Chapter 4

"Where are we?" Allie asked. Her voice sounded hoarse and dim to her ears after an hour and a half of flying noise droning in her head.

The plane had landed on a private runway in the mountains. Jay took her good arm in a firm grip and helped her from the plane. Weariness settled over Allie as warm afternoon sun shone down on her dark head. She looked around her in tired curiosity as Jay ushered her into the back of a waiting vehicle.

"We're just outside of Kelowna," he said.

"Near mom's place?" Allie asked in surprise.

Jay smiled fondly. "I bought a small vineyard in the area not long after she married Rob. It's only a few hours from Vancouver making it an easy weekend home for me."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Allie asked. He'd been in the area for years and she hadn't known.

"I asked her not to," he said, his eyes piercing hers. "I knew it would spook you to have me nearby when you visited. You might have come less often."

Allie opened her mouth to deny his words, but then stopped. He was right. If she'd known he was so close then she probably wouldn't have flown to Kelowna as often as she'd done in the past few years. Kelowna wasn't a big city. She could have easily run into him.

He smiled grimly. "Transparent as ever."

She looked over at him, so many questions hovering on the tip of her tongue. He shook his head. She understood. Now was not the time to do battle with Jay. Part of her wanted to defy him, wanted to demand he give her the answers she needed. Instead she remained silent. He didn't have a reputation as one of the most ruthless gangsters on the west coast for no reason.

Jay's vineyard was twenty minutes outside of Kelowna, nestled just above the valley on a private estate with enough security that even Allie, with her penchant toward naivety, could easily identify. She turned toward Jay and raised an eyebrow in question as they passed through the guarded security gates. A high wall extended most of the way around the property.

"Are you expecting intruders?" she asked.

He looked down at her seriously and shook his head. "A special addition."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

He remained silent as they pulled up to the house. Allie wanted to insist he tell her, but then she caught sight of the house and all thought fled along with her former tiredness. When Greg opened her door she climbed out in excitement, forgetting for a moment that she'd been kidnapped and simply taking in the beauty of the house.

"Oh my goodness," she breathed, reaching out to take Jay's hand easily as she used to do when she was young. "It's so lovely, Jay!"

It was a sprawling house that, despite its cottage-like appearance, was deceptively modern. There were doors and windows everywhere, washing it in light and openness, which would make it more of a home for Jay who tended toward claustrophobia. But there were also castle-like elements of stone pathways and turrets that would appeal to the romantic in Allie.

"I'm glad you like it," he said quietly. "Let's go inside."

Jay placed a hand at her back and ushered her into the house. Allie's mood began to descend once more as he showed her around his home. She felt like a yo-yo. One moment elated to see the person she used to care so much about, a man that had practically saved her and her mother's lives, and then upset with the way he was now controlling her. She turned to him as he showed her into the master suite, a massive open concept room with huge glass windows and doors along two walls.

"Stop, Jay," she said quietly. "Just stop pretending for a minute."

He stopped moving and stood still, watching her sharply. He nodded slightly not saying anything. She realized she must look pathetic next to him. He wore an expensive suit which, though somewhat creased after two flights, still looked incredibly good on his lean, muscular frame. The juxtaposition between the suit and the tattoos that snaked down his hands and fingers and up his neck appealed to her. When she was a kid he used to dress rougher, more like she did now. In jeans, T-shirts and running shoes. Allie dressed down so her clients would feel more comfortable with her. She kept her hair long and free so she would seem more disarming. Now she felt like a tangled, dirty mess. Her shirt was torn and bloody where she'd been knifed.

"How long are you going to keep me here?" Allie finally decided to brave the questions she knew needed asking.

His eyes sharpened on her face. "You're here to stay, Allison," he said implacably using her full name, which he did when he wanted her to know he meant what he was saying.

She shook her head. "No, I'm not."

"This isn't a negotiation." His voice was hard, his eyes harder.

Anger and a dose of panic rose up in Allie. She knew when Jay decided something he was immovable. "Jay, I can't stay here with you. I'm still married to Derrick. I still have a job. I have to go home. I can see exactly what you've done. You've built this beautiful home and filled it with things that you know I love. But its too late for us, Jay. Even a beautiful prison is still a prison. You can't just keep me here forever!"

Something frightening flared in Jay's eyes, stopping the flow of Allie's words. He stepped toward her. Allie stepped back. He stalked toward her until only inches separated them. She felt the electric attraction jump between them, stronger than ever, and gasped. He didn't touch her, yet every part of her felt alive from his nearness. It had always been there, the thing that lay between them, but Jay had suppressed it before, sending her away. He was doing nothing to hold himself back from her now. Her head spun from the knowledge that he was done hiding his attraction.

"You've always belonged to me, Allison," his quiet voice sounded guttural with need. "I should have taken you when you were eighteen, but I didn't. For better or worse, I sent you away instead."

She nodded mutely, eyes wide on his face.

"I let you go once."

Her lips parted and her breath escaped in a shudder.

"It'll never happen again."

Allie whimpered, half in fear and half in arousal, as he pinned her with his possessive grey eyes. He looked as though he wanted to reach for her, but was ruthlessly holding himself back so he wouldn't hurt her. His long fingers curled into fists and his cruel lips compressed into a line. Allie shivered as he stepped away from her. Some of the tension diffused.

"Get some rest," he said.

He turned and left the room, locking the door behind him.