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  Burn for Me

  Jan Springer

  Wrapped in red-hot lust for revenge, Avery plans to murder the man responsible for the death of her son. Her plan is tragically destroyed when her ex-husband kidnaps her, taking her to the rustic Canadian cabin where they once honeymooned.

  Mason is fighting for Avery with everything he’s got. Armed with whipped cream, handcuffs and his undying love, Mason vows he’ll make her love again.

  With one searing touch, Mason crashes through the icy walls of Avery’s heart, melting her defenses and making her burn with sinful sensations. But if their son’s killer gets his way, Mason and Avery’s newfound happiness will be over before it’ barely begun.

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Burn for Me

  ISBN 9781419930041

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Burn for Me Copyright © 2010 Jan Springer

  Edited by Jaynie Ritchie

  Cover art by Dar Albert

  Electronic book publication November 2010

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Burn for Me

  Jan Springer

  Dedication

  For my wonderful readers. Thank you for your fantastic support.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Irish Spring: Colgate-Palmolive Canada Inc.

  Chapter One

  Toronto, Ontario Canada

  “If there is anyone here who can show just cause why this marriage should not take place, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  The reverend’s question made Avery slowly shift the small gun she’d hidden in the bouquet of scarlet colored roses in her hands. Red-hot pain stabbed her thumb when a thorn stuck her and she held her breath as she felt blood begin to drip. Forcing herself not to look down to check if it would stain the puffed overskirt of her expensive black silk taffeta wedding dress, she smiled through her black veil at her soon-to-be hubby, Ron, who seemed a genuinely nervous groom.

  She didn’t blame him. She’d pushed hard for this wedding, promising him they could finally have sex once she got that ring on her finger. She almost felt sorry for using him in this way just so she could get a chance at killing his brother, Rick, the man responsible for her son’s death.

  Ron loved modern things. Loved the color black, especially on her. She had to admit she preferred black for her wedding too. It fit her mood to perfection. She would have killed his brother much sooner, without having to go through this impromptu wedding, but being a drug lord, Rick had been surrounded by his bodyguards or in hiding and she’d never been able to get close enough to him with a weapon.

  Until her wedding day.

  Only moments earlier Rick had sent his bodyguards outside the church and now her chance had finally come to kill him. Would the look of shock on his face when she shot him point blank give her relief from the torment she’d suffered over the past four years?

  She hoped so. Beneath her veil, Avery shifted her glance sideways to the man she hated more than anyone in this world. Rick was Ron’s identical twin and both men had great looks, military style short black haircut and black moustache, the deepest blue eyes she’d ever seen and Rick, especially, had a charming way with everyone around him. But she knew better.

  Evil lurked inside Rick Smart. Inside him. Outside him. All around him. Yes, she was going to shoot him right here. She was going to do what the cops hadn’t been able to do, put him away for good. Only her way would be permanent. She would do anything to take him out for good so no other mother and father would go through the horrors she and her ex-husband Mason had gone through.

  Yes, she knew she was crazy to be doing this. Knew it, but she was doing it anyway. Revenge did that to people. Made them do things they wouldn’t normally ever conceive of doing.

  To bolster her spirits, she flashed Rick Smart the warmest smile she could gather under the circumstances. Rick smiled back with triumph in his eyes. Eyes that said she would belong to his brother now and Ron could finally get her into his bed, something he’d been dying to do ever since she’d begun modestly flirting with him.

  Biting back a shiver of revulsion at what she was about to do, Avery forced her attention to the reverend and slowly withdrew the gun from the bouquet of roses.

  Before the reverend could continue, a disturbing roar from a motorcycle outside ripped through the sanctity of the church. Mumbles of irritation and confusion from the people in the pews were drowned, as the rumbling grew louder. At the back of the church the main doors burst open wide.

  Horror snapped through her as a huge sparkling silver motorcycle shot through the opening, a second bike quickly followed and then a third zipped inside. On each bike sat a rider dressed entirely in black leather, faces hidden behind mirrored visors, powerful bodies hunched behind windshields, as they raced their motorcycles in single procession up the aisle toward the wedding party.

  And toward her!

  Fear and shock paralyzed her as they drew closer. She barely heard Rick yell at everyone to take cover and before she could react, she spied the riders brandishing guns and aiming them at Ron and Rick, both who dove between the pews.

  Her maid of honor, Ron and Rick’s younger sister, saw the guns and screamed hysterically as she dashed away from Avery’s side. Avery tried to follow her, but her feet got caught in the hem of her long dress and she stumbled, the gun dropping from her bouquet with a clatter. She thought for sure she’d fall flat on her face but a strong arm curled around her waist like a steel clamp and she was quite literally swept her off her feet. In one rugged swoop, the second biker plopped her onto the seat in front of him. Panic lanced her as he straddled her thighs with his powerful hips. Pushing strong arms against the sides of her body, he held onto his handlebars, effectively holding her captive.

  Panic jolted Avery and she tried to push herself sideways against his arms, but he didn’t so much as budge. She was trapped.

  Oh God! This isn’t happening! she cried to herself when the wedding party became a blur as with frightening speed, her captor angled the bike around the small front church confines and headed back along the aisle. An aisle she should have been walking down after killing Rick. Instead, she was being kidnapped!

  Late afternoon wind blasted her veil against her face as they exploded through the front door. She noticed Rick’s bodyguards being flanked by men with guns. But she didn’t get a good look as the motorcycle she was being held on flew like a bullet down the concrete wheelchair ramp. Cars tooted their horns as t
he biker penetrated the surprisingly light late afternoon weekend traffic and for a brief insane moment she had the urge to smash the back of her head against the man’s neck and chest, in the hopes of freeing herself from his tight embrace, then throwing herself off the bike. But at the tremendous rate of speed he was now traveling, she’d probably break her neck or die the instant she hit the pavement. She could smash her hands upon this guy’s arms but she had the feeling that wouldn’t work either.

  As her kidnapper wrenched the handlebars, he turned a corner on the busy street where pedestrians frantically scrambled out of the way. At this angle Avery was able to cast a quick glance toward the church.

  In an open church window at the side of the building, she saw Rick. His gun was drawn. And he was aiming toward her and her kidnapper as well as the other two motorcycles, which flanked the bike she was on. She winced as a torrent of shots rang out and to her surprise her captor pressed his strong body deeper around her, shielding her, protecting her as if she were in a cocoon.

  She swallowed in disbelief at his reaction and when another volley of shots screamed past them, her captor cursed, giving away his identity. Avery froze at the familiar voice and confusion raced through her. She closed her eyes, praying she was wrong. Then she was praying she was right because if anyone were to kidnap her, she’d want it to be her ex and not some deranged man hell-bent on killing her to get even with the drug dealing son of a bitch she’d been about to kill.

  She felt painful tugs on her hair as he ripped her veil loose and it blew away like a black tumbleweed. “You won’t need this anymore!” he shouted into the wind. Anger and satisfaction etched his voice.

  Son of a bitch!

  Just then, Mason’s familiar scent swept around her, calming her. He smelled of leather and gasoline and Irish Spring. Had she not been so afraid for her life moments ago, she knew she would have recognized him right away and now that she realized it was Mason who’d kidnapped her, awareness raced through her.

  She hadn’t seen him in years. How had he known what she’d been up to? She’d taken another identity and disappeared from her old life, making sure no one would find her, keeping tabs on her old life only through a trusted friend.

  And who was Mason riding with? His cop buddies? Men who hadn’t been able to do anything to help throw Rick into prison where he belonged. She clamped down the anger that threatened to consume her every time she thought of Rick and concentrated on the wonderful way her body was reacting to Mason. His warmth seeped through the material of her wedding dress, caressing her skin, making her breasts swell in anticipation and her nipples harden into tight aching beads. Slowly, she comprehended the hard angles of his body as she became aware of the muscles that pressed against her. A wide solid chest and powerful thighs, not to mention his thick arousal pressing intimately against her backside, making her tremble, as memories and erotic heat splashed through her in luscious waves and along with it came the familiar guilt. She would not be happy while her son’s killer was once again free. All because of her ex-husband.

  Dammit! Mason had screwed her plans.

  A new fear invaded her. By kidnapping her, Mason might have blown her cover and if Rick and Ron found out who’d whisked her away, they’d hunt them both down. They wouldn’t stop until her ex and Avery were both anchored with cement weights on the bottom of Lake Ontario.

  But before she could contemplate that any further, she sighed in relief as he slowed the bike and swerved down an alley, then another narrower alley and came to an abrupt halt.

  “Well, thank God you’ve come to your senses!” she shouted as she hurriedly climbed off the bike and tried to orient herself as to what to do next. She should give Mason a piece of her mind for putting himself in such a dangerous situation, but the longer she stayed with him, the bigger the chance they’d be seen together. The last things she wanted were for Mason to get hurt or to blow her own cover.

  Just then a pinprick of pain zipped through her upper left arm. Her first instinct was she’d been stung by a bee, but then as she looked down, she noticed Mason withdrawing a needle from her arm. Snapping her head up, she stared in disbelief at her ex.

  He’d injected her with something!

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered from behind his visor. But before she could tell him exactly how sorry he would be when she got her hands on him, her mind numbed and she found it hard to form a thought.

  Then everything went black.

  * * * * *

  The hum of the car’s engine made Mason relax. Or maybe he was feeling relieved because he finally had Avery back with him. Thankfully, the sedative had worked, putting her to sleep almost immediately. He’d caught her quickly after she passed out, then he’d carried her to a nearby car he’d parked in the secluded alley earlier in the day. Now she sat beside him on the front seat, her warm body snuggled against him, her head resting on his shoulder while she slept.

  At a designated time and place he’d met up with his two cop friends who’d helped him break her out of that church. His friends had also switched to a car and they followed Mason out of the city, hanging around in case of trouble.

  It was only when it got dark and they finally slipped onto the back roads of Northern Ontario that he signaled for them to stop at the earliest opportunity. A few minutes later, they rolled into a deserted picnic area and as both vehicles were turned off, Mason remained in his car, not wanting to move Avery from where she’d melted against him in her sleep. When his friends came up to the side of his car, he rolled down the window and noticed they looked solemn.

  Uneasiness swept through Mason. “Has someone spotted us?”

  Tim Scott, Mason’s partner, whispered in a gruff, pissed-off voice, “You’re just damn lucky we’ve got pull at the local cop shops and they were there to take out the bodyguards outside the church and to stop Rick’s shooting from getting way out of hand. I was in touch with a friend on the cell and he told me Ron and most of Rick’s goons got yanked into jail. The cops are investigating if they have weapon licenses for carrying those firearms in Canada and also for questioning regarding the shooting that took place. But Rick managed to escape. You can bet he’s looking for Avery. I bet by now he’s already suspecting something isn’t right with his brother’s kidnapped bride not being plastered all over tonight’s news. The cops can only keep that bit of information undercover for so long. When Rick figures out she isn’t who she pretends to be, the shit is going to hit the fan and she’s going to be on his hit list with you right there beside her.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be lying low,” Mason reassured him, not feeling the least bit as confident as he sounded.

  “Just make sure you do until we can figure out a way to get this guy locked up for good,” Trey Robards, his trusted friend and fellow cop, replied. “And pump your ex for whatever information she has on him. She must know something by now, especially if she and his brother were…”

  Mason stiffened as Trey dropped what he was about to say. If Avery and Smart were in the sack together is what Trey was about to say. Just thinking of Avery being with another man, especially the brother of the man who killed their son, ignited such a scorching blaze of anger in Mason. He’d never known an emotion so deep and frightening existed within him.

  “Trey, you’re a fucking asshole,” Tim snarled behind him, shaking his head.

  “Sorry, I should have been more diplomatic.”

  “Yeah, you should have.”

  Mason blew out a tense breath. “Okay, guys. Let’s loosen up. I’m going to go it alone with her from here on out. I don’t want you involved any further than this. I really appreciate your help on such short notice. You don’t know how much.”

  Before the two could protest, Mason held up a hand.

  “Shh, no arguments. With the racket you’re making you’ll wake up the bride and I’m sure you don’t want to deal with her when she’s pissed off and she’s going to be really mad.”

  For added effect, Avery p
icked that time to moan in her sleep. Thankfully his buddies quieted down and looked ready to bolt back to their car. They definitely didn’t want to be around to deal with Avery when she woke up. But he knew she wouldn’t. The sedative he’d shot her with had been powerful enough to knock her out until morning. They didn’t know that and he wasn’t about to tell them. Especially when he wanted them gone now so he could continue on his way.

  “I don’t envy you, bro.” Trey chuckled.

  “We’ll try to keep this out of the papers as long as possible,” Tim replied.

  “Thanks. If you guys hadn’t agreed to help me out, I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off.”

  “We know you’d do the same for us,” Tim said and with a wave, he headed back to the other car.

  “Oh, and before I forget,” Trey said as he handed Mason a plastic shopping bag through the open window, “here’s that item you ordered. I’m just glad I have a girlfriend who has good taste and can follow your descriptions or who knows what you would have gotten if I’d gone instead for you.”

  Mason accepted the package with another round of thanks.

  Trey grumbled something about it not being a problem and joined Tim back at their car. They both got into their vehicle and Mason watched as the car moved slowly out of the gloomy parking lot. When the car’s taillights faded into the darkness, he sighed wearily.

  Unfortunately in his haste in kidnapping Avery from the church, mistakes were made. The shooting in the downtown core would definitely have cops and reporters snooping around and someone could have been shot because of his stupid idea and reckless behavior.

  He definitely lost his head when he was around Avery. She’d always brought out his impulsive side and that was one of the biggest reasons he loved her so much. Because she made him feel. Something he’d made a habit of not doing since he’d been a kid and the punching bag for an alcoholic father and whipping boy for his drug-addicted stepmother. That was one of the reasons he’d become a cop. To help clean up the streets so other kids wouldn’t have do deal with the shit he’d dealt with. Unfortunately he’d grown up quickly after joining the force, realizing cleaning the streets wasn’t that easy. Pushing aside the unwelcome memories of his lousy childhood, he tried not to disturb Avery as he carefully tossed the plastic bag Trey had given him into the backseat. Beside him Avery moaned softly, the sweet sound of her voice zipping him even farther back to reality.