Heart of the wolf (31 page)

"What did he say?"

"He got angry and accused me of threatening him." Wolf shrugged and pushed the plate bearing the sandwiches around and around with his fingers. Finally he looked up at Sarah. "I know what's going to happen. Summers is hiding out—for now. Noonan will take the information to him, and I know in my gut that
Summers
will hit us either tonight or tomorrow."

Trembling.
Sarah sat down again. "Then that's all the more reason for you to come with me, Wolf. You can't stay here and fight it out alone."

"You're a gutsy lady," Wolf said, "but there are times when you need to know when to retreat. This is one of those times. The only flight out of Anaconda to Washington is at midnight. I wish it was sooner. It's not exactly a hub airport, so I don't have any choice in the matter." Worriedly Wolf held her blue eyes, and saw them shimmering with unshed tears. "I need you to leave, Sarah. I
lo—
I care for you too much to keep you here." He reached out and gripped her hand. "I can't let what happened to Maria happen to you," he told her fervently. "I can't lose you." Wolf sat tensely. He'd nearly slipped and said he loved Sarah. Her face had blanched white, and he wondered if she'd caught his faux pas.

Love?
Sarah sat
there,
very still, very much aware of Wolf's warm, strong hand around hers. She was sure that was what he'd stopped himself from saying. Her mouth grew dry. As she clung to his darkened gaze, Sarah realized that Wolf did love her. The tenor of his voice shook her as nothing else could have. The desperation in his eyes verified his fear for her life.

She pulled her hand from his grasp. "Wolf, I'm not leaving you here alone to fight it out with
Summers
," she began in a low voice. "I'm sorry, but I'm not abandoning you. I can't—" And her voice cracked.

Wolf unwound from the chair and came around the table. He placed his hands around her arms and pulled her upward, emotionally devastated by Sarah's tears. "Now listen to me," he rasped thickly. "You're not abandoning me. No argument on this, Sarah. I'm taking you to Anaconda tonight. Now,
I
don
^:
t care if you agree with my plan or not." His hands tightened on her arms, and his voice became hoarse.
"I won't lose you.
And I don't care if you curse me, hate me, or never want to see me again—you're leaving."

Tears blurred Sarah's vision, and her lips parted. She couldn't stand the agony in Wolf's eyes. "You don't understand!" she cried. "You just don't understand!"

Grimly Wolf pulled Sarah against him. He'd needed her closeness, her warmth, all morning. With a groan, he buried his face in her hair. As her arms twined around his waist, he released a shuddering sigh. "I understand a lot more than you'll ever know," he rasped, and he held her as tightly as he dared.

The inky cape of night had fallen across the valley by the time Sarah was ready to leave the cabin. Wolf had helped her pack, extraordinarily tense and
hyperalert
to any sound that seemed out of the ordinary. He kept his rifle nearby and watched Skeet for warnings.

Sarah dosed her only suitcase, a small one, and Wolf took it out to the pickup. She stood in the center of the living room, torn. When Wolf appeared, she was startled; he'd come back without her having heard him. His face looked grim as he approached her.

"What about my mother?"

He placed his hands
ors
her small shoulders. "I know you're worried about her," he said soothingly.

"Summers has gone to her a number of times in the past, Wolf, and tried to get her to sign papers that would give him our mine. If I'm gone, he could try it again."

He shook his head. "I've talked to
Jean Riva,
the owner of the nursing home, and told her to call me if anyone wants to speak with your mother." Wolf saw the anguish in Sarah's eyes. "She'll be fine," he told her. But would she? He couldn't promise Sarah anything except safety for herself—once he got her out of this hellhole.

"Look at it another way," Wolf said, gently caressing her shoulders, "if
Summers
did get her to sign over the mine, you could contest it in court and win. Your mother isn't of sound mind, and the doctor would make it clear that because of her stroke she wouldn't really know what she'd been coerced into signing."

"Maybe you're right," Sarah murmured. She placed her hands on Wolf's powerful chest. "Please let me stay."

Just the touch of her hands upon him sent a hot longing through every
leve!
of
Wolf. He leaned down and kissed her wan cheek. "I can't. . ."

It was time to go, and Sarah eased out of his hands. Fighting back tears, she turned to him as he followed her out the door. "What if you're wounded? Who would care for you, Wolf? You're one man against all of
Summers's
men."

"If I need help, I'll call Morgan," he told her, capturing her hand as they walked to the truck. "I just think we need to get over the next couple of days and we'll be okay. You've got to trust me on that. Sarah."

She did trust
faim—
with her life.
With her heart.
The words begged to be torn from her, but she swallowed them. Wolf opened the passenger side of the truck. Skeet jumped in first, and Sarah followed. The silence- was ominous as she watched Wolf looking around, alert and wary, as he moved around the truck. Before getting in, he placed the rifle on the gun rack across the back seat.

He got in and started the truck. His gut was screamingly tight. This was a bad time of night to be leaving. He couldn't drive without lights on the twisting, turning dirt road. The moon was concealed by the thick clouds overhead. It looked as if it might rain. Wolf backed out and
put the truck in gear, gravel crunching beneath the wide tires. He glanced over at Sarah's strained face.

"You'll be safer away from here," he told her.

She shyly slid her hand across Skeet's broad back and touched Wolf's shoulder. It was Wolf's past that was making him react this way. "I feel as if you can't trust me to hold up my end of this fight, Wolf.
Just because I'm a woman."

Wolf winced, his mouth tightening. Sarah had a good point, but he didn't dare capitulate to her rationale. "Honey, one thing I learned the hard way was to retreat instead of just charging blindly ahead. When Maria was murdered, I lost it. I wasn't thinking clearly, for myself or my men. I got myself captured, and Killian, too.
And for what?"
He glanced over at Sarah's shadowed features. "This has nothing to do with you being a woman. This has to do with me trying to deal differently—better—with the same situation all over again. Do you see that?"

Torn between what she felt was right for her and her all-too-clear understanding of Wolf's past, Sarah shrugged. "Yes," she whispered, "I know what you're trying to do. What if you just got me a hotel room in Anaconda and stayed a few days? Wouldn't that be good enough, Wolf?"

He shook his head. "What if
Summers's
men are tailing us? What if they found out where you were staying?"

The grimness of the scenario Wolf outlined made Sarah realize he was right. "I worry for you—"

"I'm worried for me, too." Wolf tried to smile for her benefit. He placed his hand across hers momentarily, keeping his eyes on the road. The headlights stabbed through the night. "Maybe because I've got a woman who takes me as I am. You've allowed me to open up and talk, Sarah. I've never done that before, and I've got to tell you, it feels damn good. You've taken away a lot of the load I carried."

Her throat constricted. "It's because I care for you, Wolf. Mom always said love makes carrying a problem less."

Surprise at her softly spoken admission sent Wolf's heart skittering. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he saw the winking of rifle fire to the right, on Sarah's side of the truck. His words turned to a croak of warning, and he jerked Sarah down off the seat just as the bullets slammed into the truck.

Hitting the brakes, hearing glass shattering and flying all over the cab, Wolf ducked. Son of a bitch! They were being bushwhacked! He knew why, too. The threat of an FBI investigation had gotten to
Summers
. This was his answer to the problem: Kill Wolf and Sarah, the two eyewitnesses, and there could be no trial. Noonan and
Summers
would be free.

"Stay down!" Wolf yelled, jerking the wheel of the truck to the left. The pickup shrieked and skidded down the loose gravel road. More rifle fire poured into the cabin. Skeet howled. Sarah screamed.

Jamming his foot down on the accelerator, Wolf kept low. The bastards! They were out in the middle of nowhere, too far from the main highway, from Philips- burg, from civilization, for anyone to report gunshots. They were alone.

The truck coughed and strained. The gunfire stopped. They were out of range for now. At the top of small knoll, the truck's engine coughed, sputtered and quit. Cursing, Wolf pulled over onto the
berm
of the dirt road.

"Sarah, are you okay?"

"Y-yes."
She raised her head, realizing what had happened. Skeet was squeezed in beside her on the floorboards of the passenger side of the truck. "I—I think Skeet's okay, too."

"Good." Quickly, Wolf pulled the rifle down off the gun rack. "Get out! Hurry! They'll be coming to see if we're dead!"

Bailing out the door, Sarah fell, her knees giving way out of fear. With a little gasp, she forced herself to stand. Skeet leaped out of the cab, growling deep in his throat. The night was black, with no moonlight to help guide them. She squinted, unable to see what Skeet must either see or hear.

Wolf came around the truck, putting a bullet into the chamber of the 30.06 rifle. "Come on," he rasped, gripping her by the arm, and they hurried down the embankment and into the fir trees below. Luckily, there was little brush to hamper their escape, and Wolf kept Sarah at a steady run back toward the cabin.

"Who?"
Sarah gasped.

"Noonan and
Summers
," he ground out, jogging alongside her. Skeet moved ahead of them, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. "We're lucky they didn't kill us."

"
Wh
-
what are we going to do?" Sarah gasped between breaths, not used to such violent exercise. Wolf moved
fiuidly
, as if running were the easiest thing in the world for him. Although her feet were healing, Sarah could already feel them beginning to throb from the exertion.