That wasn’t something Miles wanted to hear.“You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not.She missed a lunch date with me and has been closemouthed about the reason why.All I know is, she scolded me for a comment I made about the chauffeur and then took herself off to her room.”
The woman across the room was smiling openly now.Miles knew an invitation when it was being sent, and listening to his sister whine about an old woman’s bad attitude was ruining the moment.
“Look, Sis, I’ve got to go.When I know my flight, I’ll call.Someone will have to pick me up at the airport.”
He disconnected in Erica’s ear.She tossed her phone aside and picked up the television remote, but there was nothing on the tube that was as interesting as the man who was wandering through their woods.Curiosity won out over caution as she rolled out of bed in search of her shoes.She wouldn’t go far.Certainly no farther than the back lawn.Definitely not into the trees.But she was going.She couldn’t stand the suspense any longer.
* * *
Ryder walked until the darkness lifted from his spirit.When he came to himself enough to stop, he realized he could no longer see the house.In fact, he wasn’t even sure which way it was and right now he didn’t much care.Out here there were no walls to hold him back.He could run as far and as fast as his legs would take him, just as he’d been doing before he’d walked into that bar down in the flatlands.Casey had changed everything.And he let her.
Now his running days were over.Maybe he had no purpose on which to focus, but she certainly did.He’d never seen a woman so driven, so determined to succeed at all costs.He’d given her his word—and the Justice men did not go back on their word.
In the distance, a hound bayed and another answered.He recognized the sounds.They had keyed on a prey.At that moment, in the dark, alone in the woods, he could almost empathize with whatever creature was on the run.He knew what it felt like to be lost with nowhere to go.To run and run and then wind up at a dead end and facing destruction.That’s where he’d been going when Casey Ruban walked into his life.In a way, he’d come to look upon her as his anchor, because without her, he had nowhere to go.
He turned back the way he’d come.A short while later he emerged from the woods to find himself within yards of the place at which he’d entered.Instinct and the need to get back to her had led him home.
He started across the lawn when a shadow moved between him and the bush to his right.Instinctively he doubled his fists, preparing to do battle when Erica stepped into the light.
“Sorry,” she said.“Did I frighten you?”
He combed a shaky hand through his hair as adrenaline began to subside.
“No.”
She giggled nervously and took a step closer, then another, then another, until she could feel the heat emanating from his body.Her eyes widened as a single bead of sweat pooled at the base of his neck, then spilled over onto the broad surface of his chest.When the sweat split the middle of Ryder’s belly, she moved another step closer, tilting her chin until their gazes met The invitation was in her eyes… in her voice… in the thrust of her breasts beneath pale yellow silk.
“Ummm, I didn’t know little sister liked them this roughcut.Poor Lash.He never stood a chance against a stud like you.”
Like a moth drawn to a flame, she reached out, her intentions painfully clear, and found her arm suddenly locked in a painful grip.
Their gazes met.His dark and wary, warning her away; hers wild and frightened by what she perceived as an imminent threat.
“Let me go!”she gasped.
“Then back off,” Ryder said, his voice just above a whisper.
She gasped, stung by the outrage of such an obvious refusal of her company, and yanked herself free.
“How dare you?”she said.
“No, sister dear, how dare you?”
Heat suffused her face.“I don’t know what you mean,” she cried.
His voice lowered, his words wrapping around her conscience, burning deeper and deeper with each angry syllable.
“Like hell.Don’t tell me you only came out here to see if your sister’s new husband would play hide-and-seek.”
A sense of shame she didn’t expect kept her momentarily silent.He was right, and she hated him for that and so much more.Unfortunately, Erica had never learned the wisdom of silence.
“I came out here because I thought I saw a prowler.”
Ryder raked her with a gaze that left her feeling as if she’d been stripped and branded.If she hadn’t been so afraid to turn her back on him, she would have dashed into the house.
“The only thing on the prowl out here is you,” he said, and then walked away.
