Free Seduced by the Enemy (Blaze, 41) by Jamie Denton

curtain into place again.
    He walked to where she stood, slipped his hand beneath her hair and urged her forward. “Were you expected somewhere?” he asked in a hushed tone.
    Afraid to speak, she shook her head. With Lelandout of town for the weekend and Kellie visiting her family, no one would be looking for her. Jared really couldn’t have chosen a better time to kidnap her, at least from a kidnapper’s perspective.
    â€œA city cop’s checking license plates in the parking lot.” Jared’s warm breath fanned her ear. “It could be nothing, but I don’t want to take that chance, do you?”
    He waited until she shook her head before continuing. “We’re getting out of here.”
    Since her voice seemed to stop working, she nodded in understanding.
    â€œI need you to trust me, Peyton. Can you do that?”
    She hesitated, and his grip on her neck tightened.
    â€œYou have no choice if you want to stay alive.”
    She had a flood of unanswered questions, not to mention all the hurt and betrayal between them, for them to coexist with unconditional trust.
    Would he do his best to keep her alive? Of that she had little doubt.
    But what would it cost her? Or him? She had a feeling the enormous amount of cash that supposedly belonged to her wouldn’t even begin to cover the down payment.
    With a slight inclination of her head, she managed a nod that seemed to satisfy him. He snagged her hand and hauled her toward the bathroom. Inside the tub and shower combination was a tiny window that looked barely large enough for a small eight-year-old child to fit through. With Jared’s help, she might make it, but she couldn’t see him crawling through with those wide shoulders of his.
    Outside, she heard the crackle of a police radio.Fear tripped through her and settled in the pit of her stomach.
    Jared swore and walked back into the room, stopping at the door. She followed and waited beside him, holding her breath. The police radio flared to life again, and she was just able to make out the dispatcher’s words: “Four David Nine, we have a positive on plate number Ocean Robert Lincoln six nine six nine. Suspect Peyton Madison Douglas should be considered armed and possibly dangerous.”

5
    A RMED AND DANGEROUS ?
    Her?
    About the only thing she considered dangerous about herself pertained to her state of mind, since she was having one hell of a time digesting all the ludicrous information she’d seen and heard in the last two and a half hours.
    Jared squeezed her hand, but she could take no comfort from the gesture. In fact, as far as she was concerned, the blame for those horrifying words could be laid at his door. Armed and dangerous applied to him, not her. Wanted by the very system she’d sworn to uphold was not supposed to include her, only Jared.
    Jared, dammit. Not her!
    With complete silence, he gave her hand a tug and hauled her behind him toward the bathroom. Once inside, he soundlessly closed the door. “I’ll go through first and make sure it’s clear. You wait for my signal before following me. We have to go into the alley. There’s a used-car lot on the other side, but we’ll have to circle around the building. It should give us plenty of places to hide until we can move out.”
    Move out? Where? she wondered. How? They certainly couldn’t take her car, since apparently someone had put an APB out on her and her vehicle. If Jaredhad other means of transportation, their chances of using it were probably equally slim, since the patrolman might have already checked plates on nearby cars, too.
    â€œReady?” he asked.
    Her answer was a quick nod, because she didn’t trust her voice not to sound off like that of a screaming banshee on Halloween night. If she started, she’d never stop.
    A surreal sense of detachment fell over her as she watched him set the duffel on the commode, climb into the bathtub and tug