“You look too unusual to be able to hide.” He put it as gently as he could. “Your features are instantly recognizable.”
She stood. “I have to leave.”
“Wait.” Jumping to his feet, he reached out to stop her. “Tell me what you’re running from. Maybe I can help.”
To his shock, she cringed away from his hand. “Don’t touch me!”
“Fine. But why are you running? Your ex-husband’s in prison.”
“That shows how little you really know.” Her laugh was bitter, containing not one trace of humor. “Leo may be locked up, but his network extends all across the country.”
“He swore to have you killed.”
“Yes. And Leo means what he says. Even now, they’re hunting me.”
“Did you enter the Witness Protection Program? Is that why you’re here in Anniversary?”
“No.” Her bleak look told him how little she trusted anyone, including him. “The risk was too great. Leo had guys on the inside, for all I know. I cut my losses and ran.”
“You’re on your own?” He could scarcely believe her courage, both then and now.
“Yes.” Swallowing, she twisted her hands together in front of her. “And I’m not…well.”
Something twisted inside him, a tug at the place in his chest that housed his atrophied heart. “Not well,” he repeated. “I hate to pry, but is it terminal?”
“It could be, but I’m hoping to get better.” Since he was blocking the doorway, she went to the window instead, turning the heavy oak blinds to peer outside. When she turned again to face him, her expression was resigned. “What do you want?”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“You. Obviously you want something from me.”
He thought for a moment, pushing away the thoughts of hot, wild sex. “No.”
“Then why tell me this?”
“I thought you should know. For your own protection.”
“I see.” But he knew she didn’t, not really. “I’d better be going.”
At her words, he knew without a doubt she didn’t just mean going back to her rented cabin. “You’re leaving town?”
A flicker of surprise in her eyes, then she nodded. “I don’t have a choice. If you and this other man recognized me, so will others. It won’t be long before word gets back to Leo, if it hasn’t already.”
“New York is a long way from east Texas.”
“Not far enough, apparently.” She sighed. “Maybe that’s why my brakes failed. Maybe he’s already found me.”
Though he could identify with her paranoia—he’d been paranoid, too, right after Angela haddied and he’d learned his wife had been dealing drugs behind his back—he realized with a mild sense of shock that he didn’t want her to go.
“Let me help you,” he heard himself say. “I think you could use a friend.”
Stone-faced, she regarded him. “Why would you want to do that? You barely know me.”
“Why?” How could he explain to her what he didn’t know himself. “My daughter died because of drugs.”
“So I heard. Men like Leo distribute them, all around the country. He got rich from people like your daughter.”
“You helped put him away.”
“Yes.”
“And you left it all behind. The money, the mansions and fancy cars, all of it.”
“Yes.”
Now he moved to touch her arm, and this time she didn’t flinch. “That’s why I want to help you. Please, let me.”
