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He gave his head a shake, trying to clear all thought but the one, and opened his eyes to fight his way to his feet. His gaze registered a booted foot a split second before the rock solid force connected with his ribs. Air rushed from his lungs on a whooshing grunt. Fire seared his mid-section. Ben coughed and gasped for oxygen as another kick had him instinctively curling into a ball.
Blackness crowded the edges of his vision. Rachel sobbed and begged the Italian to stop.
Distantly, Ben heard another female, speaking in curt Italian. Eva.
“Basta.” Nino’s firmly voiced command brought everything to a halt.
Rachel knelt at Ben’s side. Tears ran down her cheeks. “Ben, are you okay?”
Holding back an agonized groan, he pushed himself to his knees, turning his head to the side to spit out a mouthful of blood. He felt with his tongue for the gash inside his cheek and smoothed the jagged skin back in place. When he lifted his gaze, Eva stood next to Nino, still in her spandex yoga suit, hand resting on the Rottweiler’s head. Bruno stood perfectly still and silent.
Eva’s concerned brown eyes connected with his, but he had no chance to wonder about the emotion before she spun on her bare foot and retreated to the house. He resisted raising his head to watch her leave.
“Get up,” Alrigo bit out.
Rachel helped him to his feet. He was sore all over, and they made quite the pair, him partially doubled over and her limping on her sprained ankle. With each step closer to the stone doorway leading them back to their prison, frustration and anger mounted. They should be free right now.
At the door, he urged Rachel ahead of him, and cast a covert glance back toward Alrigo. The man’s attention was diverted by a vehicle that’d just turned in between the gates of the villa. Ben bent low and took a step backward at the same time. His elbow connected with Alrigo’s ribs, eliciting a hoarse cry of pain.
He smiled his revenge and spun to face their captor, prepared to beat the prick to a pulp. He’d pulled his arm back, fingers forming into a fist, when something struck him from behind again. The world went black before he hit the floor.
****
Ben came to on a soft surface. Gentle fingers pressed a cool cloth to his throbbing face. His head pounded as if punishing him for an all day bender and his body ached as if he’d gunned his bike off the side of a cliff and landed on rocks.
Still…if Rachel was taking care of him, that meant she was okay. He cracked an eye open. Steady brown eyes regarded him.
Eva.
Ben stilled in surprise, then cast his gaze about the room and moved to sit up. His upward momentum was cut short with a painful bite and a metallic jangle on his wrists. He twisted his head to discover his arms were handcuffed to the bed. A jerk of one arm did nothing more than rattle the metal chain and wrench his wrist.
“Rachel?” he called, searching the room again as fear squeezed his chest. His gaze sliced to Eva. “Where’s my sister?”
Eva’s hand lowered. She turned to dip the cloth into a bowl of ice water sitting on a table next to the bed. “Rachel is fine.”
“Where is she?” he demanded again.
“Resting in a different room to repair her ankle.”
“I want to see her.”
“That is not possible.”
“I want to see that she’s okay.” Ben glared his insistence. When Eva leaned forward to press the cold cloth to his cheek once more, he jerked his head away. Her lips compressed. Emotion flashed in her eyes, but her long black lashes lowered too quick for him to identify it. When her gaze met his once more, her shuttered expression revealed nothing.
“Stubborn American. Let me help where I can.”
He tried a different tactic, banking on the concern he’d glimpsed in her expression outside. “Do you have family, Eva?”
She regarded him for a brief moment before turning back to the bowl and dipping the cloth again.
He pressed harder. “Parents? A child? A brother or sister? Anyone you care about?”
He knew he’d hit a nerve when she caught her lower lip between her teeth. Finally, she admitted, “A sister.”
“Do you love her?”
“Of course.”
