they knew each other.
Even more obviously, Catherine didn’t care about the connection or Logan’s authority as an officer of the law. She seemed bound and determined to leave.
“I’ll escort her to the hospital.”
“I don’t need an escort.”
“Yeah. You do.” Darius followed her down the porch steps and around the side of the house.
She ignored him, not glancing over her shoulder, not telling him to leave. Just walking, sunlight pouring over her bright red hair and casting shadows beneath her eyes.
He could go back to his renovation work, go back to his first day of vacation and let Logan deal with Catherine and the person who’d attacked her.
He could, but he followed Catherine to a rickety garage, anyway, because following her was a whole lot better than going home to his silent house. His boss and friend Ryder Malone had insisted that four years was too long to go without a vacation. He was probably right, but vacation without family didn’t feel like much of a vacation. All it did was remind him of what he didn’t have.
Catherine hefted the garage door, but he pulled her back before she could walk into the dank interior.
“Let me check things out, first.”
He expected her to argue, maybe tell him to go home, but she stepped aside, staring out over the golden-brown fields, silent, stiff and expressionless.
He had the impression of careful control and deep emotion.
That made him want to poke a little, see what kind of reaction he could get.
Surprising, because he didn’t believe in poking or prodding or searching for something deeper. He’d tried it before, found what he’d wanted to find instead of what was there. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, but he would check the garage and make sure danger wasn’t waiting in the dark corners and deep shadows.
He turned away from Catherine and walked into the musty garage.
TWO
Please, go.
That’s what Catherine needed to say to Darius.
Two words that she’d said to all the news reporters, old friends and strangers who’d come around trying to get the scoop on the Dark Angel of Good Samaritan over the past two months.
She couldn’t manage to get the words out, and she stood silently as Darius preceded her into the garage.
No one was there.
She was as sure of that as she was that the sun would shine in the morning, but she let him look, because she didn’t want to be alone. Not yet.
Her neck burned and throbbed, but she didn’t touch the bruised skin, tried not to remember the feeling of fingers on flesh or think about what might have happened if Darius hadn’t called out. Another minute, and she would have been out of breath. All the fighting skills she’d learned in prison had been useless against someone double her size and strength.
Would she have died on the dusty old road?
She shuddered, taking a step into the dim garage. It smelled of gasoline and oil, mildew and wet wood. She’d have to tear the place down eventually, but she had too many projects on her hands already, and not enough time to get to them.
“It’s clear. Come on in,” Darius called out, and she hurried to the 1965 Buick, grabbing her purse from under the front seat. She took out her cell phone, shoving it into her pocket. Leaving it in the car had been a mistake that she wouldn’t repeat. From now on, she’d carry it everywhere.
Just in case.
She gave in to temptation, touching the swollen place on her jaw, the hot flesh of her neck. Raw and dry, her throat tightened, her breath catching.
Stop!
The last thing she needed or wanted was a panic attack.
“Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” Darius asked, his light green eyes glowing in a deeply tanned face. Dark hair fell across his forehead, silky and blue-black, but it didn’t make him look boyish or approachable. He looked hard and tough and capable, the gun she’d watched him take from his closet held loose in a broad hand.
Was he a cop? FBI? He had the look. All hard lean muscle and lithe movements.
“Catherine? Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?” he asked again, his hand brushing her shoulder, his touch so light she barely felt it.
“No. I’m fine. Thanks for all your help. You can leave.” There. She’d said it. Easy as pie.
“I’ll wait until you get this beast out of the garage. Think it’ll start?” He patted the hood of her grandmother’s rusty old car.
“It should.” But just like everything else around the farm, the car had seen better days. She got in the driver’s seat, turned the key in the ignition and heard nothing but a quiet click. She tried again and again with the same results.
Just once.
Just once, she wanted things to go her way.
She turned the key one more time, wrenching it hard.
“Sounds like you need a new battery or a new starter. Breaking the key in the ignition won’t change either of those things.” Darius reached in and pulled the key from the ignition.
“It started fine this morning,” she muttered, grabbing her purse and getting out of the car. Time was ticking, and Eileen was waiting. She couldn’t spend any more time fighting with the car.
“She’s an old car. She needs a little TLC.”
“Everything around this place does,” she responded, following him back out into the bright sunlight.
“My place is the same way, but I do have a truck that’s reliable. Come on. I’ll give you a ride to the hospital.” He led the way back across the yard, a hitch to his stride that she hadn’t noticed before. Slight, but definitely there. Had he been hurt while he hunted the guy who’d attacked her?
She wanted to ask, but the words caught in her throat as he tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans.
It had been a long time since she’d made small talk.
She wasn’t sure if she still knew how to do it.
“Something wrong?” he asked, his eyes such a pure light green, she wondered if he wore contacts.
“You hurt your leg,” she said, finally managing to loosen her tongue and get the words out.
“Not recently.”
“You’re limping.”
“That happens when the lower part of a person’s leg is amputated.” He responded
