as she turned in his arms.
“Leaving you.”
He flinched.
“I thought that was obvious.”
“Why?” He seemed to grit out that one word.
“I’m not going to have you threatened because of me! I won’t do that to you!” She owed him more than she could ever repay. Danger wasn’t what he deserved.
“He left me a message, too.”
Her breath caught.
“The fool told me to stay away from you.”
He’d been intimately close to her before the stalker had come calling on them.
Mark’s blue eyes glittered down at her. “That’s not going to happen. The last thing I’m planning to do is leave you on your own. He wants you to run away. He’s trying to put a wedge between us so that you’ll be out there, vulnerable, and he can close in on you.”
Ava winced. “But what about you?” She hadn’t considered the risk to him when she’d driven to his ranch, seeking shelter for the night.
“I can handle anything this guy wants to throw at me.” He said the words with such grim certainty. She wanted to believe him.
But, once upon a time, she’d thought another man could handle any threat that came his way. Then her father had died. He’d died protecting her, and in that moment, she’d vowed—no one else will ever suffer for me.
“I want to leave,” she told Mark softly.
He shook his head. “No way, baby.”
It was the first time he’d ever used any kind of endearment with her. He probably didn’t even realize he’d done it. The word didn’t mean anything to him, but it had her body warming.
“Yes,” she said as she gave a faint nod. “I’m not going to let him hurt you. I’ll call the cops. I’ll get my brothers involved.” Because this situation couldn’t be hidden from them, not any longer. They would go into their extreme mode—she had no doubt of that—but she needed to tell them. A strange man had followed her, broken into Mark’s place—he’s just getting worse. More dangerous.
A faint beeping sounded then, coming from Mark’s study. His computer. He didn’t let Ava go. His fingers curled around her wrist, and he pretty much pulled her back to the study. She stared at the screen there and saw the black SUV that was pulling up to the ranch’s gate.
“You don’t have to tell them,” he said as her brother Davis’s tense features came into view. “I think they already know.”
* * *
“WHAT IS MY SISTER doing at your house—” Davis stalked into the den and headed straight for Mark “—in the middle of the night?”
Mark stood his ground. Ava thought about running for the door—leaving them both.
Instead, she cleared her throat. “It’s actually getting pretty close to dawn now.” Davis’s green gaze cut to her. She shrugged. “So that’s more like morning, not the middle of the night.”
He growled. Davis did that. He growled a lot. Once he’d had a much better sense of humor. Then he’d gone off and become a SEAL. Their parents had died—and Davis had locked down his emotions. Hard. Now there was pretty much just one setting for her brother...ice.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked him.
“I didn’t, not until I saw your car outside.” He huffed out a breath. “I was coming by because we’re helping to monitor Mark’s security system, and when I saw there was some trouble out here earlier, I figured I’d better check it out.”
His words just weren’t ringing true to her, and Davis hadn’t looked her in the eyes while he’d been talking. When Davis lied to her, he never looked her in the eyes.
You’re fine, Ava. No one thinks you were involved in what happened to our parents.
He’d been looking right over her shoulder the first time he’d fed her that line of bull. She’d wondered then...had her own brother thought she was involved? Or had he just already heard the rumors that folks were spreading around town?
“Are you sleeping with my sister?”
Now that had her eyes flying toward Davis. Her brother was big—as big as Mark. They both had the same broad shoulders and golden skin. But Davis’s hair was dark, longer, and his features were rougher than Mark’s.
Instead of answering Davis, Mark glared at him. His hands were fisted.
Ava leapt between the two men because it sure looked as if they were about to come to blows. “Stop it!” Ava ordered. She turned her own glare on Davis. “Mark is my friend, okay? One of the few who stood by me over the years.” There had been plenty who turned their backs on her. Folks who actually bought into the story that she’d either planned—or helped to commit—the murder of her parents. “So back off!”
Davis narrowed his eyes, eyes that were a darker green than her own. “What happened here tonight?”
She hesitated.
“Tell him, Ava,” Mark urged her gruffly. “Your brothers will track down that maniac.”
Exhaling heavily, she nodded. “Someone...someone has been stalking me.”
Shock shot across Davis’s face. “What?”
And she told him everything. From the pictures that had been moved to the cops who hadn’t believed her. She told him about how she’d packed up her bags and driven fast to Mark’s house...because—
“Why him?” Davis demanded. “Why did you tell him and not us?” He sounded hurt, and that was certainly the last thing she’d wanted.
“I had no actual proof that anyone was doing these things, not until tonight.” She pushed back her hair, suddenly feeling very, very weary. The adrenaline high was sure starting to wane. “Then he left those messages here for us.”
“What messages?”
“In my bathroom,” Ava confessed.
“And mine,” Mark added.
Davis’s gaze assessed her. “You were sleeping in the guest room.”
She nodded. Davis took off, heading down the hallway. In minutes he was back. His eyes immediately locked on Mark. “Did you get the same message?” he asked. “One telling you not to trust my sister?”
Ava glanced over at him. Mark shook his head. “No. Mine was different.”
Davis vanished. She figured he’d gone to read the message for himself.
“What did it say?” Her voice was quiet.
His
