Savage Redemption - By Alexis Morgan Page 0,32
sun’s position in the sky, they were actually headed in the opposite direction.
“Are we stopping at Rafferty’s house on the way?”
If so, she needed time to prepare herself. How in the world was she supposed to say goodbye to Maggie and Rose for the last time? She held up her shackled wrists and rattled them to get Conlan’s attention.
“If so, you promised Maggie and Rose wouldn’t have to see me in these.”
“No, we’re not going to Rafferty’s house.” Conlan glanced in her direction. “We’re making a run for it.”
Okay, maybe she was still asleep and this was one of those dreams that felt way too real. How many nights had she spent tossing and turning, caught in the nightmare her life had become and wishing that Conlan would ride in to save her?
“If this is all a dream, don’t wake me up.”
Conlan clenched his jaw. “You’re already awake, and you heard me right.”
He pointed in the direction they were headed. “Just ahead here we’ll reach the back end of the estate. After Rafferty had the security fence installed, he added a second gate back here that doesn’t show up on the grid or even on the schematics for the system. I’ve programmed it to shut down for ten minutes for routine maintenance.”
“Then what?” she asked, hanging on his every word.
“Once we’re on the outside, we’ll head for a rendezvous point that I set up with a friend of mine where we can hide the transport. With luck, no one will spot it until after we’re long gone. My friend will drop us outside of New Eire. After that...we’re on our own.”
She couldn’t let him do this. He’d already lost too much because of her. She grabbed his arm. “No, stop! Take me back, Conlan. Turn me over to Ambrose O’Brien or even Eddington if you have to, but don’t throw away the life you’ve built here. Not for me.”
He shook off her hand and downshifted to drive the transport off the road and up a steep slope. Her stomach lurched as they crested the top and roared back down the other side. Conlan drove on in silence, ignoring her as he maneuvered the vehicle over the rocky terrain. Or maybe that was simply his excuse.
When they reached the bottom and the ground leveled out, he finally spoke. “I haven’t had a life of my own since the night you left my bed.”
He turned his fierce gaze in her direction, looking frustrated and angry. “I’ve had it good working here for Rafferty and Joss, but whether you meant to or not, you’ve managed to tangle me up in your problems again. About an hour ago, some heavily armed mercenaries showed up at the front gate with a warrant.”
She ached to reach out to him, to smooth away those grim lines that bracketed his stern mouth. “You could’ve turned me over to them and saved yourself and Rafferty a lot of trouble.”
His answering laugh was harsh. “True enough, but the warrant also included your nieces. Even if I was a big enough son of a bitch to hand you over to a bunch of mercs, I wouldn’t let them near those little girls. God knows, it’s not their fault that you’re their aunt.”
All the blood drained from her face as her heart stuttered and then started racing along so fast that all she could hear was her pulse pounding in her head. “They wanted Maggie and Rose, too? Why?”
“Evidently, whoever you’ve pissed off this time is the kind of bastard who’d use them as weapons against you. He knows once he gets his hands on the girls, you’ll do whatever he asks to protect them.”
For the first time, there was a softer note in his voice, reminding her of his passionate whispers the one night she’d spent in his arms.
“Rafferty will do what he can to keep that from happening, but he can’t afford to put everyone on the estate at risk. Those mercs today weren’t expecting us to have them outgunned. They won’t make that same mistake again.”
“So are you turning me over to Ambrose O’Brien or to Eddington?” Not that it mattered. She was as good as dead either way. “Once they have me, maybe they’ll leave everyone else alone.”
“If it were that simple, I could’ve shoved you through the gates when they came knocking.”
Conlan stopped the transport and turned in the seat to face her. “Three years ago, I knew there was something wrong with the evidence against you.