into this mess. How many times had she preached to him about the dangers of gambling? She’d made him promise that he would never, under any circumstances, go to the casinos, and certainly not with money that wasn’t his. But she understood the lure of turning a quick buck; of beating the house and winning huge sums of cash. Now Jamie’s luck had run out, and unless she acted quickly, his life was in danger.
Frantic, she had stashed what cash she had into her backpack and boarded the first bus for Reno. She’d left a voice mail at the town office where she worked as a senior accountant, telling her boss that she had a family emergency and needed to take several days off. She had a telephone number to call once she reached Reno.
She had spent the first hundred fifty miles of the westbound bus ride tolerating the shoot-’em-up antics of the little boy in the seat in front of her. But after nearly three hours of watching him pretend to shoot her with his toy gun, her nerves had been stretched taut.
When they pulled into the rest area in Lovelock, she had spied the toy weapon lying on the seat and had quickly snatched it up, shoving it under her T-shirt and into the waistband of her jeans. She’d promised herself she would “find” the toy for the child once they reached Reno. And in the meantime have some peace and quiet.
But as she had watched the cashier at the diner laughingly ring out a customer, and glimpsed the money in the drawer, something had caught at her. Something dark and desperate, and she’d become agonizingly aware of the toy gun pressing into her stomach. Whether or not she would actually have worked up the nerve to rob the diner was something, thankfully, she would never know. What she had done was bad enough. She could scarcely believe she’d had the nerve to take this man hostage; could scarcely believe he’d been duped by the fake gun.
“Do you have a name?” the stranger was asking her, a small smile tilting the corners of his generous mouth. “Or should I just call you Bonnie?”
Maddie blinked at him. How could he be so relaxed? As far as he knew, she was pointing a loaded gun at him. And he wanted to make jokes? In the short time they’d been driving, she had tried to decide where he should drop her. The trip to Reno would take a couple hours. Being silent and surly wasn’t going to make the journey any more enjoyable, and what did it matter anyway if he knew her name? Once she had her brother safely back, she intended to turn herself in to the police. At which point everyone would know who she was.
“Madeleine,” she answered shortly, not adding that people generally called her Maddie.
“I’m Colton Black,” he drawled. “I’m real sorry we couldn’t have met under different circumstances.”
To Maddie’s horror, he extended a hand to her across the seat. It was large and tanned, with lean fingers tapering to neat nails. She raised her gaze to his, keeping her expression blank. He was watching her carefully, while keeping an eye on the almost empty road.
Did he really believe she was that big of a fool? She knew what would happen if she shook that hand. He’d haul her across the seat and wrest her miserable excuse for a weapon from her nerveless fingers. No, thank you.
But he only grinned and pulled his hand back. “Okay,” he murmured, as if talking to himself. “That’s okay. You’re not ready to be sociable yet. I understand. But here we are, just you and me.” He gave a wry smile. “At least we’re heading in the right direction.”
Maddie blinked. “Excuse me?”
He slanted a swift look at her. “I was headed up to Paradise Valley for a couple of weeks of fishing. I’ll drop you wherever it is you want to go, and maybe I can still reach my cabin before it gets too late.”
Maddie stared at him in disbelief. “I can’t let you go. You know that.”
He kept his gaze straight ahead. “Why not? I promise you, darlin’, you sure as hell don’t want the kind of trouble I’ll bring you.”
Was that a threat or just a general comment about the hazards of taking hostages? Maddie pressed herself closer against the passenger door. “Look, I really don’t want any trouble. I—I just need to do something, okay? Once it’s done, I’ll let you go.”
“Oh, yeah?” A small smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “What’s so important that you’d risk your life, huh? Why were you going to hold up the diner? Is it drugs?” His gaze swept over her, sharply assessing. “Or do you need to pay off a bookie?”
Maddie blanched at his words, but he’d turned his attention back to the road and didn’t see her sudden panic. She glanced out the window at the desert rushing past. As soon as he’d mentioned his cabin in Paradise Valley, she’d known exactly what she needed to do. Her grandfather had a cabin in the hills, and he’d once said that he had a fortune hidden there. She had no idea if that was true, but she needed to check it out, although it required turning off the main road. But she couldn’t afford to have her focus diverted by this man. She needed to unload him and get on with her mission. If she ditched him here, on the main road, he’d have a better chance of hitching a ride with someone. Her conscience wouldn’t allow her to leave him in the foothills, where a day’s hike without sufficient water could mean death in these temperatures.
“Pull the truck over.” Her voice sounded low and strained, even to her own ears.
Colton gave a disbelieving laugh. “What?”
Maddie jabbed the gun in his direction. “You heard me. I said pull over.”
His lips compressed as he steered the truck off the road and onto the soft shoulder in a cloud of billowing dust. He thrust the vehicle into Park, but didn’t turn off the engine.
“Now what?” He turned his head slowly and gave her a level look. “You tell me to get out and I start hiking across the desert?” He shook his head. “Ain’t going to happen, lady. Besides, I thought you said you couldn’t let me go.”
Maddie frowned. “I’ve—I’ve changed my mind. I don’t need you, just your truck.” She made a motion with the gun, willing her hands not to tremble. “Get out. You don’t have to walk across the desert or anything, you just have to get out. Someone will come by eventually, and you can hitch a ride.”
She watched, stunned, as he laughed softly. He turned to her, still grinning. She tried to ignore the mesmerizing dimples that appeared in either lean cheek.
“No way, ma’am. Absolutely no freaking way am I getting out of this truck.”
Maddie stared at him. “What are you, crazy?” She gestured threateningly with the toy gun. “I could shoot you right now.”
He spread his arms wide. “Well, then, you go right ahead, darlin’, because the only way I’m leaving this truck is if I’m dead.”
Maddie blinked, appalled. “You’re not serious.”
“I sure as hell am.” He slapped the dashboard. “This baby is brand-new. I worked damned hard for her, and there’s no way I’m giving her up. You want her, you gotta shoot me first.”
This couldn’t really be happening. Maddie swept a trembling hand across her eyes, trying to hide the panic she was feeling. She couldn’t afford to have this man involved, didn’t want him involved. She glanced again at the seemingly endless expanse of desert that stretched away to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Even if she chose to leave the truck, she’d never make it across those heat-baked plains on foot.
She turned her attention back to the man beside her. He was staring out the window, drumming his fingers against his thigh in tune to some internal melody, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. As if she wasn’t capable of shooting him.
Which she wasn’t, because her gun was nothing more than a child’s toy. He might not know that, but somehow he intuitively knew she didn’t have what it took to commit cold-blooded murder.
She blew out her breath in frustration and sagged back against the seat, making no protest when he shifted gears and pulled the truck back onto the highway.