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Only as she accelerated did she consider that she had neither a plan nor any idea where to search. Gina and Duke had moved out of their last known apartment several weeks ago. He had no relatives in the area, and she was estranged from hers.
The girl’s mother and stepfather refused to have anything to do with the boy since he’d made a pass at one of her younger sisters. Gina had nearly left him over the incident but had relented, apparently so desperate for an emotional connection that she was willing to believe her sister had lied.
In Sonya’s opinion, the girl was trying to fill the void left by her long-absent father. The well-meaning stepfather had entered her life too late.
If only Gina had grown up in a loving family like the Vegas. Sonya missed her parents a lot.
They’d sold their restaurant in Fullerton several years ago and were spending their retirement traveling in a motor home. Her sister, Franca, and brother Ben, who were close in age and considerably older than Sonya, had bought homes near each other in Arizona. Her brother Don served in the air force, and her once-close group of cousins had scattered around the country.
As she scanned the sidewalks on the slight chance of spotting Gina, Sonya acknowledged that eagerness for a home was part of what had made her susceptible to a romance with an older doctor. She’d ignored the subtle warning signs about Reuben Nestor, a forty-four-year-old internist with hospital privileges at North County Med Center.
He’d been handsome and attentive, with an air of solidity. Like Sonya, he’d longed to have kids. She’d accepted his explanation that he’d divorced his first wife not because she suffered from multiple sclerosis but because they’d argued constantly.
Two years ago, on a clear evening like this, Sonya and Reuben had been heading to dinner when a drunk driver had barreled through a red light and smashed into Reuben’s car, pinning Sonya. Although the seat belt and airbag had saved her life, severe pelvic injuries had required emergency surgery.
She’d awakened to learn that she’d undergone a hysterectomy due to the severe bleeding and tearing caused by her crushed pelvis. Barely into her thirties, she’d lost the ability to have children.
Reuben had assured her it made no difference, and they’d talked about adopting, or hiring a surrogate. But as Sonya endured a painful recuperation and rehabilitation, the two of them had drifted apart.
For a while, she’d blamed herself. Perhaps she was too absorbed in the physical problems and grief over the loss, she’d supposed.
Three months post-accident, without warning, Reuben had announced his engagement to a twenty-something nurse. The betrayal had forced Sonya to face the agonizing truth that he hadn’t truly loved her. Faced with a setback, he’d sidled right out the door and found someone problem-free to marry. He’d abandoned her when she’d needed him, just as he’d dumped his first wife.
Since then, she’d dated a couple of guys. Once the relationships began to grow serious, however, both had decamped after she revealed her inability to have children.
Alone. That wasn’t how she’d pictured her future, especially coming from a large, loving family. Sometimes she ached for a man to hold and laugh with, but most likely she’d eventually adopt a child.
She rarely thought about Reuben these days. Meeting Barry Lowell and experiencing that old tug of longing must be what had stirred the memories.
A rumble of hunger reminded Sonya that she’d missed dinner. Might as well head for Tacos & Burgers, a teen hangout where she could grab a bite while keeping alert for Gina.
She’d rather stop at El Hidalgo, the restaurant her parents had operated for many years and where she used to work after school. Better cuisine, more soothing atmosphere. But tonight she was on a mission.
Rounding a corner, she glanced in the rearview mirror. A silver sedan swerved in her wake.
No mistaking the driver, who didn’t even bother to keep a distance. Had she not been so distracted by her thoughts, she’d have noticed him sooner.
Grimly, Sonya hit her signal and pulled into the restaurant lot. If Barry Lowell imagined he could force her to accept his misplaced charity, she had news for him, and it wasn’t the kind he’d want to put in his paper.
Chapter Two
Barry had done some foolish things in his life and had paid the price. He was well aware that chasing a woman who’d told him to butt out could bring unpleasant consequences. But much as he respected Sonya’s courage, she came to all of a towering five feet four or five, and he hadn’t noticed her toting an Uzi.
His interest had started with the spark he’d felt the first time their gazes had met, and the confrontation in the park had aroused his admiration. He’d witnessed firsthand the risk she ran by continuing to pursue the girl.
He’d grown up shielding his sister from her occasionally zany impulses. Now, like an idiot, he was watching over a stranger. Crazy. Stupid. But the woman intrigued him. Simultaneously vulnerable and mad at the world, she reminded him of himself.
Barry didn’t intend to stick around any longer than necessary. He had no interest in romantic entanglements until he cleared his name and righted an egregious injustice.
He’d been railroaded. And the fallout dogged him to this day.
At the age of eighteen, he’d been sent to prison for five years. The cut on his forehead, from attempting to break up a knife fight, was only an external sign of the scars he bore. Following his release, he’d traced a fruitless odyssey in an attempt to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an international reporter. Although he’d earned a journalism degree, his status as an ex-con had relegated his résumé to the bottom of every heap in a highly competitive field, and while he’d managed to sell some articles, they paid too little to live on. He’d spent years traveling and freelancing while working odd jobs, hoping for a break that never arrived.
He supposed he’d been lucky to inherit the editorship of the Downhome, Tennessee Gazette after his father’s death and mother’s disability. Nevertheless, he chafed at the tedium of covering city council meetings and town squabbles.
Although the residents generally accepted him, he still caught suspicious glances, and even the town’s new, fair-minded police chief had declined to reopen the case. The only people who believed in him were his mother and his sister, Karen, director of the local nursing home.
Barry would never truly fit into his hometown. He was moody and sharp-edged in a community full of cozy characters, the scar on his forehead a visible reminder of those years in hell. And no matter how his sister urged reconciliation, he refused to forgive the man whose testimony had sent him there, the man who’d once been his best friend.
Sonya gave the impression that, at some level, she’d undergone a devastating experience of her own. Not prison, surely. But for the first time in quite a while, he felt neither impatient nor caustic with a woman.
Curious, rather. And a little protective.
He stuck to her tail all the way to the fast-food hangout. From her irritated expression as she exited the car, she didn’t appreciate the interference.
An unaccustomed impishness propelled Barry to shout, “Hey! Thanks for showing me where to eat.”
Glaring toward his window, she snapped, “There are laws against stalking.”
He feigned innocence. “A guy’s gotta have dinner.”
“Use the drive-through lane. Stay away from me.” Her frown didn’t waver. “You set one foot inside that restaurant and I’m calling the cops. At a guess, that’s the kind of trouble you don’t need, right, Mr. Ex-Con?”
The rebuke stung. “Have it your way.”
Barry drove past, disappointed and angry that his well-intended gesture had met with such revulsion. Yet why was he so wound up about a woman he’d barely met?
He joined the drive-through line. In addition to burgers, the menu board listed several odd entries that some California maniac must have invented, like fish tacos with guacamole. For the heck of it, he ordered one.
While waiting, he reviewed the stories planned for next week’s Gazette. Via e-mail, he’d already filed an article about the Anaheim newspaper conference to his assistant, Brent Wichita. Today’s interview with a family who’d moved from Downhome to Fullerton remained on his tape recorder and camera. He planned to write it tonight at the hotel room.
The car ahead departed and Barry rolled to the cashier’s window. The opening gave a clear view of the restaurant’s interior, with orange booths crowded at this dinner hour.
“That’ll be three seventy-one,” said the cashier.
Barry handed over a five. Inside, he spotted Sonya at the counter. The sculpted eyebrows gave character to her heart-shaped face, and her full mouth pursed with worry.
Why did she care so much about Gina? They didn’t appear to be related, as he’d first assumed. Of course, a baby’s life might be at stake, and despite the girl’s bravado, she was young and confused.
He of all people ought to empathize. But Sonya had made it plain this was not Barry’s concern.
Good. He had enough problems without adding to them.
The cashier was handing him the order when, through the window, he saw three men in gang clothing enter the restaurant. One of them was Frankie.
Beside Sonya, Frankie leaned down and said something Barry couldn’t hear. Her face a frozen mask, Sonya shook her head.
The men left. Relieved, Barry collected his food and moved forward.
In the front lot, two of the men piled into a jalopy while Frankie strolled off. The vehicle backed into a slot right beside Sonya’s compact, easily identifiable by the hospital parking sticker.
Their actions gave Barry a bad feeling. Frankie had made tracks, probably because he already faced arrest for the earlier attempted robbery, leaving his buddies to wait.
What did they plan to do? Presumably, they’d already asked about Duke’s whereabouts. More alarmingly, they might assume Sonya had identified Frankie to the police. As he’d learned in prison, guys like this tended to exact revenge for the slightest offense.
He considered calling 911. The men hadn’t committed a crime yet, though, nor had Barry forgotten Sonya’s threat to report him for stalking.
He parked at one side and tried the fish taco, which wasn’t bad. He finished it in a few bites, although his ribs ached with every swallow.
Cars came and went. Busy joint for a Monday night. Barry kept hoping a cruiser might arrive unbidden and scare the guys off, but no such luck.
Sonya emerged at last. The two gangbangers eased out of the car.
As Barry weighed his response, an SUV blocked his view. Rap music pounded from the speakers, obliterating other sounds.
At last the SUV departed. In the spotty illumination, he saw Sonya struggling as the two men hauled her toward their vehicle. Despite the earlier activity, there was no one else around. Not a single witness except him.
Barry put the sedan into gear. Hitting both the gas and the horn, he screeched to within inches of the men’s bumper.
Startled, they released Sonya. As they reached inside their jackets, probably for weapons, he flicked up the car’s locks.
She grabbed for the door. Saw him, and hesitated.
“Get in!” he bellowed.
She had the sense to obey. Kept her head low, too. Smart lady.
Barry stomped the accelerator. “Hang on.”
They peeled out. Behind them, one thug stood waving a gun indecisively as the other dived into the jalopy.
“Phone the cops.” Barry zoomed onto a side street.
“Not until we find Gina.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! Those guys tried to kidnap you.”
“We can’t afford to delay.” She peered into the side mirror. “No sign of them.”
Although he suspected the men had been too disorganized to catch up, he took nothing for granted. “They could be planning to cut us off. You know the town. Tell me where to go.”
She guided him through a series of turns. Finally, it became clear they really weren’t being pursued.
Barry’s pulse still pounded with a mixture of excitement and fear. Beside him, he felt Sonya trembling.
“Cold? Rentals don’t come equipped with blankets, I’m afraid.” But most likely her shivers had another source. “That must have been a traumatic experience, two men grabbing you.”
“I’m fine.” She hugged herself. “Don’t worry. If I’m about to go into shock, I’ll recognize the symptoms.”
“Name three.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Confusion, clammy skin and dizziness. Also profuse sweating, a thready pulse, shallow breathing and chest pain.”
“Sure you didn’t omit anything?”
“Unconsciousness.”
He ought to let well enough alone, but that wasn’t Barry’s nature. “Still planning to report me as a stalker?”
In the lowering darkness, streetlights glittered off her large eyes. “Not if you behave.”
“How’m I doing so far?” When she hesitated, he added, “A little appreciation wouldn’t go amiss.”
She searched for a moment before coming up with, “Thank you. I was really in trouble.”
“You’re welcome.” They cruised a boulevard between rows of shops. His sister would have gone on a spree had she been with him, he mused, with so many art galleries and fine restaurants as well as boutiques offering clothing, antiques and furniture.
Sonya stared out. “I don’t dare go back for my car. I could use your help.” The request obviously didn’t come easily.
“And here I planned to spend a fascinating evening in a hotel room working on my laptop,” he joked.
“Sounds like a hot time.”
Barry enjoyed being around this sharp-edged woman. He had a fleeting image of her in bed, a high-voltage bundle of sexual impulses. Tantalizing. And dangerous to reflect on. “I’m at your disposal.”
“I apologize for threatening you earlier, Mr. Lowell.” She released a long breath. “Under normal circumstances, I don’t act that way.”
He stopped at a red light. “Nobody addresses me as Mr. Lowell except my lawyer, and I prefer to hear from him as little as possible.”
If he’d expected a smile, Sonya failed to comply. “Gina’s in labor. She’ll deliver tonight or tomorrow, and it’s not going to be pretty. Sorry, but I’ve temporarily lost my sense of humor.”
“I understand your concern, but you could have been killed,” he reminded her. “Other doctors don’t risk kidnappings and gunfights to pursue their patients. Why’s the girl so important?”
“A friend of mine died from a messed-up pregnancy when I was in high school.” With the back of her hand, she brushed aside a tear. “Those guys and their stupid argument over a debt! Can you believe them? As if it mattered!”
“It matters to them,” Barry noted. “I’ve seen men kill for less.”
In prison, he’d had to adapt to an entirely new culture, and fast. Fortunately, his fellow inmates had valued his help in writing pleas for money, visits and retrials. Although his balancing act hadn’t always worked—witness the scar—he’d mostly managed to stay on the right side of the various factions.
Her hands clenched. “Just help me find Gina, okay?”
“Sure thing.” He entertained no illusions about where he stood. If he got in the way of Dr. Vega’s rescue attempt, she’d sacrifice him without a qualm. Okay, maybe with a slight qualm.
The journey might be worth his while, though. He’d like to find out what knife had twisted inside Sonya’s gut to make her so guarded. And he wouldn’t object to saving a life or two, either.
Thank goodness word of his soft side wasn’t likely to travel back home. He’d hate to ruin his reputation as a curmudgeon.
When the light changed and Barry started forward, Sonya grabbed the edge of her seat. Startled, he looked for whatever had frightened her, but saw only a placid flow of traffic. “Does my driving bother you?”
