Page 4 of Capturing You

“I swear, she was right here.”

Brooklynn startled at the voice, which sounded only inches away.

Her captor pressed his fingers to her lips again, the hold surprisingly gentle, a reminder more than a demand to keep quiet.

“She’s gotta be here,” another man said, then shouted, “Anything?”

From farther away, “She’s gone.”

A curse.

“Don’t just stand there. Find her.”

Rocks skittered nearby. Then silence.

It stretched for seconds, minutes.

Brooklynn should’ve been overwhelmed with terror. When she'd run for her life, she'd never been so terrified. But here, in the darkness with this stranger, she felt secure.

Protected.

Which made no sense at all.

“Are you okay?” The man’s whisper warmed her ear, his breath brushing the hair at her nape and sending goosebumps across her flesh.

Was she? Aside from the psychotic break evidenced in her strange attraction to a man whose face she hadn’t seen?

Maybe she’d gone crazy. Maybe she’d dreamed the whole thing.

Was she still in her warm bed, conjuring all of this in her imagination? She’d always been the most creative of the Wright sisters.

At this point, that option seemed entirely plausible.

But the arms around her weren’t blankets and sheets. The man’s warm breath wasn’t heat from a furnace.

If it was a dream, this was the most vivid she’d ever had.

“I’m gonna move my hand,” her dream-savior said. “Don’t scream. I can get us out of here, but if you make any noise, you’ll get us both killed.”

“Killed?” He’d spoken her fear as if he had no doubt. “Who were those?—?”

“Not now. Keep your head down. The ceiling is low.” He placed his hands on her hips and moved her gently away, then slipped in front of her. “Stay right behind me. Grab my shirt if you need to.”

Why could he talk but she couldn’t?

A question she wouldn’t ask right now, considering that he obviously knew what he was doing. Of course, he might be leading her to a different kind of captivity. Or death.

Lord, protect me.

Because she couldn’t fight more than one bad guy at a time.

She hoped and prayed this was a good guy as she gripped the back of the stranger’s T-shirt and followed him into the darkness.

CHAPTERTWO

He’d been so close.

Forbes Ballentine led the intruder through the cave that had been hidden from strangers for generations. As soon as he’d seen the boat motoring into the private inlet, he’d set out to witness the goings-on in person. The video feed from cameras he’d had installed all around the mansion never gave him enough information.