‘Just get outside.’ On the phone, Markus sounded as if he was on the verge of tears. ‘Wave someone down. Nina, make them wait with you until I get there. Okay?’ There was a pause on the line, and when Markus’s voice sounded again it was distant. ‘You! Call 911!’
She passed the kitchen sink as she listened to Markus rattle off her address to a stranger.
She took one step into the foyer with its beautiful hardwood floors and the cherry blossom wallpaper she’d laboriously hung herself, wondered, in the back of her mind, how she had never noticed that the bright pink flowers made the little entryway seemso small.
Nina stopped before passing the spot where the foyer opened up. On the right, the stairs led to the bedrooms. On the left was the lounge. Behind her now, the kitchen.
She heard breathing, tight and restrained, and vaguely wondered if it was her or Markus making so much noise. She wanted to tell him to keep quiet but couldn’t summon the courage to open her mouth.
Her palms were slicked with sweat, loosening her hold on both of her lifelines.
Her vision narrowed on the door handle, only fifteen feet away.
On three she would run. There was no time to get to her car or wait for her garage to open. But Nina promised herself she would not look back, that she would not stop running until she had flagged someone down.
One.
She exhaled a quiet but deep breath, trying to slow her racing pulse.
Two.
She took a single step forward, preparing to run.
Her muscles shortened.
Her breathing stopped altogether.
Three.
In a burst of fear, with adrenaline coursing through her veins, Nina ran. She reached the door, gripped the handle in the same hand as the knife, and yanked it downward.
The door opened.
She had one perfect moment where she saw the ‘Welcome’ sign on her open door before somebody lifted her off her feet from behind …
Hunt Ranch, Santa Barbara County – Present Day
Nina only had to go back to her cabin at the end of the day and see her little bathroom set-up again to realize how ridiculous she was being in the face of Maverick’s offer. The man had offered her a bed in an environment that would make her feel safe, and here she was choosing the cold, porcelain bathtub.
Stubborn, he’d called her. And he had been right, but that wasn’t all of it either. It was instinct.
She had learned to be self-sufficient from a young age. And, now, it wasn’t that she didn’t ever need help or rely on other people, but, rather, that it wasn’t in her nature to ask for help until it was offered. And, even then, she never accepted it unless she was in dire need of it.
So, she didn’t call concierge or the stables or try and otherwise track Maverick down. She simply packed her bag and wheeled the bright pink suitcase down the dirt road to the barn.
When he saw her coming, Maverick stopped what he was doing – lunging a horse in the round pen – immediately. He stepped wide, moving in the direction of the cantering horse, and raised one hand. The mare came to a halt and turned to face him, and Maverick rewarded her by bringing her in and rubbing her face before he stepped away and passed the long lunging whip to Benji, who had been leaning on the rails, watching the session.
He said something to Benji as he climbed through the side of the pen, and the other man turned to glance in her direction.
Benji waved.
Nina returned the wave, but she stopped about fifty yards away and waited for Maverick to come to her because she didn’t want to answer any questions just then. She didn’t want to tell people that she was being moved to the owner’s house because she’d been caught sleeping in the bathtub; that would only prompt more questions.
She watched Maverick’s face as he approached, looked into those kind, blue eyes and tried to decipher his reaction. He didn’t seem inconvenienced or resigned. He looked relieved.
He didn’t ask her any questions, only reached down, lifted her suitcase, and headed in the direction of a Hunt Ranch Jeep, leaving her and Shadow to follow.
Nina stayed out of the way as he put her suitcase in the back seat, but when she moved to open her door, Maverick beat her to it.
