” Ian said, “Joey isn’t going to end up with the money. We’ll have a little reception waiting for him. Once Lily’s safe, we’ll take him down. He won’t be a threat to you anymore.”

  Meri sat up arrow-straight in her chair. “No police. I know you were a cop, Ian, but I can’t take the chance, not with Lily’s life at stake. I trust you and Daniel. I’ll do whatever you say, just don’t bring the police into this.”

  Ian looked over at his father, waited for his reaction.

  Daniel leaned back in his chair. “If this were Seattle, where you knew people you trusted, I’d be inclined to call the cops. As it is, we’d be running blind. Bandini might find out, do something stupid. I think Meri’s right. We should handle this ourselves.”

  “How we going to deliver the money?” Ian asked. “We can’t send Meri in there with guys like these. There’s no way to know what they’ll do.”

  “I’m bringing him the money,” Meri said. “If I don’t, there’s no way he’ll let Lily go.”

  Ian’s jaw went tight, though from the start he had known there was no keeping Meri out of this, not with her daughter’s life at risk. “I don’t like it, but I get it. You can make the drop. But you do exactly what I tell you. Exactly. Understood?”

  He could tell that didn’t sit well by the subtle squaring of Meri’s slender shoulders.

  “This is what I do, sweetheart,” Ian reminded her. “You need to listen to me on this.”

  Her eyes connected with his. He recognized the moment she decided to trust him. “You’re right. I’ll do whatever you say.” She bit her lip. “But . . . there’s something else you need to know.”

  Ian cast her a frustrated, what-else-haven’t-you-told-me glance. “Go on.”

  “Joey isn’t alone. He called me from Portland. I have a girlfriend there. That’s where I was headed when I left LA. Joey figured it out and got there first. I talked to Michelle after the call. Joey hit her, forced her to give
him my cell number. He mentioned he was traveling with this friend of his, Bart Kowalski. Joey calls him Ski. Joey’s a real creep, but Ski’s big and he’s bad. He’s dangerous, Ian. Just thinking about him with Lily . . .” She broke off, blinking back tears, swallowed and glanced away.

  Ian’s gaze swung to his father. “How’s your weapons and ammo situation? You still got our hunting rifles in the gun safe?”

  Daniel nodded. “Remington 308 and a Winchester. 30-30 locked up out in the garage. Haven’t been used in years. Need to get them out and get them cleaned.”

  “Ammo?”

  “All we need. I’ve also got my sidearm, Smith and Wesson .44. It’s locked in the drawer next to my bed. And you got your Glock, right? That’s still your weapon of choice?”

  Ian nodded.

  Meri’s face went pale. “You aren’t going to kill them, are you?”

  Ian grunted. “Much as that idea holds a certain appeal, that isn’t the plan. Getting Lily back safely is the objective. But this is kidnapping, Meri. Joey and his buddy aren’t getting away with it. Once Lily’s safe, we’ll be taking the men into custody, turning them over to the police.”

  “But the guns—”

  “If these guys aren’t armed, we won’t have to use them. If Joey or his buddy starts shooting, that’s a different story.” Ian’s hard gaze zeroed in on her. “You don’t still have a thing for this guy, do you?”

  Hysterical laughter burst from Meri’s throat. “I never had a thing for Joey. He was good-looking and I was lonely. That night I thought, you know, other women do this kind of thing, why can’t I?” She shook her head. “One stupid night. That’s all it was. I’ve been paying for it ever since.”

  Ian stood up from the table. He gently squeezed Meri’s shoulder. “You’re done paying, Meri. And so is Lily. This is about to be over. Make sure your phone’s turned on.” He glanced at his father. “Come on, Dad, let’s go.”

  * * *

  Ian and Daniel spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, checking, and loading their weapons. They poured five gallons of gas into Meri’s car from the can his dad kept in the barn, and continued planning their strategy.