closet.”
With each sensible phrase she uttered, Dana gained a foothold back to reality.
“Did you get a look at him?”
“No. He came at me from behind, grabbed my neck.”
“You didn’t twist around to see him or go for your weapon?” Auntie Mary’s dark eyes seemed to bore into her very soul, and Dana turned away to stare at the bushes where Rafe disappeared.
She didn’t want to tell Auntie Mary about the growling or the yellow eyes or her trancelike state. She shook her head to dispel the images from her youth at Auntie Mary’s knee, listening to the tales of the Ute spirits who took the forms of animals—birds, rabbits, bears and the most powerful of all…the wolf. The hand that grabbed the back of her neck and the voice that uttered the warning belonged to a man…a dangerous one. She may have imagined the rest in her terror.
“My gun was in my purse. I figured if I went for it, he’d kill me.”
Rafe crashed back through the underbrush, saving her from another assault of Auntie Mary’s questions.
He holstered his weapon and brushed bits of leaves and twigs from his shirt. He walked to the porch and balanced one foot on the first step. “Nothing. What happened out here, Dana?”
She recounted her story about dropping her keys and being grabbed from behind, leaving out the wolf bits. She didn’t need Rafe questioning her sanity. “And then he warned me to go away, that I might be next.”
“It’s the killer.” He scooped her back into his arms, and it felt so right. But she was an FBI agent here to do a job, not a love-struck teenager.
“Maybe not.” She disentangled herself from his warmth, his protective embrace. “He might be some nut who knows I’m investigating the murders.”
“Either way, you need protection. Why didn’t you use your weapon?”
Dana didn’t want to tell Rafe about her trancelike feeling. “My gun’s in my purse. I didn’t want to risk going for it.”
Rafe rolled his eyes. “What are they teaching you out there at Langley?”
Dana folded her arms across her chest. “What are you doing here, anyway? I told you I didn’t need a ride into town.”
“I had business on the reservation. I figured I’d pick you up on the way. Emmett’s already in Silverhill. It’s a good thing I came out here.”
Dana turned to Auntie Mary. “Are you going to be safe here tonight? Maybe you should stay with Alice and Gerald next door until I get home.”
“Nonsense.” Auntie Mary’s hands fluttered. “I’m neither young nor pretty. I don’t have anything to worry about. Besides, the aura of danger I see encompasses you, not me.”
“Aura of danger?” Rafe jerked his head up.
Dana shot Auntie Mary a look through narrowed eyes and snorted. “Vague superstitions. That’s all. Just vague superstitions.”
As Rafe placed his hand on her back to guide her toward the car, Dana stared into the blackness and saw…nothing.
Nothing at all.
D ANA HAD A SECRET .
Rafe clicked his seat belt into place, started the engine and glanced to his right. Damn, despite her recent scare, the woman looked good enough to lick up one side and down the other.
Her appearance at the murder scene this morning hadn’t surprised him. Emmett told him she was coming out to assist the other agent, Steve Lubeck, in the investigation of the murders of two Southern Ute women—and then the murderer struck again on the day after her arrival. Coincidence?
After the attack on Dana tonight, the protective instinct that landed him in trouble with her ten years ago surged through his veins once again. She didn’t like being coddled. Maybe that’s why she broke it off with him…he’d smothered her with too much attention. Strong women didn’t like smothering. That’s why his mom left.
Her aunt Mary obviously hadn’t told her about his return to Silverhill, but then why should she? He and Dana had a high school romance that didn’t last. Nothing earth-shattering about that.
At least that’s what he’d been trying to tell himself these past ten years.
Dana sighed and tucked her dark, stylishly cut hair behind her ear. The hairstyle, longer in the front and bobbed in the back, gave her a polished, sophisticated look, as did her silk wool pantsuit and sky-high heels.
But Rafe remembered the leggy girl with the cutoff shorts, bare feet and the long, almost black hair that hung right down to her behind. He recalled how she trailed her hair down his naked body as they made love in the caves above Silverhill, the secrecy of their desire heightening their passion.
He sucked in a breath, jerking the steering wheel of the car.
“You okay?” Dana drew her straight, dark brows over her nose.
“What really happened outside your aunt’s house?” Rafe relaxed his grip on the wheel and shifted forward in his seat. “From what I know of you and from what I’ve heard, you don’t back down from a fight so easily.”
“Easily? The guy came at me from behind and clamped his hand around the back of my neck. I didn’t know if he had a gun or a knife on him, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way.”
“Sorry.” He brushed her arm. “You’re right. You played it safe.”
Too safe. Without visible evidence of a weapon, most trained law enforcement officers would’ve tried to take the guy down. Something didn’t click. He tightened his jaw. Growing up in a household full of lies and secrets taught him to hate deception.
She snorted. “I guess it’s not how a McClintock would’ve handled it, huh?”
Rafe raised his brows. She made McClintock sound like a dirty word. When had she developed such a dislike for his family?
After their relationship during their high school years, she dumped him, even before graduation. Pam, his stepmom, told him Dana probably just dated him for his family’s money and connections and dumped him when she got that full scholarship to Georgetown, but that didn’t make sense. Dana was the smartest girl in school. There was no question she’d get a full ride somewhere. She didn’t need his family’s money or connections.
“I’m not second-guessing you, Dana. We all do what we have to do out there to survive. Just be careful. Maybe you shouldn’t stay on the reservation with your aunt Mary.”
Without turning around, Dana said, “Who appointed you my guardian? Auntie Mary worries enough.”
“I remember.”
She swung around and tilted her head. “Do you?”
“Like it was yesterday.” He continued recklessly, “The blanket I spread out in the cave. The flower petals you showered all over to mask the dank smell. Your sexy, smooth skin under
