Expecting Thunder's Baby

“And I wasn’t taking the unintended bait.”

“Okay, then.” She clanked her spoon. He was still checking her out, like the predator he’d always been. Even as a teenager, he’d had a blatant way of looking at her, of making her feel sexual. A tactic that had worked in his favor, especially on the night she’d given him her virginity. For Carrie, first-time sex had been painful, but he’d held her afterward, promising it would get better.

And it had. Every time he’d touched her, she’d fallen deeper in love. Foolish girl that she was. But in the end, she’d filed the divorce papers. Dissolving the marriage had been her choice, her heartbreak, her salvation. After they’d lost the baby, everything had fallen apart, including her emotions, her fear of staying with a man who was much too eager to conquer the world.

Carrie took a deep breath, and Thunder ran his hand through his hair. It was shorter than it had been when they were young, but not as close-cropped as she’d expected. He didn’t wear a military cut.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She nodded. She knew he meant the interview. He’d told her over the phone that he wanted to question her about Julia Alcott, a woman who used to work at her family’s motel.

They sat at the kitchen table, with the afternoon sun shining through a window.

“When’s the last time you saw Julia?” he asked.

“It’s been ten years. That’s how long ago she worked for my parents.”

“Did you know her very well?”

“We had a lunch together a few times. We weren’t overly close, but I liked her. She was easy to talk to, mature for her age. She’s younger than I am. She was only eighteen at the time.”

“And you were twenty-eight then.”

“Yes.” Carrie lifted her coffee and took a sip. He knew exactly how old she was. She and Thunder were the same age. “Are you investigating her kidnapping?” She’d read about Julia’s abduction in the paper and had watched the news updates on TV, worrying about the other woman. “I heard that she was safe. That a private citizen found her two days after she was reported missing.”

“I’m investigating her whereabouts now.”

“Now? That was six months ago. Was she kidnapped again?”

“No, but she and her mother, Miriam, left town right after the rescue. Miriam is a compulsive gambler. The loan sharks she owed money to took Julia hostage, trying to threaten Miriam into paying her debts. But Miriam didn’t tell the police that she knew who’d abducted her daughter. Instead, she and Julia split in the middle of the night a few days after Dylan stumbled on Julia in an abandoned trailer near his ranch. He was the private citizen who found her.”

“Dylan is involved?” Thunder’s younger brother had been a wild child, a boy who was forever getting in trouble.

“He’s not an official investigator. He just happened to find her in the trailer. He’s been investigating this for months, and he got an anonymous tip that the kidnappers hired an assassin to find them.”

Carrie tried to picture Dylan, to envision what he would look like today. He was nine years old the last time she’d seen him, a scrappy kid who did reckless tricks on his horse and had just got into Golden Gloves boxing, which was supposed to provide a positive outlet for his pent-up energy. “Have the police arrested the kidnappers?”

“The FBI is involved, but there isn’t enough evidence to arrest the kidnappers, let alone convict them, and the identity of the assassin is unknown. We’re trying to find Julia and her mother before the killer does, before he silences them.” Thunder blew out a rough breath. “The authorities need their testimony.”

Carrie sat back in her chair. Her life was simple, so ordinary, and Julia Alcott’s world was turned upside down. “Do you think Julia and her mother know that there is an assassin after them?”

“No, but they’re certainly aware of how vicious the loan sharks are. They’re running scared just the same.” He made a troubled face. “The assassin wasn’t hired until after Dylan figured out who the kidnappers were. That’s why he’s trying so hard to locate Julia and Miriam, to bring them to safety.”

“Your brother feels responsible for their lives?”

“Yes.” Thunder drank his coffee, squinting into the sunlight that zigzagged across the table. “Tell me everything you remember about Julia. Even if it seems insignificant.”

“She worked in housekeeping.” Carrie paused, trying to recall details, to step back in time, to envision eighteen-year-old Julia. “She was meticulous, especially for someone so young. She’d just graduated from high school.”

“How long was she at the motel?”

“For about a year.”

“Did you ever see her after she quit?”

“No, but I heard that she started working as a waitress.”

He continued the interview, zeroing in on personal questions. “What did you talk about on the occasions that you had lunch with her?”

“Girl stuff, I guess.”

“Men?”

“Sometimes we talked about her boyfriend. I don’t remember his name, but she was upset when he broke up with her.”

“His name is Dan Myers. I’ve already spoken with him. He’s married now, with two little kids. He seems content.”

“Good for him.” Carrie tried not to sound cynical, but Thunder was the last person with whom she wanted to discuss marriage and babies. “I told her that she was better off waiting until she was older to find the right guy. That eighteen was too young to be in a serious relationship.”

He clenched his jaw, making a tight expression. “What were you? The voice of experience?”

“Yes, I was.” She gazed at him over the rim of her cup. “I’ve learned to choose my men wisely.”

His voice turned flip. “And I’ve learned to bang my way through as many blondes as I can find.” A smart-aleck smile tilted one corner of his lips. “Brunettes and redheads, too.”

She wanted to push him right out the window, but she wasn’t about to let him get the best of her. “You’ve been sleeping around? The man who doesn’t know how to be friends with a woman? Gee, what a surprise.”

He didn’t respond, and her pulse stumbled. The smile was gone, and his eyes remained as dark and dangerous as his soul. She hated remembering how much she’d loved him, how much he’d influenced every aspect of her life. “Can we get back to Julia?” she asked.

“Totally.” Those menacing eyes bore straight into hers. “That’s why I’m here.” He shifted his weight, creaking the chair. “Did she have friends, know anyone out of state?”

“You mean someone she might try to get reacquainted with now?” Carrie shook her head. “She never mentioned anyone.”

“What about her goals? Did she ever talk about what she wanted out of life? Was she interested in college?”

“I don’t remember. But I know that she liked this area. That she felt comfortable here. She didn’t seem interested in moving.”

“Why?”

“Because she and her mom moved a lot when she was little. And because she leased a horse at Brentwood Stables. She skimped and saved to afford that luxury. She enjoyed riding, being out in nature.”

“That’s what all of her old co-workers have said so far. But she hasn’t had a horse for the past few years.” He frowned a little. “As far as I can tell, she gave up the horse to help Miriam. Her mom was behind on her bills.”

“Because of her gambling?”

He creaked his chair again. “Yes.”

Curious, Carrie thought about Thunder’s brother, about his being a horse trainer. “Did Dylan know Julia before the kidnapping? Before he’d rescued her?”