Balancing Act (23 page)

As she tried to pull away, he swung his fist and struck her in the jaw. Tessa reeled, fighting the dizzy roaring in her ears and the sudden nausea. And that reminded her she had more than herself to think of. There was her baby. She went instantly still, uncertain where the next blow might land should she continue to fight.

“That’s better. Let’s go for a ride.” He laughed. “You always were rather fond of small, dark places, weren’t you, cousin? I’ll let you ride back here so it doesn’t look suspicious.”

Tessa stared at the trunk in horror, her heartbeat already quickening and her breathing getting shallow. She refused to look at him. She would not let him see her panic at the mere thought of being locked in the trunk. Peter produced a roll of duct tape and wrapped it around her wrists, behind her back, before he shoved her in. Tessa did her best to keep from hitting her stomach on the car as she fell. It was her head that hit instead and this time when she heard the roaring in her ears, it was almost with relief she felt herself blacking out.

* * * *

Seth drove like a maniac taking the two people riding with him back home. As soon as they were out of the car, he broke every speed limit to get back to Flamingo Road.

Tessa was working at a
strip club
? His hands clenched on the wheel. He’d wanted to throttle every man who had looked at her, even though she had made it crystal clear she didn’t want him. He thought about the outfit she’d worn. It left little to the imagination. No, it left nothing to the imagination! He could still see her slipping that twenty between the creamy curves of her breasts. His Tessa. His sweet, innocent, stubborn Tessa! His throat tightened in pain. He couldn’t believe how blind and stupid he’d been.

She hadn’t gone from him to some other man; everything she had done was because she loved Zach, just as it always had been. It was what had brought her to Barrett to begin with, and what still drove her when she’d left. She would do anything to protect her little brother except compromise her professionalism. So yeah, he believed what Zach had told him about who was responsible for the travel account fiasco. Seth knew his one moment of doubt might very well have cost him any chance with Tessa. Already leery of giving her trust, she was even less likely to give it now.

He was so intent on getting back to the club, he almost missed her car headed in the opposite direction. He pulled into a parking lot of another business and whipped the Escalade around. He caught the car at the next stoplight and looked over, preparing to get her attention. The man behind the wheel looked at him and then back at the road.

Was he mistaken? The light changed and Seth was getting ready to turn back around when he noticed the small sticker for Zach’s school on the back bumper. That was too much of a coincidence.

It was Tessa’s car, but where was she? He dropped back far enough to keep the car in sight but not so close that it would be obvious he was tailing it. He began to worry even more when the vehicle headed for the interstate instead of the side streets that would take it back to Tessa’s house. He saw nothing to indicate Tessa was in the car. But as it exited onto a state highway, Seth continued to follow, his concern growing. What the hell was going on? Tessa would never go somewhere and leave Zach any longer than she had to at this time of night.

* * * *

Tessa didn’t know how long she had been out. As soon as she opened her eyes, the old panic welled, making her throat tighten so it was hard to breathe and her heart pound until it was all she could hear in her ears. She closed her eyes to shut out the confined space, but it did little good. She couldn’t fool herself because she already knew where she was. Trapped, until Peter let her out. If he let her out, because he knew how frightened she was of being closed in. She’d always suspected he was behind her getting locked in different places when she was a kid.

This couldn’t be happening. She moved, testing her restraints, but couldn’t even straighten her legs or roll over. She had hoped she could try to kick the trunk lid. Panic threatened to overwhelm her.
I’m okay. I’m okay.
She had to keep calm for the baby. Panicking couldn’t be good for the tiny life growing inside her.

She would think about the beach. Better, she would think about sailing with Seth. As she pulled up the mental images of their last sail, her breathing eased a little. The car slowed down some, but the road also got rougher. Her shoulder, hip, and head bounced on the hard floor of the trunk.

Where was he taking her? Would there be any chance to escape? It would be so much harder now he’d bound her hands, but she might still have an opportunity if she could keep her head. When the car stopped, she expected Peter to get out and open the trunk. When that didn’t happen, she couldn’t stop the low whimper that escaped her. What if he forgot her? Would her air run out?

She had to get out for the baby. Tessa struggled again to free her hands, but the duct tape was a whole lot stronger than her. Grinding her teeth in frustration, she kicked out at whatever she could reach, but the walls of the trunk didn’t give.

* * * *

Seth followed Tessa’s car until it turned down an old gravel farm road, a knot of tension in his stomach. All his instincts told him she was in that car somewhere. Knowing stealth was important, he stopped the Escalade, threw it into park and turned off the ignition. Pressing down the emergency brake a couple of clicks disabled the automatic headlights. After restarting the engine, Seth let the SUV creep in low gear down the narrow lane. Ahead of him, the car’s brake lights glowed. Seth eased his foot off the gas, but didn’t dare touch the brake for fear of tipping off whoever was up there. He shifted into neutral and gently pressed the emergency brake until the Escalade slowed to a stop right at the edge of a small copse of trees.

Tessa’s car was about a hundred yards ahead, near an old farmhouse. The driver got out and slammed the door, but there was no sign of Tessa. Was he wrong? The man entered the farmhouse alone.

Seth used the opportunity to follow on foot. Keeping to the brush and trees near the edge of an old pasture fence, he eased his way forward. He was almost to the car when the driver returned. Seth dropped to his haunches as the other man reached across the driver’s seat and lifted up the big leather bag Tessa always carried.

Fear shafted through Seth. Where was she? Had this man already done something to her? He might have made a colossal mistake. Visions of Tessa lying injured somewhere around Flamingo Road spun through his brain. As he forced himself to calm down, his head cleared. He heard a faint thumping. He listened first with relief then with growing horror as he realized the noise came from the trunk. Had that man locked her in there? Tessa, who was so afraid of confined spaces she could hardly get on
an elevator
?

The man returned to the small farmhouse, this time carrying Tessa’s bag. As soon as the door closed, Seth ran forward. He crouched near the trunk and put his hand against it as if he could touch her.

“Tessa?”

The movements inside stopped, and then started again in earnest, frantic and panicked. Seth closed his eyes.

“Hush, sweetheart,” he soothed. “Don’t attract his attention. Let me see if I can get you out of here.”

Seth eased around to the driver’s side and opened the door. He located the trunk release near the door and popped it before hurrying back. He pulled up the trunk lid. The light was smashed so he couldn’t see her, but he heard her frightened whimpering and her shallow, panicked breathing. He lifted her out and had just set her on the ground when the door to the house opened.

“What the hell are you doing?” her abductor yelled, racing toward him. He skidded to a halt as Seth jumped up and stood to his full six-feet-five-inches.

“Shouldn’t that be my question?” Seth asked, just managing to keep his hands from throttling the guy and choking the life from him. “What I want to know is why you’re driving this woman’s car while she’s locked in the trunk?”

Tessa’s kidnapper tried to bluster his way through. “Just a lover’s game. It wouldn’t interest you. The bitch works as a stripper. You know the type. She’s into the whole bondage scene.”

“Really?” Seth took an easy, relaxed step toward this unknown man, hoping to catch him off guard by making him think he might be interested in finding out more. “You into that?”

The smaller man warmed to his tale. “Yeah, some of them like it rough, and even enjoy doing more than one guy at a time. I’ve done a few threesomes. You interested?”

“No,” Seth growled, “and neither is the lady.”

As quick as a snake striking its prey, he landed a punch square in the other man’s face. The other man tried to shield himself, but Seth continued to pummel him, smiling in satisfaction when he heard the man’s nose crunch before he weaved for a moment and dropped into the dirt. Seth cast one contemptuous look at him and spun on his heel.

“Tessa?”

She still lay curled on her side at the back of the car with her eyes closed. He untied the gag from her mouth and reached in his slacks pocket for the knife he always carried. In a matter of seconds, he’d cut through the duct tape on her wrists and chafed them to restore circulation. Even in the dark, he saw the bruising there.

She neither moved nor opened her eyes.

“Come on, sweetheart! Look at me. You’re safe now.”

Her eyes opened but she didn’t seem to see him. Her hands wrapped across her stomach. She brought her legs up as if protecting her body.

“Tessa! It’s me, Seth. You’re okay.”

Wide, bewildered eyes locked with his. “The baby…” She seemed to focus all of a sudden and closed her mouth.

Seth glanced around the side of the car to make sure her assailant was still knocked out.

“Do you know this bastard, Tessa?”

She nodded and leaned her head back against the bumper of her car. In the spill of light from the open cabin door, twin tracks of tears glistened. Shadows marred her forehead and her jaw. He wasn’t sure if it was dirt or bruising.

“My cousin,” she croaked.

Seth looked at her again, and then at the crumpled form by the driver’s door.

“Peter?”

Tessa nodded.

“Bastard. I’ll call the police.”

“No.”

Seth paused in the act of pulling out his cellphone, feeling chilled that she would not want this man locked up. “No? Tessa, you can’t be serious. The guy abducted you. And from the looks of you, hit you as well.”

“My relatives will try to drag my name through the muck to defend him, Seth, like they did twelve years ago when he tried to rape me.”

“All the more reason he should go to jail.” He started to touch the phone again.

Tessa sobbed now. “I’ll lose Zach! If Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin get wind of this…and where I’m working? Please, Seth. Don’t take anything else from me.”

Her words were a knife slicing straight into his heart. Seth was torn by the need to do what was right, and the plea in her voice and face. At last, he crouched next to her.

“Okay. I won’t call the police. Just let me get someone on the way to take care of getting your car home. Stay here for a minute while I handle your cousin, then we’ll get you back home.”

Seth dragged Edwards into the small house, propped his bleeding, unconscious form in a chair, and duct-taped his hands and feet so he couldn’t get out of it. He pulled his phone out again, away from Tessa’s hearing and made a phone call to an old friend from his freelancing days who owed him a favor. When he disconnected several minutes later, he blasted Edwards, who had come to and fought the duct tape holding him, with an icy glare.

“Nice of you to wake up, Edwards. Your cousin and I are leaving. You’ll stay. My name’s Seth Barlow-Barrett. Ring a bell? A friend of mine will get Tessa’s car and help you…home. Should you ever set foot near her again, rest assured next time you won’t get off nearly as easy.”

He grabbed Tessa’s leather bag and headed outside. She was standing, but leaned against the car, her hands still clasped across her stomach. Without asking, Seth swung her up into his arms and carried her back down the farm road to the Escalade. She protested but without much strength.

“Put your arms around my neck, sweetheart. I won’t drop you. You weigh next to nothing.”

The fact that his feisty, stubborn Tessa did what he told her to without protest was another indication of how rattled she was. After they reached the SUV, he set her on her feet, not releasing her until he was sure she wouldn’t fall.

“Hang on. I’ll have you in the car in a heartbeat and we’ll get the hell out of here.”

He settled her in the passenger seat and found a blanket from the back to wrap her in. The dome light revealed the bruise on her forehead where she’d hit her head when Edwards shoved her in the car, along with a darkening swelling along her jaw line. Had the bastard hit her?

Seth slid behind the wheel and put the Escalade in four-wheel drive to turn around in the field before heading back into town. He glanced at Tessa. She stared out the side window. Her arms still rested across her stomach. As they took the ramp to the expressway, her head drooped, and by the time they reached her apartment, she was sound asleep.

Seth hesitated a moment before rifling through her purse for her house key. After finding it, he swung her into his arms and carried her inside. He entered the apartment on cat feet, knowing Zach must be asleep in his room. She felt even lighter than he remembered, and she was so bone-tired he carried her down the hall to lay her on the bed. A flick of the bedside lamp, and he was able to turn his attention back to Tessa.