Their Virgin Captive (8 page)

But it wasn’t going to change.

“You’re right. I’m sorry about the engineering crack,” Gavin said shortly. If he wanted to get back in good with his brothers, he needed to stop being such an asshole. He slid the answer button on the phone, and was surprised at how fast his heart was beating. “Lenox? What have you got for me?”

Burke’s smooth voice came over the line. “Not much yet. Cole is going over the tapes. I think you’re definitely right. This is an insider.”

He’d known that. Part of him relaxed. He didn’t have to decide yet what to do next. But Hannah was still in danger. “Run deep background checks on everyone. Human Resources would have done some of the legwork, but you have resources they don’t.”

“I’ll start with anyone who has daily dealings with Hannah. This is a big company we’re talking about, James. It could take awhile.”

“I understand. I want you to be very thorough. Start with Scott in IT. The way I see it, he might be hung up on Hannah in a dangerous sort of way if he’s suddenly demanding to have an important lunch with her. There’s nothing so critical about the project she’s coordinating that should require her to spend her lunch hour with him. And our CIO, Preston Ward III. He and Hannah had an…altercation recently.”

“Funny that you mention him. The other reason I called you was to let you know you’ve got trouble up there in Alaska.”

“Yes, there were some minor computer issues. It made a decent cover for us leaving, but it’s nothing we’re too concerned about.”

There was a long pause. “I was in your office this afternoon. Apparently, your minor trouble became something major. I overheard Ward saying that River Run is in serious trouble, and he’s headed up there himself with a couple of techs to fix it. You’re going to love this. One of the techs is Scott. The other is the head of your help desk, Lyle.” Gavin didn’t love it. It was the worst news possible. Preston was on his way down with two techs, and all three men were on Gavin’s list of suspects. Any of them could be Hannah’s stalker.

Son of a bitch.

While in Alaska, Gavin had imagined that he could go fishing with his brothers in an attempt to reconnect, but maybe a good old-fashioned ass-kicking was the ultimate bonding experience.

Because by the time the trio got here in the morning, he hoped they’d figured out the identity of Hannah’s stalker. The asshole was going to have a welcome party he would never forget.

“Thank you, Burke. Could you find out what flight they’re on? One of the admins should know. I want to be prepared.”

“I just sent you an e-mail with that information. I’ll keep digging, focusing first on the men you’ve mentioned. But something is off here; I feel it. Watch your back, James. I’ll call back when I know more.”

The line went dead, and Gavin immediately opened his e-mail.

“What’s going on?” The expression on Slade’s face told Gavin he’d figured out something was up, but he couldn’t move because Hannah’s head was on his chest. Otherwise, they might be wrestling over the phone. “What did he find out?”

Gavin scanned the e-mail. It was a copy of the incoming employees’ itinerary. Preston hadn’t wasted a minute. He and two others were coming in on the redeye to Anchorage, followed by a puddle-jumper they’d hired to get them to River Run. First Class for Preston, but he’d shoved the techs into coach.
Douche bag
.

“It looks like we’re going to have company. Have you checked your cell lately?” Slade flushed slightly. “I turned it off while we were in the air. I haven’t turned it back on.” Because he was far too busy with Hannah. Work was going to come second for Slade from now on. Gavin could deal with that. He scanned through his e-mail, reading a group of them from the foreman at River Run, which had started minutes after Gavin’s plane had taken off.

“Don’t feel too bad. I just started mine again. There was a system failure at the facility. They got it under control, but it needs to be looked at by an expert.”

“I can be there in an hour,” Slade said.

“A computer expert. It isn’t an engineering problem. The system crashed, and now that it’s back online, it’s giving off some strange numbers. Ben Kunayak, the IT guy who runs our facility up here, thinks the system has been hacked. Preston decided it was serious enough to investigate in person. Scott and Lyle apparently volunteered to come with him.”

“What the fuck?” Slade’s voice boomed through the car. “How convenient.”

“Exactly.”

* * * *

When they reached the house, Slade caught him up on the Lenox brothers’ call. Dex thought seriously about putting his fist through another wall. “That fucker is going to be here in the morning?”

Gavin nodded from his seat on the couch. Dex couldn’t sit. All he could do was think about the fact that Preston Ward III had followed Hannah to Alaska.

“We can’t say anything to Hannah until we know for sure, but he’s not coming anywhere near her.”

“Agreed.” Slade walked in from the hallway that led back to the bedrooms. “I settled her in.

She’s not particularly happy that she lost her cell phone.”

Gavin eyed Slade. “Lost?”

Slade pulled the small phone out of his back pocket with a grin. “It got lost in my pants.” Gavin sighed, the sound so familiar to Dex that he no longer winced at it. He was used to disappointing Gavin. But it was nice to know their oldest brother handled Slade the same way.

“And why would her phone decide to hide in your slacks?”

Dex held his hand out, and Slade turned the phone over. Dex immediately started going through her recent calls. “Slade and I talked about it earlier. Hannah knows a lot of people.

Maybe one of them is her stalker. But if she has this phone, she’s going to answer it. She might even call her friends to let them know where she’s gone. We can’t risk that.” She’d had twenty damn phone calls in the last ten hours. Dex ignored the ones from Wendy and the other female office workers Hannah had befriended. There were several numbers from inside Black Oak that Dex didn’t recognize, and Hannah didn’t have contact names for their numbers.

“We need to keep Hannah’s whereabouts quiet. Wendy is the only one who knows where she is. She’s been with the company for over a decade. I would trust her with company secrets.” Slade flipped open his laptop and started it up.

“And Wendy loves Hannah,” Gavin offered. “She views her as the daughter she never had and has lectured me several times on the importance of taking care of Hannah properly. Wendy wouldn’t give up her whereabouts. She knows the danger.”

Dex sat down beside Slade, who had pulled up the company directory. “Who has extension 709?”

Slade’s fingers flew across the keys. “Scott Kirkwood. He works in IT. That’s the guy she was supposed to have lunch with today so he could talk to her about something ‘important.’” Dex remembered Scott. Short, scrawny. Pale hair to go with his pale face. When Dex had gone to the IT section to interrogate the little prick, he’d been out with a ‘personal appointment,’

according to his supervisor. Scott was supposedly both reliable and punctual, but the timing smelled damn fishy to Dex. “Send Burke his name.”

“Already done,” Gavin advised.

Satisfaction rolled through Dex. “Good. I’ll bet we have dates and times on some of this damn stalker’s actions. Maybe we can use those to narrow the list of suspects down and eliminate others.”

“I think you should have this conversation with Hannah,” Gavin suggested.

Dex turned to him. “We don’t want to scare her unnecessarily. Once we know something, we’ll bring her in and tell her everything.”

“I understand not wanting to frighten her, but you can’t pretend the problem doesn’t exist when she’s around. Isn’t she our best resource on figuring this out? I mean, she does know who she speaks with on a daily basis.”

“I don’t want her involved.” Dex flipped through her phone. “Extension 830?” A few clicks on the computer, and Slade had the answer. “That’s Heather Coleburn. She’s in the business management office. She and Hannah have had lunch every Wednesday for the last year.”

“She makes friends so easily,” Dex murmured with a hint of a smile. She was a genuine friend, and some people took advantage of that. “722?”

Slade rolled his eyes. “That’s Lyle. You know Lyle.”

Dex knew him well. Lyle was the head of the help desk and a supposed computer genius. He just seemed like an unctuous prick to Dex. “Yeah. He left a message on her machine at home, I think. He was supposed to fix her laptop tonight. Maybe we should give his name to Burke.” Gavin shrugged. “Next time I talk to Burke or Cole, I will.”

“Good. Now does someone here want to tell me why I didn’t know that Hannah filed a sexual harassment complaint against our CIO?”

“I didn’t know, either,” Slade added.

Gavin’s eyes hooded. “She told me it wasn’t serious. He got a little handsy at happy hour a couple of weeks back. He and his wife are separating, and Ward was drunk. I talked to him yesterday, just after I found out. I told him I would fire him if he even looked Hannah’s way again.”

“And you didn’t bother to mention this to either of us, why?” Slade asked, looking up from his computer.

Gavin’s perfectly polished shoes tapped against the hardwood floor, a sure sign he was getting impatient. “By HR’s standards, Hannah’s complaint is confidential. The only reason I knew about it was Preston himself. He was worried HR would pursue the matter, and came to plead his case to me. Then I asked Hannah.”

Dex wouldn’t have let the asshole plead anything. “How could you let him get away with harassing her like that?”

“She took care of him. Broke his big toe by stomping on it. She’s stronger than you give her credit for. You should be damn lucky you got the jump on her today, or you might have ended up limping like Preston.” Gavin stood. “I’m going to bed. I suggest the two of you do the same. And while I agree that Hannah is fragile in some ways, I think you’d do well to remember that she is a very independent woman who has a brain.”

Gavin stalked past them, heading toward the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.

“Give him a little time,” Slade said. “He doesn’t understand our relationship with Hannah.”

“Well, he’s not the only one,” a soft voice said from the doorway.

Dex turned and saw Hannah standing there in one of the long, white terrycloth robes stashed in all the bedrooms for guests’ comfort. Based on the flushed anger all over her face, he’d bet she’d been standing there for a while. “Hannah, you’re supposed to be in bed.” She adjusted her robe. “Yes, you put me to bed and tucked me in. Clearly, you expected me to stay there like a good little girl. If that was your goal, you should have just locked me in.”

“I thought about it.” Dex got the feeling she wouldn’t believe him if he lied. He’d given serious consideration to locking that door and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt where she was.

“Oh, well, live and learn. Maybe you can lock in the next girl. I would like my phone back.” She strode up and held her hand out.

“That’s not going to happen,” Dex said, snatching it up in his big fist.

“Hannah, love,” Slade said, getting to his feet and cupping her shoulders. “You don’t need that phone. You’re safe here.”

“Really? Who’s going to keep me safe from your overprotectiveness?” she drawled. “I want my phone, now.”

“You don’t need it.”

“I certainly do. How else am I going to call and make a reservation to fly out of here?” Dex itched to mete out some discipline. But when he heard Slade’s sigh, Dex knew his brother was going to try to gently talk Hannah out of her anger. That would be a mistake, in Dex’s opinion. He took a moment to really read her body language. She was tense, her eyes narrow and tight. Her fists were clenched and every now and then she rolled them like she was digging her nails into the palm of her hand. Dex would bet that she was keyed up and itching for a fight…or something else that would take the edge off.

He was willing to give it to her.

“You’re not going anywhere, Hannah.” He said the words with implacable surety.

Her head came up, and she went toe-to-toe with him. Dex couldn’t hold in a little smile. Her perfectly painted pink toes were so obviously wrong up against his worn boots.

“Don’t you laugh at me, Dexter Townsend. I want my phone—now. I’m leaving, and you’re not stopping me. I’m done playing whatever game you’ve cooked up. Oh, and I quit. Please let Mr. James know. As soon as you give me the phone, I’m going home. And by home, I mean back to West Texas.”

Slade stood beside Dex, clearly no longer in the mood to reason with her. “If you think we’re going to let you leave here when there’s a stalker out there waiting for you, you’re crazy.” Hannah thrust her hands on her hips. “You don’t own me. I can come and go as I please.”

“You’re ours, and you’re staying in this house if I have to tie you up.” In fact, it would be Dex’s pleasure. He would tie her hands to the headboard and place those shapely legs in a spreader bar that would leave her pussy on full display and ready for their use. Why hadn’t he thought of that in the first place?

“So, I’m a captive here?”

Dex paused, then nodded. “That’s accurate, darlin’. You’re not leaving, and that’s for your own good.”

“This is how you’re going to convince me you’re better than the guy stalking me? Whatever you thought we started on the plane is over.” She turned on her heel and walked away.

Slade’s jaw dropped as they watched her. Dex had a sinking feeling they’d just fucked up big.

Chapter Six

Hannah fought to contain her scream. She stomped down the hall toward her bedroom, plotting the whole way exactly how she’d get the hell out of this mess.

She’d been so stupid. She’d thought because the brothers had shown her some affection, they really cared about her. But no. They’d spanked her and flashed her to each other. That wasn’t affection, just perversion.

But then…Slade picked her up and carried her down the steps. That felt like affection, just like waking cuddled between them in the big stretch limo.

She pushed the images aside as she strode through the bedroom door. The room beyond was bigger than her apartment, and the bed looked like it was built to sleep a football team. She could only imagine what the brothers had planned to do to her there.