Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [41]
But it would be hard as hell driving with two angry women beating at him, though he could probably count on Sophie to be on his side. And in fact, did he have any real reason to worry? They weren’t David’s type.
No, he had some breathing room. Silver Falls College had any number of students who would fit the victim profile well before either of the two women who lived with David Middleton would.
To get them out of town would be a fail-safe, but probably more trouble than it was worth.
“What are you thinking about?”
He turned and looked at her. She looked a little smaller in the front seat of his car, her hair dark in the shadows, her eyes troubled and wary.
“I was thinking I might kidnap you and your daughter,” he said, waiting for her reaction.
“Fat chance. I spent fourteen years traveling on my own and with Sophie—people have a very hard time getting the drop on me.”
“Good to know,” he said. “So why did you trade being a nomad to this kind of life?”
“It was time. Sophie needed some stability, and she needed a father.”
“And you chose David?” He couldn’t keep the ridicule out of his voice.
But this time she didn’t rise to the bait. “I chose David. Where are we going?”
He was heading straight out of town, the streetlights getting fewer and farther between. “It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“I bet you do. You just got out of the habit of them.”
She didn’t deny it. That was one thing he liked about her—for all that she saw him as the enemy, she didn’t lie. It was a rare gift.
Now if he asked her if she liked their afternoon kiss she’d probably say no, but that was wishful thinking, not falsehood. She probably thought she was immune to him. Few women were when he put his full effort into it—it was both a curse and a gift. She’d probably prove more difficult than most. And yet he had no doubt he could do it, and would.
But he had something extra on his side, that small advantage that would sway the battle. He actually wanted her.
Sure, he wasn’t going to let anything bad to happen to her and her daughter. He didn’t want her the prey or even the unwitting accomplice of a madman. And he’d do anything he could to keep her safe, including scare her out of town if the need arose.
But on top of everything else, he wanted her. He glanced over at her feet—small, bare toes peeking out from under the colorful skirt. Her hands were holding the wrap around her shoulders. Good hands, long fingers, delicate but deft. He really wanted those hands on his body.
But most of all he wanted to be on top of her, skin to skin, thrusting inside her, looking into her eyes with no lies and no masks between them.
He shifted uncomfortably on the seat as he hit the interstate. Fantasies like that would only get him in trouble, distract him from his main goal. Rachel Middleton was a pawn in the middle, an admittedly delicious pawn, but a danger all the same. If David had even the faintest idea how much he wanted her then he’d have an unfair advantage over him. His undeniable attraction to Rachel was making him vulnerable, and he couldn’t afford to let that happen. Not if he was going to stop David.
Except that perhaps it was already too late. David had known exactly what he was doing when he invited him over to dinner. Throw him into close contact with his wife and watch the sparks fly. He couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on in his brother’s tortured mind, and part of him didn’t want to know. The possibilities were endless and horrifying.
At least it was highly unlikely that David was hurting anyone while he was in absentia. His needs had been very precise—like a snake who only needed to feed once a week.
But even as that iron control was coming undone, he was just as freakishly smart as he’d always been. He’d be too smart to risk making another move so soon. Unless he’d really lost it, and if that was the case, they were all fucked.