KIDNAPPED, A Romantic Suspense Novel by Suzanne Ferrell Page B

banked it well. If he held out his hand, Sami knew she’d go with him without question or thought. Instead, he closed his eyes and backed away from the bed. Turning, he walked to the back bedroom.
    He opened the door, gripping it so tightly his knuckles blanched. With his back to her he hesitated.
    "Samantha, hiding behind a child, will not keep you safe from me. This thing is too strong between us. I can’t promise to keep my hands off of you while we’re here.” He turned to gaze at her again in the dim moonlit cabin. “But I will promise to protect you.”
    Sami hugged Nicky’s sleeping form close to her in the night as she watched the door close behind Jake. His words made her body hum as much as his hands had earlier. He promised to protect her, and she was sure he meant physically and sexually. But who was going to protect her heart from him?
    Long after the bedroom door clicked close behind Jake, Sami finally relaxed. She pulled the quilt up and snuggled around Nicky. Instinctively she felt his head. Warm, but not feverish.
    "My grandmother used to do that," Nicky murmured sleepily beside her.
    Startled, Sami looked into his blue eyes. Oh God! How much had he heard? "Where is your grandmother, Nicky?”
    "Boosha, died last winter. We just came here on train. She was housekeeper for Khazyaeen Kreshnin. But she got sick.” He wiggled around to face Sami. "I think she missed oursello, villiage, in Russia. She was sick for homeland."
    "Oh! You mean she was homesick?”
    "Da!"
    "Where are your parents?”
    "Mama died having me. That is what grandmother said."
    Sami smoothed the hair from his forehead. "And your father?”
    "Grandmother said he was truce, coward. He ran far away from us."
    Sami nodded. "Lots of truce fathers live in America, too. So there hasn't been anyone to protect you since your grandmother died?”
    Nicky grinned. "Jake protects me. I am little partner."
    “Oh? And what exactly does little partner do?”
    “I watch. Sometimes I watch when I am working. I see the men coming and going away.”
    “What men, Nicky?”
    “Lots of men. They come to the restaurant. Khaztaeen Kreshnin, he is big man mafioso. They bring bags of money to him. Then it goes in the trunks of the cars out behind the restaurant.”
    “That sounds dangerous for you to be watching that, Nicky. Did Jake really ask you to do this?”
    A frown settled on the boy’s face. “No, he find me doing this. He very mad. He told me he was politzia, police. He told me I no watch anymore. Jake promised to get me away from Khazyaeen Kreshnin.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “I don’t like working for him.”
     
    “In America, little boys aren’t supposed to work, Nicky. They’re supposed to be in school.”
    “That what Jake say. He say he was going to send me away to school and Boss Kreshnin not be able to box my ears no more.”
    Sami pulled Nicky closer, wrapping her arms tightly around him. The cold winter wind rattled the windowpane above the bed they shared. Her heart ached for the little boy who had no family left to care about him.
    She glanced at the closed bedroom door once more. By Nicky’s admission Jake had tried to warn the boy away from the danger of helping him. Despite the cop’s tough guy act, Nicky had known to trust him. A soft smile played on her lips. So had she.
    “Sami?”
    “Yes, Nicky?”
    “Do you want to know secret?”
    “Is it a secret you should be telling?”
    Nicky shook his head. “Jake told me not to tell no one. Especially not Khazyaeen Kreshnin.”
    “Is that why they hurt you, Nicky? Because of the secret?”
    He nodded.
    “Then I think this once it would be a very good thing if you told it to me.” She held her breath, waiting for Nicky’s revelation.
    “Khazyaeen Kreshnin hit a man on back of his head. Then he put man in his trunk, just like bags of money.”
    Sami’s heart slammed into her stomach, beating double time. That was why Jake so desperately wanted to get the boy