Undercover Memories by Alice Sharpe Read Free Book Online Page B

of details. Paige lay all scrunched up with her back to the rear of the car, a leather strap around her neck. Her hands were taped together, as were her ankles. It appeared she’d managed to wield a tire iron and had used it to bang out the taillight, working with her back to the job. He had no idea how she managed to manipulate the necklace from around her neck let alone dangle it through the opening.
    He lifted her out of the trunk. Her eyes were wide, her gaze darting all around as though searching for a sign of Korenev. At first she couldn’t stand without John’s help. He lifted what he now saw was a man’s leather belt from over her head and tossed it back in the trunk, flinching at the angry red burn that encircled her throat. Apologizing ahead of time, he peeled the tape away from her mouth, and she cried out as it lifted from her lips.
    He pulled her against him. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
    “No. Not really,” she mumbled.
    “Where is he?”
    She looked over his shoulder, then met his gaze. “I don’t know. I felt his weight shift as he got out of the car. I kept waiting…waiting for him to come back, you know. There was a sound by the trunk as though he paused, but then voices across the lot and retreating footsteps. Someone must have spooked him. I heard an engine start nearby. That’s when I started bashing out the taillight. I didn’t know if you would come—”
    “Of course I came. I’m sorry it took so long.”
    She pushed herself away. Her eyes were moist. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
    He swallowed a boulder as his gaze took in the split skin over her cheekbone and the chalky white of her complexion. She looked away from him—what was she thinking? She’d heard Korenev’s accusations. She must be wondering if he was as ruthless as Korenev.
    “Could you get this tape off of me?” she asked.
    “Of course.” He freed her hands and then knelt before her to unwind the silver adhesive from her legs. It seemed to take forever.
    “What do we do now?” she asked as she rubbed her hands together as if trying to reestablish circulation. Staring at the ground, she added, “Do you see my necklace? I dropped it.”
    “It’s right here,” he said, and gestured at the glittering gold that had fallen through the mushy snow and lay now among a dozen jagged pieces of red plastic.
    He bent to pick it up for her and paused.
    Although the pendant’s topaz eyes were no bigger than decorative pinheads, they still managed to drill right inside his head. For a microsecond, his skin seemed on fire, and then it was over. He wiped a thin layer of perspiration off his forehead. He was crazy. There was no other explanation.
    Without saying a word, she picked up the owl and chain, examined it for a second and dropped it into her pocket where it disappeared from sight.
    He took a deep breath.
    “I had to break it to get it off my neck,” she murmured, and once again he looked at the burn on her lovely throat. He’d thought it came from Korenev’s bondage methods, but now he saw the abrasion was too narrow for the belt to have caused it. It was yanking on the chain that had burned her skin. It was the owl…
    “You have a black eye,” he said, gently touching her left cheek and willing himself to stop being such an unmitigated sissy.
    “We match. We can tell people we’ve been in a car accident.”
    He stared into her troubled gray eyes and felt himself drifting toward her. He gave a mental shake of his head and murmured something about getting out of the lot before someone noticed them.
    She looked over his shoulder, then back with a startled expression on her face. “You mean someone like that?”
    He turned to see what she meant. A police car rolled slowly down the street.
    “Hurry,” she said as she grabbed his lapels and pulled him toward her. “Kiss me.”
    He did not need any more invitation than that, and immediately took her up on her suggestion. Her lips were