Lost in Italy (11 page)

And just like that, guilt reared up and smacked her across the face.  In the heat of the moment, she'd completely forgotten about them. 
Real nice, Halli.

Trent
's comment at the station came back to her, and she worried anew why her family hadn't checked into the hotel.  Maybe they had by now?  Maybe once she got to the consulate she'd be able to—

A blue sign whizzed by on her side of the car.  Halli sat up straight in her seat and whipped around to stare behind them.  “Hey!  That sign said
Milano
.”  She faced forward again.  There!  Another sign, and an arrow, but
Trent
was in the wrong lane.  She pointed to the sign.

“You need to turn...there.”

Disbelief exploded as he drove right past without slowing down.  He didn't even glance in her direction, only into the review mirror, then back to the road. 
What’s he doing?

“You promised you'd take me to
Milan
.”

“And I will.”

“I want to go now.”  When he didn’t respond, she demanded, “Turn around.  Right now.”

“God, you’re bossy,” he grumbled.

A red haze blurred her vision.  “I mean it!”  She hauled off and smacked his arm in impotent frustration.

“
Ow
.”  He hunched his shoulder and tossed her a glare.

“We had a deal!  You promised, you lying, egotistical, conceited jerk!”

Without warning,
Trent
swung the wheel hard to the right.  Halli gave a squeak of alarm as she slammed against his shoulder.  Once on a side road, he stomped on the brakes and the vehicle slid to a screeching halt.

She pushed back into her own seat, only to have him lean over and glower in her face.

“At some point in our cozy little relationship here, you're going to have to trust that I know what the hell I'm doing.  Otherwise, it’s going to get real tempting to leave your ass on the side of the road.”

His low tone and precise speech suggested he had a tight rein on his control.  Though she was past the point that she thought he'd hurt her or follow through on his threat, it didn't mean she was any less intimidated.  Not that she'd let him know that.

She lifted her chin, hoping her glare covered any outward signs of anxiety.  “If I’m such a
‘pain in the ass’
, why didn’t you just leave me at the police station?  You already have your precious video.”

He stared into her eyes for one more second, then sat back in his seat and stepped on the gas.  “Because I need you, sweetheart.  It’s as simple as that.”

Reality bit hard, no matter how much she thought she’d prepared for it.  He wasn’t helping her because he was nice or even because he liked her.  Only because needed her.  Halli swallowed a surge of unexpected, and totally unwelcome, hurt feelings and faced the other reality.  Like it or not, she needed him, too.

She shifted in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest.  “Where are we going?”

“Back to my place.”

She opened her mouth to ask why, but he beat her to it.

“To get the video.  I also still have your passport and money,
and
I need my wallet.  I didn’t exactly have time to pack a bag when I saw you hightailing it across the yard.”

To avoid any more of his sarcasm, she retreated to silent mode the remainder of the drive.  And since they were going back to his house, she decided she’d drop his wallet back where she’d found it.  No sense admitting to the jerk that she’d stolen it in the first place.  Her twinge of irrational guilt over the money she’d ‘borrowed’ would go away when she tucked a twenty somewhere after he’d returned her travel purse.

Fifteen minutes later, inside his garage again, the scene played out much differently than before.  Halli couldn’t help but remember the feel of his body when he’d pressed her against the door.  And when he’d kissed her by the car.  In both instances, she’d learned first hand the man had the muscles to back up every shirtless photo spread he’d ever done.

Banishing the multiple, vivid images of those photos from her mind, she followed him into the house and watched as he reactivated the alarm.

“How’d you get the code?” he asked on his way to the kitchen.

“You keyed it in right in front of me while holding me hostage, remember?”

He reached into the refrigerator, then shut the door and tossed her a bottle of water before twisting the cap off one for himself.  He mock-toasted her.  “Lesson learned for next time.”

The sight of him lifting the bottle to his lips and drinking three quarters of the liquid in a few deep swallows shouldn’t have been sexy, but darn it, she got hot watching him.

Halli quickly turned away.  “Year you were born, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“It’s only four years before mine, so it’s not like I’d have to be a genius to figure it out.”  She couldn’t help but face him again with a condescending smile.  “You should never use your birth date for a password.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said dryly.  “For now, I’ll leave it, in case you need to use it for any reason.”

She mock toasted him before ambling toward the living room while taking a drink of her water.  If she could get to the bar before him, she’d replace the wallet and he’d be none the wiser.  “I’ll be gone once you get my passport and drive me to Milan,” she reminded over her shoulder.  “Completely out of your hair.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Halli startled at the sound of his voice right behind her.  When he brushed past, her jaw clenched.  Holding back a growl of frustration, she stared at his back as he headed for the bar.  Now how was she going to pull this off without him seeing her?

“However,” he continued, “I think we should…”

What she needed was a plausible distraction—

Trent spun and lunged toward her. 
“Get down!”

Chapter 6

Halli dropped to all fours behind a chair, her heart lodged in her throat.  Her bottle of water rolled across the hardwood floor, gurgling a wet trail.  “Wh-what’s the matter?”

“
Shh
.”

Trent pressed close, arm half around her as he moved into a crouched position and rose up slightly to peer above the armrest.

Fear sunk its talons in deep.  “Oh my God, did they find us?”

His razor sharp gaze swept the living room and moved to the windows.  “I don’t know, but someone’s been in the house,” he whispered.  “They might still be here.”

“How do you know?”  Her heart thumped wildly despite the heat of his body next to hers.

“My wallet’s gone.  I left it on the bar earlier.”

Halli went limp with relief beside him.  Tingles spread through her body with the retreat of adrenaline.  “It’s right here.”  Without thinking twice, she shifted away for more room and lifted the hem of her sweatshirt to fish his wallet from her front pocket.  “God, you scared me half to death.”

He glanced down at her hand, then did a double take.  “What the hell?”

She started to hand it over, but he stripped it from her fingers in a swift motion.  When he flipped it open, she pushed to her feet, scooped up her mostly empty water, and tried to make light of the theft.  “I owe you twenty bucks.”

He stood as well, still taking stock of the contents of his wallet.  “And you talk about
me
with your nose stuck in the air.”  Finally, he shut it and slid it into his back pocket.  “At least I haven’t lied or stolen from you.”

Halli followed him into the kitchen, guilt overridden by indignation.  “Whoa, hold on.  You’ve got my passport and all my money, but now
I’m
the bad guy for taking your wallet?”

“You gave them to me.  Threw them at me, remember?  I didn’t
steal
anything from you.”  He opened a drawer, withdrew her things, including the camera, and thumped them on the counter.

“Before you get up on your righteous high horse, let’s take a look at this from my point of view,” Halli challenged.  “I was just sitting there minding my own business when you showed up.  After your cheesy pick-up lines didn’t work, you threw me into your car—”

“Cheesy pick-up lines?  They were shooting at you!  Would you rather I’d left you there?”

“
My
point of view, remember?”  She slammed her water bottle hard on the countertop, surprising even herself with her vehemence.  Water splashed from the open top, all over her hand, arm, and the countertop.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a hip against the counter, a look of annoyed resignation tightening his features.

The itch on her palm would go away if she smacked his handsome face right now.  She was sure of it.

Resisting the temptation, she clenched her fingers, short nails digging into her skin as she tried a different approach.  “You may be used to crazy things like this, but back in Wisconsin, I have a set schedule that I’m comfortable with.  I work, I exercise, and at the end of the day, I relax in my garden or by reading a book.  The last thing I expected after only a couple hours in a foreign country was to be stranded, kidnapped and shot at.  On top of all that,
you
refused to go to the police and forced me into your house.  Believe me, I don’t make a habit of stealing from people, but I’m just a little out of my element here,” she lifted her trembling hand, thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, “so excuse me for not quite being myself.”

He snorted.  “This version of yourself sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than your regular self.”

She scowled  at his rude comment.

“I’m curious about one thing, though.”

His casual, conversational tone raised her suspicion. “What?”

“When did you plan to go to the bathroom during your trip?”  He shoved her purse across the counter.  “I didn’t see any potty breaks scheduled on that itinerary of yours.”

Halli snatched up her purse, annoyed that he’d gone through her things.  He sounded like Ben, making fun of her plans.  Ironically, if they’d stuck to
her
plans, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now, dealing with the likes of him.

“So what if I like a little order in my life?” she muttered defensively.

“You call that
order
?  Try obsessive.  Or anal.  Or—”

“Or shut up.”

He smiled, but his expression quickly sobered.  “Listen, I understand it’s been one hell of a day for you.  Despite what you may think, this is far from normal for me, too.  But like it or not, you stepped into something very serious.  After everything that’s happened today, these guys won’t care what you’ve actually got on that video anymore.  They’ll kill first, and watch it later.  I—”

“Thank you, because I needed
that
reminder.  This Alrigo guy wants me dead and I don’t even know who he is!”  She spun away from Trent, tears stinging her eyes from his dire prediction.  “I can’t believe I came to Italy and got mixed up with the mafia.”

A moment later his hands slid onto her shoulders, sending her into the air about three inches.

His fingers tightened before rubbing her tense muscles.  “They’re not mafia.”

“Then who are they?”  Tingles radiated along her shoulders from his gentle massage.

“The less you know, the better.  It’s safer that way.”

She rolled her eyes even though her back was to him.  “How do you know?”

Suddenly, she felt like she’d been smacked upside the head and twisted away from his hands to face him.  She narrowed her gaze.  “How
do
you know?  About the video, what I filmed, who these guys are?  What were
you
doing there?”

He didn’t want to tell her, she could see it in his face.  She crossed her arms and waited, trying to ignore a growing dread turning her blood colder by the second.  Why hadn’t she asked these questions earlier?

He ran a hand through his hair, down the back of his head to rub his neck.

She forced the next question into the silence.  “Are you working with them?”

“No.”  His gaze shifted toward the living room.

Suspicion mushroomed and Halli swallowed hard.  “That was a quick denial.”

“It’s the truth.”

She watched an inner debate play out in his expression as he stared past her shoulder.  Pain shadowed his eyes and drew the corners of his mouth down.  Just when she thought he’d explain what was going on, he lifted his arm to look at his watch.

“I’ve got to get that battery before the shops close for the night.”

What was it he didn’t want her to know?  Her mind raced.  He had to be involved; how else would he know about everything?

Trent grabbed his keys and the camera from the counter and headed toward the door.  “I’ll be back in a little while.”