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  Brenda could feel herself weakening again. Wanting him again even as exhaustion threatened to claim her. "Good. Me, too."

  Her lips puckered as she uttered the last word. It was too much of an invitation for him to resist. Dax brought his mouth down to hers. And felt the process beginning again.

  He stayed the night.

  Each time he had attempted to leave, she'd turn into him, or murmur his name, or the light scent she wore would somehow find its way into his senses, into his head and he was caught fast.

  They made love twice and then he did something he'd never done before. He watched her sleep.

  Something was going on and he didn't understand what or why. He didn't like going along for rides when he didn't have control of the wheel, and yet, he couldn't find it in his heart to leave. Not yet.

  He was still searching for his lost resolve when he finally fell asleep.

  The sound of the 1812 Overture, muted, burrowed its way into his sleep and dragged him up to the surface. Opening his eyes, it took Dax a moment to realize that he wasn't in his own bed, wasn't sitting in an awkward, cramped position at a stakeout.

  He was lying beside Brenda.

  The next moment, the fact penetrated that his cell phone was ringing. He turned toward the nightstand on his side, where he'd had the presence of mind to place his phone when he finally realized that he wasn't going home for the night.

  The dark blue object, with both its ring and vibrate options on, inched its way to the edge of the stand. He grabbed it just in time. "Cavanaugh."

  Beside him, he could feel Brenda rousing. He glanced in her direction. Her sheet dipped on one side, exposing a breast. He felt desire taking root again, hard.

  In his ear, he heard his partner's voice say, "I think you'd better get down here, Dax, and bring the teacher with you."

  He sat up, combing his fingers through his hair as if that could somehow bring order to his still-sleeping brain. Morning had pushed its way into the room. His mind was a step behind.

  "Come again? Why?"

  "Because the kidnapper just called and he won't talk to anyone here but her. He said he'd call back and then hung up. The Tylers are about ready to leap out of their skins."

  Definitely trying to get Tyler's goat, Dax thought. He scrubbed his hand over his face. "Did he say when he'd call back?"

  "No, but I think you'd better get here fast. If he calls, he might not give us a third chance. No telling what this loony's going to do."

  "Right."

  Nathan terminated the call on the other end. Turning, Dax looked at Brenda again. His reaction was no less intense than it had been a moment ago. She looked better with sleep still in her eyes and her hair tousled about her head than most women looked in full makeup, walking out of a beauty salon.

  The pull was getting stronger rather than weaker. As if he'd just whetted his appetite rather than sated it. This wasn't business as usual for him and he didn't know what to make of it, but he had no time to explore it. They had to get going.

  "That was Nathan. The kidnapper called the Tylers this morning."

  Her eyes were on his face, as if she was waiting for him to tell her something terrible. "So I gathered."

  Sitting up, she had the sheet tucked around her breasts. He struggled with the very strong desire to tug it away.

  "He won't talk to anyone but you."

  Dax saw a smattering of a smile curve her lips and felt an unreasonable desire to taste it. To see if it was as sweet as it appeared. Damn it, what the hell was going on with him?

  "I always did attract the wrong kind of men," she murmured, getting up, the sheet wrapped around her like a Roman toga.

  As he watched her gather up her clothes and go into the bathroom, he couldn't help wondering if she included him in that group.

  * * *

  Chapter 11

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  "Tyler must be madder than hell," Brenda commented. Around them, the world was just beginning to wake up. Morning traffic on the streets was still at a minimum as they sped from her apartment to the Tyler mansion.

  Dax took a sharp left, beating out the light a breadth before it turned red. "That's probably the idea, to get at him. To get under his skin."

  Brenda frowned. The window on her side was down an inch and the wind was sneaking into the space, whipping her hair around. She combed it back with her fingers. "You'd think kidnapping his daughter would accomplish that."

  He knew what she was saying, that the man's love for Annie should have made everything else pale in comparison. But to a man like Simon Tyler, power was everything. It was the rock that his ego, his sense of self-worth was founded on. To strip him of it was the ultimate insult. Being powerless far outweighed the taking of his money or even of his daughter.

  Brenda shifted in her seat. In the ten minutes that it had taken to get from her bedroom to the car, she'd managed to put in a call to the academy and had left a message with Matthew that she wouldn't be in today. Harwood kept several substitute teachers on call. The school was scheduled to be reopened, but she doubted that all the children would be back so soon.

  She looked at Dax, wondering if any headway had been made that he hadn't mentioned. "Has anything turned up on those two people who were at the school?"

  He shook his head. "The names they gave Harwood were fake, so was the address and phone number where they could be reached. So far, all the tips we've had come in after those sketches of yours were shown on TV have led nowhere."

  She ran her hands along her arms. The chill she felt came from within and refused to abate. "Doesn't mean we won't get a valid one."

  "No, it doesn't." He spared her a glance. It was another balmy day. "You cold?"

  She shook her head. It wasn't the kind of cold that an extra blanket or a sweater could combat. "Just thinking about Annie being scared, not knowing what was going to happen to her." With all her heart, she wished she could somehow hold the little girl, comfort her. "Annie's very bright for her age. She's probably thought of where this is all going."

  Annie was only six. He didn't know much about kids, but that was something he would have thought more typical of an adult reaction. "That's giving her a lot of credit, isn't it? I know that people think kids have this natural intuition, but—"

  He didn't understand, Brenda thought. "Annie tested near genius level when she came into the school. Her score was one point higher than mine."

  She saw Dax give her a curious look.

  The last part had just slipped out. She wouldn't have said anything if she hadn't been so preoccupied, hadn't felt so confused and guilty. Not just about failing Annie, but about last night as well. The lovemaking had been wonderful, beyond anything she would have imagined possible.

  For the first time in her life, she'd felt that wild surge, that wondrous X-factor that had eluded her all this time. Until now. The one that was ultimately responsible for attracting a woman to a man and vice versa with an electricity that sizzled. But she was carrying another man's child and though she'd never been in love with Wade, she had loved him in her own fashion. There was no denying that she felt a degree of disloyalty to him for making love with someone else. Wade had been dead only a little more than three months.

  What was worse, she knew that she shouldn't have let things go this far without telling Dax that she was pregnant. She knew why she'd kept silent about it. Because she was afraid. Afraid that if she said anything, it would have destroyed all chances of there ever being anything between them.

  Still, what made her think that there was anything between them now except that incredible interlude that they'd shared? He hadn't exactly been proclaiming his undying love to her last night. Men and women made love all the time without feeling love, she had to remember that. Just because she'd felt the earth move last night didn't mean that he had.

  Last night had just been last night and today was today. She had to gain the proper perspective on that, the one she knew in her heart that Dax undoubtedl
y had to have had.

  So, she was a brain on top of a beauty. Well, he'd already suspected as much. This was a first for him, Dax thought. The women he usually made love to usually had an IQ slightly larger than their dress size. Maybe that's what had been missing all these years. Maybe that was what pulled him back.

  The road opened up and he pressed down on the gas. "You're awfully quiet all of a sudden. Is this something geniuses do?"

  She flushed. It hadn't been her intention to let him know her genius level. Men were uncomfortable with women who were deemed to have an intelligence that ranked above the norm. Yet he didn't look uncomfortable, she thought, studying him. She relaxed a little.

  Still, she didn't want to dwell on the slip. Instead, she told him the partial truth. "Just worried."

  "Yeah, me too."

  And he was. But not about what she was referring to. He was worried that the letdown he had come to expect, the one that always came soon after he had attained his goal—had slept with the woman who had caught his fancy—wasn't coming. Because if it didn't come, then he was playing a completely new ball game, on completely new ground and he hadn't a clue what was going to happen next. If he didn't know, how was he going to be prepared?

  The night they had spent rode with them in the car like a huge elephant both pretended not to see.

  The phone rang as they were let into the Tyler mansion. Swiftly beckoning her forward, Nathan pointed to Brenda.

  She rushed into the room, but Simon snatched the receiver up before she could reach it. "Hello." The single word was a demand more than a greeting as he barked it into the phone.

  "Is she there?" the tinny voice on the other end of the line asked. Despite the metallic sound, Dax could swear he could hear a gleeful note in the voice. "Your housekeeper, is she there?"

  Simon's brows drew together, dark as thunder. "Yes." He jerked the receiver away from his ear and thrust it at Brenda.

  Her heart took its by now familiar position in her throat. "Hello?"

  "Good, he's being sensible. Rare for him."

  She knew she was supposed to draw the call out, to keep the monster on the other end talking, but all she could think of was getting Annie out of wherever she was. "Where's Annie?"

  "All in good time, my dear, all in good time. You know, I originally asked for two million, but that seems like such a small sum, don't you think? Especially to a man like Simon." The voice grew impersonal. "So I'm upping it to five million. Five million in unmarked, unsequential bills in two black bags that won't have powder exploding over the money the second I open them. Drop it off at Mulberry Park." He paused for a moment. "Are you familiar with the bird sanctuary in the middle of the park?"

  It took her a minute to remember the park's layout. "Yes."

  "Good. The center bench that faces the sanctuary. Leave the money under it. Bring it yourself. Two o'clock sharp."

  He still hadn't said anything about the little girl. "Annie," she cried, aware that Rebecca Allen-Tyler watched her every move, her eyes haunted. Maybe she'd misjudged the woman. But how awful that her daughter had to go through something like this to make the woman realize how precious Annie was. "What about Annie?"

  She heard a chuckle. Brenda's hand tightened on the receiver, wishing it was the man's throat instead. "Don't worry, she'll be returned by and by."

  Her eyes met Dax's. She knew if the bargain went this way, there was a chance they might never recover the girl. "No, she has to be returned at the same time."

  "Tyler's rubbing off on you. Probably in more ways than one. Too bad. You don't make the terms. I do."

  "But—"

  Like a match bursting into flame, the man on the other end lost patience and viciously swore at her. "You listen to me, you do exactly as I say, or she dies. When I have my money, I'll call with the directions on where you can find her."

  A dial tone hampered any protest Brenda could have made. She looked at Dax as she placed the receiver down, defeat fighting for possession of her soul. "The bastard hung up."

  Dax turned to the technician positioned beside the phone. "Anything?"

  The man shook his head. He looked at the path the signal had mapped out on the monitor. They were several seconds short of honing in on a location. "The guy's playing with us. He knows just how long to stay on before hanging up."

  Dax nodded, expecting nothing less. "His game, his rules." He looked at Simon. "Can you raise five million dollars before two o'clock?"

  Money was never the problem. Simon impotently shoved his hands into the pockets of his designer slacks. "My bank's been alerted and is on standby." Blowing out an angry breath, he turned on his heel, heading for the study. "I'll let them know what I need."

  The man was talking about it as if it were mere pocket change, Dax thought. He could see why the kidnapper was attempting to humiliate him. If his goal was meant to incorporate personal humiliation, then treating Simon as if he were a useless underling was the only way. The key to getting to Tyler was certainly not his money.

  Dax nodded at the information. "Have them get the money here as fast as possible." He turned to look at Nathan. The latter knew what they needed to do. This wasn't their first ransom drop off. "We can have one of the policewomen do the drop off—"

  Brenda pushed herself into his line of vision. "He said he wanted me to drop the money off."

  Dax repressed a sigh. Her feelings about the girl, or his feelings about what happened between them last night couldn't enter into this or color his thinking one way or another. And there was something more at play here than her just being a civilian amateur in this.

  "He doesn't know what you look like," he pointed out. "He does, however, know what Mrs. York of the Harwood Academy looks like. If he sees you there, he might bolt." His voice softened. "No slipups, Brenda. We can't afford it and it's not something you want to live with."

  "I need to be there, Dax."

  He was already taking out his cell phone, calling for backup. There was surveillance to set up, police personnel to get into undercover disguises. Mulberry Park was the main park in the city. It was where everyone who wanted to commune with nature went. That meant there was a cross section of the city's population in the area. It gave them options.

  He couldn't find it in his heart to tell her to stay here. But she had to be clear about this. "You can come in the car with me," he told her.

  Across the room, he saw that Simon was in the study, on his phone. Calling the bank to have them prepare the money. The kidnappers had to be pretty happy with themselves, Dax thought. They had everyone, including Simon, jumping through hoops.

  The question was, would that be enough? And would they ultimately let the little girl go?

  He couldn't let himself think about that. He stock to getting the pieces into place.

  "How many of these people are with the police department?" Brenda murmured to Dax through barely moving lips.

  At five minutes to two, they were sitting on a park bench, close enough to the drop-off point to be able to quickly sprint in if and when the need arose. Dressed in casual clothing, they were playing the part of a young couple with eyes only for one another.

  Under any other circumstances, Brenda thought, it wouldn't be hard to lose herself in the part. But right now, her entire body was rigid with anticipation. And fear.

  The team had fallen into place quickly once word went out. If he didn't know them himself, he could have been hard-pressed to say which people were on the job and which were civilians.

  Dax grinned. "Try to pick them out."

  Stretching, as if she'd been sitting too long, Brenda glanced around. The scene appeared to be completely natural to her. There were two nannies, talking to each other, their charges apparently two of several who were playing in a large sandbox not too far off. A couple of tough youths, hugging skateboards and arguing over something, were to one side while a tired-looking businessman was stretched out, grabbing a little shut-eye on another bench. A couple of more
people stood by the sanctuary, obviously taken with the birds. One of them had an encyclopedia with them, cataloguing the various species.

  She shook her head, presenting her face back to his. "I give up. How many?"

  Because the part called for it, he cupped her cheek and kissed her, all the while keeping his eyes on the scene behind her head. It took a great deal of concentration not to lose himself in what he was doing. In what he was tasting.

  "All of them," he finally told her.

  Stunned, she glanced to her far left. There was a man in a navy-blue jumpsuit, pushing a cart before him. He paused to sweep up something. "Even the guy cleaning up?"

  Dax allowed himself a grin. "Especially the guy cleaning up. That's Nathan."

  She knew she couldn't stare without giving the man away. But she wanted to. "You guys are good."

  "That's the goal," he murmured. About to kiss her again, Dax went on the alert.

  A man on a bicycle headed their way. Wearing a helmet and a spandex uniform of black and white, the twenty-something youth looked no different than a lot of other cyclists, except that he rode straight toward the bench beneath which the bags had been stored.

  Dax took a moment to smooth his collar, actually raising it to his lips. "Heads up, people, looks like this might be show time," he murmured into the tiny microphone pinned to the underside of his shirt lapel.

  The cyclist barely broke rhythm as he reached under the bench, retrieved the black bags and then turned around and headed back in the direction he'd come.

  No one seemed to move. At least, not after the cyclist. Hadn't they heard Dax, Brenda wondered. For that matter, Dax was still sitting there himself. Letting the cyclist get away.

  She was on her feet instantly. He had to grab her arm to keep her from running after the man. "Why aren't you getting him?"

  "Because we want him to lead us to the kidnapper. This guy's obviously just a flunky. Anyone who's gone to this kind of trouble has thought things out, Brenda." On his feet, Dax headed toward his car parked less than a hundred feet away. "He's on the move, people," he said into his lapel. All around them, the various police officers dropped their facades and began walking toward their vehicles. "Don't worry," he assured Brenda. "We've got people on the outside of the park, ready to follow him."