Manhunt (A Rocky Mountain Thriller Book 1) Read online

  Jace stepped up close behind her. He wrapped his arms around her middle, holding her against his chest.

  The warmth soaked into her like rain into the desert floor. She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to think. She turned around, still in his embrace, and looked up into his eyes. “I don’t want to go back. Not yet.”

  He watched her, saying nothing, as if waiting to see what would happen next.

  “Did you ever want to… escape?”

  “Yes.”

  Of course he did. He’d told her about it. The wealthy man in Denver. His partner selling him out. God, he’d even spent time in jail. All reasons he’d moved to Wyoming.

  Too bad she couldn’t move. Too bad she couldn’t just disappear, start a new life somewhere with Emily…somewhere with Jace.

  Not possible with a double murder charge following her.

  So maybe she couldn’t leave her problems behind. Not forever. But if she could for a few moments… just for a little while…

  She reached her hands toward him and rested her fingers on his belt buckle. She knew the move was forward. She’d never been so forward in her life. But she was tired of responding to what others had planned. She wanted to feel strong. She wanted to be in control. “I want you, Jace. I want to feel something besides fear.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  JACE LOOKED INTO SHANNA’S EYES and breathed in the sweetness of her scent. He didn’t know what would happen once they returned to Palmer. What the information they’d found would change. What, if anything, would happen to Barstow. But right now, none of that mattered. All that mattered was this.

  He ran his hands down her arms and lowered his mouth to hers. This time his kiss wasn’t quick, but warm and slow. He nibbled her lips, teased open her mouth, tangled his tongue with hers. She tasted sweet and hot and needy. His body responded, stirring to life, pressing for release.

  He could feel her hands still at his belt. She unfastened the buckle. She touched him through his jeans. He stirred, blood rushing to his groin, heat thrumming through his veins.

  She peeled his jeans down his legs. Right there on the open prairie. “I’ve always been timid before. I don’t want to be that way anymore.” She fitted her hand over the bulge in his boxer briefs.

  Jace buried his fingers in her hair. He murmured deep in his throat, unable to find words to answer.

  Shanna slipped her fingertips under the waistband of the underwear and pulled them down, over his hips, over his erection, down to his thighs.

  He was ready for her, more than ready. He jutted toward her as if asking to be taken.

  She darted her tongue between her lips and flicked him.

  He responded, flexing upward. He moved his hips forward without thinking, as if his body was no longer under his control.

  She licked him again, slower. Taking her time, she ran her tongue all the way up the underside of his shaft. Reaching the tip, she looked up into his eyes.

  Jace clenched his teeth. He was going to lose it, just like that, faster than a teenaged boy.

  He plunged his fingers into her hair, stopping her before she tore him apart. “Slower. Unless you want this to be over very quickly.”

  She gave him a mischievous grin, as if she didn’t intend to listen to a thing he had to say.

  A surge of want shot through him, followed by searing heat. He wanted her naked. At least he wanted to control that. He wanted to see her. All of her.

  He grasped her shirt. She pulled her arms from the sleeves, and Jace helped her slip it over her head. She stripped off her bra.

  The sun caressed untanned skin. Her breasts were beautiful. Round, soft, with nipples that peaked as if taunting him to take them in his mouth.

  But Shanna had other ideas.

  She ran her tongue over him again. Then moving closer, she took him between her breasts.

  He drove his hips upward. She slid down his shaft until he thrust free. She took him in her mouth, sucking him, fondling him with the moist heat of her tongue.

  A groan shuddered from his chest.

  She slid up his length, enveloping him once again. Her nipples grazed his belly.

  He’d totally lost control now. Not just of his body, but of his heart, his mind, his soul. He couldn’t get enough of her. He’d never be able to get enough.

  And if he’d ever hoped to get out of this unscathed, that hope was now utterly gone.

  Once he’d regained his strength, he caught her, a hand on either side of her waist, and lifted her to her feet. She’d definitely changed his world, shaken him to the core. And he wanted to give the same gift to her. But to do that, he needed to slow things down. Let her know how special she was, what she meant to him. He’d made her a promise, and he meant to keep it. “My turn.”

  Jace cradled Shanna’s face in his hands, then brought his lips to hers.

  He started slow. One tender kiss, then another. Light. Delicate. Intimate. He meant to continue this way, to show her how sweet she was, but as he held her close, he wanted more, deeper, he wanted everything.

  He intensified the kiss, melding with her, losing himself all over again. And she responded, caressing his tongue with hers, drawing him deep.

  Jace wasn’t sure how long they stood there, half undressed, kissing, the sun warming them, the wind fanning their skin. He wanted it to be forever. But he also wanted to give her more.

  He guided her to the car and set her on the hood. He peeled her jeans down her legs, then her panties, leaving her totally bare.

  For a moment, he just looked at her. He could hardly believe how gorgeous she was, how much he wanted her, needed her. More than he ever thought he could need a woman. He ran his hands over her breasts and down her sides. He pulled her hips to the edge of the hood and lowered his mouth, ready to give her everything she’d given him.

  Wanting to give her more.

  He couldn’t get enough of her taste, her heat, the way she responded to him. He let his tongue dance over her, devour her. She shuddered under his touch.

  Her fingers gripped his shoulders, pulling him away from her, pulling him up. “I want you, Jace. I want more. I want you inside.”

  He rubbed his hands over her thighs and slipped his hips between them. He was ready. More than ready. Positioning himself at her entrance, he eased into her slick heat. Her body hugged him…incredibly, impossibly soft. More than he could dream.

  He thrust into her, withdrew and thrust again. His vision narrowed until he could see only Shanna, feel only Shanna. He muttered her name.

  She smiled and arched her back, thrusting her breasts to the open sky. No fear. No worry. Just pure pleasure.

  It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

  ______

  “Hey, Dirk,” Shanna said into the cell phone. “Your car is at—”

  Jace pulled the key from the ignition but didn’t move to get out. He could hear the sharp tone of Dirk’s voice over the phone, but he couldn’t decipher the words.

  “What happened?” Shanna glanced at Jace. The crease appeared between her brows once again. Her lips pressed together until they were as pale as her cheeks. Now that they were back in Palmer, the fear Jace had done his best to chase away was obviously back in force.

  Jace touched her hand, gently urging the phone away from her ear at an angle. He pressed his head against hers to listen in.

  Dirk’s voice sounded too loud, either excited or afraid. “This could be big, bigger than you thought.”

  “What’s happened?” Shanna repeated.

  “I don’t want to talk about it on the phone.”

  Jace rolled his eyes. He’d put his money on excitement. Apparently good old Dirk had seen a few too many spy movies.

  Shanna gave him a quelling look. “Please, Dirk. You have to tell me what you heard.”

  “The government is involved. I overheard Mr. Barstow talking about a meeting with a government agent. He said it was all your fault.”

  “A government age
nt?” She met Jace’s eyes and shook her head. “I don’t see how I have anything to do with a government agent showing up.”

  Apparently she had about as much clue about what Dirk was babbling about as Jace did. “Is it the FBI, the IRS, what?” Jace asked.

  “I don’t know. Barstow didn’t say. Put Shanna back on.”

  “I’m on, Dirk. You can talk in front of Jace. Like I said, he’s helping me.” She looked straight at him, a warmth in her eyes that penetrated to the bone.

  “Is Linda with you, too?”

  “No.”

  “I wanted to tell you. This morning when I saw you at the door, I was responding to Linda’s card. She was flagged as a security risk.”

  “Linda? A security risk? Why?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the police wanted to talk to her.”

  Shanna shook her head. “She already talked to the police the day before.”

  “Maybe Mr. Barstow figured she’d try to help you. Whatever the reason, she might be in danger.”

  “She knows, Dirk. She’s somewhere safe.”

  “So it’s just you and this Jace?”

  Jace wanted to roll his eyes again. Dirk sure had it bad for Shanna.

  “Yes, Dirk. It’s just me and Jace.” She glanced at him.

  All the heat of the afternoon suffused his body. If he didn’t take his eyes off her, he’d be ready for action in more ways than one.

  “I don’t know, Shanna,” Dirk whined over the phone. “You can’t be too careful about who you trust. Not with uranium in the center of this.”

  Uranium. Jace managed to pull his focus from Shanna. What was the security guard implying? His pulse quickened. He’d been under the assumption they were dealing with raw uranium, nothing refined or even approaching weapons grade. Refined uranium was used for a host of things that could be considered sensitive. From nuclear power…to nuclear weapons.

  Maybe Dirk was on to something. Maybe it wasn’t the FBI. Maybe it was homeland security…the NSA…who knew? Maybe this thing was bigger than a fake mine. Maybe it was far bigger than they’d imagined.

  Shanna let out a heavy sigh. “If only we had that laptop. Then we’d have something to give them.”

  Jace knew she hadn’t meant the words to cut him, but he felt the slash all the same.

  “Laptop?” Dirk’s voice rose from the phone.

  “Yeah,” Shanna answered. “My laptop. It has copies of the accounts I was working on before I left for the hunting trip. Mr. Barstow took it from my apartment.” She looked up at Jace and mouthed not your fault.

  He wished that took away the sting. It wasn’t even close.

  “Mr. Barstow has it?”

  Shanna nodded. “Yeah, why?”

  “It’s in his office. I saw it. He left it on the credenza. It’s still there. I can get it. I can bring it to you.”

  Shanna drew in a shaky breath.

  Jace wasn’t sure her reaction was from distrust of Dirk or worry about him getting more deeply involved in something dangerous. From what he’d learned about Shanna over the past few days, he was betting on worry.

  Good thing Jace wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, as the saying went. “Do it, Dirk.”

  “Okay. Where should I meet you?”

  Shanna chewed on her bottom lip, as if she still wasn’t so sure.

  Jace didn’t know Palmer as well as either of them, and hesitated to use the park again. He didn’t want to become predictable.

  “I’ll meet you at the bus station.”

  Jace almost rolled his eyes. “The bus station? Are you crazy? That’s one of the main places the police will be watching, waiting for Shanna to skip town.”

  “Sorry. I’m not very good at this.”

  At least he admitted it. “How about something more unexpected?”

  “The high school. There’s a game tonight.”

  That was a little more public than Jace had in mind. What if someone recognized Shanna and called the police? He shot her a questioning look.

  She nodded. Holding the phone away from her ear, she cupped her hand over it so Dirk couldn’t hear. “We can go in the back way. It will be dark. No one will see me well enough to recognize me. And you have to admit, it’s the last place anyone would expect me to be.”

  Jace nodded.

  She returned the phone to her ear. “Behind the concession stand.”

  Dirk’s voice rose in an excited whisper, the last vestiges of his panic apparently washed away by the prospect of playing spy. “Perfect. The game starts at seven. I’ll be there at eight.”

  “Good.” Jace hit the off button. If he planned to arrive at eight, Jace and Shanna would be there at seven-thirty and intercept him outside the gate.

  Just because Jace trusted the guy enough to let him help didn’t mean he was willing to bet Shanna’s life and his own. The wire they were walking was high, and there was no way in hell Jace was going to let either of them fall.

  ______

  Shanna huddled in the shadows behind the Palmer High bleachers and searched the crowd of proud parents and teenagers inside the chain-link fence. The heat she’d felt out on the prairie with Jace was only a memory, a memory she wanted to hold on to with all her might.

  She could still feel the whisker burn on her cheeks and inner thighs. Still feel the power that had flowed through her when she’d taken control. She was sure her muscles were sore from all they’d done, too. But that pain merely blended with all the other aches she’d accumulated over the past days. Even though she was shaking again, from the cold, from fear, she wasn’t the same as before. She’d never be the same.

  She just hoped those few moments had given both her and Jace enough to see them through whatever lay ahead.

  Judging from the tension visible in the lines around Jace’s eyes, he was feeling as edgy as she was. “Where the hell is he?”

  “Are you sure we didn’t miss him? What if he’s already at the concession stand?”

  “I’ll take a walk over and see.”

  She shoved herself away from the frigid wire fence. “I’ll go with you.”

  Following the fence, which skirted the back edge of the bleachers, they worked their way within sight of the concession stand. Parents stood in line for hot cocoa, coffee and popcorn. The scents tickled the cold air, reminding Shanna just how long it had been since she’d eaten. How long since she’d been able to do something as cozy as sip hot cocoa with Emily. How long it might be until she could do those things again.

  If she could at all.

  Jace grasped her hand and pulled her behind the corner of the last bleacher section.

  “Did you see him?”

  “He’s not there.” Jace checked his watch. “Twenty minutes late now.”

  Shanna swallowed into a tight throat. “Something happened.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Dirk is very punctual.”

  “Maybe he was delayed for some reason.”

  “Do you really think that’s probable?”

  Shanna could tell by the look in Jace’s eyes that he didn’t.

  “Let’s go.” She spun around and started back the way they’d come, back to the spot where they’d left Dirk’s car.

  Jace grasped her arm. “We can’t march into the Talbot building, if that’s what you had in mind.”

  She had to admit, she didn’t know what she had in mind. Something to help Dirk. Anything. She’d had so many misgivings when he’d volunteered to get the computer. So many horrible possibilities had raced through her mind. But she hadn’t told him no. She’d pushed all her worries aside. She’d gone along with the plan, despite putting him in danger. She’d focused on how he could help her instead of how this could hurt him.

  She had to make sure he was okay. “Ideas?”

  “You know where he lives?”

  She’d gone to a picnic at his house the summer before. He’d kept putting his arm around her, suggesting they were an item. She’d ju
st sat there, uncomfortable, not knowing what to do, not wanting to hurt his feelings or make him angry. Somehow feeling as if the misunderstanding was all her fault. The memory was so distant, it seemed as if it had happened to another person. “I know where he lives.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll go.”

  Shanna took a deep breath and nodded. Dirk had to show up at home eventually. After the police were done questioning him. After Barstow handed him his pink slip on a plate. After the federal government…Oh, God, just let him show.

  The drive didn’t take long, now that they had a car. Even so, by the time they parked at the end of the court, Shanna’s heart was beating so hard she could hardly hear Jace’s whisper. “We’ll circle around the back. That way we can see if he’s home before he, or anyone else, sees us.”

  She forced a nod. What would she do without Jace? She hated to think.

  They circled a planting of juniper and started crossing the first backyard. A light shone from the window. She could see a woman inside, her head bent over the sink, washing dishes. Funny that people were still going about their everyday routines, doing mundane chores, trying to find something to watch on television, even arguing with their spouse or children. None of them really knew how lucky they were. Or what was really important. Not until their worlds were turned upside down.

  The sound of a door sliding cut the stillness. Shanna froze, not sure from which house the sound had come.

  Jace brushed her arm. He pointed to the yard they were about to enter. A tiny dog scampered out the door and started sniffing the grass. The dog might not pose much of a threat—at least not compared to the killing machine in the junkyard—but she bet it could make a racket.

  Motioning to her, Jace changed direction, heading for the yard behind the little dog’s. A three-foot fence separated the two properties. He stepped over the fence, then held out a hand for Shanna.

  She grasped his hands and swung her leg over the fence.

  The little dog let out a startled yap.

  Shanna scrambled to gain footing on the other side. Damn, her legs. They were too short. She was too slow. She was too weak. She hadn’t known how poorly she stacked up until the last few days.