breeze drifted by, cool and sharp with the tang of autumn. In his arms, Kaylee Campbell shivered and awoke.
He peered down at her grimly, resisting the urge to sweep away the waves of black hair that fell across her cheek as her dark eyes fluttered open. Her skin looked so pale. Naturally pale, he hoped, not pale because the blood had drained from her delicate features at the sight of him.
She was lighter than she looked, not surprisingly. Noah had a habit of keeping tight control on his cult members, both the willing, such as his sister, and the unwilling, such as Kaylee, through malnourishment. It looked as if Kaylee hadn’t yet regained her strength and weight.
“It’s okay. You fainted.”
Her eyes widened. Eli tightened his jaw. He was scaring the daylights out of her, but if he set her down she’d probably collapse again.
“I won’t hurt you,” he told her softly as he walked. “Let me carry you to your house. Where are your keys?”
She threw a furtive glance down at her right jacket pocket and her right hand moved ever so slightly. But she didn’t offer them.
He considered helping himself to the keys, but any search, however modest, would scare her further. Instead, he leaned forward and set her down on her single, pitted cement step, waiting for her to produce her keys.
Keys in hand, she swiftly slid toward the door and he knew he had to say something fast or risk losing the chance to explain.
Too late. No sooner had he stepped closer when her leg swung up and her foot connected with his midriff in one nasty, fluid kick.
He toppled to the lawn.
Stunned for a moment, he watched as Kaylee scrambled to her feet, tore inside her house and locked her door.
Then he sagged. Oh, this was just great. Well, he was bringing this all on himself, so he better learn a bit of patience. But after years of searching for his sister, he was desperate.
With a grimace of pain, he stood and rubbed his stomach. Through the door’s small window Kaylee stared at him, wide-eyed. The expression wrenched his heart.
She was terrified. So scared she didn’t realize that she’d dropped her house keys. His mouth a thin line, his brows lifted, he scooped up the keys and dangled them from his fingers.
“Ms. Campbell. Kaylee. I’m not who you think I am.”
Her gaze darted around. Obviously, she was searching for some other way to defend herself, should he unlock her door. He had no intentions of doing that.
“I’m not Noah. Kaylee, listen! I’m his brother, Eli. Listen to me, please.”
She snapped her head to the front, enough for him to catch the shock.
Patience. Father, please help me. If You want me to be patient, help me now.
Maybe he should be praying for his sister’s life, instead. If she heard his prayer, she’d accuse him of being selfish, jealous, looking again to upstage Noah.
He took a step back. “Look at me. You can see I’m not Noah.”
Kaylee shook her head. “No, I can’t. You kept yourself hidden most of the time. You’ve cut your hair and shaved that beard. You won’t get away with kidnapping me. I won’t cooperate, Noah! There’s nothing to hold me there anymore, thanks to you! You didn’t fool me with Trisha’s death. I know you killed her!”
She drew in a shaky breath and battled on, “I won’t be blackmailed! You can kill the lot of those fools who follow you. I refuse to care!”
“Listen!”
“No! You threatened to kill me before, but you won’t get away with it this time!” She turned to move away from the door.
He raced to the door. “Wait! I’m not going to hurt you! Just listen! I only want to talk to you.”
Thankfully, she stopped. He fished his wallet out of his pocket. Then, from the battered slice of leather, he drew his driver’s license.
He plastered it on the windowpane. “Who’s this?”
She read it quickly but shook her head. “IDs can be forged.”
With a growl, he thrust it back into his pocket. Thinking a moment, he pushed his short hair away from his hairline and tilted his face to the ground, showing her a scar. “Does Noah have this?”
She fell silent. Thank You. He’d finally reached her.
A brittle moment later, she answered, “Noah didn’t cut his hair, so we didn’t see his forehead. He kept hidden, too, and when we did see him, the room was always half dark.”
Eli offered his left hand and the scattered islands of wrinkled skin, the remains of an old burn from when he and Noah had been playing with the wood-stove at their grandmother’s house, thirty years ago. “What about this?”
“I didn’t see his hands, either.”
Great. Back to square one. Just as he was trying to remember another childhood injury, she added with a soft whisper, “But you’re left-handed. Noah’s right-handed.”
Of course. Relief sluiced through him and he let out a long sigh. “I forgot about that.”
She met his stare, her expression soft as a deer’s, with watery eyes shimmering. She wet her lips. “Who did you say you were?”
“Eli, his brother.” He backed away from the door but she just stood there, staring at him, keeping the door firmly shut. “I need to talk to you.”
“You want to talk? Talk. This is the only way we’re going to communicate.”
He sighed. Better than nothing. “I need you,” he repeated. “You’re the only one who can help me.”
Kaylee blinked. So much had happened so quickly. This morning, she awoke and looked forward to her walk, anxious to put together her life after Trisha’s…
After all the awful things that had happened…and all the things she’d done.
“Kaylee? Will you listen to me? I need your help.”
Noah never begged. He had complete control over his followers.
Eli’s voice filtered in through the myriad images that always surrounded Kaylee’s thoughts of the cult. The compound, called The Farm by cult members, whisked through her brain. The gnawing hunger, the biting cold.
The tears at night, her sister begging for her compliance. At first. Then later, when she weakened—
Forget all that. “What do you want?”
He ran his fingers through his short hair, allowing her to study his face. Though she hadn’t seen much of Noah, she’d seen his sharp blue eyes enough times, and the piercing stare always unnerved her. Eli’s eyes were different. Softer.
Finally,
