Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #2 Read Online Free Page B

few years ago he tried to kill me.”
    Seth gaped at her. Then snapped his jaw shut. “Well, I guess that would do it.”
    â€œIndeed.” His shock made her look away. This wasn’t something she liked to talk about.
    â€œWhy?”
    She forced her eyes back to his. “Why what?”
    â€œWhy would he try to kill you? That’s insane.”
    Tonya huffed a short laugh. “Yes. Quite. We met my senior year of college. We had a couple of classes together. He asked me to marry him after three dates and I told him no. I’d already decided I didn’t want to see him anymore and the marriage proposal sealed it. He asked me to reconsider. I wouldn’t.” She swallowed hard, then said, “This continued for the next several weeks. He’d show up at my apartment. If I refused to answer the door, he’d leave a gift.”
    â€œWhat kind of gift?”
    She shrugged. “Flowers, chocolates, whatever he thought I might like. I finally had a restraining order taken out on him, but it didn’t matter.”
    â€œWhy? What happened?”
    â€œHe showed up at my apartment one day and caught me carrying groceries inside. I barely had a chance to shut the door before he kicked it in, furious and raving at me. He threw the restraining order in my face. I screamed at him to get out. He shouted he loved me.” She’d shouted back that he didn’t know what love was. “He finally calmed down a bit and tried reasoning with me. I got my phone out of my purse to call for help. He snatched it and threw it through a window. I raced for the door. He grabbed me, wrapped his hands around my throat and tried to strangle me.”
    She took a breath, let it out slowly. “I finally had the idea to just go limp right before I passed out. He must have let go immediately, thinking I was dead. One of my brothers, Grant, found me and got me to the hospital.”
    â€œAnd this psychopath is walking around free?”
    Seth’s outrage soothed some of her panic. “He went to jail but didn’t stay there long. I’ve been hiding from him ever since. I have minimal contact with my family. I don’t even want them knowing where I am.” As she said the words aloud, an ache formed in her throat and tears rose to the surface. How she missed her big wonderful family. “I don’t want them in danger. He threatened them once, almost killed Jacob, my youngest brother. I won’t give him a reason to go after them again.”
    Seth held out a hand and she walked over to take it. His warm fingers wrapped around hers. “What are you going to do now that he’s found you?”
    â€œRun.”
    â€œYou can’t do that,” Seth blurted out. His immediate desire to keep her close surprised him. Just like in the ambulance. He hadn’t wanted her to leave then, and he didn’t now. He frowned, wondering at the strangeness of his feelings. She lifted a brow and he waved a hand. “I mean, of course you
can
, but I don’t want you to.”
    Tonya tilted her head and stared at him. “Well, what other choice do I have?”
    â€œFight him. Call the authorities. Tell them he’s stalking you—harassing you—and you want it stopped.”
    She sighed, walked to the door to peer out one more time, then came back to sit on the edge of the bed. He drew in a deep breath, drinking in her scent. Vanilla, strawberries, something else. All mixed in with the smell of horses and leather. And possibly sweat and dirt. He loved it. She’d gotten most of the clown paint off her face, but she’d missed one spot on the side of her nose.
    She looked down at her hands. “I wish it was that simple.”
    â€œWhy isn’t it?” He struggled back into a sitting position. His leg twinged, but the sharp tearing pain from earlier was gone.
    She leaned over and helped adjust the pillow behind him. Her nearness nearly caused his