the ground.
It wasn’t an accident.
As the realization hit her, Jordynn took a step back, fumbling to reach for the phone in her jacket. Her hand didn’t even get as far as her pocket before her back hit something solid.
Not something. Someone.
It took her a second too long to figure it out. Quicker than she could even get out a whimper, a hand slammed over her mouth. A rough, distinctly masculine palm.
She fought to get away, twisting, and dropping her purse and all its contents as she tried to throw an elbow into his stomach. The man bent away easily, and his hand stayed in place. She made another attempt to free herself, this time driving her foot backward. It was a futile move. Her shoe tumbled to the ground, and her sock slid uselessly off his pants. And suddenly, she was pressed against him, her arms pinned to her sides.
“Move again, and die,” warned a gruff voice. “Scream, and die. In fact, do anything I don’t like...and die.”
But the three-part warning wasn’t even necessary. Because when he eased away, the cold tip of a blade digging into the small of her back provided motivation enough. She held very still, praying that all he wanted was her money. Her silent hope went unmet.
The rough hand came down, and a heartbeat later, a cloth took its place. Her assailant shoved the fabric between her teeth, then back farther. Jordynn wanted to gag, and fought the urge. She didn’t dare make a sound. But as he forced her hands behind her back and lashed them together with a plastic tie, she couldn’t stop the tears from forming in her eyes and spilling over to her cheeks.
Will it make him mad? she wondered. Is crying something he doesn’t like?
A few seconds later, it didn’t matter anyway. Her attacker slipped a hood over her head, covering up the evidence of her near-silent sobs. Then he spun her around and gave her a little shove, and Jordynn realized why he’d covered her face. He was going to take her somewhere, and she wouldn’t stand a chance of knowing a thing about how they got there.
“Walk,” the man growled.
Jordynn tried to obey him, but with the tears coming even harder, and the choking sensation growing worse, disorientation reigned. When she lifted her foot, it caught on one of the pathway stones. She stumbled, just enough to send her to her knees.
Above her, the man holding the knife snarled.
A chance. This is a chance.
But it wasn’t. The moment she managed to get to her knees, thick fingers landed on top of the hood. He gripped it together with her hair and dragged her back. She hollered against the gag in her mouth. Muffled. Pointless.
I’m going to die. I moved and I screamed and he didn’t like it and—
The wild thoughts cut off as a snarl reached her ears. She was sure it hadn’t come from the man who held her, because he went still, then released her abruptly. Jordynn fell sideways, slamming to the grass and knocking off the hood, giving her a clear view of the strange scene unfolding in front of her. First, a flash of movement caught her eye. Then, from up the walkway—and she could almost swear the figure had come from inside her house—a distinctly human form flew toward her and her assailant. It flew straight into the man holding her, and he let out a yell as he was knocked sideways.
And now there were two men in her yard instead of one. The first was on the ground. He was short and whip-thin, his furious face angular and almost birdlike. The second was on one knee, and he was just the opposite—a bear of a man, with a square, beard-dusted jaw. He wore a ball cap pulled low, and under its edges, Jordynn could just see a curl of sandy hair. As he pushed to his feet, his muscles strained against his fitted T-shirt.
When the first intruder stood, the second one lifted his face up under the cap, and Jordynn thought there was something familiar in his gaze. And strangely, the flash of familiarity actually sent a pleasant tingle up her spine. After a second of staring at her, he dipped his hat down, obscuring his features. And for some reason, that just made her want to see more of him. It surprised her to realize it. Checking out men was low down on her to-do list. Nevertheless, there was no denying his appeal. The strength in his tense jaw. The fullness of his lips. The raw power in his physique. Even in the very dim light, she could see how attractive he was.
And in spite of the fact that Jordynn didn’t know who he was, and even though she knew she ought to be more than a little frightened about what he was doing outside her home in the first place, the all-over tingle became an unexpected—and unwanted—buzz.
She swallowed nervously.
Then he lifted his head again, the baseball hat tipping back to expose his face. He took a small step forward, and Jordynn’s breath caught in her throat. She knew why he seemed familiar. And why she felt such a strong, singular attraction to him.
The man standing in front of her looked enough like the man she loved—the man she’d lost a decade ago, today—that they could’ve been brothers. He was bigger. Way bigger. Older, too. And there was something darker and more guarded in the way he held himself than she’d ever seen from the man who’d given her the ring that she wore around her neck.
But the eyes...
Jordynn swallowed again, swaying a little on her feet. That warm, mesmerizing hazel that picked up the glow of the moon and reflected it back... She’d never seen the shade on anyone else.
But it can’t be him.
Her mind had to be playing the cruelest of tricks on her. Because the man Jordynn loved had died ten years earlier.
* * *
Jordynn Jean Flannigan.
For a minute that lasted a lifetime, Donovan Grady couldn’t do more than stare into her eyes, watching the heart-wrenching fear play through them. His guilt held him as fast as his awe.
His plan had just been to check on her from afar. To assure himself she was alive and well, but not to give her a chance to recognize him. For some reason, he hadn’t really thought about what would happen if she did. If his suspicions became fruitful—as they had—forcing him to get close and giving him no choice but to interact.
Maybe you just wanted so badly to be wrong that you didn’t consider the consequences.
Now that it had happened, the sight of her in the moonlight floored him. It sent thoughts of caution to the very back of his mind.
He waited for her to whisper his name. Or cry it out in confusion. Instead, she stood very still. Too still. Not showing a single emotion.
Maybe she doesn’t know you.
The idea cut into him.
Of course, he knew he looked a lot different than he had ten years ago. Two inches taller. Eighty pounds heavier. Hell, he hadn’t been more than nineteen when his world had changed forever. Barely a man. It wasn’t just the sudden, belated growth spurt, either. A decade away—a decade of pretending to be someone else—had changed him. Inside and out.
Still. He would’ve been able to pick her out of a crowd of a thousand. A crowd of a million. He’d held her face in his mind every night for the past decade. That didn’t mean she’d done the same. He hadn’t even wanted her to hang on to
