With his night-vision goggles, he knew he looked alien, probably adding to her shock and fear, but he was more concerned with keeping her quiet. Awareness of the soft curves that had been hidden by her scrubs and were now fully evident as his body covered hers caused him to shift to his knees, his hands remaining in place as he pulled her up along with him.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing here,” he said, his voice deadly soft. “But it’s a good thing that I caught you before one of Garza’s guards. They’d have no problem handling you in a way you never get over.” Her eyes widened even more, and she whimpered underneath his hand still clamped over her mouth. “Gotta get you fuckin’ out of here. Are you going to try to scream?”
She shook her head, her eyes still wide and her chest heaving.
“I’m going to lift my hand. You’re going to do exactly what I say when I say. You step one toe out of line or make one sound and you’ll be unconscious when I carry you out. You’ll be safe. You won’t be harmed. But one way or the other, you’re getting out of here. Do you understand?”
This time, she jerked her head up and down in a nod.
He stood, pulling her the rest of the way to her feet, keeping his hand clamped on her upper arm tight but not in a way that would leave bruises. Once she was steady on her feet, he let go of her arm but kept her pressed tightly to him with his other arm still wrapped around her upper body and his hand on her mouth. Tapping his radio, he said, “Intruder with me. Identified. No threat. I’m getting them to their vehicle. Erase and modify the security video of the road outside the east lawn guardhouse.”
“Copy that. All on schedule here. Rendezvous in process.”
He slowly loosened his hand over her mouth, poised to drop her if she made any noise at all. She didn’t, remaining perfectly quiet, either terrified of him or terrified of what would happen if someone else found her. He didn’t give a fuck which one it was, he just wanted to get her out of there.
Looking at her, he said, “Do not attempt to get away from me. I’m not fuckin’ with you. We’ve gotta get out of here before anyone discovers your parked vehicle and comes looking for you.” Seeing her blink as she startled, he stood directly in front of her, his features still hidden by his goggles, and said, “Yeah. I clocked you coming in. Let’s just hope Garza’s men didn’t.”
With his fingers clamped around her upper arm again, they kept to the shadows of the garden and made their way back to the other side of the hedge where her vehicle was parked. He hurried her to the passenger side, then held his palm out. She looked down at his hand and then back up to his face, her brow scrunched as she shook her head side to side.
“Keys. Give me your keys.”
She hesitated and glanced to the side as though deciding if she could make a break for it.
“Now,” he growled.
Her gaze darted back to him, and she swallowed deeply. Reaching into her front pocket, she slowly pulled out her car keys, placing them into his palm. Glad she hadn’t argued, he opened her door for her, and she hesitated again, then slid into the passenger side, allowing him to close it with a soft click. Jogging around, he slid the seat way back before settling behind the wheel of her piece-of-shit car and started the engine. Keeping the lights off but able to see with his goggles, he drove in the opposite direction of the guardhouse, taking a circuitous route to the main road before turning on the headlights and jerking off his goggles.
He drove for ten minutes, neither of them speaking, but he noticed her hands shaking as she clasped them together in her lap. Pulling off to the side of the road, he put her car in park and twisted to look at her. His mouth opened to yell about her irresponsible behavior, but her wide eyes, tightly-pressed-together lips, and clenched hands caused him to swallow his words, a heavy sigh escaping instead.
“What… what are you going to do with me?” she asked, her chin lifting in false bravado as her voice shook.
“I’ve got questions, and you sure as hell better have answers, Jeannie Carnes.”
At her name, she gasped, jerking slightly. “How do you know my name?”
“I know a lot about you, Jeannie. But one thing I don’t know is what the hell you thought you were doing tonight. So, let’s start with the answer to that question.”
9
The inside of her car was barely illuminated from the faint lights in the dashboard, but Jeannie had no problem discerning the face of a handsome but extremely pissed-off man sitting in the driver’s seat. Anger rolled off him in waves, and even though she wanted to look away for fear of her eyeballs searing, she sat, mesmerized. She should be terrified and yet she wasn’t afraid.
Staring at his features, she searched her memory but came up blank. This man knew her name. This man, who wore military-grade tactical gear, tackled her and immobilized her with ease, then appeared to rescue her from either an unknown threat or her own folly, knew her name. And she had no idea who he was.
Clearing her throat, she continued to hold his gaze as she said, “Before I give you any answers, I want to know who you are and how you know me.”
He sat immobile, and just when she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he shifted his tall body and slid his hand into his front pants pocket, no easy feat considering his legs were long and her car was tiny. Pulling out identification, he held it out to her. “Carson Dyer. Private investigator. Owner of a security and investigations firm.” His words were clipped, continuing to expose his irritation.
In the dim light, she reached out and took his identification, studying it as she looked back up at his face. Licking her lips, she nodded. “Okay, Mr. Dyer. How do you know my name?”
Once again, he sat immobile, and she wasn’t sure he was going to give up the information. Finally, he said, “You came across my radar during an investigation.”
She gasped, stunned at his response. “You’re investigating me?”
Carson’s jaw tightened. “I wasn’t investigating you.”
It appeared he wasn’t going to say anything else, but as her fear ebbed, she began sorting through what little information was given to her and understanding dawned. “Oh…” The air slipped from her lungs in a long whoosh. “You’re investigating the Garza winery.” His face gave nothing away, not even the slightest twitch or hint that her words hit home. But she knew she was right. It was the only explanation that made sense. “You’re looking to see if anything is going on there that shouldn’t be. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“We’re not sitting here because of what I’m doing. We’re sitting here because of your foolishness,” he bit out, throwing out another searing glare. “Why were you there tonight, sneaking around?”
She wanted to deny she was sneaking around, but to do so would only make her look more foolish than he already thought. Not that I care what he thinks about me. She started to speak, but her voice failed her. Clearing her throat, she began again. “I wanted to go visit somebody.”
He barked out a laugh. “Visit somebody? In the dark? Sneaking across the lawn? Is that normally how you check in on people?” Before she had a chance to respond, his eyes widened slightly, and he nodded slowly. “Maggie Collins. You went to visit Maggie Collins.” He cocked his head to the side. “She’s still there.”