Gaines was out there, armed, gunning for them.

They had to keep moving.

At the edge of the woods, he finally came to a stop. Abby stood as far away as the restraints would allow, so that the chain was pulled taut and the metal was digging into his raw skin. She had to feel it, too, but apparently she refused to even breathe in the same vicinity as him.

Good to know tonight was no different from any other.

He could see the faint outline of the farmhouse that he’d circled around to, and just behind that was a handful of cars. All ripe for the picking because, as he now knew, tonight had been nothing more than a setup.

Which meant he should be able to commandeer one of those vehicles and get them the hell out of there. Exactly where he would get them the hell to was yet to be determined, but one thing was clear-he couldn’t let himself be brought in. Not until he could prove his innocence and Gaines’s guilt.

“I think the truck is our best bet.”

Abby was breathing harshly but not fighting him, which was an unexpected bonus. She had more twigs in her hair and a nasty scratch on one cheek. Her clothes were torn and beyond dirty from wrestling on the ground with him. She’d started the day so neat, too.

Just looking at her had something inside him softening. In a different time and place, he’d have reached over and pulled her close, maybe burying his face in her hair, pressing his mouth to her skin…

But her attention was on the cuffs, as if she could remove them by glare alone. He wished she’d just let it go for now, but she was definitely not the letting go type. “Keep up, okay?”

“I have a better plan. Uncuff me.”

“I can’t.”

“Won’t, you mean.”

“Okay, won’t. You’ll turn me in before I can prove I’m right.”

“You know what? Don’t talk to me.”

Oh, good. She was definitely coming around, surrendering to his charms. “See that truck?” he asked. “We’re going for that.”

Taking that whole not-talking-to-him thing pretty seriously, she didn’t answer. But she was looking at him plenty, sending icy stares that felt like daggers. Probably trying to decide how to murder him, slowly. Resigned, Hawk pulled her toward the fifteen-year-old Ford pickup painted a combo of forest-green and bad-weather rust. He pulled open the driver’s door, which was blessedly unlocked. Putting his hands on Abby’s waist, he bent at the knees to hoist her in ahead of him.

She balked. Of course she balked, but he didn’t have time for this. Now that they were clear of the fire and the chaos, the night was quiet, too quiet, making him extremely uneasy.

“I vote we go back to the van,” she said.

He shook his head.

“I’m not getting into this truck with you.”

She was tired. Scared. He got that. But that would have to be taken care of later, say if they lived, so to that end, he pressed his body into hers, trying to get her inside the cab of the truck. Her hair jabbed him in the eyes, her ass ground into his crotch, neither of which was exactly an unpleasant sensation, but at the contact, she jerked as if shot and jumped away from him, pulling on the cuffs.

“Jesus, Abby. Just do this. Please. Just get in.”

“Uncuff me.”

“Soon as we’re out of here, I swear. I have to jump-start it.”

“Oh, God.” She hunched over, covering her face with her free hand, breathing like a lunatic.

What the hell? He touched her shoulder, and she nearly leapt out of her skin, eyes wide. Wild. Like she was no longer with him.

“Hey.” Hawk lifted his free hand and wondered what was going on. “Hey, it’s just me.”

Her hysterical laugh broke the silence. Up until right then, a part of him, admittedly a sick part, had been enjoying their close contact, the way her body fit to his, the scent of her hair, how when he’d tried to lift her into the truck, her breasts had pressed into his forearm. But this reaction from her, this genuine fear, made him feel like a molester. “I’m not going to hurt you, Abby. I swear it. Just get into the truck, and I’ll-”

“No!”

He understood her reticence, he really did, but she’d screamed this, leaving him no choice but to slide his hand over her mouth.

Of course, because this was Abby, she bit him, and then she was fighting him like a feral cat, tooth and nail. She fought dirty, too, twisting his arm but good as she whirled and tried to punch him in the throat, instead catching him high on his bruised chest, which hurt enough to have him chomping down on both his lip and his frustration. “Abby, stop. I am not the bad guy!”

She stopped fighting and brought her head up, eyes still wide but not so wild. “I swear it,” he whispered, smoothing his fingers along the curve of her jaw. He had no idea when his priorities this night had changed from kicking Gaines’s ass to seeing this woman safe, but they had. “It’s going to be okay-”

Another harsh laugh, this one a half sob, and she yanked at their joined wrists so hard his teeth grated. He began to understand something he’d missed before in the rush to survive-she definitely had something else going on here, something that the handcuffs were only making worse.

But it would have to wait, because for now he had to get out of here before he was discovered, and she was coming with him, period. To that end, Hawk bodily lifted her into the truck, taking another kick to the thigh in the process, swearing as he bent beneath the console to hot-wire the car.

“Hot-wire,” she gasped, still breathless from the fight, as the engine leaped to life. “Not jump.”

“Right.”

“You said jump.”

Had he? “To jump-start it, I’d have needed another car.”

“And cables.”

“Yes.” It was the way she said cables that had him trying to get a look at her face as he whipped the truck around. But she turned her head away, staring out the window into the dark night.

Exhausted, but pumped full of adrenaline, he headed down the road without lights, driving slowly enough to avoid kicking up dust, but hopefully fast enough that no one noticed them. The road was completely deserted, but he didn’t breathe freely until the main highway. There he flicked on the headlights and hit the gas. He was aware of Abby sitting stiffly, as far from him as she could get, her hand dangling limply near the steering wheel.

Saying nothing.

There weren’t many cars on the highway this late at night. Hell, there were no cars. Out here, even the wide-open spaces had wide-open spaces.

In the daylight the view had been of wildflower meadows, fall foliage and towering peaks all around them, covered in deep forests.

But at night, the sky-scratching mountains were no more than a dark looming outline, creating a feeling of vastness, which only increased his sense of isolation.

It was many moments before they saw another vehicle, and then, in the oncoming headlights, Hawk glanced over at Abby.

She hadn’t relaxed, not a single muscle. Her skin was pale, her hair wild around her face, her eyes huge and underlined with exhaustion. “Abby,” he said softly.

No answer, big surprise.

“I realize you’re pissed and probably going to castrate me at the first opportunity, but before you do, just tell me one thing.”

Her eyes cut to his.

“What happened to you?”

She closed those eyes.

And his heart sunk, because he’d gotten the answer to his next question. Whatever it’d been, it’d been bad, very bad. And it wasn’t hard to make a few educated guesses, none of which he wanted to think about her suffering through.

Abby didn’t speak, just sat there silently stewing. Steam practically rose from her clothing, which was even more ripped and dirty now and made him feel like crap because he’d done this to her.

Shooting him another sidelong glance that had his death written all over it, she hugged herself with her one free arm, took a deep breath as if steeling herself against the craziness they’d left behind and what was to come, and thrust her chin to nose-bleed heights.

While Hawk loved the show of bravado, he knew no one could maintain it for long, and when she crashed, that would be his fault, too.

When she finally spoke, it wasn’t what he expected. “You’re on empty.”

He looked at her, surprised she cared enough to notice. “I know. Believe me, I could sleep for at least a week-”

“The gas tank.”

“What?” He looked at the gauge and thought, ah, shit. Just one more thing in a long list of things that were not going his way tonight.

9

Somewhere south of Bullet City, Wyoming

WAS IT GOOD OR BAD THAT THEY found a gas station almost immediately? Abby couldn’t decide as Hawk pulled the truck off the highway and into the parking lot. From her perch in the passenger seat, she searched for an attendant, a customer, anyone she could flag down for help.

But there was not a single soul.

The handcuffs clanked as Hawk shifted, and her hand brushed his, making her breath hitch. She was so used to avoiding a man’s touch, she found herself startled by the fact that though she was still furious, she was not afraid of their close proximity.

Why was Hawk different from other men?

Didn’t matter. Slipping her free hand into her pants pocket, she closed her fingers around her cell phone. Hawk was looking at the pump, his head turned from her. Now or never, she decided…

Thumbing open the phone, Abby tried to figure out who to call, then froze as her finger inadvertently pushed a key.

At the unmistakable electronic beep, Hawk’s head whipped back to hers. “What was that?”

She shrugged.

“Goddamnit.” Pressing her back against the door, he set his hand low on her ribs.