Bound and Determined by Shayla Black Page A

present. He’s a great person, not a thief.”
    If even half of what Kerry said was true, Mark was a hell of a guy. It was possible she was deluded. Often family members really didn’t know as much about their loved ones as they imagined. But as crazy as Kerry could be, she didn’t strike him as stupid.
    In fact, she struck him as brave and unbelievably loyal. What kind of courage did it take for a woman to break the law and abduct a guy half again her size just to help a loved one?
    Oh, he still wasn’t pleased at being drugged, dragged, and bound, lied to and manipulated. The edge of anger still festered in his gut, though a great orgasm had taken the bite out of his fury. Rafe couldn’t deny, though, that he understood Kerry’s reasoning a whole lot better now.
    “Mark deserves a fresh start—not to be in prison with a hairy boyfriend named Bubba! I can’t afford to hire a private investigator, and the FBI won’t help. Everything Mark’s boss uncovers makes him look that much worse. But I know they’re wrong. My brother is innocent.”
    “Why didn’t you say any of this over the phone? You might have saved us a lot of trouble.”
    “I was nervous and emotional. I didn’t know you. Your assistant all but read me the riot act when I tried to talk to her. Besides, would you really have listened and helped?”
    Rafe hesitated, then admitted, “Probably not.”
    Kerry shot him an I-told-you-so glance.
    He’d been so driven for so many years to prove his success and abilities, both to himself and his old man. Listening to Kerry babbling over the phone about sibling love and loyalty would never have registered. Not until he met her, started to understand her.
    “So,” he began, “I’m listening now. Tell me about your brother’s case. I need dates, events, and the FBI’s theory. If you have any of the reports, that would really help.”
    Thank you, she mouthed, her green eyes luminous and soft.
    Just one look and Rafe felt something inside him melt like plastic under a blow torch. He held Kerry closer. This really meant a lot to her, and for the great sex he knew they would have, the few hours of his time it would take to look into Mark’s situation was nothing. He’d definitely negotiated the better part of the deal. Kerry’s agreement to be available to him in any and every way far surpassed the sacrifice he would make in rummaging through a few files. Despite his abduction, which in his book put a lot of points in his favor, maybe this deal was unfair. Should Kerry really have to scrapetogether the trust to open her body to any and all invasions he could think of just to help her brother?
    His mind quickly approached an answer his body didn’t like.
    “In the closet in the hall is a built-in dresser. In the top drawer, I have a file of everything you need,” Kerry indicated, breaking into his thoughts.
    After a quick jaunt down the hall and into the closet, Rafe found exactly what he was looking for. Kerry kept all the papers together . . . the arrest record, police reports, copies of transaction evidence from the bank.
    “I’ll start this tonight.”
    Swallowing, she nodded, then leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “I don’t have to tell you how much this means to me.”
    “No.” The picture was sharper than the fifty-two-inch plasma TV he’d bought last month. “I get what you’re saying.”
    Electronic music suddenly filled the air. The theme from Harry Potter ? What the . . .
    “Oh, my phone. It’s in the front room. I need that.” She held up her manacled wrists.
    He wasn’t nearly ready to release her. “Let it go to voice mail.”
    “It’s Jason. If I don’t answer—oh, just go get it, please.”
    Rafe sighed and launched himself out of the bed, pulling on his boxer-briefs as the second ring began. Why was he doing this? And who in the hell was Jason?
    Maybe she did have a boyfriend . . .
    Sitting on the pale wood of the coffee table, her phone chirped the