Nerd Gone Wild (Nerds, #3)(39)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

“Ernie, wait!” Mitch trembled to think what might happen if Ernie started shooting in Ally’s direction.

“Don’t do that, Ernie,” Dave said, starting back toward him.

“They taste great, I’m tellin’ ya. Now hold still, everybody!”

“No!” Vivian yelled. “Do not—”

The shotgun roared. A snow-covered branch cracked and fell right on top of Ally and Vivian. As they went down, another shot rang out.

Mitch leaped forward and pulled away the branch. “Ally! My God, Ally!”

She lay there motionless.

Vivian, however, staggered to her feet and started searching the snow for her gun.

“No you don’t!” Rudy was on her immediately. He pulled out Clyde’s gun and shoved the barrel under her chin. “Don’t try anything or I’ll drill ya! Don’t worry, Mitch, I got her. You see to Ally.”

Mitch dropped to his knees and took Ally by the shoulders. Slowly he turned her over, his heart pounding with fear at what he might find.

Her eyes opened. “Mitch? What happened?”

His breath came out in a rush. She was alive. But she might be shot and not realize it. “A branch fell,” he said, his voice thick with worry. “Where does it hurt, Ally?”

“The back of my head.”

He slid his hand gently under her head and groaned in relief when he didn’t feel any blood. “That’s it? Nowhere else?”

“I have another bump on the side of my head, where she hit me with the gun. And probably some bruises from wrestling in the snow.”

He looked her over from head to toe. “But no bullet holes.”

“No, no bullet holes. Mitch, you’re grinning like you just won the lottery.”

“Yeah. I know.” He couldn’t stop looking at her. She was alive. She was alive.

Ernie came wandering over carrying his shotgun in the crook of his arm. “Everybody all right? Sorry about that.”

Dave grabbed him. “Ernie, you shouldn’t have fired that gun. What if your aim had been off?”

“Looks like it was off! I missed those danged birds and hit the branch by mistake! Didn’t mean to have the branch collapse on those ladies.”

“This one I got ahold of is no lady,” Rudy said. “You got any rope in your sled, Ernie?”

“I reckon.”

“Then how about getting it so we can tie her up good and tight?”

Vivian glanced up at Rudy. “Say, handsome, have you ever let a woman tie you up before you have sex?”

Rudy cleared his throat. “Can’t say as I have.”

“Believe me, you’d love it, and I know exactly how it’s done. How about you and me go back to town right now, and I’ll give you a personal demonstration?”

“Sorry,” Rudy said. “I got me a girlfriend. Besides, next on my list is or*l s*x. If that goes okay, I’ll ask Lurleen about this tying-up stuff.”

“Here’s your rope.” Ernie returned carrying a coil over his shoulder. He still had his shotgun, as if hoping the ptarmigan would show up again.

“I’ll help tie,” Dave said. “I was a Boy Scout. I know my knots.”

“I could give all three of you some experience with bondage,” Vivian said. “We can start right now. How about it?”

“Bondage?” Ernie said. “No, thanks. I don’t go for fancy investments. I got everything in CDs. Listen, Dave, how about you ride back on one of them snowmobiles? Once she’s trussed up, she won’t be able to ride, so I’ll carry her back to town on the sled.”

“I can do that,” Dave said.

“That would be great, Ernie,” Mitch added. And then maybe Dave would go with Rudy, and Mitch could take Ally. Right now he didn’t feel like trusting her to anyone else.

“Then I’ll go rearrange things in there so it’s all ready.” Ernie walked off, shotgun still cradled in one arm.

Mitch gazed after him. “What he did worked out great and maybe saved your life, but he could have gotten you killed. I don’t know whether to hit him or kiss him.”

Ally brushed some of the snow out of her hair. “You know, Mitch, all things considered, that’s exactly how I feel about you.”

* * *

Ally rode back with Mitch because Rudy and Dave obviously thought it was the right thing to do. But she had some very mixed feelings about him. Yes, he’d come to her rescue, but that didn’t completely erase the fact that he’d been dishonest with her from the beginning. He’d had sex with her under false pretenses. She didn’t like that.

Well, she’d liked the sex, but she didn’t like the false pretenses. He’d planted that bug under her bed, no question. Double agents, indeed. He was the double agent, masquerading as a nerd when in fact he was a… what? Not a nerd, that was certain. No wonder he had that killer body.

Maybe he drove a snowmobile well because he was used to a motorcycle. Maybe all along he’d been toying with her, laughing at how naive she was to believe he was a nerd with a crush. Instead he was a professional hired to guard her with his gun, his surveillance equipment, and his body.

She kept returning to the subject of his body, probably because she had to wrap her arms around that body while they whizzed back to town. Yesterday, although she hadn’t loved the loud machine, she’d loved riding it with Mitch. Anticipating his movements and matching his rhythm had felt sexual.

It still did. And that was a problem, because she didn’t know where she and Mitch stood right now. He’d finished his job here in Alaska. He’d probably finished finalizing all the details of the estate. He’d lied to her, but he’d given her great orgasms. She was in lust, maybe even a little in love. How was she supposed to process all that?

When they arrived in town, Uncle Kurt’s fifth wheel was still there, as if nothing had changed. But two official-looking SUVs were parked in front of the Top Hat. Things had changed.

Mitch eased back on the gas. “They’ll want to talk to you. But I can take you to the lodge first, if you want some time.”

She hadn’t known exactly what she wanted until she’d seen that fifth wheel. Now she did. “Please stop at the Top Hat. I want to talk to Uncle Kurt.”

“You’ve got it.” He pulled in next to one of the state trooper vehicles.

“And after that, I want to talk to you.”

“Whenever you say.”

She couldn’t resist a dig. “Because you work for me? Is that why you’re being so cooperative?”

He shut off the motor and took off his helmet. “No.” He stared straight ahead. “In fact, I’ve decided to quit.”

Panic set in. “You promised you wouldn’t! I remember that distinctly.” Among other things. She also distinctly remembered the look in his eyes when she’d whipped off her sweatshirt, and the way he’d torn her panties off, and the way he’d loved her better than any man, ever.

“That was when I thought you still needed me,” he said. “Aside from the fact that I bungled this assignment, I don’t think you—”

“I’m here, aren’t I? If you hadn’t come out there when you did, I would be dead right now.”

He sighed. “I should have figured it out sooner. All the evidence was there.”

“I should have figured it out sooner, too.” She took off her helmet and goggles before climbing off the snowmobile. Then she looked into his eyes, so vulnerable without the glasses. Her heart ached for him. He thought he’d failed her. That, more than anything, made her ready to forgive. “Neither of us saw this coming, Mitch.”

“But I was paid to see it coming.”

She gazed at him. “Do you allow yourself to make mistakes?”

“Not when someone could die.”

“But I didn’t.” She hung the helmet and goggles on the handlebars. “I’m going in. I’d really appreciate it if you’d go with me.”

“Of course.”

As she walked into the Top Hat, she wondered if that was how it would be with Mitch from now on—polite agreement, knocking himself out to do whatever she asked. She wanted the other Mitch back, the one who kicked down doors and raided refrigerators and ripped panties.

But first she had to deal with Uncle Kurt. He was sitting at a table with four officers in uniform. The dashing figure of her fantasies had been reduced to a man who slumped in his chair and looked twenty years older than he had yesterday.

When she walked in, he leaped up, but one of the officers put a hand on his arm, and he sank back to his seat. “Ally! Thank God.” His eyes glistened.

One of the officers left his chair and came over to talk to Mitch. Then he and another officer took off and a vehicle started up outside. Apparently they were going to intercept Ernie and the dogsled to take charge of the other prisoner.

Betsy rushed over to give Ally a hug, and Clyde came from behind the bar to do the same. “Anything you want, Ally. It’s on the house.”

“Thanks, Clyde. Maybe later. I need to talk to my uncle.”

“Sure, sure, Ally. You do that.” He patted her on the back and led her over to one of the empty chairs at the table. Ally took the one opposite Uncle Kurt.

He started talking immediately. “Ally, so help me, I didn’t know what she was up to. I thought it would be little things we’d do to get some money. Sure, she talked about Plan B, but I never thought—”

Plan B. The plan to kill me. “Uncle Kurt, maybe you shouldn’t be saying anything. You really need a lawyer.”

“It’s okay.” He waved a hand. “They read me my rights. I don’t care. They can write down anything they want. I deserve whatever happens to me.” He glanced around. “Where is she?”

“She’ll be along.” Mitch came up to the table but didn’t sit down.

“Is she… okay?”

The concern in her uncle’s eyes revealed so much. Poor slob, he really did care about Vivian, who was such a demented creature that she didn’t care about anyone but herself. Kurt had been a means to an end. Maybe he even knew that, and yet he wanted to know she was okay.

“She’s fine, Uncle Kurt,” Ally said gently. “But she’ll be going to jail.” She thought he would be, too, but no sense in pointing that out. He probably had guessed.

“She’ll hate that,” he said.

“So she said. Uncle Kurt, I have to know, did you… did you go along with… with Plan B?” She felt Mitch’s hand on her shoulder and was grateful for that warm, reassuring pressure.

“I didn’t go along with it, Ally.”

Relief flooded through her. She hadn’t totally misjudged him.

“But I didn’t stop her, either, did I? When she left the fifth wheel today, she was in a strange mood. I knew she had a gun in her suitcase. I should have stopped her. I should have warned you. I should have done something.”

Ally had nothing to say. Yes, he should have. He was a weak man and he would pay for that. But at least he hadn’t wanted her dead. “You’ll probably think this is stupid,” she said, “but I want to thank you.”

“Thank me?” His eyes widened. “For almost getting you killed?”

“No, for helping me keep my dream alive. I know you did it all for yourself, but you gave me a reason to plan and scheme. I came up here because of your encouragement. I may not make it as a wildlife photographer, but—”

“Sure you will.” He reached across the table, as if to squeeze her hand, but one of the officers restrained him. “You will,” he said, his voice cracking. “You’re a winner, Ally. You’ll make it.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t sit here any longer or she was liable to start bawling, which was not something she wanted to do in front of these officers of the law. “I have to leave.”

“We’ll need a statement,” one of the men said.

“Sure.” She swallowed, not daring to look at Uncle Kurt. What she said could land him behind bars for quite a while. “Could we… do it at the lodge?”

The officer nodded and got out of his chair. “We can do that.”

Mitch squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll go with you.”

“Thank you, Mitch.” She gave him a watery smile. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”

* * *

What a class act. If Mitch hadn’t been hooked on Ally before, he was after watching her deal with her uncle and then, without flinching, sit at Betsy’s kitchen table and tell the trooper everything he needed to know to build a case against Kurt. She’d played it straight, something Kurt hadn’t done.

And neither had Mitch. Oh, he’d told her some of it, but not the whole story. He could hide behind her grandmother’s skirts and say that was the way Madeline had asked him to handle the assignment. That much was true, but Madeline wasn’t around and she’d told him to use his best judgment. He’d decided to keep up the masquerade as long as possible.

His reasons weren’t all that honorable. He’d been afraid if he told Ally the truth, she wouldn’t have anything to do with him. Sure, that would have impacted how well he could do his job, but that hadn’t been his major concern. Staying close for personal reasons—sexual reasons—had been his primary motivation, no matter how he’d tried to rationalize otherwise.

Maybe if he’d come totally clean about bis purpose in following her to Alaska, he might have done a better job of protecting her. Maybe if he hadn’t spent so much time dreaming about her body, he might have considered that Tanya Mandell was an imposter in league with Kurt Jarrett. Maybe he would have done his damned job instead of spending most of his energy enjoying the perks, as Ally had phrased it.