Blindsided (18 page)

TWENTY

R
oni stepped through the side door of her track’s backlot garage. Her heels clicked on the concrete until she stopped on the spot where Ethan had saved her life over a month ago. The garage had been ransacked for evidence by the FBI, but Roni didn’t see the mess. She only saw the image of Ethan standing before her. She tried to hold the vision of his tough, handsome face at the forefront of her mind, but soon his baby blues fuzzed away as had all the other places she’d gone to find him in her memories.

She wondered when she wouldn’t be able to pull up an image of his face at all. At least with her parents she had photographs to draw on. With Ethan she had nothing. Nothing to prove he’d ever existed in her life.

The not knowing if he lived or died choked her up the worst. To add to her distress, Sylvie hadn’t been able to track down any information about him either. The news reported the death of Guerra and the prosecution of Lyle Ramsey, but none of them mentioned Ethan at all. How could they not give him credit for his undercover work in the investigation? Even Jared and Tanya earned a blip of airtime for their part in setting her up and Tanya’s part in attempting to kill her, but nothing about shooting a federal agent. It was as though Ethan Gunn not only didn’t exist in
her
life, he didn’t exist at all.

Roni knew she couldn’t go about her life in this limbo state, but the dreams that had dominated her every waking moment a month ago seemed to take a backseat now. No one was stopping her from opening her racing school anymore. Her uncle’s quest to find Luke had him barely saying two words to anyone. A guilty conscience needing to compensate, perhaps? She knew Uncle Clay was out to make amends with her, but also to be able to look himself in the mirror every day.

And to earn Cora’s love, as well.

Roni smiled thinking about her maid.

No, not her maid, she corrected herself. Cora was never a maid. She was family and always would be. And if she accepted Uncle Clay’s proposal it would make it official. But Roni didn’t need anything official to make it truth. Their love and commitment to each other made them family already. And honestly, Roni couldn’t fault Uncle Clay for falling in love with Cora. There was so much to love about her, especially her caring spirit that recognized a person’s pain, and then offered them comfort through it all.

It was Cora who made these past few weeks bearable. Cora and Maddie were her strength, a makeshift family who chose Roni as their own, and took care of her during this time.

Never would Roni have believed losing Ethan would cause such an unrelenting physical pain.

She closed her eyes and tortured herself again by dragging his image to her mind’s eye. He smiled and his baby blues crinkled in their corners. She felt her lips smile at the beautiful sight. Her breathing picked up as though her heart knew this wasn’t real, and in any second he would be gone again in a flash. She grappled to make it last longer this time, as close to reality as she could imagine it.

“I thought I would find you here,” Ethan said with unmoving lips. Roni imprinted the sound of his voice to memory. “You’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.” His voice was closer this time. She could practically feel his warm breath on her face. She felt tears pool up and stream down her face at his words.

Suddenly a warm touch caressed her neck, and Roni’s eyes shot open on a sharp inhale.

“Shh, it’s just me.”

“Ethan,” she whispered. He stood directly in front of her. Or did he? Was this her imagination playing tricks on her, some sort of mirage showing her what she wanted to see?

Except, this wasn’t the healthy, rugged Ethan she’d conjured up in her mind. This Ethan was pale and thin, and his eyes had dark smudges beneath them. Her heart wept at the sight before her. He looked like death standing up.

She raised a shaking hand to one of his hollowed cheeks, and his eyes closed at her touch.

“Oh, I have missed you so much,” he said. “I never realized how much I needed someone in my life until I lay in a hospital bed with nothing but machines to keep me company. Going the solo route has become lonely...and boring.” He smiled with cracked lips and opened his eyes. “I just kept thinking I needed to get back to Norcastle so I could sign up for racing school. Consider me your first student. If you’ll have me, that is. I can’t pay much.” His gaze dropped to her chin.

“Ethan,” she whispered again. “You’re alive. You’re alive?”

He looked back into her eyes and smiled weakly. “Yes, I’m alive.”

“I went to the hospital, but they couldn’t tell me anything. There wasn’t an Ethan Gunn even admitted.”

Sadness crossed his face. “Sorry about all the confidential protocol. Ethan Gunn isn’t real, sweetie. It’s my undercover name. That’s something else I needed to come to grips with while I lay in the hospital. Who I really am.”

“They said there was a DOA. I thought it was you.”

“Guerra. I was choppered to another hospital better equipped to handle my wounds.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I didn’t wake up for days, and after that...” He swallowed hard. “I wasn’t able.”

His head showed evidence of stitches. She dropped her gaze to his chest and wondered where the bullet had entered. She let her hand fall over his heart, and he reached to entwine his fingers with hers there, over the place he’d been shot. His gaze locked on hers and said so much. “You should be dead,” she whispered.

He flashed her a quick smile. “It wasn’t my time. Apparently, God has other plans for me right now.”

“He has plans for me, too. I’m opening a refuge at my home for trafficked women. I’m calling it Maddie’s House, even though she’s fighting me about it. She’ll come around, though. She was the same way when I told her at Ramsey’s I was taking her with me when I broke out. She just needs some time to adjust, but even with the name up in the air, she’s already going to be so beneficial to the women who come—” Roni halted, realizing she was talking a mile a minute about inconsequential stuff. Her mind suddenly registered Ethan really stood in front of her. Alive!

And with his mouth opened in astonishment. “Roni, this is amazing, although I don’t know why I’m surprised. You go after what you want, and I know you’ll succeed. I will say, I think Maddie might want to call it Magdalena’s House instead. Ask her. And I could help you with connections at the FBI. I mean if you wanted me to.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. You just got out of the hospital. You should sit down.”

She turned to find a stool, but a quick flick from his hand that still held her whipped her back around to lips that claimed hers.

At first, Roni jolted at the surprise, but all reason flew to the rafters and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She lifted to her tiptoes to gain even closer access to Ethan’s lips. Warm, living lips. His hands fell to her waist where his fingers dug deep to hold on to her just as much as she clung to him. More tears streamed down her cheeks, though she was uncertain of the kind of tears they were. She couldn’t exactly say they were tears of joy. A deep fear that Ethan would vanish from her life again in the blink of an eye had her pulling away on a cry.

“Tell me your name right now,” she demanded. “I want your real name so if you ever disappear again, I’ll have a way to find you. Tell me right now.”

He reached for her cheek, but she eluded him by pulling it away. She was serious, and she wanted him to know it.

“It’s not that easy, sweetheart. I work undercover, sometimes for years. Only family know my real identity, and we’re not close enough for them to even know what I do.”

“So, if we were family you could tell me? Like if we were married?”

Ethan smirked and studied her face from top to bottom. “Now, there’s an idea. But why would someone as brilliant and driven as you want to marry me? You’re going to be a famous racing instructor. You don’t need a sidekick tagging along and holding you back.”

Roni frowned. “I was wrong. You were never just along for the ride. You were a critical part of the team, and I thank God He put you in my life, for however short of a time. Besides, I’ve decided not to open a racing school. With opening a refuge, I need to let that dream go.”

Ethan’s eyes darkened and narrowed. “Let it go? Roni, you have so much to share. My whole team is ready to learn all your moves, especially after you left them in your dust so many times. They can’t let that happen again. Egos and all. They’re ready to sign up for the Roni Rhodes School of Racing today.”

“Roni Rhodes?” Roni shrank back. “Who’s Roni Rhodes?”

His lips twisted into a grin. He leaned in to a breath’s distance from her lips again. “You will be...when you marry me.”

Roni pulled back even faster than before. “Wait. Are you telling me your real name?”

“Besides asking you to marry me, yes.”

“Rhodes is your real name?”

He nodded, but his smile fell from his teasing lips. “Ethan Rhodes, but it’s not a name I claim as anything great.”

“
Are you kidding me?
Are you telling me my name will be Roni Rhodes?” Her voice rose a few pitches in growing excitement. “I can’t think of a more perfect name. The Roni Rhodes School of Racing. I’ll be turning drivers away with a name like that.”

Ethan laughed, the most joyous sound she’d ever heard. “Well, what do you know? My name is good for something after all. So is that a yes?”

“How could I not open a school now? Of course, it’s a yes.”

Ethan squeezed his eyes shut with a laugh. “About marrying me, Roni. Will you give me the honor of being your forever sidekick by
marrying
me?”

Roni shook her head.

“No?” His voice cracked. His smile fell from his face.

“No. No, you cannot be my sidekick. No, you will not come along for the ride. God did not mean for you to stay here on this earth to put air in my tires. He put us together to bring us closer to Him as husband and wife. It’s not even a partnership. It’s a union that can’t be broken, and I for one have no intention of going against God’s plan for us. You will marry me, but
only
if you agree to be more than a sidekick.”

Ethan reached for her waist again and pulled her lips close to his. Tears glittered in his eyes. Eyes that dropped to her lips with borderline desperation.

Roni withheld what he wanted. What he needed. “Well? What’s your decision, Rhodes? Are you in, or are you out?”

Ethan swallowed deep and rasped out, “I love you, Roni Spencer. I love you with every part of my being. I love that God saw you were what I needed to be whole.” His lips trembled as he caught his breath. “I love that He joined us in our journey when we weren’t looking for His help at all. We gave up on Him, but He still chose us. Neither of us have been in the driver’s seat this whole way. It’s always been Him.”

“Always,” Roni agreed on a whisper. “With God still in the driver seat, He will lead the way for the rest of our lives. But this also means it’s no longer a solo ride. Are you okay with that, Ethan?”

Ethan’s eyes fell to her mouth. She had to wonder if he was even listening anymore with his one-track mind. Not that her mind wasn’t on the same track, but neither of them could move forward until everything was out in the open.

An inch from her lips, he said, “I’m in, Roni. If you’ll have me, I’m all in.”

She smiled and dropped her forehead to his on a sigh. “Then kiss me, Ethan Rhodes, and let the rest of our lives start right now.”

* * * * *

If you enjoyed this exciting story of suspense
and intrigue, pick up the other story in the
ROADS TO DANGER
series:
SILENT NIGHT PURSUIT

And look for these other titles by Katy Lee

WARNING SIGNS
GRAVE DANGER
SUNKEN TREASURE
PERMANENT VACANCY

Available now from Love Inspired Suspense!

Find more great reads at
www.LoveInspired.com
.

Keep reading for an excerpt from
INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE
by Rachel Dylan

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Dear Reader,

Welcome back to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The state holds a special place in my heart. I have some roots planted there and love returning to the majestic beauty of the place every so often.

This second book in the Roads to Danger series continues the Spencer family saga in their quest for the keys to their past. Roni Spencer’s quest for the truth landed her in the darkest of dark places, the world of trafficking. Every year, thousands of people are smuggled in and out of the United States to be sold and never heard from again. Many times it is family who sells them. While this is a truth we find hard to believe, we need to understand the lies presented to the families are leading them to believe a fairy tale for their child. The promise of a better life. This is not the truth, but a covering to deny the ugliness of the crime. There are many websites of organizations set up to inform the public of what to look for and what to take notice of, especially in places of travel, like airports and train stations. I encourage you to become aware and to join Roni, Ethan and Maddie by helping to bring this dark world into the light.

Roni and her brother Wade are on to the final road to their past—discovering the truth of what happened to their baby brother Luke. Stay tuned for the third and final book in the Roads to Danger series coming in the fall of 2016.

Readers can contact me through my website at
www.KatyLeeBooks.com
or snail mail at PO Box 486, Enfield, CT 06083. I always enjoy hearing from you.

Blessings,

Katy Lee

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