Susan Mallery - Hot On Her Heels

Jed took another sip from the bottle. He was a little drunk, but not so drunk that he couldn’t imagine how good it would feel to destroy Garth. To hurt him in ways he hadn’t known were possible. Jed had never hated anyone as much as he hated his own bastard son. Garth was going down. The little shit might think he’d won, but he was wrong. Dead wrong.

Jed screwed the top back on the bottle, then stuck it in the paper bag on the passenger seat. He got out of the car and walked up the street, joining a group of kids walking together. He trailed behind, looking like a parent making sure everyone stayed safe.

They passed the Titanville Pet Palace. The windows had been painted in bright colors. Santa drove a train and all the open cars had pets in them. Puppies and kittens and birds and lizards. There was a man standing next to the door. He was tall and maybe fifty. Ex-cop, Jed thought grimly.

Jed had dressed carefully, in a cowboy hat, sunglasses, a biker jacket and worn boots. He could have been anyone.

He glanced toward the kids still walking, then back at the pet store. He sighed loud enough for the guard to hear. “See my daughter over there?” he asked. “There’s this kitten.” He faked a smile. “She wants it for Christmas and I made the mistake of hinting Santa might bring it.”

The guard nodded sympathetically. “My youngest wants a puppy. It’s a slick road.”

“Tell me about it.” Jed glanced back at the kids. “Would you make sure they get across the street okay? I just want to run in to see if they’ll hold on to that kitten for me.”

“Sure. Go on in.”

“Thanks, man.”

Jed ducked into the pet store. Once inside, he nodded at the teenager at the front counter, then made his way to the back.

He’d been in here once, years ago. Had watched Kathy from a distance. She’d never noticed him, or maybe she had and hadn’t wanted to talk to him. Either way, he’d left. Not so this time. He walked up to her and stared into her face.

“Morning,” he said.

She turned and frowned when she saw him.

Her eyes were the same and despite the thirty-plus years, she didn’t look all that different from the last time he’d seen her. She’d been pregnant then, and defiant.

When she’d first told him she was having his baby, he’d assumed she was trying to trick him into marriage. He’d broken things off with her, telling her if she ever came after him for a penny, he would throw her ass in jail.

She hadn’t cried, but her look of sadness had ripped him apart. With tears in her eyes, but her head held high, she’d walked away.

Three months later, he realized he was wrong about everything. That he wanted Kathy, wanted their baby. So he’d proposed.

And she’d refused him.

“I won’t marry you, Jed Titan,” she said, looking him in the eye. “I’ll love you forever, but I’ve seen a dark side to you.”

He’d tried everything. Begging, swearing he would change. He’d even managed to seduce her back into his bed. Nothing had worked. In the end, she hadn’t changed her mind. When the baby had been born, a boy, he’d offered her money. At first she hadn’t wanted to take it, but an early fever had landed her son in the hospital. With minimal insurance and no income because she wasn’t back to work yet, she’d seen the value of his offer. The transfer had been made. It was more than she’d expected, enough for her to live on for the rest of her life, if she was careful.

He hadn’t seen her after that. He’d married-twice-had daughters, but no other son. He’d told himself it didn’t matter, that Kathy was in the past. And there she’d stayed until that day Garth had shown up, begging for money to save her.

And it had given him great pleasure to refuse the boy. To finally punish Kathy for rejecting him.

Now, staring at her, feeling something stir inside he’d thought dead for a long time, he wondered if maybe he’d been wrong.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

There was something about her speech. Not the words, but the way she said them. Something off.

“I’m Jed.”

She frowned slightly. “Did I know you? Before?”

“Yes.” He moved toward her. “I thought we could go somewhere and talk.”

Her expression cleared. “We were friends.”

“Yes, we were.”

She smiled. “We can go get coffee.”

“I’d like that.” Jed smiled.

GARTH STOOD IN FRONT of his office window, staring down at the street below. Even driving over the speed limit, it would take Nick at least two hours to get into town. Two hours Garth didn’t want to waste. But he knew better than to go after Jed on his own. Not that he was worried about what the old man might do to him, but because he needed a witness to say it had all been in self-defense.

He kept his mind on the plan, on tactics, because the alternative was to worry about his mother. While no one ever wanted to be kidnapped, Kathy was the least prepared to handle the situation. And Jed would hardly be considerate as he grabbed her.

Anger bubbled. White-hot anger. He’d known his father would come after someone, which was why he’d made sure everyone was protected. But he’d underestimated Jed’s willingness to risk it all. The fault was his.

Because of him, his mother was being terrorized by an asshole out for revenge. He’d started this and he would finish it. He vowed that one way or the other, Jed Titan would cease to be a threat. Today.

The door to his office burst open. Dana rushed in. She had a small, black duffel in her hand.

“I don’t have a lot of new information,” she told him. “The police are keeping the kidnapping quiet as long as possible. Once the press finds out, they’ll be all over us. Later, that will be to our advantage, but not right now. The last thing anyone needs is Jed bolting. The cops think he’s still in the city somewhere. They told you that, right?”

He nodded.

She dropped the duffel on the floor and crossed to him. “I’m sorry about Kathy. I know she must be scared, but she has an inner strength. She’ll be okay.”

Garth stared into her brown eyes. “We don’t know that.”

“He won’t hurt her. It wouldn’t benefit him in any way.”

“That’s some comfort.” He pulled her close, then kissed her. “You don’t have to be here.”

“Hey, I’m a professional and I can be very useful. You’re lucky to have me at your beck and call.”

“That part I know.”

The door opened again. This time Skye and Izzy hurried toward them.

“We just heard,” Izzy said. “Lexi wanted to come but Cruz made her stay home and relax. This totally sucks. You’re going to get him, aren’t you? I can’t believe it. I should, but I don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Skye said quietly.

Both women embraced him, hugging him close.

“Oh, Garth,” Skye whispered. “You must be so scared.”

“She’ll be fine,” he said automatically, because now that was what he had to believe.

“The police will find Jed,” Izzy said.

“They won’t have to.”

Izzy and Skye stared at him. Dana didn’t look surprised.

“You’re going after him?” Skye asked.

“Not a question you want to ask,” Dana told her.

“You’re in on this?”

“No, but I will be.” She stepped back and pointed to her duffel. “I came prepared.”

Dana wasn’t coming along, but he would deal with that problem later.

“I don’t like this,” Skye said, folding her arms across her chest.

Izzy wrinkled her nose. “Imagine how I feel. You’re waiting for Nick, aren’t you?”

Garth didn’t want to say anything, but he didn’t have to. Izzy knew Nick better than Garth.

“He’s driving in from the ranch,” she said, then nodded slowly. “Okay, but we just got married and I’m pregnant. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“Nothing will,” he said, meaning it. This was his fight.

“No offense, but…” Izzy turned to Dana. “You’ll keep him safe?”

“Yes.”

“My stomach hurts,” Skye murmured. “You probably want to talk about your plan. We’ll go and leave you to it, but you have to promise to tell us the second you know anything.”

Garth nodded. “I will.”

They left.

Dana picked up her duffel. “You can yell at me while I get changed.”

“Why do you think I’m going to yell?”

“I saw your face when I said I was going with you.” She paused at the doorway to his private bathroom. “Someone has to make sure you don’t go to jail over this. Jed is the only one I want behind bars. Nick has to stay safe-I promised Izzy. So that leaves me to watch your back.”

She looked determined, but he wasn’t intimidated. “I’m capable of getting Kathy out and staying on the right side of the law.”

“It’s not about being capable. It’s about being pissed, which you are.”

“I won’t sacrifice you.”

She smiled. “Nice sentiment, but I’m the only professional in the room. I’m coming with you, Garth. That or I’m calling the police and telling them your plan. Then you’ll have to get by them as well as by me.”

Frustration tightened his chest. “You’re damned annoying.”

“You’re not the first man to tell me that.”

He clenched his teeth. “Fine.”

“Good.”

He looked pissed enough to throw something, Dana thought, but she wasn’t backing down. This was too important. They hadn’t come all this way to lose Jed now. She knew Garth believed he was in total control of his emotions, but she wasn’t so sure. Jed had kidnapped Garth’s mother. No one could think rationally through that.

She walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Three minutes later she’d changed into black jeans and a black T-shirt. She walked out with a bulletproof vest and handed it to Garth.

“Are you wearing one?” he asked.

She picked up the second one she’d brought. “Jed’s a wild card. We’re not starting out stupid.”