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Sally’s excitement grew as her naturally competitive spirit surfaced. A race to reach Jen. Against a man built of pure muscle and trained by Navy SEALs to overcome obstacles the average person didn’t even know existed. Though Luke had been a POW, tortured and seriously wounded, it was obvious he’d worked many long hours to rebuild what he’d lost and regain his strength. She’d never beat him in a fair race. The fifteen hundred yards she estimated was more of a sprint than a race. She’d need that head start and then some.
As soon as he turned his back, Sally jerked the door open, hurdled the steps and hit the grassy trail at a full run. Only then did she give any thought to being alone outside, but she couldn’t stop now.
“So this is how you want to play it, huh?” His words followed her out the door, and she nearly choked on the laughter that bubbled free.
As soon as she heard the door slam shut and Luke land with both feet at the bottom of the steps, she forgot about humor and lengthened her stride. If she didn’t put all her concentration into running on the uneven path, her ill-gotten advantage would be in vain.
Sally was no slacker when it came to running, yet in spite of pushing herself to the limits of her ability, Luke’s footsteps still closed in on her. With Daniel’s front door only a few feet ahead, she gave it everything she had. She could almost imagine Luke’s breath on her neck as she bounded up the porch steps two at a time. Victory so close she could taste it, she caught her toe on the top step, stumbled and did a face-plant a foot away from her goal.
Her hands and knees took the brunt of the fall. The skin on her hands burned as she pushed herself up, then she winced as her right knee objected to holding her weight and she rolled hastily to her back. Lifting her hands for inspection, she groaned at the dozens of wood slivers embedded in each. Her knees probably looked similar, although a few slivers surely couldn’t account for the throbbing in her right knee. What had she done?
Sally struggled to her elbows, but suddenly Luke knelt beside her, pushing her down, gripping her wrists and giving her hands a cursory inspection. “You’re okay, babe.”
If she was really okay, why did his brows almost meet over his eyes?
He directed a faint smile toward her. “You kinda had this coming—cheater.”
“You’re just pouting because I beat you.”
“For your information, this race has been called due to clumsiness.” He still held her wrists.
Sally laughed. “Let me up. I’ll finish the race with or without you.”
Luke’s teasing smile faded. “Before I let you up, how are you with blood?”
He had to be joking. Why wasn’t that roguish grin of his making an appearance? She hadn’t landed hard enough to do serious damage. Still, her right knee throbbed like hell, and Luke wasn’t wearing the face of a prankster.
Sally cleared the lump from her throat. “I’m a parent—I’ve seen blood before.”
A muscle flexed in Luke’s jaw. “How are you with yourownblood?”
“You’re scaring me, Luke.” She struggled to free her wrists from his grip.
“Easy. Calm down, sunshine.” He glanced toward her legs. “You’re going to be fine, but we have a little problem we’ll need MacGyver’s help with.”
“MacGyver—Matt? Luke, tell me what’s wrong.”
He held her gaze for the space of a heartbeat before he nodded. “You have a rather large splinter of wood from Daniel’s porch in your right interior quad just above your knee. I’m not sure how deep it’s embedded. There’s some blood, but right now the splinter itself is keeping it from bleeding a lot.”
Sally did her best to hide the shudder that washed over her. Common sense told her it wasn’t serious, but it was probably good he hadn’t allowed her to see the wound—although she wasn’t going to tell Luke that. “Is that all? What now?”
“I’m going to get the big man out here to take a look.” He leaned over her and stretched to bang on the door. “MacGyver was the medic for our unit. You’re in good hands. How long’s it been since you had a tetanus shot?”
Luke’s brow, furrowed in concern, made it difficult to accept his optimistic remarks. Probably blaming himself for suggesting a race when it had been her stupid competitiveness that had caused her to wreck. Once Matt got her patched up, Luke would see it was nothing and she’d convince him later that it wasn’t his fault.
The door opened behind her, and Luke glanced up. Surprise, followed quickly by anger, rolled across his face. He tensed and started to rise. “Where’s Daniel? Who the hell are you?”
Sally pushed up on her elbows and swiveled to glance behind her. She gasped as fear gripped her with icy fingers and dread fell like a sledgehammer in her chest.
Clive Brennan.Her father. The man who inhabited her nightmares had caught up with her at last.
Luke gained his feet and inserted himself between Sally and the man who’d contributed sperm toward her birth and now was probably going to kill her. Instantly, a dark-haired man stepped from the shadows inside the cabin, advancing on Luke with a granite-hard expression that screamed cold-blooded and lethal.
Sally still struggled to find her voice. She had to warn Luke. He didn’t know how great a danger he faced. She choked on the words as a sudden realization made her blood run cold.
Jen is inside the cabin.
“Luke, wait.”
