New Year Heroes: The Sheriff's Secretary / Veiled Intentions / Juror No. 7

But it wasn’t just that he was overdue for sexual release that had him gasping with want. It was Mariah herself.

She’d been nothing more than the mayor’s secretary when this all began, but in the past couple of days Lucas had seen her interminable strength, and she’d shared with him her past heartaches. He admired her and he liked her, and that as much as anything fed his desire for her and only her.

Their lips remained locked as his hands cupped her full breasts. Her nipples sprang to attention at his touch, and he grazed his thumb over them as she uttered a soft moan.

He broke the kiss and instead nipped lightly at the side of her slender neck, down across her collarbone, then he captured one of her erect nipples in his mouth.

She wound her fingers into his hair as he licked and sucked. She arched to meet his hardness, but he wasn’t ready to take her yet. He wanted her mindless with pleasure, knew that’s what she wanted … to be mindless.

He ran his hand down the flat of her stomach, down across her hip bones and touched her intimately. She gasped and at the same time she grabbed him. Her hand was warm around him, and he drew a deep breath to steady himself, not wanting to rush things.

He moved his fingers against her, and her breathing quickened as her entire body tensed. Once again he covered her mouth with his as he felt her getting closer to her release.

She whispered his name and he nearly lost it and at the same time she arched and cried out with complete pleasure.

“Take me,” she said with a thrumming urgency that radiated through him. “Please, Lucas. Now, please take me now.”

He rolled off her and grabbed his wallet, fumbling for the condom he carried inside. It took him only a moment to get it out and on, then he positioned himself above her and gazed down into her eyes.

“It’s not too late to stop,” he said, his voice hoarse and ragged. “You can stop this right now if you want to. I won’t be mad.”

She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, her eyes filled with a depth of emotion. “Don’t stop,” she said.

He entered her, sliding into her awaiting warmth with a slow, sure stroke. She moaned her pleasure and wrapped her arms around his back.

Slowly he moved against her, but it didn’t take long before his own frantic need moved him faster and faster. She wasn’t a passive lover. Her hands raked him as she threw her head back and gave herself completely to the act.

All too quickly he felt the build up, and just before he exploded, she cried his name and his release washed through him with an intensity he’d never known. He kissed her then, a soft, tender kiss.

He rolled to one side of her and she turned to face him. For a long moment her gaze remained locked with his, and in the depth of her eyes he saw her heartbreak once again darkening her eyes.

He stroked her face, a sense of failure sweeping through him. He might have taken her away for a few minutes, but until he brought her son home safe and sound, her pain wouldn’t ever let her go.

And with each hour that passed, the possibility of bringing Billy home safe and sound grew dimmer.

BILLY WAS IN TROUBLE.

Jenny stared at the sleeping little boy and feared that he wouldn’t make it through another night. The sound of his ragged breaths filled her with a fear she’d never known. He hadn’t even had the energy to get off the mattress during the day.

He’d spent most of the time just lying there, the mere act of drawing breath taking every ounce of his strength. He didn’t even have the strength to be afraid. He seemed resigned to whatever was going to happen, and Jenny wanted to weep because an eight-year-old boy shouldn’t be resigned to his own death.

She walked around the small room and wondered if they both would die here. She didn’t care so much about herself, but it wasn’t fair that a little boy die in this ugly place without his mommy to hold him, to comfort him.

If she could just find a way out, or some means to summon help. But she’d been over the small room a hundred times and couldn’t find a way to do either. She’d pulled at the boards that imprisoned them, seeking a weakness, a flaw in their prison, but there was none.

She’d just sunk to the floor when she heard the sound. A boat. A motorboat. Maybe it was help! A search party. She sprang to her feet, hope raging through her. Maybe Lucas had found them!

Or maybe it was their kidnapper returning. The hope that had momentarily surged through her transformed to fear. She stood perfectly still, frozen as the sound of the boat grew closer … closer … then finally stopped.

There was a moment of complete silence, then heavy footsteps rang against wood. Jenny stifled a scream. If it were help, then somebody would have yelled. Somebody would have shouted their names.

The footsteps drew closer, then a slat in the door opened. Jenny ran to the door. “Hey … hey, you’ve got to get us out of here! He’s sick. Billy has asthma and he’s in bad trouble.”

Dark eyes peered back at her, then the slat closed.

She slammed her fists against the door as she heard footsteps going away. “Wait, please come back. Did you hear what I said? He’s in bad trouble. He needs to get to a hospital.” Again and again she slammed her fists against the wood as she began to cry. “Don’t go. For God’s sake don’t leave him here.”

It was only when she heard the motor on the boat start up again that she stopped beating the door and sank to the floor in tears.

He was leaving. He was leaving them here. Tears blinded her and she fought against the deep sobs that welled inside her.

She turned and saw Billy watching her. She quickly swiped at her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. She didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was.

“Hey, buddy.” She scooted over next to him and pulled him into her arms. His wheezing seemed to intensify. She needed to distract him.

“Have I ever told you that female alligators usually lay about fifty eggs? Can you imagine having fifty kids?” As she told him everything she’d ever known about alligators and crocodiles, she felt him begin to relax against her.

But she couldn’t relax for, more than fear of her own safety, her biggest fear was that when morning came, Billy would no longer be breathing.

Chapter Nine

Mariah awoke as the faint purple spill of dusk filtered through the window. The bed next to her was empty, but the pillow still retained the scent of Lucas’s cologne.

She didn’t feel guilty about making love with him. She didn’t feel guilty about seeking warmth and life when her heart had been so dead. Nor did she have any illusions about what their lovemaking had meant. It had meant absolutely nothing.

Rolling over on her back, she stared up at the ceiling and realized that in some way the lovemaking and the sleep afterward had given her a new strength to survive whatever the rest of the evening might bring.

She got out of bed and dressed in a comfortable pair of gray jogging pants and a T-shirt, then went in search of Lucas. As she reached the hallway, she heard the voice of the kidnapper.

“… by the twisted tree you’ll find a clue.” She froze, heart banging against her rib cage.

The voice stopped, then started again. “… by the twisted tree you’ll find a clue.”

She relaxed a bit as she realized it wasn’t a new call. She followed the sound to the kitchen, where Lucas sat in front of the recording machine with a legal pad in front of him.

She stood in the doorway and watched as he pushed the Play button again. “Where the grass is green and the sky is blue.” He punched the Stop button, then rubbed the center of his forehead with two fingers as he stared down at the legal pad.

“What are you doing?”

He looked up at the sound of her voice, then leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Making notes, listening to the messages, trying to make sense of all this.”

She slid into the chair next to him. “And have you managed to make any sense of it?”

He shook his head. “No.” He leaned back in the chair and released a weary sigh. “I’ll tell you what we know. There was no sign of forced entry, so the odds are good that Jenny knew the kidnapper, that she not only knew him but trusted him enough to open the door to him. If they were taken from here.”

She frowned. “What do you mean? Of course they were taken from here.”

“We don’t know that for sure. We don’t really know where the crime scene is located. For all we know they were taken from the front yard or the park.”