The Case of the Mesmerizing Boss by Diana Palmer Page B

probably hadn’t realized she would be by herself when he’d refused to let her go out with Helen for the noon meal. Well, she’d walk up the street to the fast food restaurant and get chicken and biscuits. It was better than nothing.
    She put on her coat and locked the office behind her. Her mind was on Dane instead of on where she was going. The sudden shock of a man’s hand clamping over her mouth surprised her into stunned immobility.
    “Here you are, pretty thing,” a rasping voice said harshly. “Right on schedule. When I’m through with you, you won’t be in any hurry to tell a jury what you saw!”
     
    Chapter Six Tess couldn’t remember ever being quite so afraid. The man had her in a half nelson, and he was slowly dragging her to the front door of the building, where another man was sitting in a running car.
    This couldn’t be happening, she told herself. She couldn’t let it happen. A knife was being held at her ribs, and she felt the certainty of death like black ice on her tongue.
    If she let him get her into the car, she didn’t have a prayer. She would die. They’d carry her off and then certainly kill her. Desperate men, desperate deeds. The car the other man was driving was an expensive brown sedan, and they were both wearing suits. These were no run-of-the-mill street people, no lower-rank mules. These were men who made millions on the despair and desperation of weak people, and they certainly wouldn’t mind killing anyone who stood between them and their livelihood.
    Dane had known that. But Tess hadn’t realized it until now, when it was too late.
    There was a chance, only a brief one, that she might get away before the men got her into the car. When he opened the door at the front of the building, he was certainly going to have to take that knife away from her rib cage for an instant. If she was quick and kept her head, she might get away.
    Her heart raced madly. She was shaking all over, but she couldn’t give way to panic and fear. She kept telling herself that, going over
     
    The Case of the Mesmerizing Boss81 everything she’d learned from the operatives, the slick little moves they’d taught her about how to get away from a potential attacker. She’d listened and learned. Now those lessons were going to pay off.
    She went along with him, acting terrified to throw him off guard. She pleaded with him tearfully to set her free. All the time her mind was working, going over and over the one move she was going to employ when the time came.
    It was working. She felt him begin to relax his painful grip. He laughed. He was enjoying her fear. The front door was a foot away. He moved toward it, the knife lifting as he raised his arm to push open the glass door.
    Just as he raised it, Tess brought her elbow into his diaphragm with a vicious jab. As his chin came down, she brought the back of her fist up to meet his nose, and felt blood on it. Reacting swiftly, she tore away from him while he was doubled over and ran up the side street toward the crowded main street. It was noon, and people were everywhere. Thank God! The men wouldn’t dare risk taking hold of her with a crowd around her. She ran, panting, not daring to look back.
    She merged quickly into a group of people waiting for a red light to change. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a car speeding up the side street toward her. They wouldn’t, she thought feverishly, they wouldn’t…! “Tess!” She looked. It was a Mercedes, and Dane was at the wheel.
    ”Dane!” She ran across the side street and scrambled in beside him, throwing her arms around his neck and shivering.
    He brought her close for an instant, barely aware of his surround-ings in the stark terror he’d just experienced. He’d rushed back to the office, hoping to get there before the operatives left. He’d seen Tess running and the other car suddenly speed away. His choices dwindled immediately to getting to Tess or giving chase. That was no choice at