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“Knock knock,” he murmured.
She couldn’t stop a smile. “Who’s there?”
“A herd.”
“A herd who?” She couldn’t wait to hear his answer. For just this moment, she was safe. Hays was here, and he was making her smile.
“A herd you were here, so I came running.”
She let out a soft laugh, ignoring the darkness of Peter and her entourage of guards.
The night shadows were deepening as they gained distance from the house lights, stars twinkled in the deep blue sky above, and the malevolence of the guards crept over her as Peter eased closer.
She could not miss the threatening looks Quaid and Hays shot her guards. Her brother and Hays would fight for her and Anna. That thought thrilled and warmed her. If only she dared ask Quaid to defeat and tie up her guards and she could escape with Hays. It would never happen, but it was a lovely dream. Her father would have dozens of men pursuing them and bribes and rewards offered throughout the world. He’d kidnap Hays’s friends and family and use them against him. Even her dream of Greenland wouldn’t be safe if she tried to disappear. Quaid, Anna, Jacey, Cade, and Hays were the ones who needed to disappear. She would cover for them. Give her life for them, as she’d always tried to do.
Hays’s arm brushed hers, and tingles shot through her. He glanced down at her. She wanted to meet his gaze again, but she’d let down her guard with his knock-knock joke. She could not afford to give Peter more ammunition to share with her father.
Vehicles roared to life and wheels turned on gravel. Many pairs of headlights approached, making their shadows long and revealing the road for a distance. The vehicles slowed to a crawl behind their group. Elizabeth instinctively upped her pace, never wanting anyone to wait on her. Anna held onto her arm, and it somehow calmed her.
“They don’t mind waiting for us,” her new sister-in-law said. “Enjoy the walk and the beautiful night air.”
Enjoy? Another foreign concept. The only thing Elizabeth had ever enjoyed was time spent with the man walking next to her on her right. “Where are we going?”
“There are ledges to jump into the lake,” Quaid explained, pointing at some rocky outcroppings rising above the water. She could barely make them out in the dark. “Jacey jumped in wearing her wedding dress and she wanted to do it together. Sibling bonding.” She could see his smirk from the headlights behind them. If only she could read his eyes. Sibling bonding? What an odd thing to do together.
There had to be something deeper at play here. If it was required of her, she would act enthused about leaping into a cold lake in her dress. At least it wasn’t a wedding dress. She would not question her brother and hoped this odd plan was part of a larger scheme that would allow her to speak privately with him and Jacey. Maybe in the water they could talk as they swam? Did voices not carry over water?
Was there another reason to submerge in the water? Electronics could be damaged. Her phone. Any listening devices her father may have somehow embedded in her clothing. The water might be the most fabulous idea she had ever heard of. Would she be free? At least be able to speak freely. Unless Peter followed her or got another device on her.
Except … her note wrapped around the bracelet strings.
“Will everyone make the leap, or only the three of us?” she asked.
“The three of us for the first jump,” Quaid said, his voice the final word on the subject. “Then if others want to follow, they can.”
Peter cleared his throat. She ignored him. There was no way he’d allow her to jump and create space from him. He’d probably already been berated for letting her go into the house alone. What to do?
They reached the edge of the lake. The vehicles parked and doors popped open and voices reached her. The trucks were angled to illuminate the bank and the base of the small cliffs, but not the tops of the rocky outcropping or the dark water far below. With the sun gone, the lake wasn’t sparkling bright blue at her. It felt like a deep crater, but she wasn’t afraid of it, more intrigued.
Peter suddenly pressed in against her back and whispered harshly in her ear, “Miss Oliver.”
Hays looked larger than life next to her. He also edged closer. She wanted to cuddle into the shelter his broad chest offered, but she’d never been allowed to turn to anyone trustworthy and strong. Why should she now?
“I suggest you do not jump.” Peter’s voice was a warning. He wouldn’t allow her to get away from him again, even for a moment.
“How I insinuate myself with them is my choice, not yours,” she replied coldly.
Hays stiffened. She wished Hays hadn’t overheard that, but she could not allow Peter to gain any ground. Even with thousands of miles between her and her father, their power struggle and mind games were alive and well. There was a slight chance, if she acted strong and decisive, that Peter would believe her father had given her the leeway to do an odd cold water ritual with her siblings to make them allies.
Elizabeth strutted away from both men, slid off her high heels and dropped them, and started to climb the rocks. She was climbing a rock formation and going to jump in a mountain lake in her five-thousand-dollar Oscar de la Renta dress. She smiled. Was that what ‘fun’ or ‘recklessness’ felt like? Besides her stolen moments with Hays fourteen years ago and in the closet earlier this evening, she hadn’t experienced either.
The rocks stung her feet, and she grimaced. Quaid and Anna were just ahead, Jacey and Cade just behind her. She could hear her sister’s voice. Would Peter and her other guards really let her create distance between them? Had she been convincing and sly enough? Pride filled her chest. It was a small battle, but she’d rarely tasted success.
Hays’s alluring sea salt and musk scent surrounded her and then he was there. He could certainly move fast. He wrapped his arm around her waist and assisted her up the bank. Her mind filled with daydreams and sweet longing from his simple touch. She wanted to melt into him, but now was not the moment to allow distractions. Even if the distraction was the most enticing man on the planet.
The lights were angled at their backs. This was her chance.
She fished the note out of her bra and pressed it against his palm. “Please guard this and give it to Jacey,” she whispered, her lips grazing his earlobe and then his neck.
