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might as well put her solitude and waking hours to good use.
She wished Tia had at least left her CD player in the room. Some music to help divert her mind
from her possible imminent death would have been nice right now.
*************************
She had been topside, reclining, looking up at the black, starless sky, a position she had occupied
for hours, ever since she left the master berth. She had finished her oil can of Sapporo ten
minutes after she had ascended the deck and held onto it, mindlessly, her thoughts clearer than
they had been in months. Tia needed to find something on Montgomery that was not connected
to this abduction, something on him that was not tied to her, something she could use against
him. She wondered if this Bruce guy had any information that might be helpful and, if he did,
would he be willing to share. She would be speaking with him briefly tomorrow. Her question
now was should she take the chance that his allegiance to Montgomery was as coerced as hers
was.
But what was really driving her was that she wanted the little heiress. Bad. And, unrealistically,
she wanted Jody to want her, too. Unlike her recent past, however, what she was feeling was
more than mere lust, it was deeper. In any other situation, she would dismiss the idea that she felt
something other than sexual for a woman she had just met a day earlier as ridiculous. The
overwhelming longing that was caressing her heart for Jody Montgomery felt almost...ethereal.
Had Tia been brought to this moment for a reason? No, she didn't believe in fate, because if she
did, she might have thought that she and the heiress were predestined to meet. But if that were
true, why under these conditions? And when would Jody recognize it? How could she prove to
this woman that they should be together? Because just as sure as Montgomery wanted his wife
out of his future, Tia knew her future was supposed to have Jody in it.
For the first time in many months, she had lost the urge to drink herself unconscious.
**************
Chapter Thirteen
People determine your character by observing what you stand for, fall for and lie for
Bruce nervously awaited the phone call from the former CIA operative to whom he had
spinelessly directed his boss. It didn't matter if she knew it was he who got her into this mess, he
acknowledged it and felt enough guilt for both of them. It didn't matter that the heiress wasn't
going to die from an act committed directly by him because indirectly he would be just as
responsible as Tia Ramone.
Checking once again to make sure he had all his programs ready, he glanced at his watch again.
It should be anytime now.
*****************
Montgomery had phoned Tia with the morning headlines and she dutifully copied the words
Jody would be speaking to Bruce so that he could prepare the next call to the Wainwright
residence, the one that would demand a ransom and start the ball rolling for the real search to
begin. When he was satisfied that the former operative had recorded everything properly, he
hung up and headed out the door on his way to the Wainwright estate, where he would be right in
the middle of his polygraph when the ransom call came in.
Just a couple more days and his life would be his own again.
******************
Tia was actually civil to Montgomery but she wasn't sure if that was due to not waking up with a
hangover for the first time in she couldn't remember when or the fact that it was too early to
work up the proper amount of hostility. Writing down, verbatim, everything he told her, she then
clicked the phone shut and went to the master berth to wake up the heiress.
Knocking on the door, she was surprised to hear an alert voice telling her to come in. Entering,
she found Jody, freshly showered and in a change of clothes that unintentionally showed off the
little blonde's physical attributes. Trying not to stare at the obvious, Tia cleared her throat and
looked at the heiress' face, who actually smiled at her. This was an expression she had not seen
yet and it startled her. A smile? For her? Perfect, white teeth were revealed behind rose colored
lips that enhanced all of Jody's already lovely, unblemished features and Tia was positive her
heart actually stopped for a minute. Recovering, she returned her attention to the note in her hand
as she approached her captive.
"No breakfast?" Jody wondered, feeling unusually peckish but not looking forward to that
horrible cup of sludge. She was about to ask Tia what exactly she did to make the coffee so
awful when her captor held out a piece of paper to her.
"We have to do this first." She did her best to sound professional and indifferent. But standing
next to the heiress took everything she had to behave herself. Off Jody's quizzical look, she said,
"I need you to say these words exactly as they are written and I need you to sound as though you
are not being forced to say them."
The bright expression disappeared from Jody's face as she accepted the paper from Tia. Reading
the contents of the message, reality washed over her once more that she was a prisoner and that
the woman standing next to her was her warden. She had decided some time around three A.M.
that she would continue to try and pull Tia from her inhuman side, hopefully wearing her down
so that she would reconsider killing her if it came to that. The words she was going to have to
repeat quickly reminded her that her captor was in a business deal and one her life depended on.
"Will I be speaking to my father?" she inquired, her tone now disheartened.
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