LITMIR.BIZ

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two should have continued to chase us.”

      “Maybe they were afraid of the police.”

      “Men like that aren’t worried about the law.”

      “You were well prepared,” she commented. “As if you were expecting them.”

      “I was warned.” He placed the gun next to him on the pavement while he removed his shirt.

      “You said those men might have been looking for you?”

      “Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate.

      Earlier, she’d noticed changes in him. But since she’d knocked on his door those differences had become even more apparent. There had been no hesitation, no change in his voice when he talked of killing a man.

      Seven years ago, there had been a softness in Nick. It had been so deeply imbedded at his core it had been nearly impossible to reach, but in those last few weeks before her father’s suicide, before everything had changed, she’d seen glimpses. She suspected it no longer existed. He was now as ruthless and determined as the men following them. The bare, well-muscled chest and shoulders and the leather holster weighted with a very serious piece of steel did nothing to lessen her impression of him. Nor did the closed expression on his rugged face.

      With her forearm, Kelly swiped away some of the sweat continuing to bead her forehead. What had happened in the intervening years to harden him. The job, no doubt.

      “How many bullets do you have left?”

      He stood to wrap the shirt around his thigh. “Enough to keep us alive a bit longer.”

      The wound didn’t look so bad from where she was sitting, though she suspected, listening to his harsh intake of breath as he pulled the material tight, it was causing him quite a bit of pain.

      Kelly followed suit and got to her feet. The last thing she wanted to be was left behind. “Are you going to be all right?”

      “Yeah.” He started to take her arm, then seemed to decide against it. “It’ll need to be cleaned out when we get wherever we’re going. Perhaps now would be a good time for you to let me in on our destination.”

      Kelly picked her way along the alley. “My aunt’s house. She’s out of town until tomorrow.”

      Nick caught up and pulled her to a stop. “I don’t recall any aunt.” He tightened his fingers around her arm.

      She sensed his distrust. “I’ll tell you what, Cavanaugh. You can believe whatever you want. You can put your ass right back on the ground and stay here with your leg the way it is, but, right now, I want more cover than this alley is providing and maybe some kind of bed.”

      With that, she jerked free of his hold and turned and walked away. Nick caught up, fell in step beside her.

      They were a strange pair, he decided. Neither trusting the other, yet linked together again by a second twist of fate. He glanced over at her, studied her profile. The hair, red-gold when caught in sunlight or in lamplight, turned a paler, more muted shade in the moonlight. The tail end of a breeze played with it now.

      He recalled the feel of it earlier. Silky and cool. Just like her skin… Nick kicked that door shut. Kelly was no less desirable now than she had been back in Jersey, but he was a hell of a lot smarter now.

      They passed no one as they traveled the narrow streets.

      Brightly colored cottages and shacks jumbled along the waterfront like cereal boxes on a shelf. The muggy night air offered odors. Age and uncollected trash. Hibiscus and frangipani blooms. The stench of oyster beds at low tide.

      Though Elbow Cay was a decent-sized island, the settlement was compact, small enough they’d be easy to spot.

      “I’d liked to get off these streets. How much farther?

      “We’re close.”

      He followed without comment when she ducked down a narrow alley between a pair of two-story clapboard structures. Though she didn’t knock before entering the unlocked door of one of them, caution made him pause to check the area.

      A cat, curled in sleep, was braced against the front door of the other building as if waiting for it to open. A flag barely fluttered overhead. Otherwise, there was no sign of life, no lights on inside either home.

      The door through which Kelly disappeared groaned softly with the breeze. Tension tightened in him as he considered the possibility he’d walked into a trap. Not of Binelli’s making, but of Kelly’s. There was no aunt. He’d done the background check on her seven years ago and knew as much.

      Nick removed the magazine clip from his weapon, switched it with the full one in his pocket. Safety off, he edged inside, halting next to her.

      Except for the subtle scent of a recently cooked meal, the dark room smelled much as the outdoors had. The French doors along the opposite wall were open, moonlight angling into an enclosed courtyard beyond.

      Something moved in the shadows and he aimed the Glock.

      “No!” Kelly ordered in a desperate whisper and nearly tripped over a suitcase. “It’s a cat.”

      Nick dropped the muzzle of his weapon. “A cat?” Most of the furniture suddenly seemed alive as tabbies and Persians and calicos spilled like an advancing army onto the floor. Some mewed in quiet greeting, others in a complaining meow.

      “Looks like the local feline rescue.”

      He nudged a suitcase with a foot. “Your aunt’s? The one who is out of town?”

      He didn’t like it. He was still weighing his options when she suddenly tried to shove past him and out the door.

      “We can’t stay here.”

      Instead of letting her go, Nick pushed her farther inside, closed the door behind them.

      If she was worried about who was upstairs there was a fifty-fifty chance it was an aunt. They were better odds than he’d get with Binelli’s people.

      “We stay here tonight and get out before first light.”

      “No we don’t. I won’t put her at risk.”

      “You should have thought about that before now.” He wrapped a hand around her upper arm. “But since you didn’t, you can make some introductions.”

      She tried to twist free. “Like hell, I will! Just look at us. Your leg. My clothes. The only thing that would accomplish is scaring her.”

      “Where does she sleep?”

      “Upstairs. But, Nick, please don’t—”

      “Save it, sweetheart.” He escorted her roughly to the steps, Kelly continuing to fight him.

      “Damn it, Nick!”

      He only tightened his hold. “Maybe you’ve forgotten just how well I knew you at one time. And maybe you’ve forgotten that touching performance you gave the press about how your father was the only family you had? How you had been left alone in the world?”

      Nick felt her anger even before it manifested itself into the small, but hard fist she threw at him. The blow was glancing, but still carried enough power that when it landed on his already bruised ribs, he fell back half a step.

      She didn’t fight like a girl. He realized he should have remembered as much. When she would have tried a second, he caught her wrist. “Take it easy. I just wanted to get the story straight.”

      Eyeing him, Kelly pushed a section of hair behind her ear. There was no way he was ever going to believe her or trust her. And no reason to continue fighting the inevitable.

      Besides, at the moment she wanted a shower and a bed. “Okay. Whatever.”

      He waited while she zipped the jacket, did her best to straighten her hair.

      They

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