suddenly exactly where she was. He would sound nuts. She didn’t
need anyone else around her sounding nuts.
“How long will my wrist be numb this time?”
“Not more than five minutes. Don’t whine. Did you expect me
to let you shoot me?”
“No, I guess not.”
“You look tired. Better if you’d taken a nap in your bed than
come out here to snore beneath the tree. It just might, not be all
that safe.” That was one of the best understatements out of his
mouth yet.
“Why? The only one who was ever lurking outside here was
you, and you’re not lurking out here anymore. You’ve moved right
into the house.” She sighed. “I don’t know why I came out here. I
just couldn’t stand to stay in the house alone anymore.”
He said again,”You scared me, Becca. Please don’t take off again
without leaving me a note.”
She looked up at him, her face so pale now it was nearly as white
as winter sleet, and said in a dead voice, “He’s found me. He called.”
“He?” But he knew. Oh yeah, the stalker had found her and he
hated it, had dreaded it, but he’d known it would happen. This guy
was good. Too good. He had contacts. Whoever he was, he knew
people, knew how to use them to get what he wanted. Adam was
sure he’d been on her the minute she’d left New York. Still, it surprised
him. More than that it scared him to his soul. He hated that
surge of fear, deep and corroding. He could almost smell the
flames. The fire was coming closer.
“All right, so he called. Get a grip.” He stopped, grinned at her.
“Oh yeah, I’m talking to myself, not you. Now, what did he say?
Did he tell you how he found you? Did he say anything that would
help us pinpoint him?”
He’d said “us.” She had felt utterly frozen inside, then he’d said
“us.” Slowly, she began to feel a shift deep inside her. She wasn’t
alone anymore.
She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m glad you’re here, Adam.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Me, too.”
“Even though you’re gay?”
He looked at her mouth, then jumped fast to his feet. A man did
better when temptation wasn’t one inch from his face. He looked
down at her, then offered his hand. “Yeah, right. Now come on
back to the house. I want you to write down everything you can
remember him saying. Okay?”
She got a look on her face that was hard and cold and determined.
Good, he thought, she wasn’t going to lie down and let this
guy kick her like a dog.
“Let’s do it, Adam.”
They walked side by side up the steps to the veranda. They were
nearly to the front door, and he was thinking that he needed to
show her again that he wasn’t gay, when a shot rang out, and a
knife-sharp chunk of wood flew off the door frame not two inches
from Becca’s head and slammed into Adam’s bare arm.
Chapter 1 4
Adam twisted the doorknob, pushed the door in, and shoved
Becca into the entrance hall in an instant, and still it seemed too
slow. Another bullet struck the lintel right over his head, spewing
splinters in all directions. None struck him this time. He twisted
about and slammed the front door, then grabbed Becca’s arm and
dragged her out of the line of fire.
He came down on his knees beside her. “Sorry to throw you
around. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. That bastard, that horrible man. He’s a monster,
crazy. It’s got to stop, Adam. It’s got to.” He watched her jerk her
Coonan out of her jacket pocket and crawl to one of the front
windows. He was right behind her. “Becca, no, wait a minute. I
want you to stay down. This is my job.”
“He’s after me, not you,” she said calmly and, slowly, very cautiously,
leaned up to look out of the corner of the window. He
thought he’d collapse of fright right then.
Another two shots came at heart level through the front door,