Page 52 of Protect and Serve

“The best?”

“That I’m the right man for you. In time, you will come to see that too.” Not bloody likely. “I would do anything for you, Claire. Can’t you see that?” He fixed her with a repentant look. “You shouldn’t have eaten the onion rings by the way. They were for him.”

She gaped at Dustin, taking in the maniacal glint in his eyes. “You poisoned me?” Holy God.

He chuckled. “Well, technically, I poisoned him. It’s hardly my fault you ate his food. You really shouldn’t have, you know. You gave me quite a scare.” He patted her hand. “But it all worked out. I knew it would. This is meant to be.”

Panic and horror sluiced through her mind. He was deranged. Totally deranged.

But if she wanted to survive, if she wanted to get out of this, it was probably a good idea to play along so he would lower his guard. The moment he did, she would escape. She had to. She stared out the window until she got her raging anxiety under control. “Where-where are you taking me?” she asked softly, in a normal tone. It cost her.

“We’re going to Las Vegas,” he said. God, he sounded so excited, as though this were a long-anticipated vacation rather than a kidnapping.

“Vegas?”

“Yeah.” He smiled at her. “We’re eloping.” He patted her hand—though she jerked away—and then hit the accelerator again, sending the truck shooting forward…away from everything Claire loved.

And damn it all. No one had any idea where she was.

Chapter Fourteen

“What the hell do you mean, Claire is missing?” Charlie wasn’t sure, but it felt like one of the vessels in his brain exploded. His vision went red and tiny stars danced. He glared at Cody and Cade through the mist. “You were supposed to be watching her.”

“We have lives too,” Cody bellowed.

“Stop it. This is not helping.” Lisa, the only apparent voice of reason, stepped between them. “Let’s go over the facts. Okay?” She waited until all the men nodded, though they were reluctant nods. “Claire is gone, but her car is still here.”

“And her purse?” Charlie asked. That was one of the first things investigators looked for in a disappearance. If she’d left her purse—his blood curdled at the thought.

“Gone.”

Relief sluiced through him, but not for long. That was hardly a guarantee of anything. “So someone came here and took her away. And she went willingly.”

“How do you figure?” Cade asked.

“No sign of forced entry. No sign of a struggle. She took her purse.” He frowned at Lisa. “Who could it have been? Porsche maybe?”

“We called Porsche. She’s in Dallas with Crystal.” Ford’s fiancée was Porsche’s boss. The two ran an internet jewelry business.

“Hanna? Sidney?” He went through a list of all her friends. Each was quickly struck from the list.

Charlie raked his hair and paced the room, trying to think of anyone, someone Claire might have gone with. But the fact that she hadn’t called her brothers to let them know where she was going, or left a note or anything, was disturbing. Her brothers insisted she was religious about keeping them updated on what she was up to. She wasn’t answering any of her calls—not even from him.

His gaze fell on the roses in the crystal vase on the table and a knot formed in his belly. He and Claire had posited ideas about who might have sent them, but the only name they had come up with as a possibility was Dustin.

As soon as that bastard’s name entered his mind, he knew. Somehow, he just knew. With a snarl, he pulled out his cell phone and called Bubba’s.

“What is it?” Lisa asked, but he set a hand on her shoulder rather than respond. He didn’t think he had the capacity for a civil response.

As he suspected, Dustin hadn’t shown up for work tonight.

Charlie ended the call and sent a dark look around the room. “I’m going into town.” He would find Dustin—and Claire—come hell or high water.

“I’m going with you,” Cody said.

“Me too.” Cade leaped to his feet.

“And me!” Lisa cried.