When You Dare Read Free

of. Captured women were not kept around that long, because hanging on to them upped the risk of being caught. “You were in that same trailer the whole time?”
    “The whole time.” Struggling with emotion, she sipped again, rolled her lips in and turned toward him. “I’m sorry about your nose. I wasn’t sure…”
    “Don’t worry about it.” In his line of work, he’d had worse injuries. Already it had stopped bleeding, and probably wouldn’t even bruise.
    For some reason, his reassurance made her look ready to cry. But she rallied. “I’m still a little woozy. I haven’t eaten for days.” She touched her hair and flinched. “God knows I need a shower. And a real bed would be like heaven.” She took a few more sips, swallowing painfully.
    Dare watched her, impressed that she showed great intelligence in not gulping the water, which would probably have made her barf.
    She scrubbed at a bruised eye with a small fist, then sighed. “I can’t very well be seen like this. Humiliation left me long ago, but it would raise too many questions.” She looked at him for a solution.
    “I can check us in.” With each passing second, he grew confident that she wouldn’t skip out. She was more clear-headed, more reasonable than he could have hoped for, given what Alani had told him.
    Again she sipped, and Dare knew it was to buy herself some time, to think for a quiet moment.
    Holding the bottle tight, she drew a breath. “I have money, Mr….?”
    “Just call me Dare.” He didn’t share his name, or his identity, lightly. He still didn’t know enough about her to trust her.
    After a nod, she stuck out a dirty hand with chipped fingernails. “Molly Alexander.”
    Ridiculous. But Dare took her very small hand in his. “Molly.”
    Even though she’d initiated the handshake, his hold must have alarmed her; she drew back after barely touching him. “I have money to reimburse you, Dare. I promise. But obviously…not on me. For reasons I’d sooner go into later, I don’t want to involve the police in any of this.”
    Interesting. What secrets could this skinny bit of a woman be hiding? “Ditto on hospitals?”
    “Definitely.” She shrunk away at just the thought. “No hospitals.”
    If she went to the hospital, they’d need a name, and then they’d want to call the police. Why didn’t she want them involved?
    “You’ve been drugged.” Dare wondered what they’d given her, and if there would be any side effects. “You know, Molly, you could be sick, hurt—”
    “No, not hurt.”
    Her definition of hurt differed greatly from his. With a raised brow he eyed several bruises and scrapes on her delicate skin. “Someone hit you. More than once.”
    Her eyes clouded again, and her voice went gruff. “Yes, and it was the worst experience of my entire life. But I’ll be fine. ”
    “Are you convincing me, or yourself?”
    “I will be. I promise.”
    Lots of promises, Dare thought. He glanced down at his bloodied, ruined shirt, and tossed it toward an overflowing garbage container in the parking lot. Intending to find a new shirt, he reached around her for his overnight bag.
    Gasping, she covered her face and scuttled back into the corner of the seat. But she almost immediately caught herself and sat up again as if in challenge.
    Unwilling to press her, Dare paused. “We’re on the same side, remember?”
    Pained, she closed her eyes and nodded.
    Gutsy little thing, he decided. He pulled on the fresh shirt and then waited, arms crossed. If she didn’t want to pass out in the van, she’d have to hurry it up and make a decision. Already she looked on the verge of keeling over.
    After swaying from what looked like a wave of dizziness, she cleared her throat. “If you could arrange for a room tonight, I’d be really, really grateful.”
    “I could do that.” Her continued formality confounded him. Most women would be babbling and crying for their mommy or daddy, or maybe a husband. Did Molly have a