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“And I can’t run. ” She shuddered at the thought of being terrified of the dark for the rest of her life, of being terrified of what could happen. But even more, she knew there were a lot of things Rowdy would allow, but he would never let her go. “We have to face it. Now. Here. ”
God, for a minute she wished Rowdy were less intense, less determined. She wished she didn’t know him as well as she did.
“Come on, Aunt Maria,” Dawg grunted as she continued to glare at Rowdy. “You know lookin’ at him like that don’t work. He’s just going to get in a bad mood and pout on us all night long if you do. ”
Maria flashed her nephew by marriage a dark look. Dawg grinned back, flashing strong white teeth through his gaze remained hard.
“You boys are going to get her killed,” she snapped. “This isn’t a game you’re playing here. It’s Kelly’s life. ”
“Which makes it my life,” Rowdy assured her. “I’ll be damned if I’ll let this bastard hurt her more. Now stand the hell down and we can talk about this reasonably, or by God we won’t talk about it at all. ”
Ray breathed out wearily.
“He’s right, Maria. You know he’s right. She can’t run all her life,” he said, the regret heavy in his voice as Maria gasped in surprise.
“Ray, you don’t mean that. She would be safe—”
“She’ll never be safe as long as that bastard is on the loose, Maria. ” He grimaced, shaking his head. “We both know it. She has to make her stand here. ”
“I won’t have it—”
“I said I’ve heard enough!” Kelly scraped her chair across the floor, coming to her feet and pushing her fingers through her hair with an edge of frustration.
“Kelly…I’m scared for you,” Maria whispered. “If Rowdy is so determined to stay with you, then the two of you can go away for a while. ”
“This isn’t something I can run away from. ” Kelly swallowed tightly as she stared back at her mother.
“You mean he won’t let you run away,” Maria accused. “Don’t let him risk your life like this, Kelly. ”
“I’m letting him save it,” she whispered. “Because without him, I’m dead. It won’t matter where I go, or how long I stay, he’ll find me. Just as he found the other girl. He won’t let it go. ”
“He would have,” Maria bit out. “He left that girl alone until she found someone, and he would have left you alone if Rowdy hadn’t drawn you into…this…” Her arm swung out to encompass Rowdy, Dawg, and Natches.
Heat flamed in her cheeks as she breathed in roughly, staring back at her mother, hating what her mother suspected, hating that the danger she was in now was tearing at them all. No explanation would make a difference; her mother would no more believe that she wasn’t sleeping with all three men than the stalker would.
“This is my business,” she said softly. “Remember that, Mom. And don’t forget it. My relationship with Rowdy is my business, and it will stay that way. Period. I love you, but I can’t deal with fighting with you right now. I want you to go home. ”
“No—”
“Mom, go home. ” She strengthened her voice, fought back her tears, and stared back at her mother firmly. “I’ll call. I promise. But this isn’t going to help anything, and it’s sure as hell not going to make this easier. For my sake, just go. ”
“Kelly…” Rowdy’s protest as she moved quickly from the room was ignored, as was Ray’s curse and her mother’s cry.
She couldn’t handle the combined pressure, or her mother’s fears. Her own were choking her, strangling her with tightening bands of remembered horror as she escaped the tension building in the kitchen.
She had tried to tell herself that the man who attacked her would go away. That it would stop. That it couldn’t be worse than what she had already endured. But now the nightmare was growing worse. Her stalker had become a murderer.
She rushed into the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind her as she capped her hand over her mouth in an effort to hold back her screams of horror. She wasn’t the only one at risk now. She had known when the shots were fired into the boat that the stalker was going to try to hurt Rowdy. It hadn’t sunk in though, not all the way to the bone, until Ray and her mother dropped their bombshell.
“Kelly, open the door. ” Rowdy wiggled the doorknob as he spoke on the other side of the panel. His voice was soft, gentle, nearly breaking her resolve to hold back her tears.
Pressing her lips together she turned the lock before moving away, unaware she had locked it in the first place. She moved to the center of the room, wiping her fingers over her cheeks in an attempt to dry the tears from her face.
The door opened then closed as silence engulfed the room for long seconds.
“I don’t want him to hurt you,” she finally whispered, keeping her back to him as she wrapped her arms over her breasts. “What will I do if he hurts you, Rowdy?”
She heard the male snort behind her, mocking, filled with stubborn pride. She turned to him slowly, wishing, praying, that none of this had happened. That she could have had her dream of holding Rowdy without the danger that surrounded them.
