When You Dare (9 page)

At a shout from the driver of the car, her assailant looked up and saw Dare gunning for him. Eyes widening with comprehension of Dare’s rage, the man released Molly with a shove and jumped into the already moving black Charger. The car screeched out of the parking lot.

Stumbling into the brick facing of the store, her purchases scattered around her, Molly coughed and gasped for air. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks, more from being choked than weeping.

Bystanders gathered around her. One woman collected Molly’s dumped belongings for her and, when she didn’t accept them, set them near her feet.

His gaze glued to her, Dare elbowed his way through the crowd and reached out. “Molly.”

She launched against him.

Tightening his arms around her, he tucked her face in close and let her hide from their gaping audience. “I’ve got you, Molly. It’s okay now.”

But it wasn’t, and they both knew it.

Someone wanted her badly enough to risk grabbing her in the middle of a busy parking lot. The truck driver had been no more than a diversion for him—and he’d fallen for it.

Fury, aimed at himself, made Dare a little more gruff than necessary when he pushed her back to see her face.

“Are you hurt?”

Eyes a little wild, face still white, she shook her head, saying shakily, “No. I don’t think so.”

But her knees were bleeding, and her hair was again a mess. He’d seen many things in his lifetime, and he’d gained a reputation for his calm, calculated response. Seeing Molly this way left him churning with very unfamiliar feelings.

Cold and precise, he caught Molly’s elbow and grabbed up her bags. “Let’s go.”

He practically dragged her along, but he didn’t want to take any more chances. Someone behind them yelled, “I called the cops. They’re on the way.”

Dare ignored him. Cops would want Molly to stick around answering questions, and that went against what Dare wanted—which was to get her the fuck out of there, away from danger.

No way in hell would he miss their chartered flight.

He opened the door of the rented van, shoved her purchases to the floor, and all but put her in the passenger seat. He even buckled her in—and she didn’t protest.

She looked to be in shock, white-faced, shaken and so silent that it hurt him. Damn it, he wasn’t a man to act without thinking things through, but now, with her…

The insane pressure built until he couldn’t bear it anymore.

Dare cupped her face, leaned in and gave her a hard, fast kiss on the mouth.

That got her focused again. Heat flooded her face, and she inhaled sharply. As she touched shaking fingertips to her mouth, her wide-eyed gaze locked on his.

Still with his hand covering the coolness of her cheek, Dare said, “I’m not going to let them hurt you again, Molly. I swear it.”

Two deep breaths expanded her chest. She rolled her lips in, stared a moment more, and then nodded. “Okay. I…” She blinked. “Thank you, Dare.”

Her gratitude made him growl, but damn it, he didn’t have time to explain something to her that even he still didn’t understand. He slammed her door and jogged around to the driver’s side. If he didn’t hurry, they’d be there when the cops arrived and then he’d lose control of the situation. He needed to focus on protecting her, not dwell on how soft and sweet her mouth felt under his.

Within minutes they were well away from the Walmart and the possibility of police delays.

On the ride to the airstrip where they’d catch the charter plane, Dare questioned her. “Did the guy who grabbed you say anything?”

She held her hands in her lap, her face filled with confusion, maybe as much from his kiss as her near abduction. Dare could still taste her, and that brief touch of her mouth on his had stirred him and left him more determined than ever to keep her safe.

“They said to come along or I’d die.” She looked over at him. “But…they probably planned to kill me either way, don’t you think? That’s why I fought them.”

“You did good. You slowed them down.”

“I knew you were close by, and I knew that you’d get to me in time.”

Her faith struck him even more than that kiss had.

With still-wavering composure, she said, “Thank you, Dare. That’s twice now—”

His temper all but snapped.
“Damn it, Molly.”

She jumped, and, feeling like a bully, he moderated his tone.

“I wasn’t careful enough,” Dare told her. “I didn’t think that through. The minute I saw that idiot in the parking lot, I should have counted on a trap. I should have—”

“Stop it.” The quietness of her trembling voice added gravity to the command. “You don’t have psychic powers, so you couldn’t have known.”

“No, but I have experience and training.”

She reached over and touched his shoulder. “God’s truth, Dare, I feel safer with you than I possibly could with anyone else, so please don’t get discouraged.”

For Christ’s sake. She was all but in shock—
again
—and through his ill humor, he’d given her the wrong impression. He drew one breath, then another. “I am not discouraged, Molly. Just the opposite, from here on out I’m going to be a hell of a lot more careful. Got it?”

“Oh. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.”

Seeing that she was back to being super-proper again, Dare sighed. “Tell me about your family.”

“Why?”

“You said it yourself, Molly. It could be anyone doing this to you. You need an outside perspective on things. It’s always easiest to start with those closest to you.”

Humoring him, she said, “And that’d be my family.”

“Right. So tell me everything you can and let me sort out what’s important and what isn’t.”

With a shrug, she pondered things. “Well, like I told you, I ended things with my boyfriend. Actually, he was a fiancé before we separated, but we hadn’t yet picked a date to marry or anything.”

Fiancé? That nettled him, sent a cold fist tightening in his gut. Why, he didn’t want to ponder—except that he couldn’t believe Molly had loved Adrian.

Maybe she’d realized that, too, which was why she’d used a good excuse to break things off with him. “Did your family like him?”

“There’s only my Dad and Kathi, and my sister, Natalie. My dad’s parents are deceased. He was an only child. There are aunts and uncles and all that on my mother’s side, but they don’t live near us, and I think I’ve met most of them only a couple of times in my entire life.”

Trying to figure out the family dynamics, Dare asked, “So Kathi isn’t your mother?”

“Stepmother.” Without missing a beat, she said, “My mom threw herself off a bridge—twice—years ago.”

Dare did a double take. Molly announced her mother’s suicide so casually, it threw him. “I’m sorry.”

Antsy, still shaking, Molly stared out the side window. “Dad made Mom miserable. I was twelve the first time she tried to kill herself. She jumped off a bridge, but there was a rescue team doing drills in the river. She didn’t know they were there until they fished her out.”

“Damn. That had to be rough.”

She made a noncommittal sound. “Mom spent some time in the hospital, all the while with my dad harping over her selfishness and her weakness. For a few years after they released her, I thought she’d be okay.”

“But she wasn’t?”

“No.” Molly shook her head, and her voice lowered. “When I was fifteen, Dad cheated on her, and I guess it was too much.” She looked at Dare. “When she threw herself off the bridge the next time, she made sure it was a bridge over a highway, not water.”

Sorry he’d brought up such painful memories, Dare muttered, “Jesus.”

“Yeah.” Her hands knotted together, and she stared off at nothing. “Dad never showed much remorse, but he didn’t see the other woman again, either. I don’t think either of them, my mom or the woman he cheated with, ever meant that much to him.”

“Your dad sounds like a real prince.”

“He’s a selfish, pampered, class-A snob, believe me. He finds fault with everyone or everything.”

“Including his daughters?”

“Especially his daughters.” She glanced at Dare, her nose wrinkling. “I sometimes wonder how Kathi puts up with him.”

Hoping to get her back on track, Dare asked, “Did Kathi like Adrian?”

“She thought he was nice and wished us well. But Kathi is like that. Despite being rich even before she married my dad, who is pretty darned well-to-do, she tends to be very accepting of most people.”

Interesting. “So you get along with Kathi?”

Molly shrugged. “We don’t have a lot in common, really. She’s into social clubs and designer clothes, and she likes decorating, art and museums.”

“You said your dad is rich, so you must be used to those things, too.”

“No, Dad wanted Natalie and me to make it on our own, to earn our keep, as he put it. We skipped the private schools and travel abroad, and we always had summer jobs. I’m glad he took that attitude, because I wouldn’t want to be like him. And I’m not. But now, even though I’ve made it on my own, he finds me something of an embarrassment.”

With a red haze still crowding in around his vision, Dare knew that he didn’t like her father at all, and he wanted to put him at the top of his list of suspects. But he needed to be cold and methodical, not emotional and irrational.

Needing more info, he took a breath, locked his teeth, and asked, “How so?”

“It’s funny, really. Well, maybe
ironic
is a better word. See, all of Dad’s friends’ daughters are active in the community, heading up charitable events and stuff—as they were groomed to do. Some of them even work with Kathi. She’s a regular philanthropist. But thanks to how Dad raised us, that world is alien to me. So while the daughters of Dad’s peers are being revered in the press for their activism, all I do is mail off a check.”

“It’s more than most people do.” At least he’d distracted her, Dare decided. Her trembling had subsided, and she wasn’t so pale.

“Maybe.” She gave him a look and then shrugged. “In hindsight, I think Dad feels slighted that his offspring are so dismissed.”

“He sounds like an ass.”

She smiled and said again, “Maybe,” then added, “Most society women live in influential neighborhoods with posh accommodations, but my apartment is pretty simple.”

“Simple is good.”

“For me, it’s less about impressive entertaining and more about being functional so that I can find files and research notes when I need to. I’ve always been more into comfort than fashion, and when it comes to art, I like movie posters.” She gave a mock shudder. “Dad can’t stand it that I don’t own a single piece of
real
art.”

Dare imagined her apartment, and somehow it fit with what he already knew of her.

“Kathi has offered to go shopping with me.” Her lip curled. “To
help
me, you know, so that I can better represent my father. She’s all about making Dad look good however she can. But usually I stay too busy with deadlines to care about representing anything but my work.”

“Kathi sounds a little hoity-toity, but you just sound real.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. For the most part, we get along fine. Kathi does enjoy the finer things in life, but unlike my dad, she makes an effort to get along, and better still, she doesn’t turn up her nose at genre fiction.”

“What you write.”

“Kathi actually reads all my work.” She managed a half grin, and in a conspiratorial whisper added, “It drives my dad nuts.”

“He doesn’t read you?”

“God, no.” The mere thought had her looking ill.

Huh. “I would think all of your family would read you.” He was damn curious himself, and he planned to pick up one of her books at the first opportunity.

“My sister does sometimes, but mostly because…well, she’s my sister. You know? It’s not really her thing. She’s more into political dramas or true crime. And Dad…” Molly gave a mock shudder. “He wouldn’t be caught dead with a genre book in his personal library. Especially not one with explicit
sex
in it, and most especially not one of
my
books.”

That diverted Dare from his annoyance with her father. “Your books have explicit sex in them?”

She immediately went defensive. “Life has sex in it, and I write about life, about people who face hardships and in the end triumph through it all. Any really good triumph deserves a lasting love, don’t you think?”

Before he could answer, she said, “Of course it does. And any lasting love has to have really hot, wonderful sex.”

Dare raised a brow. He had no argument against hot sex, with or without love. Again, he brought her back to the point. “How about your sister? You said she reads your books just because you’re related. But how do the two of you get along otherwise? Did she like Adrian?”

Molly went quiet for a moment. “My sister… Well, Natalie and I are pretty close. She’s only three years younger than me, and through high school and college we hung out together. She’s not just my sister but my best friend, too. As my best friend, she doesn’t think anyone is good enough for me, but she especially didn’t like Adrian. Actually, she pegged him from jump. He
was
a gold digger, a user and a bully.”

Dare liked her sister already. “So we can rule out Natalie?”

Molly smirked. “She’d go after anyone who even spoke an unkind word to me.”

“Including your father?” Dare was relieved to see the tension leaving her by small degrees. Her inner strength and composure astounded him. There were no tears, no dwelling on what might have happened. She understood the urgency of the situation, but she didn’t fall apart over it.

“Dad butts heads with both of us on a regular basis. It’s pretty much what our relationship is all about—strife, contempt and strained politeness. If it wasn’t for Kathi, I don’t know how often Natalie or I would even see him.”

“So Kathi is the glue?”

“Pretty much. She’s forever inviting us all over together, hoping against hope that somehow my dad will move beyond his rigid censure of us. I think she’s motivated by appearances, mostly. You know, it looks better if Dad’s daughters actually like him and enjoy his company.” Her smile went flat. “But at least she tries.”