gasped for air. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks, more from being choked than weeping.
Bystanders gathered around her. One woman collected Molly’s dumped belongings for her and, when she didn’t accept them, set them near her feet.
His gaze glued to her, Dare elbowed his way through the crowd and reached out. “Molly.”
She launched against him.
Tightening his arms around her, he tucked her face in close and let her hide from their gaping audience. “I’ve got you, Molly. It’s okay now.”
But it wasn’t, and they both knew it.
Someone wanted her badly enough to risk grabbing her in the middle of a busy parking lot. The truck driver had been no more than a diversion for him—and he’d fallen for it.
Fury, aimed at himself, made Dare a little more gruff than necessary when he pushed her back to see her face.
“Are you hurt?”
Eyes a little wild, face still white, she shook her head, saying shakily, “No. I don’t think so.”
But her knees were bleeding, and her hair was again a mess. He’d seen many things in his lifetime, and he’d gained a reputation for his calm, calculated response. Seeing Molly this way left him churning with very unfamiliar feelings.
Cold and precise, he caught Molly’s elbow and grabbed up her bags. “Let’s go.”
He practically dragged her along, but he didn’t want to take any more chances. Someone behind them yelled, “I called the cops. They’re on the way.”
Dare ignored him. Cops would want Molly to stick around answering questions, and that went against what Dare wanted—which was to get her the fuck out of there, away from danger.
No way in hell would he miss their chartered flight.
He opened the door of the rented van, shoved her purchases to the floor, and all but put her in the passenger seat. He even buckled her in—and she didn’t protest.
She looked to be in shock, white-faced, shaken and so silent that it hurt him. Damn it, he wasn’t a man to act without thinking things through, but now, with her …
The insane pressure built until he couldn’t bear it anymore.
Dare cupped her face, leaned in and gave her a hard, fast kiss on the mouth.
That got her focused again. Heat flooded her face, and she inhaled sharply. As she touched shaking fingertips to her mouth, her wide-eyed gaze locked on his.
Still with his hand covering the coolness of her cheek, Dare said, “I’m not going to let them hurt you again, Molly. I swear it.”
Two deep breaths expanded her chest. She rolled her lips in, stared a moment more, and then nodded. “Okay. I …” She blinked. “Thank you, Dare.”
Her gratitude made him growl, but damn it, he didn’t have time to explain something to her that even he still didn’t understand. He slammed her door and jogged around to the driver’s side. If he didn’t hurry, they’d be there when the cops arrived and then he’d lose control of the situation. He needed to focus on protecting her, not dwell on how soft and sweet her mouth felt under his.
Within minutes they were well away from the Walmart and the possibility of police delays.
On the ride to the airstrip where they’d catch the charter plane, Dare questioned her. “Did the guy who grabbed you say anything?”
She held her hands in her lap, her face filled with confusion, maybe as much from his kiss as her near abduction. Dare could still taste her, and that brief touch of her mouth on his had stirred him and left him more determined than ever to keep her safe.
“They said to come along or I’d die.” She looked over at him. “But … they probably planned to kill me either way, don’t you think? That’s why I fought them.”
“You did good. You slowed them down.”
“I knew you were close by, and I knew that you’d get to me in time.”
Her faith struck him even more than that kiss had.
With still-wavering composure, she said, “Thank you, Dare. That’s twice now—”
His temper all but snapped. “Damn it, Molly.”
She jumped, and, feeling like a bully, he moderated his tone.
“I wasn’t careful enough,” Dare told her. “I didn’t think that through. The minute I saw that idiot in the parking lot, I should have counted on a trap. I should have—”
“Stop it.” The quietness of her trembling voice added gravity to the command. “You don’t have psychic powers, so you couldn’t have known.”
“No, but I have experience and training.”
She reached over and touched his shoulder. “God’s truth, Dare, I feel safer with you than I possibly could with anyone else, so please don’t get discouraged.”
For Christ’s sake. She was all but in shock—again—and through his ill humor, he’d given her the wrong impression. He drew one breath, then another. “I am not discouraged, Molly. Just the opposite, from here on out I’m going to be a hell of a lot more careful. Got it?”
“Oh. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.”
Seeing that she was back to being super-proper again, Dare sighed. “Tell me about your family.”
“Why?”
“You said it yourself, Molly. It could be anyone doing this to you. You need an outside perspective on things. It’s always easiest to start with those closest to you.”
Humoring him, she said, “And that’d be my family.”
“Right. So tell me everything you can and let me sort out what’s important and what isn’t.”
With a shrug, she pondered things. “Well, like I told you, I ended things with my boyfriend. Actually, he was a fiancé before we separated, but we hadn’t yet picked a date to marry or anything.”
Fiancé? That nettled him, sent a cold fist tightening in his gut. Why, he didn’t want to ponder—except that he couldn’t believe Molly had loved Adrian.
Maybe she’d realized that, too, which was why she’d used a good excuse to break things off with him. “Did your family like him?”
“There’s only my Dad and Kathi, and my sister, Natalie. My dad’s parents are deceased. He was an only child. There are aunts and uncles and all that on my mother’s side, but they don’t live near us, and I think I’ve met most of them only a couple of times in my entire life.”
Trying to figure out the family dynamics, Dare asked, “So Kathi isn’t your mother?”
“Stepmother.” Without missing a beat, she said, “My mom threw herself off a bridge—twice—years ago.”
Dare did a double take. Molly announced her mother’s suicide so casually, it threw him. “I’m sorry.”
Antsy, still shaking, Molly stared out the side window. “Dad made Mom miserable. I was twelve the first time she tried to kill herself. She jumped off a bridge, but there was a rescue team doing drills in the river. She didn’t know they were there until they fished her out.”
“Damn. That had to be rough.”
She made a noncommittal sound. “Mom spent some time in the hospital, all the while with my dad harping over her selfishness and her weakness. For a few years after they released her, I thought she’d be okay.”
“But she wasn’t?”
“No.” Molly shook her head, and her voice lowered. “When I was fifteen, Dad cheated on her,