Part 11 (2/2)

As his hands moved over her she roused. ”What...what're you doing?”

She pushed up and tried to scramble away from him, her eyes wide with fright and confusion.

He held up his hands in a calming manner. ”It's all right. You're okay. Whoever attacked you is gone now.”

A frown marred her forehead. She rubbed a hand over her face and shook her head. ”I came in here to find you and he came out of nowhere, wrestled me to the floor and then drugged me with an inhalant.”

Noah picked up an object from the floor. It had, apparently, been under her. ”He left you a gift.”

Her gaze focused on the voodoo doll in his hand. It was black with a lock of long blond hair wrapped around it. Blue's blond hair, Noah was certain.

”You're sure it was a man?” he asked, his gaze connecting with hers.

She nodded. ”I'm positive.”

The lights had been set so low when he'd come in the room he couldn't see how she could be so certain. ”The room was almost completely dark.”

She pushed to her feet. ”I'm positive it was a man,” she said more firmly, irritably in fact. He supposed if he'd just been drugged he would be a bit irritable as well.

Noah pushed to his feet, watching her closely. The next thought that occurred to him sent fury roaring through his veins. ”Did he...?”

The look in her eyes told him he didn't have to finish the question. ”No. But I felt him-” she cleared her throat ”-against me. He was aroused.”

Fury...outrage...there was no word to describe accurately the depth of the emotion ripping him apart inside. He crushed the doll in his fist, wanting to do the same to whoever had done this to her. He didn't care that somehow someone had trespa.s.sed in his home. He only cared that they had touched her.

”I want you to leave. Today.” He spoke slowly, struggling to keep his words even, a semblance of calm in his tone. ”I don't need your protection. I can take care of myself.”

She threaded her fingers through her hair and exhaled a heavy breath. ”We've been through this before, Drake,” she refuted firmly. ”I'm not leaving until the threat to you is neutralized or I'm rea.s.signed.” She c.o.c.ked her head and glared defiantly at him, daring him to rebut her proclamation.

A new blast of outrage stiffened his spine. ”Fine. Then you'll be rea.s.signed. Rothman brought you here, he can send you away.”

Noah gave her his back and left the room. He would call Edgar now. He wanted her out of here today.

Final decision made, Noah double-timed it back down to the second floor and paused at Lowell's room. He tapped on the door. ”It's safe to come out, Lowell. We need to call Chester to come take you to the mainland to have your arm seen to.”

The door opened slowly. Lowell peeked out before opening it all the way. ”I can probably get there on my own,” he offered, always sensitive to putting anyone out.

Noah shook his head and surveyed the older man for other injuries. ”No, it might not be safe for you to go alone. We'll call Chester. Dawn is upon us, I'm sure Chester will be up.”

Noah ignored a seething Blue who followed close behind him. The sound of her soft voice tugged at his senses as she questioned Lowell about his encounter in the hall. It appeared that both had been attacked by the same person. Both insisted the house's exterior doors had been locked.

Whatever the case, Noah was taking no more chances. Lowell and Blue were leaving. He would face this alone. He should have insisted on this to begin with. Edgar had pulled a fast one on Noah by sending Blue, and then he'd been so intrigued by her he had not sent her away immediately. A mistake on both their parts. Noah wouldn't put it past Edgar's having asked for a woman, perhaps even this particular woman, in hopes of stirring emotions in Noah.

Well, his plan had worked.

Too well.

But it was over now.

The loud pounding on the front door made Blue gasp as they descended the main staircase.

Resisting the urge to look back at her, Noah hesitated at the bottom of the stairs and waited for Blue and Lowell to catch up with him. He kept his eyes carefully averted from hers.

”The two of you can wait in the living room while I see who is here.”

Blue placed a hand against his chest. ”I'm the one with the gun handy.”

Noah lifted a skeptical eyebrow. ”That doesn't appear to have been a great deal of help to you thus far.”

Her full lips thinned in anger. ”Step aside, Drake, I'm getting the door. Besides, the sun is rising.”

Realization jolted Noah with her words. He'd been so overwrought with concern for her and for Lowell, that he'd completely forgotten this d.a.m.ned curse.

She inclined her head toward the stairs. ”Go back to your room. Lock yourself in. We'll take care of this.” She withdrew her nine-millimeter.

”Check the viewfinder first,” Noah insisted, determined to know the extent of the threat, if any, before he left them alone with it.

She huffed a breath, then did as he asked. ”It's Lucas!” She turned to Noah. ”Did you call him?”

He shook his head. ”No.” And he hadn't. His call was going to be to Edgar. He wanted Blue and her people off this island today. ”But since he's here, invite him in. We have things to discuss.”

Noah retired to the parlor where any light let in by the opening of the door wouldn't reach him.

Blue glowered at his retreating back. She had never in her life met such a stubborn man. Then she thought of those heartrending works of art in his secret room. Her anger dissolved, leaving only the raw emotions she knew would serve no purpose. But she simply couldn't push them away.

She drew in a bolstering breath and opened the door. ”Mr. Camp, is something wrong?” She tried to sound calm and businesslike. At the moment she was too worried about what Noah intended to say to her boss.

Confusion lined Lucas's brow. ”I received your 9-1-1. What's going on here?”

”What?” She stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door closed behind her, not wanting Noah to overhear. ”I didn't send out a call for help.”

The purple and gold hues of dawn stretched across the lush green lawn and the black sedan parked there. A thin mist still clung to the air, reminding her of the night before last's adventure in the woods with Sykes and Jaymo.

”I don't know what's going on, Callahan,” Lucas began, ”but I don't like this at all. Who had access to your pager in the last half hour?”

The memory of being rendered unconscious by an intruder exploded inside her head.

Someone was watching every move she made.

Someone who had the means to gain access to the house.

A p.r.i.c.kling sensation on the back of her neck sent her instincts soaring toward alert.

”We should go inside,” she suggested, scanning the yard once more. ”I've got-”

A high-pitched crack rent the air.

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