MasterofVelvet (20 page)

“Not yet, love,” he replied, “but it will take a very
special woman—someone as special as you are to me —to pin him down and make him
commit to her.”

* * * * *

The next morning Beth found herself on her own in the office
trying to concentrate on her writing. It was difficult knowing that Adam and
Dan were preparing to defend them all in a possible life-or-death situation.
Even now, they were patrolling the grounds armed with Adam’s shotguns. She
needed fresh air and a walk. The house, for all its luxury, was starting to
feel like a prison and she didn’t want to risk incurring Adam’s wrath by
suggesting again that she’d like to take a walk to the village. Once was more
than enough.

Clad in coat and boots, she made her way to the door that
led to the courtyard at the back of the house. When she opened it she stared in
horror, voice paralyzed with fear at the wild-eyed, unkempt man who stood
there.

“Granger’s whore!” he spat at her. “Where’s the bastard
coward hiding?”

Terrified, Beth stepped backward, her mind willing suddenly
leaden feet to move faster. She turned, instinct taking over, and ran only to
be brought down by a vicious tackle that sent her crashing headfirst into the
wall.

With the last vestiges of consciousness slipping away she
felt rough hands ripping open her coat, removing her boots and tearing off her
jeans.

It was all he could do not to charge in and tear the bastard
limb from limb.

Adam came to an abrupt halt outside the family room, rage
consuming him like an all-devouring forest fire, at what he saw in front of
him. His hand tightened on the haft of the combat knife. In that split second,
he was ready to kill.

Beth was on her knees in the center of the room, clearly set
there as bait in a trap, Adam’s worst fear a terrifying tableau right there in
front of him.

Somehow Ewan Underwood had gotten into the house and was
responsible for the obscene sight of Beth with her hands taped together so that
only her right thumb was free, pressing down on what could only be a dead man’s
switch—the only thing keeping her alive, the only thing keeping her from being
destroyed by the military-grade explosives packed into the suicide vest that
embraced her torso. How the hell had Underwood got his hands on that? In Adam’s
estimation, there was enough to take out most if not all of the house.

More tape covered her mouth.

She didn’t yet know he was there, Adam realized grimly. Her
gaze, that of a petrified animal, was fixed unwaveringly on the switch. If only
she’d look up, then she’d see him and he could give her the reassurance she
needed for both of them to survive this.

Adam didn’t know what had made him suddenly decide to return
to the house, asking Dan to check the outbuildings and stables—but whatever it
was he wished to God it had happened earlier. Then he could have intercepted
Underwood before the other man could drag Beth into this mess.

As soon as he’d entered the house Adam had felt the familiar
prickling sensation, a portent that something was very wrong. He’d checked the
secure room first, hoping that Beth might have made it there, that somehow
she’d had sufficient warning to take refuge—but the emptiness of it had
screamed at him. The ensuing silent search had led him to the family room,
where he’d finally found the woman who was his life.

Beth knew she was on the verge of full-blown hysteria. Only
the silver tape across her mouth was preventing her from giving in to the
scream that was in danger of choking her.

Her head was still swimming from hitting it on the wall when
her assailant, who had to be Ewan Underwood, had lunged after her when she’d
tried to escape from him. She didn’t remember anything else until pain had
exploded in her jaw. She’d heard a man’s voice growling obscenity after
obscenity at her, felt another slap and registered the sensation of being
dragged into a kneeling position.

Sometime between the two events, she’d been stripped of her
coat, boots, socks and jeans. Her ankles were bound together, probably with the
same tape he’d used on her hands and mouth, and her legs were well on the way
to losing all sensation and feeling.

There was the metallic tang of blood in her mouth, telling
her that one of the blows she’d received had cut the inside of her lip. The
taste reminded her of what Underwood had said and done after striking her.

“Shut up, bitch!” he’d snarled when she’d tried to reason
with him, before forcing something into her hands, grabbing her thumb and
pressing it on the end of the tubular object and holding it there, while
winding more of the tape around her wrists and hands. “This is a dead man’s
switch. It’s connected to your new designer outfit. Have a look.” He’d pointed
at her chest.

She’d known it was there, felt the bulk of it wrapped around
her body—but hadn’t dared look until that moment. What she saw terrified her—a
vest with wires and blinking lights and cylindrical blocks of what looked like
clay, except that there was writing on them. What screamed out at her were
three characters—PE4. She didn’t know what that was but it couldn’t be good.

“When I flip this switch,” he’d held up a little black box,
“your nice outfit goes live and so long as you don’t let go of this,“ a shake
of her wrists, “you won’t go boom. Got it, bitch?”

Shaking with terror, Beth had barely been able to nod. Now, oblivious
to the tears running freely down her cheeks, panic screaming through her mind,
all she could do was stare at the switch clasped in her hands, her thumb
pressing down so hard that the knuckle was already white. The way her hands
were restrained meant that she couldn’t even change fingers.

She was only distantly aware of the man’s movements as he
took cover behind the open door to the family room with gun in hand, leaving
her kneeling in full view of whoever might be out in the hallway…and in no doubt
whatsoever that she was intended to lure the man she loved to his death.

Adam knew he should wait for Dan to join him—it was the only
sensible thing to do—but every primitive impulse in him was roaring to rescue
his woman and protect her. Before he could do that, however, he needed her to
know he was there so that he didn’t scare her into letting go of the switch
that was keeping her alive.

He needed a miracle.

“Beth.”

He couldn’t have said whether he spoke her name or just
thought it but in that sweet moment, she looked up and her eyes connected with
his. The fear he saw there twisted a knife through his heart and then the fear
was gone, replaced with love and complete trust. He even saw the tension leave
the strained, straight line that her mouth had become.

Yet even as he smiled and nodded to reassure her, the look
in her eyes changed again, became intense and focused in a way that awed him.
In that instant they became a team. And she was talking to him—talking with her
eyes, telling him that Underwood was hiding behind the family room door.

He nodded. She blinked.

He mouthed the words “I love you”, and she blinked again.

And more blinking—now there was a frantic quality about it.
She was trying to tell him something—but what? It was a wild stab in the dark
but he mimicked firing a gun. The single blink was slow and controlled and told
him what he needed to know. Yes.

So he was facing a madman hiding behind the door, armed with
a gun and he had nothing more than a combat knife, the shotgun an impractical
proposition in the confined space of the house. The odds were not good but
hell, he was trained and Underwood was deranged. That had to even things up by
a significant amount.

In a fraction of a second Adam called on all his military
expertise—the training that had made him such a cool strategist under fire—to
weigh the best option for tackling the intruder. He couldn’t wait for Dan to
arrive. He had to do something now. If he’d had his friend’s skill with the
knife, he might have waited until Underwood came into view and taken the
bastard down from a distance but with Beth in such a precarious situation, Adam
wasn’t prepared to take the chance—there was no way she was going to be
collateral damage. He had to get in there and keep his body between her and the
man who was using her to lure him into the trap.

A shadow of movement in the tiny gap between the door and
jamb caught his eye and in that instant he burst into action, forcing the door
beyond the limit of the hinges and sending the intruder flying across the room.
Adam hurled himself at his opponent, his eyes taking in the other man’s gun,
knowing that if he and Beth were to survive this there was only one possible
outcome.

Dan went through the house, looking for Adam and Beth. He’d
found nothing outside the house to indicate any trouble but as soon as he’d
entered through the kitchen he’d sensed the unnerving quiet—until the sound of
all hell breaking loose, culminating in a single gunshot, had led him to bypass
the secure room and go straight to the family room, his gut wrenching when he
took in the scene that awaited him.

Behind Beth, Adam was down but not before he’d taken out the
intruder and looking at the unnatural angle of the man’s neck, it looked like
Adam had managed to take him out permanently. But it was Beth who was causing
him the most concern. Dear God, what had Underwood done to her?

She was shaking, terrified out of her mind and tears pouring
down her face with a death grip on the switch in front of her. God knew how
long she’d been gripping it like that but if cramps set in, they’d all be done
for.

“Easy, Beth,” he said softly, “it’s Dan. Everything’s okay. It’s
all over.”

He knelt down in front of her and very carefully peeled the
length of tape away from her mouth. The look in her eyes was near to hysteria
as he started on the tape binding her hands.

“Just hold on a little while longer, angel,” he soothed her,
keeping his voice low and calm. “I need you to hold the button just a little
longer. Can you do that for me?”

“Adam…” Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Don’t worry about him, Beth, he’s tougher than you think.
Now I need to get us some help with this but I can’t use my mobile phone around
this—“ he nodded at the explosives. “I have to use the landline in the hall.
I’ll be as quick as I can, just don’t let go, okay?”

She nodded stiffly. “It hurts, Dan,” she whispered. “I can’t
move.”

Jesus
. Dan swore under his breath.

“Is Adam all right?”

“Beth, don’t worry.” He shot a glance at his friend, doing
the very thing he’d just told Beth not to do. Blood was soaking into the carpet
at an alarming rate. “Just stay still, and I’ll get help.”

Dan Chesterfield could rewrite the book on frustration.
After calling the emergency services, he’d gone back into the family room to
tend to Adam’s wounds and reassure Beth and then been banished when the
paramedics took over care of his friend, while the RLC Explosive Ordnance
Disposal operators dealt with the suicide vest with the fire brigade on
standby. The police were hovering around too, and he really didn’t want to have
to deal with any of their freaking questions right now—not when a quick phone
call to the right office in Whitehall, just as soon as he could make it, would
get them off his back.

That sense of frustration mounted while he kicked his heels
at the front of the house, chatting to the second team of paramedics who were
waiting to take care of Beth once she was free of the hellish device that had
been forced on her. The guys from the Royal Logistic Corps had already advised
both him and the paramedics—quite forcefully—to get as far away from the house
as possible, because if something went wrong it was highly likely that most of
the house would go up. The paramedics had flat-out refused.

And there was no way he was running like some craven coward.
Not when Beth was in the middle of it all and had no choice. If they’d let him,
he’d have been in there with her, reassuring her and encouraging her, the way
her Master would have done had he been able.

The paramedics tending Adam had stabilized his condition and
taken him to hospital quite some time ago. Dan wanted to phone the hospital to
find out what was going on but he couldn’t get in to use the landline in the
house nor could he make a call on his mobile phone, in case an errant signal interfered
with the circuits governing the detonation of the explosives packed into the
vest. It was unlikely but Dan wasn’t taking any chances.

If ever there was a time he needed to be able to split
himself in two this was it. The only comfort was knowing that while he could do
nothing practical for either Adam or Beth, Adam was being taken care of by the
health professionals he needed, so he, Dan, could be here when Beth was free. She
no doubt would need a shoulder to lean on, no matter how strong she was. He
could ensure that she was taken to hospital for the care she would need and he
would follow.

The all clear, shouted by the EOD operator emerging from the
front door of Adam’s house broke into Dan’s reverie. He followed the medics in,
unsure of what would greet him.

She was still in a kneeling position, crying, sobs that were
damn near hysterical but at the same time she was trying to control them as she
tried to stand up with the assistance of one of the paramedics. Dan flexed his
fingers, gritting his teeth and trying to prevent his hands forming into fists.
If Underwood hadn’t already been dispatched, he’d have been quite happy to
finish off the job. “Beth, let me help.”

She looked up at him. He could see the question forming in
her mind.

“Adam’s been taken to the hospital, angel. They’re taking
good care of him, I promise, and I know he’d want me to take care of you while
he can’t.”

Ignoring the paramedics, Dan gently lifted Beth into his
arms, letting her legs straighten out gradually, wincing as what must have been
a ferocious attack of pins-and-needles savaged her circulation-starved limbs.
She whimpered softly, burrowing her face into his neck, holding onto him for dear
life. He looked at the senior paramedic, who nodded in answer to the unspoken
question.

“I’m going to take you to the ambulance now, angel,” he said
softly. “They need to take a look at you and make sure you’re all right.” He
started walking. “You’ve had a nasty bump to the head and a couple of other
injuries we need to take a look at and any time now you could start going into
shock. Ad would kill me if I didn’t take good care of you. They’re going to
take you to the same hospital where he is and I’ll be right behind the
ambulance in the car, okay?”

* * * * *

Dan paused just inside the Intensive Care Unit, his purpose
originally just to check on Adam. Beth was still an inpatient under observation
for a concussion. When he saw her sitting beside Adam’s bed, clad in the
god-awful hospital-issue clothing they’d given her when admitted and with the
plastic identity bracelet encircling her wrist, he made to go. He was unwilling
to break the intimacy of the moment but then Beth softly called his name. He
turned back.

“How are you doing, angel? I’m glad they kept you in—you
need someone to keep an eye on you for a while.” He leaned down to kiss her
cheek.