Seduced in Shadow Read Online Free

what he wanted?
    “Ya know, I think I’ll just give my brother a call when I get home.” As quietly as she could she lifted the door handle, ready to throw herself in, start the car and speed away.
    Luckily she’d only opened the driver’s side door and he was on the other side of the car.
    “Why don’t you come by my office tomorrow and we can talk there—”
    “Ellie—”
    “If Justin vouches for you, no problem, and we can get this all cleared up. Bye now.”
    She tried the door but it wouldn’t open.
    20
    Seduced in Shadow
    No, no, no. This was not happening.
    “Problem?” he asked.
    She clicked her remote again but the door still wouldn’t open. “No, no problem. I’m sure you have something to do. You don’t need to hang around here.”
    “Actually, yeah, I do.”
    Panic made her heart pound worse than the run had. She couldn’t believe no one had driven by since they’d been standing here. Maybe that would make him think twice about…whatever he was planning to do to her.
    Still, how did he know her brother’s name and her name?
    The key! Use the key to open the door.
    She deserved to be hung on a meat hook. Now she just needed to keep her eyes on the gorgeous possible psychopath and fit the key in the lock.
    She babbled on, “No, really, I’m just going home now and—”
    “Ma’am, do you need help?”
    Hearing a second male voice, Ellie nearly screamed. She didn’t embarrass herself quite that badly but the sound she made wasn’t much better.
    A middle-aged man wearing a forest green coat and pants and a hat imprinted with Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources emerged from the woods behind Antonin. He looked so normal she almost melted into a puddle of relief at his feet.
    Surely her “bodyguard” would leave now. Her first impulse was to run to the ranger and report Antonin, if that really was his name. On second thought, Ellie stopped herself. What if she was overreacting again? Her panic attacks were always getting her into trouble. And to be honest, Antonin was far more appealing than he was scary. If her brother had hired a bodyguard for her, he must have had a damn good reason. She didn’t want to have to bail Antonin out of jail if she complained to the authorities about him. If Justin had sent him, she could confirm it and apologize…later.
    21
    Stephanie Julian
    But she needed to talk to her brother first. And she would. Just as soon as she got home.
    She smiled at the forest ranger. “No. I’m fine.”
    “Ellie,” Antonin said, his voice low and rough. “You need to leave now.”
    She didn’t question his sudden change of heart. “You’re right, I do.”
    Miraculously, the key slid into the lock on the door and she twisted it…only to pull the lever and have nothing happen.
    “Maybe you should come with me, ma’am,” the ranger said. “I’ll take you up to the center.”
    Ellie looked in his direction…and suddenly shivered. No, she definitely didn’t want to go with the ranger. At first glance, he had seemed like a normal guy. But as she looked at him again, there was something about him, something about his cold eyes that made her want to run the other way.
    Antonin snarled, “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
    Okay, this was getting too freaky. The hair on her skin rose as if a huge electrical storm had settled over her head. Her skin prickled into gooseflesh.
    What the hell was going on?
    The ranger barely glanced at Antonin. He simply kept smiling at her, walking toward her car. He stopped when he was only inches away from Antonin.
    The ranger’s smile seemed genuine enough but his eyes… They scared her. There was something unnatural about his fixed gaze, something evil lurked there. A new wave of panic hit her, this one more intense, more real somehow. This time she knew she had reason to be afraid.
    Ellie frantically yanked on the door handle again but it still wouldn’t open.
    “I believe you should flee,” the doe