Chapter Six

Three hours later, Warren shut and locked the door behind Ace and Joker. And there he was: all alone in a remote cabin, way up high in the Rocky Mountains, with a woman that he now knew to be Shay Alcott.

A woman that he now knew to be a hostage, a bargaining chip, a hopeful ace-in-the-hole. A messy, worrying, dangerous headache.

Goddammit.

Warren sighed, turned to face her. This whole time, she’d been sitting on the sofa bound and gagged. As Ace had filled him in, Warren had studied her closely, watching her reactions. She’d look stunned as what was going on had become clear to her, then she had started to cry again, without making a sound. Her shoulders had shaken, though, and he’d felt her terror from six feet away.

He approached her now, and she pushed herself against the sofa back. He stood over her, and she stared down at the floor, avoiding his gaze.

“Hey,” he said, his deep voice coming out way harsher than he’d intended. She flinched as though he’d struck her, and he cleared his throat. “Hey.”

She nodded to acknowledge him, but didn’t look away from her feet.

“Eyes up here.”

Slowly, reluctantly, she lifted her chin. Her eyes focused on his throat, still not meeting his cold, hard stare.

“No,” he snapped. “Up here.”

She jumped, raised her chin a bit more. And suddenly, Warren was staring into the most amazing eyes that he’d ever seen. They were the strangest color, actually. Light and clear, but not mint-green and most definitely not emerald-green. They had a glow to them, a light that seemed to shine from within this woman. They looked… pure, somehow.

For some insane reason, the words ‘sea foam green’ popped into his head. He wasn’t sure what color that even was, or where the hell he’d have picked it up in his life – but it was all he could think about now.

He stiffened his resolve, scowled at her. His moment of weakness had passed, and he was back in control.

“If I untie and ungag you, will you behave yourself?” he snarled.

She backed up a bit and nodded. He reached into his jeans pocket, pulled out his knife. Those incredible eyes widened in panic when he flicked it open, and when he reached for her hands, she gave a muffled cry, moved away again.

“Stop,” he said, making sure the warning in that single word was unmissable. “Or I’ll toss you downstairs like this. No fucking problem for me, girl.”

It came to him that he should probably be casually referring to her as ‘bitch’ or even the despised ‘skank’, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. No matter what he’d done in public since leaving Kentucky, Warren still had some lines that he refused to cross in private. ‘Girl’ was as far as he was willing to go when degrading a woman to her face.

She was frozen with uncertainty, and he waited. Finally, she extended her hands to him, still holding his gaze. The helplessness of the gesture kicked him in the chest, hard, and he scowled again, not liking the stark, sharp fear that he saw in those eyes.

In two quick movements, he sliced the ropes off her delicate wrists, now glaring at the blood and bruises that he saw there. As soon as she was free, she pushed her glasses up her nose, then tucked her hands into her massive sweater and crossed her arms across her chest. It was a defensive position, but it also looked like she was giving herself a hug. Warren didn’t like that she felt the need to protect herself from him, or that she was trying to soothe herself as he stood over her.

Having her afraid would make things better, no doubt about that… but for reasons that he was starting to wonder about, he didn’t want her to be afraid of him. Not even if it made his job easier.

“Now the gag,” he said gruffly. “No damn screaming.”

She shook her head, and he reached out. She shut her eyes as his hands approached her face, like she couldn’t bear the sight of him being so close.

He surprised himself when he so slowly, so gently, so damn carefully, moved the dirty rag out from between her lips. Then he reached around her neck, untied the knots without so much as touching her, let the material drop to her lap.