Hell on the Heart Read online

  Hell On The Heart

  By

  Nancy Brophy

  ~~~~~~~

  Published by Nancy Brophy

  At Amazon

  ~~~~~~~

  Hell On The Heart

  Copyright © 2011 Nancy Brophy

  Chapter One

  Armadillo Creek, Texas

  With one hand gripping the slender branch, Cezi Romney stretched until only her fingers clung to the rough bark as she peered through the thick leaves of the sycamore tree to the ground far below.

  Her breath tumbled out in short gasps from the quick scramble up the ladder and across the bathroom roof only to discover she had limited her options. A tree limb no more substantial than a PVC pipe extended almost to the roof line, so with a small leap, she tiptoed across the branch, muttering both swear words and protection spells each step of the way.

  After stashing her purse and shoes in a lower notch of the branches, she climbed another ten or so feet skyward into a tree that did not welcome her intrusion.

  Cezi concentrated on breathing deeper, slower and quieter. Nothing could be done about the deafening noise of her heart as it careened through her chest crashing into her ribs. How could she not think of herself as a fool when this scenario was the ideal fodder for an intelligence community training video.

  What Not To Do starring Czigany Romney.

  FBI recruits would take turns pointing out exactly where she went wrong.

  Not that she was FBI or any one of the other alphabet soup groups that protected the country. Government law-enforcement agencies had stringent requirements in hiring that precluded an asthmatic, twenty-six-year-old, high school dropout whose idea of a clever hiding place was an enclosed playground.

  As a nearly-licensed Private Investigator who worked for the family business, she followed cheating husbands. And wasn’t that the complete opposite of being a CSI?

  So how had she ended up on a moonlit night, twenty-five feet above the ground, hiding from a man, good-looking enough to rival Hollywood’s leading men and so scary she used every ounce of self-survival instinct to protect herself?

  “Oh, little thief. Come out, come out wherever you are.” The deep voice turned the singsong chant sinister.

  His words annoyed her in the way a buzzing wasp would make her want to shake and squirm, but they also kept her tightly focused.

  Waiting him out wasn’t working. For the past ten minutes, he’d circled, his shoes striking the concrete surrounding the wood-chip playground as he rattled the locked bathroom doors and checked the hard plastic and metal swings and slides to locate her hiding spot.

  “Are you playing games?” His inflection dropped to a lower pitch, more sensual. He planned to seduce her out of hiding? “You like games? I know a lot of games we can play.”

  She bet he did, but his intent was more serious than consulting a bankruptcy attorney when she could no longer afford to own Boardwalk and Park Place.

  Why wouldn’t he just go away? Then she could laugh about this whole adventure and her life could return to normal. The evening hadn’t been a total loss. She’d figured out the top five rules she’d incorporate in the future, should this situation ever arise again.

  Rule number five. NEVER get distracted from the job paying your salary. Following cheating spouses bored her, but she hadn’t ended up being hounded by a man who appeared to have a handle on crazy.

  Rule number four. Good looks did not equal good intentions. Cain McIntosh, the man stalking below, was hands-down gorgeous and she came from a family of hunky guys. Fifteen annoying male cousins had women falling at their feet, but none could compete with this guy in the pretty-boy department. Yet, every one of them she’d trust with her life. This man made her sphincter tighten with fear.

  “Come out, little thief, while you can. If I find you first, I’m going to have to punish you. Come out now, and I’ll make sure we both enjoy it.”

  The truth of her mother’s words struck home. If temptation were easy to resist, who would care?

  Like a melody his words floated to her. “Ah-h. So you like the chase. What happens when you get caught? Is being tied up one of your secret fantasies?”

  The squeaking sound of metal scrapping against metal made her pause. The swings? How long could checking the playground equipment take? Coming here was the worst idea she’d ever had.

  Rule number three. Learn self-defense. Being manhandled in public was mortifying. Worse, it made her relinquish control. In a family of dominating men, she’d learned to stand her ground in verbal spats. But this wasn’t a man who gave a rip about how well she argued. He reverted to the age-old male theory - might makes right.

  “Are you touching yourself, little thief? Longing to be turned over my knee and spanked? You’re being very naughty. You want to be punished, don’t you?”

  No, she didn’t.

  Rule number two. Don’t be greedy. He had pissed her off when he’d grabbed her breast. So she’d lifted his wallet, cell phone and watch. She’d resorted to petty theft when she only needed his wallet.

  “You know what’s going to happen when I find you?” The door handle of the bathroom rattled as though it had magically unlocked itself since he’d tried three minutes earlier.

  “I’m going to spread your legs and lap up all of your sweet cream until you scream my name. You’ll like that. Coming over and over again. Being at my mercy as I torture orgasm after orgasm from you.”

  Cezi clutched her knees together. His words were intended to be sexy, but they failed. She wasn’t a woman men bothered to seduce. For one thing her male cousins didn’t let anyone get close, but the real reason was she didn’t inspire men to reckless statements.

  Should she just go down and give him back his stuff? He hadn’t done anything to merit her stealing from him. And he didn’t appear mad now. Just horny. She shifted her weight grabbing a thick twig for support. The snapping of the wood as the thin branch gave way echoed in the night air.

  Cezi froze. Had he heard the noise over the hum of the nearby air conditioners, the scrunching sounds of tires on blacktop, or the continuous chirping of crickets. Unable to see him, she worried he stood directly under the tree peering up into the branches.

  Powerful bikes roared. Harleys? Headed this way? She bit her lower lip. The engines ground to a halt nearby. Cezi leaned over, clinging to the branches to locate Cain’s position.

  The crunching sound of leather-soled shoes on woodchips alerted her to his presence. Parting the leaves she searched the ground below her, finally seeing him as he strode toward the gate. Was he leaving?

  Her sigh of relief was premature. Two men, looking like Hell’s Angel recruits, stepped inside the playground. Cain wasn’t going anywhere; he’d called for backup. And that brought home her number one rule. Never ignore her inner voice that told her to be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

  “Heard you had a problem.”

  Cain shushed them and spoke in a low tone, so she couldn’t distinguish his words. He gestured around the area and didn’t point toward the tree, which made her breath come easier. His men scanned the playground without leaving their position.

  Cain’s posturing was a lie. The fact he’d called in re-enforcements upped her anxiety. Why was he so concerned about a few personal items? Granted the cash in his wallet, thirteen hundred and twelve dollars, was more money than she ever had, but had he been robbed, would he have tracked the muggers as intently? Despite the cool night air, she wiped sweat off her upper lip and her forehead.

  One of the men reached around his back and handed a Cain a gun. The blued barrel glinted off the street light before disappearing into the waistband. Both newcomers snapped on headgear. Night vision goggles?

  Cezi’s stoma
ch rolled and she swallowed back the bitter taste of bile. These guys weren’t fooling around. Hell, they’d be able to tell where she was even in the trees from the heat her body gave off. She wouldn’t have to come down. They could shoot her out of the tree.

  Her own idiocy trapped her. No way out, but up. And that offered little enticement other than a farther drop. She untangled her body from the branch and tentatively placed her foot on the closest climb, grateful for her tomboy childhood.

  Three men armed with night goggles and weapons to bring her down and she didn’t have so much as a nail file.

  The gate creaked and clanged closed again. Shifting her position, she pushed another branch aside so she could see. The younger blond man from the bar, the second best-looking guy she’d ever seen stood at the entrance - Cain’s partner in crime. Although she wasn’t quite sure what the crime was.

  Prior to seeing the limo, the blond man started this mess by getting Ellie Parker drunk. Where had he been and where was Ellie? What had they done with the limo?

  Cain mumbled and the blond man snarled back. “Yeah, I took care of it.”

  Even from the trees she could see these men weren’t BFF. Took care of it? Took care of what?

  A loud crash startled her. Her body jerked. Had one arm not been draped around a substantial branch, she’d have tumbled toward the earth. She glanced down through the tangle of branches below her.

  “Hey!” Cain whirled from his position by the fence and paced toward the bathroom. As he crossed under the light she struggled not to gasp at the ugliness in his flawless features now distorted in anger. “Quiet! We don’t want locals coming to see what’s going on.”

  “Just checking the bathrooms,” a gruff voice almost underneath her replied.

  “Use your brain, numb nuts.” Cain lowered his voice. If she hadn’t been directly above them, the words wouldn’t have reached her. “No windows. Padlocked from the outside. How the hell do you expect her to be inside? Kicking the hinges off the door leaves a trail.”

  Cezi’s lungs seized. What had been merely fear escalated into panic. She rested her weight against the thickest branch and strove to get a full breath as she dug in her pocket for her inhaler.

  Sweat dampened the hair on her neck and around her face. Breathing took precedence over everything else. If they heard the gust of the inhaler, it didn’t matter. Without air in her lungs, she’d pass out and fall to her death anyway.

  Her hands and arms stung, chaffed and scratched from handling the rough bark and twigs. She struggled to calm her thoughts and waited for the medication to take effect. The men hadn’t been drawn to her position, but the one consistent thought she couldn’t seem to vanquish was that of a large, flashing neon bulls-eye on her back.

  Gradually the oxygen permeated her lungs, allowing the laborious climb to continue. Each handhold required weaving through the leaves and twigs, while every inch she gained in height was paid for with scratches and jabs from sharp protrusions.

  Reaching the highest place with enough cover to offer protection, she snuggled into the crotch of two sturdy limbs. Pressed against the trunk so tight she became one with the branch as she attempted to make herself as small as possible. Two things had always held true for her – her family and luck. Tonight she needed both. Luck the searchers might mistake any heat source as animal rather than human this high in the tree and her family to rescue her.

  The bark bit into her skin, but she forced her back flat. Dismissing any thought of pain, she shielded the light from her phone with the fabric from her skirt and texted Uncle Luca about her predicament.

  That done. Nothing else remained but to wait for the Cavalry. Her tangled hair caught on a branch and pulled when she turned her head. To pass the time, she combed out the trapped twigs and leaves and braided two long plaits.

  Chapter Two

  Cain checked and rechecked every inch of the fence line. Without an underground hole someplace, she couldn’t have left the area. His pilots, Peter and Paul climbed to the bathroom roof and scanned the area. Cain clenched his teeth, knowing the other three men were probably winking and nudging each other, delighting in his problems. In five years Cain had never called for help. His decisions in the field had never been questioned. His team. His call. His actions. These bastards wouldn’t even have jobs if it weren’t for him.

  His stolen watch added to his exasperation. His ten thousand dollar Cartier watch. The watch represented the new life he’d chosen. No longer was he the one dumped by some whore who’d traded up for a better meal ticket.

  At least a dozen times he’d bit his tongue to keep from lashing out in anger. When was the last time, some little bimbo had given him this much trouble?

  He would have his revenge. Once they had her. If Eli hadn’t gotten the other girl drunk, they’d be out of here by now. But Cain had been pushed to give Eli a chance. Eli screwed up big-time, which forced them to dump the blonde.

  The petite brunette wasn’t his first choice, or even his second, but his evening was ruined and now the dumb bitch would learn there was a price to be paid.

  Unlike the other girls he’d taken back to Mexico, he planned to keep her all to himself. He might even take a couple of weeks off, so she could see what happened when she dared to defy him. The mere thought of her screams made him harder than he’d been in months. Turning toward the fence, he readjusted his pants, easing the pressure of the zipper.

  Once he bored of her, he’d give her to the others. This girl wouldn’t be protected from damage. When Herod finished with her, there wouldn’t be enough left to sell.

  A smile crept to his face before he sobered and reminded himself to stay in character, but silently he promised over and over. She would be his - whether the little slut wanted it or not.

  He breathed deeply, pushing a calmness he didn’t feel into his voice. “Little thief, you’re starting to wear out my patience. Come out now or things will be much worse for you.”

  “Cain,” Peter whispered from the top of the bathrooms. “We’ve found her.”

  “Where?”

  The chunky pilot pointed upward.

  She’d climbed a bloody tree? Who the hell was she? Sheena, queen of the jungle? “Go get her.”

  “Honey, you need to come down. Now.” Peter scrambled across the limb to the trunk. The branch dipped precariously with the man’s weight. “Get me a flashlight.”

  Eli jogged to the bikes to return with a large nine-volt battery powered light. Paul tossed it to Peter.

  The bright beam filtered through the leaves to the top of the tree. “There you are. C’mon down now.”

  # # #

  What was with these guys and the sexy crooning? Even the new, armed guy sounded like he enjoyed this game. In fact, she was probably the only one not anticipating the outcome.

  Uncle Luca, where are you?

  She needed another backup plan, but damned if she knew what it was. Terror gripped her mind and twisted her stomach.

  Climbing down, she took her time, doing more shifting and futzing than actual descending. “Do I need to come get you?” The charm left his voice.

  “No. I’m coming.”

  “Well, pick it up, honey. I don’t want to be here all night.”

  “Up’s easier than down.”

  He didn’t bother to reply. Instead he called to his companions, “Here, catch.” The shoes and purse she’d tucked into crook of a lower branch landed on the bathroom roof with a thud.

  “Hey, Cain. Here’s your watch.”

  “What about the phone and wallet?”

  “She must have them with her.”

  She did. Tucked between her breasts at an awkward angle. Her broken strap, thanks to Cain’s ruthless manhandling, left one breast exposed unless her hand held it. “If I throw you the rest of his stuff, will you go away and leave me alone?” she asked the man in the tree.

  He guffawed in disbelief. “You’re way too late for that. Cain already has a special plan for you.”r />
  Cezi suspected as much. “That’s no incentive to come down.”

  “This isn’t a negotiation, girl. Either you come down or I’m coming up. And if I have to jerk you out of the tree, it won’t bother me, even if you drop, say twenty or thirty feet.”

  She inched down the tree, taking more time than needed.

  An impatient voice called from the ground, “What’s taking so long?”

  “Stalling,” Her guard reported.

  “I’m not. This is harder than it looks.” But even with every delaying tactic she could employ, eventually she reached the point where he could get a hard grip on her.

  Once his thick arm was wrapped around her, he pushed her toward the branch that crossed to the roof. “You first.” Waiting for her on the other side was another man whose response was an eerie grin distorted by the neon vapors of the streetlight. Of all the men he was the least attractive with two missing teeth and a nose spread across most of face.

  “C’mon, baby, I’ll catch you.”

  The thought that she’d crossed to the tree in heels indicated how stressed she’d been. In bare feet it was a serious balancing act. As soon as she reached the flat roof, the man snatched the protruding wallet and the cell phone from her chest. “Anything else in there?”

  “Nothing worth mentioning.” Words too true for comfort.

  “Catch,” he said to someone below, dropping the wallet and phone over the edge.

  “Lower her down.”

  “C’mere, Princess.”

  Cezi shook her head and backed toward the ladder attached to the rear of the building. “I can climb.”