Chapter Six
Devi woke to the feel of light on her face, warm and inviting. Not annoying, like she didn’t want to wake up and smell the coffee and get to work light. No, this light was soft, and she shifted in the bed, reaching out for…
Nope. She shot straight up, the events of the night before exploding in her brain.
“Hey, easy now,”
a voice with a distinctly British accent said.
“You slept way longer than I thought you would so you’re probably a little woozy. Don’t try standing up too soon.”
“Where the fuck am I?”
She turned her head, catching sight of the woman sitting in a comfy lounger across the room. She looked roughly Devi’s age. Late twenties, with golden brown hair and dark eyes that looked slightly ethereal. She could be a fairy queen sitting there drinking her tea. Lovely and graceful, and now she remembered she’d been the one to drug her.
“And take one step toward me and we’ll have a problem. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did.”
Those warm brown eyes rolled, and she set down her tea and the book she’d been reading.
“Well, I’m terrified. You might pull my hair. You know for a Taggart you’re fairly easy to take down. In my world, you’re practically kings, but you must be one of the slow relations, if you know what I mean.”
And she was evil.
“You drugged me. What did he call you? Where is Zach? What is this place?”
“Such a curious lass. All right. Yes, I drugged you since I had to smuggle you out of the country on short notice and quite frankly, I didn’t think you would cooperate. Second, he called me Lacey. My name is Lacey Rook, though I go by several aliases. It’s such a good way to avoid being arrested. As for Zach, he’s getting checked over by a friend of mine. Arthur came out to check on my hillycoos, but he can make sure Zach’s all right, too. I think antibiotics work on both animals and people. To answer your last question, you’re in Wales. Some people I know run this farm as a sanctuary, and members of my group take turns keeping it up and taking care of the animals. Lucky for all of us, it’s my turn, and I explained I wouldn’t need helpers. I was bringing my American cousins along. We’ve got six weeks here and then we’ll have to find someplace else.”
Wales? Her brain started making connections. Wales was bordered by England, and London was in England, and that was where Vivian McKay lived, and Sophy Weston, too. She knew people here. People who could help her escape.
“If you’re thinking about running, feel free.”
Lacey stood and picked up her cup and book. She wore faded jeans and a soft-looking knit sweater.
“The Irish Sea is to your east, and England to the west. I think the nearest bus stop is twenty-four kilometers away. Good luck.”
“Kilometers? Is that far?”
A brilliant laugh huffed from Lacey.
“Oh, I love Americans. Look it up, darling.”
Her head was starting to hurt.
“Do you have to be such a bitch?”
She seemed to think about that for a moment.
“I suppose not, but it’s more fun this way.”
She sobered.
“Is your head hurting? You don’t have a concussion but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be comfortable. According to Zach, you were unconscious when he found you. Someone hit you.”
Lena. Her cousin’s stupid evil therapist. That was just wrong.
“My cousin’s therapist kidnapped me to make her do what she wanted. She knew she couldn’t take Kala out herself, so she used me.”
“Her therapist. Well, that’s not fair, is it? Though I’m sure with a name like Kala she probably needs it,”
Lacey said briskly.
“Now are you going to be stubborn and run or would you like me to tell you what’s happened? And perhaps give you something to get rid of your headache. I’ve got some herbal teas my mum sent with me. Don’t make fun of them. According to her, they come straight from the fairies, and the wee folk know how to take care of a person.”
She was still dreaming, right? This was… Was that a chicken? There was a chicken staring at her from the side of the bed. It stood there looking up at her.
“Don’t mind Miss Rachel,”
Lacey said, scooping the chicken up.
“She’s every bit as curious as you are. So which way are we going? If you hurry, you could sneak past Zach and perhaps get to the back field before he realizes you’re gone. Be careful. There’s a testy bull in that field. Abused terribly, and he’s easily startled, but then you would be, too, if they used you to train bull fighters. Poor Ferdinand.”
The last words were said to the chicken, who clucked as though she was entirely sympathetic to her bull brethren’s situation.
“Why am I here?”
Devi pushed back the covers and then realized she was down to her undies and an oversized T-shirt. Although she suspected it wouldn’t be oversized on Zach Reed. It would fit just right.
“Who undressed me?”
“Well, it wasn’t me. It was the bloke who put his entire life and work on the line to save you. It’s the reason he’s being looked over by a veterinarian instead of a real doctor, though I will say I would put my life in Arthur’s hands.”
She looked down at the chicken in her arms.
“He saved you, Rachel. Poor baby had terrible stomach issues when she came here.”
Devi was starting to get the idea Lacey wasn’t about to give up anything. She was going to have to ask.
“Can I have my clothes back?”
Lacey gave her a smile as she headed for the bedroom door.
“Of course. When they dry. I hung them up this morning. Should be nice and dry in a couple of hours. If it doesn’t rain.”
“Or you could throw them in the dryer,”
Devi suggested.
Lacey turned in the hallway, an intimidating look on her face.
“Do you have any idea what kind of energy conventional clothes dryers use? Not to mention how hard they are on actual clothing. Do you care about the planet in any way?”
Devi was not going into this.
“Look, lady, you’re the one who kidnapped me. Are you planning on lecturing me on climate change for torture? Because that would be a good way to get me to walk into the sea.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t love the Earth. She did, but this woman was irritating her on a base level. And also, where the fuck was Zach? She glanced around the bedroom and noted that his bag was on the floor by the bed and someone’s head had definitely lain on that pillow beside her. Asshole thought she was sharing a room with him? That was not happening.
Although she was his prisoner. Was she not being scared enough? Prisoner. She’d been a prisoner, and Kala had been, too.
“Are you okay? You went pale,”
Lacey said, sounding like she gave a damn.
But Devi was stuck because it all flooded back. The night… She’d wriggled out the bathroom window because she didn’t need a damn bodyguard. This Huisman person was coming after Zach, and no one seemed to understand that Zach didn’t give a shit about her.
I thought he was in love with Tasha. It’s good to see he’s moving on.
Careless words. Words she wasn’t supposed to hear. He wanted a Taggart. It wouldn’t be the first time an intelligence officer tried to use her family name to get a leg up. Tasha’s first fiancée had done the same thing.
Zach didn’t give a shit beyond her last name. He’d lost his shot at her cousin, the twins had their eyes on other men, and her cousin Carys had recently married. So she was the only female Taggart left for the picking. And she’d been such easy prey. Yes, that had been boiling through her system as she made her way to The Hideout. And then Lena had been waiting with big guys and guns, and they walked into the club and told her cousin they would kill her if she didn’t do what they wanted.
Again. She was the pawn. She was being used to gain a particular outcome.
She felt a hand go to her chest as she heard the shot in her memory. Aunt Eve. Aunt Eve had been with Kala. She’d tried to protect her and Lena shot her. Shot her in the chest. Devi watched her go down and knew…
Screaming. She could hear her cousin screaming in pain, and there was nothing she could do about it. When they brought her back, Kala had been paralyzed and then Lena had been there again and it was Devi’s turn to protect her cousin.
She failed.
“Devi? Sweetness, what’s going on? You’re safe.”
Zach’s words penetrated the horror movie playing through her brain. She could feel the way they tossed her around. How they’d treated Kala like she was a fucking doll. They tossed them into the plane like cargo, and she’d held onto her cousin’s unconscious body so she didn’t roll around. She’d lain there holding on and praying that Zach would find them. That she wouldn’t lose Kala this way, wouldn’t die without seeing him again.
His arms were around her, and she was sitting on his lap in the same cozy chair Lacey had been in when she woke up. Just for a second, she breathed him in, let his familiar scent comfort her.
“Kala?”
She felt him kiss the top of her head.
“She’s fine. Cooper got her out and I got you out. From what I can tell she’s on her way back to Dallas with the rest of the team.”
“My Aunt Eve…she…she…”
He stroked her hair.
“Is alive and well. She’s going to pull through. Everyone is alive, Devi. Well, Lena isn’t. Kala took care of her. Tell me what he did to you. Lacey and I both looked you over and we didn’t see any bruising except around your wrists. But we both know he doesn’t have to leave scars to hurt you.”
Oh, she felt pretty scarred. It was time to be an adult and not a clinging child. She had to remember that all this affection was for show. It was to trick her and make her fall further for him. Now he had even more reasons to draw her in. He was AWOL. Her uncle might be able to handle the situation if she cried prettily and begged him to take care of the man she loved.
And she did. But that love didn’t go both ways, and she wasn’t going to let herself be used. She sat up.
“Hey, go slow. You almost passed out.”
His arm tightened around her waist as though he was afraid to let her go.
“Just rest for a minute. The sedative she gave you is probably making you woozy.”
“Reliving the torture I went through is making me woozy, Zach. Please let me up. I don’t want to be here.”
He took a long breath and moved his arms so she was free.
“I know, sweetness, and that is one hundred percent my fault. I should have come after you the minute Huisman made his play. I shouldn’t have left you behind.”
Her head hurt and she wanted to cry. Was crying, but in an inactive way. She needed a big sob fest to get rid of the anxiety anvil that sat on her chest. She swiped at the tears and tried to shove the turmoil down deep as she slid off his lap and forced herself to stand on her own two feet.
“Are you saying you wish you kidnapped me earlier?”
He had the grace to wince.
“That sounds worse than I meant it. I’m just saying I didn’t handle this well, Devi. I should have come to you. I thought it was better to leave you with your family. I thought they could protect you. Now I’m going to do the job, but I should have come to you and told you the truth.”
“About how you want to marry a Taggart and you weren’t going to let a little thing like being a criminal and betraying your team stop you?”
Anger was far easier to deal with than the horrible vulnerable feeling she’d gone through.
She was weak. She was lesser. No one wanted to hire her even after all the money her family put into her college. She had been kidnapped. Twice. Neither time was the actual kidnapping about her. One had been to force Daisy O’Donnell out into the open, and the other she was leverage against her brilliant, deadly cousin.
He went still, his eyes pinning her.
“That is not true.”
“So you didn’t have a thing for Tasha?”
It was stupid that she was stuck on this. He betrayed everyone. Put his whole team in danger, and she didn’t really know why but this was what she pushed at him.
Because once again she was small and insignificant, with the exception of her family name.
“I had a kid-like crush on her in the beginning.”
He seemed to think through every word.
“I never touched her. Never once made a move on her.”
“Not like you did with me. She was the beautiful, perfect woman, and I was available.”
It was how she felt.
“I was convenient and had the proper last name.”
“This is where we’re going?”
His lips curled up in a slightly self-satisfied smirk.
“I kidnap you, haul you across the ocean and away from your family, and you’re jealous. Not angry. Jealous. Baby, we’re already halfway there.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She took a step back as he stood and loomed over her.
It was too bad she’d been wearing sneakers when they caught her. Not that she had them now, but she longed for some four-inch heels. They wouldn’t put her on eye level with him, but they would help.
He simply stood there, that stupid, sexy smirk on his face.
“It means I thought it would take weeks to get back into your bed, but if I was betting now, I would say a couple of days and you’ll need more than you can give yourself. We’re stuck on this nice but weird farm and oops, there’s only one bed.”
“Zach, I am not fucking around with you. You sought me out because I was the last Taggart you could hit on.”
He frowned, a look of pure consternation coming on his face.
“Why would you say that? Look, the thing with Tasha was probably more about her dad and wanting to belong than I want to admit. But you… I looked at you and I wanted you. I know we met before and I always thought you were beautiful, but that night we connected in a way I have never connected before.”
“Because my cousins wouldn’t give you the time of day,”
she shot back.
“I didn’t want your cousins,”
he said in an altogether too calm voice.
“Kala and Kenz are like sisters to me. As for Tasha, I’m now pretty sure it wouldn’t have worked. She’s too calm and polite for me. I seem to have a thing for brats.”
She shook her head.
“No. I don’t believe a word you say.”
“And I can understand that. Devi, I wish I could let you move on with your life. I wish I was a good enough man to not touch you again because there’s no happy ending for us. I’m going to die or go to prison, and if I was a better man, I would hand you back to your uncle. But I’m not. I’m a desperate man, and I need these weeks with you because one way or another this is it, and you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever will happen to me. I’ll do pretty much anything to get back into your bed and have these last days with you.”
He sounded so serious, like he’d spent weeks thinking about what he would say to her. She wanted to sit and talk to him and work this out. What if he was telling her the truth? What if he honestly wanted her and this was a tragic misunderstanding? What if she was his real love?
She needed to kill this part of herself. The part that wanted to believe the best in everyone. The part that thought she should try one more time and everything would work out.
“You can go to hell. I consider myself your prisoner, Zach. Every bit as much as I was his prisoner last night, and honestly, for the same reasons. You need something from my uncle. I don’t buy for a second that you’re willing to die or go to prison. You’re a user, and you’ll use me to save yourself from whatever is going on here.”
She was feeling mean. Her head hurt, and she wasn’t even sure they were telling her the truth about where she was. Or if Lacey was only a friend. She was probably Zach’s mistress and she was helping her man save himself.
“What’s wrong, Zach? Were your mommy and daddy not good enough for you and you need a new family? Poor little boy wants mine? Is that it?”
His eyes closed, and if he was acting, he was damn good at it.
“I suppose I deserve that. I’ll leave you alone then. I’ll find another place to sleep. Be careful when you’re walking around. Lacey doesn’t believe in penning in the cows. I’ll see you at dinner.”
He moved around her, leaving the room. The space was suddenly quiet but her mind wasn’t.
“Wow, now I believe you’re a Taggart,”
an unwelcome voice said. Lacey stood in the door with a mug of tea in her hand. She walked in like she owned the place, setting the tea down on a coaster on the table by the chair.
“It’s something my mum has used since she was a kid. It always helps with headaches. I don’t think it will make you less of a bitch, though.”
“Yeah, because the kidnapped girl should be polite to the people holding her. Sure thing.”
She looked back to the door where Zach disappeared. Was he trying to play on her sympathy? Did he think looking like a hurt boy would bring her around?
“Well, you weren’t exactly polite to the men guarding you, were you? So it feels like you’re a bit nasty to everyone.”
Lacey frowned and moved to the corner of the room. She opened the door to the closet.
“Come on, kitty. I don’t think she wants you in here. Will you let me pick you up?”
The cat hissed and retreated.
Lacey sighed.
“Someone found her out in the woods starved and obviously abused. She likes dark, small places. She’s also pregnant, so I have to worry if she’ll let me close enough to help with the kittens when they come. And now I have to deal with you. I’ll get her out of here. I wouldn’t want her abused further.”
“Why would I abuse a cat?”
Devi asked.
Lacey shrugged.
“Well, I watched you tear apart a person you supposedly loved, so I thought perhaps a cat would be a way to take out your frustrations. You seem to do that a lot.”
“You don’t know me, lady.”
“Don’t I? I know the reports. I know you were a thoughtless child more interested in throwing a tantrum than honoring the people you say you love.”
Oh, this was what she needed. A stranger to tell her what a shit person she was.
“I am not a child, and I’m not the one who kidnapped a person. I’m a fucking victim like I always am.”
“Boohoo, love,”
Lacey said almost absently.
“It’s your fault you’re here, though I doubt you’ll take any accountability.”
This woman was deranged.
“Accountability for my own kidnapping?”
“Oh, I think you should take accountability for most of what happened. Not the Huisman rubbish. He’s pure evil, but you gave him the way in,”
Lacey pointed out.
“Excuse me?”
Lacey stopped and seemed to decide whether or not she wanted to continue.
“Did you or did you not ditch your bodyguard?”
“You know I did.”
“And how did that work out for you?”
Lacey asked, an elegant brow arched over her eyes as she turned Devi’s way.
“Because let me play out a couple of scenarios for you. If you had been with Landon when you walked into the club, he could have taken out Lena and her crew. At the very least he would have realized something was happening and called in the troops.”
Guilt twisted inside her because Lacey wasn’t wrong.
“I didn’t think anyone was coming for me.”
“Zach didn’t warn you?”
“He didn’t call me. He talked to my cousins. They went to my parents, and I got the bodyguard.”
He hadn’t talked to her at all.
“So your parents love you and your cousins love you and Zach…”
She would only let this woman go so far.
“Don’t you say it.”
“I don’t have to. We both know the truth. You’re the beloved daughter of a tight-knit family who wants you to be safe, and you repay them by getting someone shot.”
“I didn’t shoot my aunt.”
“Didn’t you?”
Lacey seemed determined to poke every wound.
“I mean I know you didn’t pull the trigger but—again—what if you hadn’t ditched your guard and they hadn’t been able to use you to gain entrance to the club? I read the reports. Your team thinks they’re safe from hackers, but I’m quite good. What would have happened?”
“They would have waited for Eve and Kala to come out and they would have shot her there.”
Lacey’s head shook.
“That is not the most likely scenario. It’s the one that takes the blame off you.”
“Fine. What’s the likely scenario?”
Devi asked, not wanting to hear it.
“Well, the most likely one is that Eve McKay and the young Miss Taggart would have still been in the club when it opened and Lena wouldn’t have been able to get in once people started showing up. Another scenario, they do get inside but they only have Eve. They need her then. They needed someone or something to force that badger you call a cousin to comply. Eve would have worked. So then she is unharmed and tossed on the plane and sent to Virginia instead of fighting for her life and potentially losing a great deal of lung capacity, but it’s all right since you were feeling… How were you feeling?”
Angry. Alone. Stubborn. She’d stood in that dumb bathroom and she’d needed to find some freedom, needed to show everyone that she wasn’t this target because Zach Reed didn’t love her. She wanted her parents to hate him. Her mom worried about him, didn’t believe he would ever truly hurt his team and wanted to wait for more of what she called intel.
Devi heard her brother’s girlfriend talk about Zach and how good he was.
Her mom was an excellent judge of character.
“I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”
Lacey gently closed the closet door.
“I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt your aunt or cousin, but you absolutely meant to hurt Zach, and good on you. You scored a perfect hit since both his parents are wanted criminals and they’re the reason he’s in this position, though you know everything, so I’m sure you knew that. Way to kick a man when he’s down.”
Oh, she knew nothing.
“He didn’t talk about his father. He just told me his mom was in and out of jail and his aunt raised him.”
“I’m surprised he mentioned them at all. He was vulnerable with you, and you stabbed him right where he told you to. Like I said, now I believe you’re a Taggart. Should I move the cat or can you leave her be?”
Devi blinked back tears. He had told her about his mom. They laid in bed between bouts of ridiculously hot sex and he talked about his childhood and how hard it had been.
And she’d slid the knife in.
But damn it, he lied to her. He wrecked her damn life.
“I’m not going to hurt the cat.”
“Then I’ll let you be. Like I said the sea is that way,”
she said, pointing to the east.
“You can walk right in and swim your way back to your fabulous life where you don’t have to worry about the world exploding or burning, or well, any of the tragedies we’re on the verge of. You can swim off and go back to your happy life. If you don’t, we have tea at four and supper at 7:30. I’m off to town to pick up the list of shite Zach thinks you need. I should also apparently pick up something stronger than Mum’s tea since Zach is going to end up on the couch, and it won’t fit him. He was right about the one bed. I’m certainly not giving up mine.”
Lacey walked out and shut the door.
Guilt swamped Devi but she took a deep breath and sat back on the bed. To the side, the cat hissed again.
Yeah, she knew how that feline felt.