“Get your hands off me, Jackson.” Grant’s voice had deepened, dropping several pitches lower.
“Not a chance, man.” Jackson gave her a quick nod. “You must be Christy Smith. I’m Jackson Carr and these are my brothers, Jayden and Jacob.”
“What’s going on?”
“As soon as I get these three calmed down enough to turn them loose, we’ll get that rope off you. Once we do, you’d best hightail it back to Milly’s apartment.”
Her answer came without hesitation. Her heart didn’t need to think. “I’m not going anywhere except with them.”
“Miss, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” added Jayden.
“I think I do.” She lifted her hands. “Untie me, but I’m still going with them.”
“Emma and Milly would skin me alive if I let you do that.” Jackson kept his hold on Grant although Grant wasn’t trying to get free any longer. The hunger on his face, however, hadn’t gone away.
“Emma and Milly can’t tell me what to do with my life. Now turn them loose and untie me. Now.”
Duncan broke free from Jacob. “You’d better listen to her.”
Jackson turned Grant loose then strode over and untied her hands. “All you have to do is wait until tomorrow. They’ll be back in their right minds by then.”
Would she be in her right mind then, too? The strange thing was that she liked the way she was feeling. The idea of not feeling the way she did at that moment made her sad. Even heartbroken.
“Let me ask you. Do you think they’d hurt me?”
“Of course we wouldn’t,” answered Lance, along with denials from Grant and Duncan.
“I’m asking Jackson. He seems to be the one who has a grip on the situation. So tell me. Do you?”
Jackson glanced at Grant and the others. “No. Not on any other day. They’d give their lives for you. As for right now? I can’t say.”
“Which means you don’t get to have a say. They won’t hurt me. I know it.” Wasn’t that the way of love? To put your heart out for the person you loved to take care of it? It was a huge risk, but one she had to take. “I know what I’m doing.”
Jackson studied her a little longer. “I’m sorry, but Grant and I already made a plan and I intend to hold up my end of it.”
“Or Milly and Emma will have your head, right?”
He smiled. “That’s the gist of it.”
“Grant, can you tell Jackson that I’ll be all right?”
Grant picked up his hat from the ground where Lance had knocked it. “She’ll be fine. I swear it.”
“Sorry, man. I can’t take your word for it. Not with the sun setting soon.”
She got up, a little shaky at first, then crossed her arms. Her vantage point from the back of the pickup made her feel powerful enough to handle all six men. “Here’s the deal. I’m going with them of my own free will.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” argued Jackson.
“It is. What do you think will happen if you try to force me back to Milly’s place?”
The men, her men, didn’t move much. Yet the subtle changes in their body language were enough for Jackson and his brothers to realize that they’d fight them if she ordered it. “The way I see it, you don’t have much of a choice.”
Jackson scowled, then checked over his shoulder to see a man trying to drag a woman into a car. He jerked his thumb at Jacob and Jayden. “Damn it. Take care of that.”
His brothers turned Duncan and Lance loose and dashed across the street. “All right. My hands are tied. If Grant vouches for your safety, I’ll let you go with them. But I’ll be out to the ranch as soon as I can to do what we planned. Do I have your word, Grant?” He narrowed his eyes, studying Grant. “Are you capable of giving me your word?”
Grant threw back his shoulders. “I am and I do.”
“Fine. Looks like I’m going to have to trust you. Normally, that’d be good enough, but today?” Jackson hesitated, gave her a look that told her he didn’t like the idea, then pushed his hat farther down on his head. “If anything goes wrong, you hang on, you hear? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
* * * *
Grant had almost lost it when he’d seen Lance tying her up in the back of the truck. They’d talked about having to stay away from her for just one more night. He had, in fact, told them about the deal he’d struck with Jackson to come and chain them up in the cellar until morning. And yet, part of him wasn’t surprised when Lance lost control and came after her, probably hitching a ride into town. If he hadn’t hung around a while after retrieving the truck’s key, he wouldn’t have known. Lance knew how to hot-wire a vehicle. He should’ve remembered that and not let his guard down.