Kidnapped at the Gun Show [Ransomed Hearts] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Ransomed Hearts

  Kidnapped at the Gun Show

  The last person Sara Brennan wanted to run into was her ex-boyfriend, Kale Kinsley. But her friends set Sara up. She was kidnapped, hauled out of the gun show, and taken to a remote cabin to talk things through. Sara and Kale opt for a fresh start, but she didn’t know the fresh part would be adding Kale’s best friend, Riley Cooper, to their relationship.

  It is a little out of her comfort zone, but she is willing to try. Her life is already an adventure.

  Good thing Riley is an attorney. She can use all the legal help she can find. Sara is wanted for questioning by the federal district attorney, and her former boss is out to make sure she doesn’t tell what she knows. Kale and Riley vow to protect her, love her, and cherish her.

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 40,893 words

  KIDNAPPED AT THE

  GUN SHOW

  Ransomed Hearts

  Lavender Daye

  MENAGE AMOUR

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

  KIDNAPPED AT THE GUN SHOW

  Copyright © 2012 by Lavender Daye

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-098-9

  First E-book Publication: September 2012

  Cover design by Christine Kirchoff

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Kidnapped at the Gun Show by Lavender Daye from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Lavender Daye’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Daye’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  Special thanks to Dave for taking me to the Gun Show.

  KIDNAPPED AT THE

  GUN SHOW

  RANSOMED HEARTS

  LAVENDER DAYE

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter 1

  “Why are we here again?” Sara asked for the third time. No one had given her a decent answer, and she was quickly losing patience. “I thought we were going to a new mall.”

  “We are, but first I need to find this thing for Tommy. He promised me a romantic night if I picked it up for him.” Paige slipped an arm around Sara’s shoulders. “It won’t take long.”

  “You know that just means sex at his place, right?” Sara said, eyeing the huge orange-and-black banner announcing the date and time of the gun show.

  Emma pulled the door open and the other two girls entered the Mesquite Market Hall.

  Ignoring Sara’s comment, Paige said, “Don’t worry. “I’ll pay the gate fee for all of us, since it was my idea.”

  Sara stepped out from under her friend’s arm and stopped walking. “What thing are you looking for exactly?” She was tired of getting the runaround. Both her friends had been avoiding eye contact with her for the last half hour, and it was beginning to frustrate her. Direct answers were on the endangered species list, and she’d had enough.

  Paige handed the man at the ticket table a twenty and answered over her shoulder, still not eliciting confidence, “I have the name written down in my purse. It’s a scope for his new rifle, and he wants to use it next week. He was going to come himself, but he had to work all day and the seller is only here today. The next gun show is a month from now.”

  Sara, still unsure of her friends’ agenda, followed them to the main exhibit hall doors, nodding to the two uniformed police officers monitoring all the participants. Paige and Emma strode into the hall and she reluctantly joined them. Friends for more years than she could count, they trusted each other implicitly. But there was something about their behavior this morning that had her wondering what they were up to. They kept sharing a look, had heads together one too many times to be a coincidence.

  Sara was in the dark and she didn’t like it.

  She surveyed the hall. There were at least fifteen wide aisles with tables filled to overflowing with everything a hunter, fisherman, or gun collector might want or need. It was Bambi’s worst nightmare, and from the looks of things, they’d be lucky to make it to the mall sometime next week.

  “The seller is Anders Outdoors. Help me find it and we can get out of here faster,” Paige said.

  “I’ll take the far-left aisle,” Emma said, holding up her phone. “Call me if you find it first.”

  “Better put your cell on vibrate. We’ll never hear it ring in here,” Sara shouted before Emma was swallowed by the crowd.

  Paige turned to Sara. “I’ll go up the middle. You take the first aisle.” Paige pulled her into a quick hug. “Thank you so much for helping me.”

  Sara stared, shocked at her friend’s uncharacteristic show of affection as Paige walked away, quickly disappearing into the crowd of rednecks, cowboys, and hunters. If this event was taking place in the woods, most of the participants would be invisible, since they were wearing various versions of camouflage.

  Hitching her bag higher on her shoulder and tucking it against her body, Sara waded into the crowd. Most of the booths on the first aisle contained crates of ammunition, so she picked up her pace. The sooner they located the right booth, the sooner she could get out of this nightmare. Ever since that Christmas shopping trip when she was ten and got separated
from her mother, Sara avoided places like this. Places where bodies brushed against each other simply by walking in different directions. Too many people in one enclosed area gave her the willies.

  She rounded a corner, barely avoiding a family of pink and green camo. Really? Pink and green camo? And found herself against a brick wall.

  Wait.

  A breathing brick wall.

  She raised her eyes, looked past the shiny silver belt buckle, and moved up to the taut black shirt covering an amazing six-pack of abs. Nice chest. Wide shoulders.

  Finally seeing the face, Sara jerked back.

  Too late.

  Strong arms wrapped around her before she could run.

  “Hello, Sara.”

  “Let me go, Kale.” Why had all the air disappeared from her lungs?

  She squirmed, but there wasn’t enough room between their bodies to maneuver. “Let me go, you son of a bitch.”

  “Sara, please. There are kids here. I just want to talk to you.”

  Finally getting an arm between them, Sara found enough space to take a deep breath. “Well, that makes one of us. And I don’t want to listen.”

  “Honey—”

  “Don’t call me that.” Where in the hell were Paige and Emma when she needed them?

  Kale kept one arm around her and used his free hand to lift her chin, forcing her to look at him, and Sara punched him in the gut, furious at his control of her.

  Useless, since her hand was stinging and he wasn’t reacting at all.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you for the last week. You won’t answer my calls. Or my texts. Or my e-mails. You’ve avoided me at every turn, but I refuse to give up.”

  Why did his voice cause such havoc in her brain? Three years of heartache should have prepared her for this meeting. Not so. The rich tones, the soft Texas accent—all country-boy gentlemen—was wearing her down.

  With a quick shove, she slipped out of his grasp and took off down the next aisle. Where in the hell were Paige and Emma? Her bag slapped against her hip then slid off her shoulder and began to swing as she dodged through the crowd. Rounding a corner, Sara bounced off a couple of oversized, overindulged hunter-types and spun back the way she’d come. With no idea which direction she was moving, she tripped over a display and felt her momentum leading her body astray. She was falling face first into the crowd.

  Sara collided with a warm, solid body on her way to the floor. But the floor never arrived. Instead, she found herself sprawled on top of someone.

  A man.

  A solid, well-defined specimen of a man, who cupped the back of her head to hold her close.

  She looked into gray-green eyes. At one time, she’d thought they were the warmest, kindest eyes she’d ever looked into, and she’d planned to look into them for the rest of her life.

  But he’d screwed that up royally.

  The hand on the back of her head tightened, pulled her closer, and Sara couldn’t focus on anything but his proximity. She couldn’t breathe, but she could clearly feel. Every ridge of his body, every inch of hers, was connected. His lips met hers in a searing kiss, melting her resistance during that moment in time. God, she’d missed the feel of his mouth on hers.

  A high-pitched whistle and a catcall or three bounced around the crowd.

  Reality flooded in, reminding her of the past.

  She scrambled off him, moving fast enough to avoid his hands. Sara grabbed her purse and looked for an escape route.

  “Help me out, fellas. Don’t let her leave,” Kale asked the crowd.

  Before she got too far, the grinning men surrounded Sara. She spun and checked every angle while fishing her phone out of her bag. Speed dial to Paige and Emma went to voice mail both times she tried. Damn it, she was stranded at this damned gun show, all alone in a sea of camouflage. By the time the texted reply arrived, Kale was right beside her.

  Sorry. This is for your own good. Please don’t hate us.

  “What have you done?” she whispered to her friends. Her nonexistent friends. They’d left her alone to deal with the man who’d broken her heart just three miserable years ago.

  “When you wouldn’t give me a chance to talk to you, I asked, no, I begged them to help me.”

  “Man, you should never beg,” one man said from the crowd.

  Another added, “Unless you’re desperate.”

  Sara turned away from the onlookers, furious and ready to spit nails. “I want to leave. Now.”

  “Let’s go.” He moved to take her hand and she stepped out of reach.

  “Not with you. I want out of this place. And you can go to hell.” She texted rapidly, hoping one of her friends would respond.

  “Sorry, babe. You’re with me.”

  Unfortunately, he was right. The text from Emma confirmed it. She was on her own with the heartless bastard.

  “I’m not leaving with you, Kale. We aren’t together. You should be used to it by now.”

  “Sara, be reasonable.”

  “You ambushed me with the help of my now ex-friends. How reasonable do you expect me to be?” Keeping her voice even was getting harder and harder. The urge to yell would take over any minute, and she really wanted to be out of this crowd when it happened.

  “Now, darlin’, don’t blame them for helping me. Just give me a chance.”

  “You don’t deserve a chance.”

  “You’re right, but I’m asking nicely.” He mugged for the crowd and chanting began, all in favor of Kale.

  He cozied next to her, whispering, “You didn’t kiss me like you hate me. Come on, give me a chance to convince you.”

  “That won’t happen again.”

  Chapter 2

  Hands on his thighs, Kale crouched and looked her in the eye. “You sure about that, darlin’?” She looked damned irritated at him, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d walked out of her life three years ago, desperate to get out of town after a reckless run of misconceptions and hurt feelings. Time brought clarity, and he wanted another chance. Her friends claimed she still had feelings for him, but it was seriously looking like those feelings weren’t the good kind. Taking a risk was all he could do right now.

  He knew Sara. She was stubborn as all get out and hated to be proven wrong. But if he’d learned anything in the last three years, it was perseverance.

  Leaning in, he pushed his shoulder into her abdomen and lifted her into a fireman’s hold, wrapping an arm around her thighs to hold her in place while she cursed him to the rooftops. The tightly clenched muscles of her denim-encased thighs showcased how truly enraged she was, and a moment of conscience worried him. He was pushing her to accept him back into her life without giving her a choice.

  Basically, he was kidnapping her.

  Disturbing, in an academic way, but the only way to get her undivided attention until she calmed down a bit.

  As they left the main hall, one of the duty officers approached them. Kale stopped, and the man stepped around him to lean over and look into Sara’s face.

  “Ma’am? Are you okay? Is this man hurting you in any way?”

  Kale felt Sara’s body stiffen for a moment then relax completely against him.

  “I’m okay.”

  Kale’s breath caught in his throat at her acceptance of his actions. He raised a hand to the swell of her hip and squeezed, earning him a swift, sharp kick in the thigh with the point of her boot. Another two inches and he’d be a soprano.

  “You’re sure, ma’am? If this man is taking you out of here against your will, I can help you. Just say the word. He won’t hurt you.”

  “I’m pissed, but not hurt,” she said, and her tone vouched for her feelings.

  The officer stood. “Okay, Kale. You’re good to go. Just had to make sure.”

  “Thanks, man,” Kale said with a laugh while Sara grumbled.

  It helped that he didn’t have any problem getting her out the front door. Several men commented about her situation and her cursing, but they readily held
the door open for him, and one even offered to help him unlock his truck. Hunters were such a friendly bunch of guys.

  “I should have had you arrested, you jerk. You can’t kidnap me and think you’ll get away with it.”

  “But you didn’t. So you must still care.” Kale shot her a hopeful look. “Desperate measures for a desperate man.” He opened the passenger door and gingerly set her on the seat, careful to shield her head when she rolled off his shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Been there, done that, just not physically. Remorse and regret had been his companions for three years.

  Sara twisted away from him, trying to scoot across the cab to the driver’s side, but he pulled her back and secured the seat belt. He pulled his one and only purchase from the gun show out of his back pocket, glad he’d opened the package before stowing it. Soft, pink rubber-encased handcuffs. He slipped one around her right wrist, looped the other around the seatbelt brace, and then grabbed the other hand. She fought him, trying to get away, but she was already restrained enough that he could finish cuffing her without hurting her.

  Then she started crying and he almost lost it.

  “Please don’t. I don’t want to hurt you. God, it breaks my heart when you cry.” Kale smoothed his thumb across her cheek, wiping away moisture. “I’m not trying to—hell, I don’t know what to do, now. I expected anger, not tears.”

  He leaned in and kissed her cheek, her eyebrow, her forehead. “Don’t cry, Sara. Please, I just want to take you somewhere private, so we can talk.”

  “I don’t know who you are anymore, Kale.”