Red Hot Santa Read online

  She blanched. “ ‘Local Designer Returns to Work After Harrowing Ordeal with Serial Killer.’ ” She quoted as if reading the headline.

  He nodded. “Yeah. Which means he knows about the party tomorrow night. Has the location.” Sheer, unadulterated terror showed in her expressive eyes. Shit. Shit and double shit. “Doesn’t mean he’ll come after you,” Joe added, though even he didn’t believe the backpeddling in his addendum.

  “He promised at his sentencing that he’d find a way to kill me.” Kendall hugged her calves even tighter. From her tone and the haunted look in her eyes, Joe figured she’d replayed that ugly moment in her mind a million times.

  Just seeing the photographs from Treadwell’s crime scenes were enough to turn Joe’s stomach. She was lucky, damn lucky, to be alive.

  He was here to make sure she stayed that way.

  “I’m just here as a precaution. Think about it. Treadwell is on the run with no money, no nothing. He’ll be recaptured soon but until then, I’m here to keep you safe.”

  She met his gaze, her eyes haunted but steady. “I appreciate the sentiment, but seventeen hours—a lifetime in Kendall Marie Metcalf years—being taunted and tortured by that lunatic before he slashed my throat taught me there’s no such thing as safe.”

  Chapter Three

  KENDALL’S MIND SHIED AWAY FROM THE MEMORY OF that hellish eternity spent with Treadwell. Without conscious thought she lay her hand protectively against the base of her throat as she scanned the great room with a professional eye. Mentally she started making a list of what had to be done before she could leave. A coping mechanism she’d perfected in the last few months. She’d discovered that if she kept her body and mind busy enough, she could keep the horrific memories at bay. Almost.

  She needed to focus on what had to be done now so she didn’t lapse into a full-blown panic attack.

  She’d been so tired. So terrifyingly debilitated by her terror for those hours with Dwight Treadwell, that she’d almost begged him to end it—

  “Beg me.”

  “Go to hell.”

  He positioned the paring knife just above her left breast and applied just enough pressure for the tip to pierce her skin.

  She gritted her teeth to prevent herself from crying out.

  He did it again and again, decorating her torso with a neat pattern of dots. Each dot burned like fire.

  “Beg me now, pretty girl,” he whispered, leaning close to her ear.

  “F-fuck you.”

  Stop. Stop. Stop!

  The tree. The tree still had to be finished. Three hours. Tops. The bedrooms were ready for the onslaught of guests, the mantels—oh blast it—except for the one in the small downstairs office, were done. That one would take at least an h—

  Good God! What the hell was she thinking? She jumped to her feet. Ready for action when there was no action to be taken. “We have to tell Denise to cancel the party!” Damn. Damn. Damn. The phone wasn’t working, and according to Joe, they couldn’t leave until the high winds and this snowstorm abated at least enough to make their trip marginally safer.

  She started to pace. It was a nice big room, and she lengthened her stride as her mind raced. “We have to contact the guests in the cottages. They’ll come with us when we go, of course, but we should warn them about Treadwell n—”

  “No.”

  “No?” She stopped pacing for a second. Had she taken all the flower arrangements from the mudroom to the bedrooms? She’d better check— She frowned at him. “No, what?”

  “No, we are not hauling innocent people with us all over God’s creation. When we leave it’ll be at a moment’s notice. And just the two of us.” He rose, withdrawing a large, nasty-looking black gun from the waistband at the small of his back. It looked mean, and powerful, and as if it meant business. Very much like the man carrying it.

  Even with Joe and his big gun here with her, her body was taut with fear. Memories of Treadwell and what he’d done to her were as much a part of her now as her distinctive red hair. She counted her own heartbeats as Joe stood.

  “Come with me.” He picked up her girl gun and handed it to her. He waited while she tucked it into the elastic waist of her leggings, then started walking, clearly expecting her to follow. “I want to check all the windows and doors.”

  “Sure,” she murmured absently, following him across the enormous room. She wasn’t much of a follower, but where Joe and that cannon went, so goeth Kendall Metcalf. “There are only two couples—”

  “I don’t give a damn whether they’re crickets I can stick in my back pocket. Nobody goes with us to slow us down. Conversation closed.”

  Conversation closed, she mimicked silently as she followed him into the dimly lit kitchen. The radio was still playing softly, and she went to turn it off to save the batteries as Joe checked the latches on the bay window overlooking the snow-blanketed front yard.

  She didn’t give a damn what he said. She had no intention of leaving four unsuspecting people here for that—that monster to find.

  Joe pulled the oak shutters closed over the black-and-white scene outside just as the lights flickered. They came on again briefly, then went out, plunging the entire house into pitch darkness.

  Treadwell exchanged the small paring knife for a big one, pausing only long enough to wipe the flecks of dried blood from his previous toy on her bare leg. She screamed in earnest when he started taking shallow slashes at her skin as he connected dots in an obscene scarlet geometric pattern.

  The lights went out. . . .

  Kendall froze beside the center island, a feeling of dread replacing her concern about Denise’s guests. “Oh, God. He’s here.”

  “Not possible,” Joe assured her. “Hang tight, the generator—” The lights came back on. “—will kick in. Go and turn—”

  “The outside lights off.” She was already striding toward the mudroom where that control panel was located. She turned to look at Joe. He’d stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen. “Coming?”

  “Yeah.” His eyes looked a little glazed.

  Kendall shot him a worried glance. “You’re not sick are you?”

  He swiped a large hand across his jaw. “I’m fine. Hit those lights. I want to get cracking and check upstairs.”

  He sounded as if he were coming down with a cold. Which was unfortunate. Because just looking at him made her feel hot all over.

  Odd because she had felt nothing sexually in over a year. Not a flicker. Not even a nanosecond of thought. Yet here was this giant of a man, with his dangerous eyes and his sexy mouth and all she could think of was wanting to climb his body and kiss him.

  She shook her head. She was really losing it if she was this tempted to jump the bones of a man she’d just met. She’d had two fairly long-term relationships over the last ten years. She’d dated Jerry for a year, and Andy for more than six months, before sleeping with him.

  She just wasn’t that spontaneous. She liked to think things through. Weigh the pros and cons. Deliberate. Kendall bit her lip as she pondered this weird anomaly. Part of it, she admitted to herself, was the latent strength and power of Joe Zorn. Not only did he make her feel sexy; more important, he made her feel safe.

  Almost—almost—back to her previously invincible self. That in itself was a big turn-on to a woman who’d begun to believe her fear was part and parcel of who she’d become.

  The scars Dwight Gus Treadwell had inflicted on her weren’t all on the outside.

  Joe followed her to the door of the mudroom and waited while she dealt with all the plugs and switches for the outside Christmas lights. That done, she crossed to the counter and started cleaning up the mess she’d made earlier when she’d done the floral arrangements.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Her hands cradling wet newspapers filled with flower stems and stripped leaves, she glanced at Joe over her shoulder. “Cleaning up my mess.”

  He rolled his eyes. A very male, extremely irritati
ng gesture, that immediately brought back to mind the reason she was racing hither and yon like a florist on speed.

  “Leave it,” he told her shortly, motioning for her to go through the door ahead of him.

  Kendall was so filled with nervous energy, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She dumped the armload of cuttings into a nearby pail and busied herself washing and drying her hands. “You’re annoyingly bossy, Mr. Zorn.” She turned to look at him.

  His gaze drifted to her mouth, and something elemental sparked between them. He hadn’t moved from the doorway, but Kendall felt crowded, breathlessly so. He lifted his eyes back to hers. “And you’re annoyingly . . . busy, Miss Metcalf,” Joe drawled.

  “Yeah?” He wasn’t getting out of the way, and she started to move past him. “Well, there are a billion things to d—” He snagged her arm and her gaze clashed with his. She forgot what she’d been about to say, her breath stopping altogether at the blaze of predatory heat she saw in his eyes. The smell of him—damp wool, woodsy cologne, male—was intoxicating, and made her giddy with longing.

  She ached to slide her hands under his sweater so she could touch hot, bare skin. She wanted to stand on her toes and press her mouth to his. God. She wanted him to kiss her until she forgot why he was here.

  Amusement danced in the smoldering flame of his blue eyes, but he didn’t smile back. “We’ve known each other all of—what? A couple of hours? And I already know a lot about you.”

  “Oh yeah?” She dragged in a ragged breath. “Like what?” It was almost impossible to have a coherent thought when all her senses were on overload. The smell of him, the strength of his hand on her arm, the radiant heat of his big body so close to hers—all conspired to make Kendall’s brain fog up.

  “You babble when you’re nervous.”

  Since right now she was pretty much speechless with lust, she blinked. “Excuse me? I don’t babble. . . . Okay, yes, guess I do. Sometimes.”

  “You make busywork when you’re scared.”

  That too. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Mr. Know It All. “So? I also own my own—very successful I might add—business, make the best homemade chili, and knit sweaters to die for. What’s your point?”

  His gaze moved over her face in a disconcertingly thorough sweep as though he were memorizing each feature, every freckle. Kendall’s breath caught in her throat as their bodies seemed to gravitate closer without them actually moving their feet.

  “I bet your bras match your panties.”

  Now that came out of left field. It also jump-started her heart as though she’d been resuscitated. Holy cow. “That’s an incredibly personal observation for a stranger to make,” she told him primly. “And by the way. You’d be wrong. I don’t wear panties.” A thong, but not panties.

  “Ah, Jesus.” He choked back a laugh. “No fair.” He was still smiling when his big hands framed her face, then he touched a gentle hand to her hair. “Cool, not hot.” His voice was husky, thick with desire. A desire Kendall, too, was feeling. He stroked his hand down the glossy curtain, then curled his fingers beneath the strands to cup the back of her head, drawing her toward him.

  “You have the most beautiful hair.” He brought a handful to his face, rubbing the bright strands against his skin. “So soft. Smells like pears. Delicious.” He sifted the filaments through his fingers, watching intently as the red-gold strands drifted to cling to her shoulders and breasts.

  He traced her lower lip with his thumb, then bent his head and kissed her as if he were a starving man at a feast. The pleasure of his open mouth on hers was so intense Kendall went deaf and blind with it. His lips were firm, his taste heady, and the unexpected intimacy of his tongue curling against hers was shockingly sweet. Oh, Lord, Kendall thought, that feels so good. Wonderful. Amazing.

  Fisting his hands in her hair, Joe pushed her back against the doorframe, kissing her with the same urgency she felt. He pressed his knee to the juncture of her thighs. She whimpered with relief. She clutched at his arms for balance as he drew her against the muscled plane of his chest. She needn’t have bothered. Joe wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him, until their heartbeats echoed one another.

  She went up on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck, eagerly pressing her mouth to his. Eyes closed, her senses flooded with the taste of him as he explored her mouth. There was nothing tentative about the kiss. Apparently he’d been as curious about the taste of her as she had been of him.

  She made a soft, inarticulate sound of need, of hunger, her soft breasts pinned against the hard plane of his chest.

  A phone rang. An old-fashioned sound. Ring, ring, ring. Her cell phone played Beethoven’s Fifth. She came up out of the kiss like a sleepwalker rudely awakened and blinked back to awareness.

  Joe pulled his phone from a back pocket. “What do we have, Roz?” He curled his arm around Kendall’s shoulder, pulling her tightly against him as he listened. Including her in the conversation even though she only heard his half.

  “Damn, I wish to hell I could get you out of here now,” he told Kendall as she accompanied him from room to room as he checked the locks on all the windows and doors upstairs. He’d filled her in on most of what Roz had told him, but there were details, like several more killings, that were—hell, were overkill. She was scared enough knowing Treadwell was on his way. She didn’t need the added burden of knowing the man was killing anyone in his path to get to her.

  He considered the fact that he’d made it here with time to spare. Had Treadwell? He didn’t feel anyone out there. Not yet. Considering the ferocity of the storm, coupled with numerous roadblocks, it was too soon. But Joe could easily imagine the sleaze hiding out in the dark, biding his time, waiting for just the right moment. This place was a security nightmare. But he didn’t intend on hanging around long enough for that to matter. They’d listened to the weather forecast on the emergency radio, confirming what Roz had told him. This part of the state had come to a complete standstill for the duration.

  When Roz’s call had come earlier that day, he’d closed his suitcase, thrown his coat back on, and hauled ass to the airfield, where he’d rented a chopper. An hour’s vacation every two years was apparently sufficient for both of them.

  He’d known about the incoming storm and flown in anyway, just making it in the zero visibility. The massive snowstorm swept in quicker than predicted. The full fury of the storm hit about fifteen minutes into his flight, and from the sound of it, was still getting worse. “I’m willing to take the risk of leaving now,” Kendall told him, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. The house was a comfortable seventy degrees. “Of course I wouldn’t want you to do anything dangerous—”

  Joe smiled, touching a finger to her pale cheek. “Sweetheart, I live for danger. If I thought we had a snowball’s chance in hell of making it out of here, we’d be long gone. But it would be suicide trying to fly in this; the snow’s too heavy, the wind too high.”

  He’d been damn fortunate he’d been able to land in the high winds and blinding snow swirls earlier. The storm was considerably worse now. He’d known before he arrived that there would be no way to get her out until the storm let up some. Known it, but sure as hell hadn’t liked it.

  “There’s a snowmobile in the garage.”

  “If I thought we had a shot, believe me, I’d take it.” They weren’t going anywhere tonight, but somehow, he’d get her out before tomorrow morning. And before Treadwell found his way to the Camerons’ ranch.

  “As long as we’re gone before he shows up,” Kendall muttered, reading his mind. Again. “If we can’t leave, he can’t get here. Right?”

  “One would hope.” He twisted both locks on an upstairs bathroom window. The room was small, especially with both of them in it. He was becoming addicted to the fresh, crisp fragrance of pears. The kiss downstairs seemed to have happened years ago instead of less than half an hour. He wanted more than to taste her mouth.

  Joe wanted to fee
l her bare skin against his. He wanted to taste her all over. He wanted to feel the weight of her breasts and taste her nipples against his tongue.

  It was good to want things, he thought wryly.

  “At least your Roz was able to reach Denise and Adam and warn them not to come home even if—when—the storm clears.”

  Kendall straightened up a basket of luxurious toiletries on the counter as she spoke. “I just wish somebody could get ahold of the guests in the cottages.” She refolded two perfectly folded towels, smoothed them flat, then hung them back over the rod.

  “Roz and Denise will both keep trying.” She was so filled with nervous energy he wondered if he should suggest they go down to the gym in the basement. She could run a few hundred miles on the treadmill. That might tire her out—although Joe had some better ideas on how he could channel some of that frenetic energy.

  Biting back a smile as she folded a point in the edge of the toilet paper, he motioned her out of the bathroom. She scanned the small room before exiting, turning left down the wide hallway. A single strand of her long hair clung to his sweater as she passed, and stuck there, tying them together, as he followed her down the hallway.

  “Realistically,” she said, making Joe speed up to keep pace with her long legs, “how long do you estimate it’ll take him to get here?”

  Family pictures filled the walls on either side of them. Next to the blissfully happy photograph of Denise and Adam’s no-expense-spared wedding was one of himself and Denise at their hurry-the-justice-of-the-peace-is-waiting wedding. The fact that they were all good friends hadn’t changed with either marriage. For a moment Joe had the foolish urge to share that information with Kendall. Then he remembered that she was an assignment. Strange that she felt like—more.

  “We started with nine hundred and three miles between him and us,” he told her. “Bellingham to Bozeman. In good weather, thirteen, thirteen and a half hours,” he told her, stepping into an unoccupied bedroom. The king-sized bed, draped in red velvet and accented with Christmas-themed pillows, looked decadently inviting.