LITMIR.BIZ

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the table.

      “Sit down, Isabella. I’ll help in a minute.”

      She sat again. “Go ahead with your story.”

      “Not long ago, I was in Virginia. Someone tried to run me down. They came close enough to put me back into the hospital with bruises. Someone was trying to kill me, which meant whoever the double agent in the agency was, knew about me. That knowledge narrowed the possibilities. He knew I was still alive. We assume he was bound to know that my best buddies were Mike, Boone and Jonah.”

      “So they think you might have let your friends know what you knew.”

      “Possibly. They obviously don’t know enough to act on their knowledge or they would have already. As long as no one knew I was alive—including my family and friends—then they were safe. But now someone knows Mike, Boone and Jonah might have information that will help me trigger my memory. It’s a long shot, but not out of the question. And the person involved is desperate. To try to run me down when I was with an agent is the act of someone on the edge, determined to get rid of me. I was fine being dead, if it meant everyone else was safe. But now someone knows. And I’ve got to see if I can remember what happened before my family is put in danger.”

      “So that’s why you’re here,” she said, thinking about the danger the men could be in. As well as their families just for being with them.

      “I’m sorry if I’ve frightened you. You may want to pack and get out of your brother’s guest house for a time,” Colin said.

      Isabella shook her head. “Don’t be silly, I’m not any more afraid than Boone will be. If there’s danger, I’ll be careful.”

      “The men may not be in danger, but we don’t know. I want to warn them in case they are.”

      “What about your family?”

      “I’ve contacted my family twice since then. The first time was right after Mike’s wedding. But they were never involved in my work and seeing them didn’t help my memory lapse. I was with them only briefly.”

      “They have to be overjoyed you’re alive.”

      “Yeah, but I don’t want to bring danger down on them needlessly. The last time I saw them, I slipped in and out the way I hoped to do here. I’m hoping my parents are in less danger because they weren’t part of my military life. But I can’t risk staying with them, risking my family. I’ve been away from home a long time. In my adult life, I’ve been with Boone, Mike and Jonah more than with my parents and being with them may trigger that last bit of lost memory.”

      “I hope for your sake, seeing your friends does jog your memory.”

      “The person after me is desperate. Agents have been killed because of this spy. I want to catch him.”

      Once again a chill slithered down her middle. “I guess you need to see my brother and the others. I think I can safely say they’re in for a shock.”

      “Thanks for letting me sleep here tonight,” Colin said.

      She merely nodded, thinking about the gaps in his story. “It’s been five years. That’s a long time.”

      “Little things trigger bits of memory. If I can recall what happened in that house and who I saw, I might be able to end this whole thing and stop running. Also, my enemies may suspect these guys here know more than they actually do.”

      “So you avoid phones, a paper trail, all that stuff.”

      “Every bit of ‘that stuff,”’ he agreed.

      “Let me pick up a little,” she said, rising and gathering up dishes. “If you want, we can go sit in the other room to talk.”

      “Sure. It’s good to see you again, Isabella,” he replied, standing and gathering the rest of the dishes to help her. “In fact, it was downright agreeable after the first ten minutes.”

      “Well, what were you expecting when you broke into a house?”

      “I expected to find Mike and to talk to him and leave. But then, life is always full of unexpected twists and turns.”

      They cleaned together, restoring order to the kitchen, and then Isabella motioned toward a door. “Let’s sit in the family room.”

      When he walked beside her, she was conscious of how tall he was. “So where do you go from here?”

      “You don’t want to know. It’s better if no one knows.”

      “Do you trust anyone?” she asked, wondering about his solitary life. He was ruggedly appealing with dark, brooding, craggy looks. What was it about him, she wondered, that attracted her? When they looked at each other or barely touched, sparks all but danced in the air. She couldn’t understand the unwanted, volatile chemistry between them. He was not the man to take home to the family.

      Not in the next hundred years. He was solitary, dangerous, in trouble, cynical, brooding, hurt. Everything undesirable, yet when he had held her close in his arms to try to stop her attack, she had felt an electrifying charge that she couldn’t recall experiencing with a man before.

      Now, as she strolled beside him, she tried to focus on what he was saying to her.

      “I trust Mike, Boone and Jonah. For their own sakes, there are things I won’t tell them, because they’re better off not knowing.”

      “Do the doctors ever think your memory will fully return?”

      “They don’t know. But they didn’t know about some things that have already happened,” he said.

      She gazed at his full lower lip, the slightly full upper lip, a sensuous mouth. Unbidden images of his mouth on hers had her pulse beating faster. She tried to stop unwanted thoughts and to concentrate on their conversation.

      As she switched on a light in the family room, he paused to look at the room. Trying to see it through his eyes, she also glanced around at the cozy room with its leather furniture and huge fireplace, thick, patterned area rug and mahogany furniture.

      “Mike’s mansion is elegant,” Colin said. “I’m pleased for him. I hope he’s happy.”

      “He and Savannah seem blissful, and they love little Jessie.”

      “I’m glad for him and the life he’s found here.” Colin sat in a winged chair and Isabella sat in a corner of the brown sofa, tucking her legs beneath her. When he stretched out his long legs, her gaze drifted down the length of him and then up again to find him watching her.

      While a blush heated her cheeks, she was at a loss for conversation.

      “Bring me up to date about my friends, Isabella,” Colin said. “I have only sketchy information.”

      “Okay, Mike has a security business, and Savannah still practices law although she’s home a lot with Jessie. Jonah inherited a cattle ranch and he and Kate live there,” Isabella replied, but her thoughts were more on Colin.

      “I heard Jonah has a son.”

      “That’s right, Henry. And another baby on the way.”

      “So he and Kate got back together. Miracles never cease. I suppose the bone of contention between them is gone since he’s out of the service. What about your brother?”

      “Boone just married Erin, the manager of the horse ranch that he inherited.”

      “All the guys are married,” Colin said, once more bitterness clearly filled his voice. “And you’re not. So what do you do, little sis?”

      “I’m a photographer. I have a shop in Stallion Pass.”

      “Do you enjoy it?”

      “I love it. As a matter of fact, why don’t you let me photograph you, Colin. You have an interesting face.”

      He shook his head. “If

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