Stolen: A Novel of Romantic Suspense Read Online Free

display had been holding a
lot
of books, she thought inanely. Foil lettering on one of them caught her eyes.
    Familiar lettering the shade of blood.
    Familiar …
    Her stomach dropped to her knees, and the waning strength in her abused body disappeared. Sinking to the floor, she reached out to touch one of the books.
    “Shay, I’ll pick it up,” Elliot said.
    His voice seemed to come to her from a tunnel. Her blood roared in her ears and black dots danced in front of her eyes for a long, ugly second.
Stop it, Shay—breathe!
    No more panic attacks. She didn’t do panic attacks anymore.
    She looked down at the book in her hands—a bookwith a gold foil sticker on the top right corner that read,
Signed by the author!
    Touching that sticker, she swallowed.
    No.
    This … this wasn’t happening.
    There was no way the author signed books here.
    Ever
.
    He’d never seen Shay look
that
pale before.
    Considering she had a milk-pale complexion, that was saying quite a bit, too.
    He hunkered down next to her and reached out, touching his fingers to her cheek. There were still bruises there. The sight of them flooded him with fury and pain, and the need to touch her,
really
touch her, was almost overwhelming. Touch her to assure himself that she really was okay. Touch her … and try to convince her that she could trust him. Come back to him.
    But it wouldn’t happen. He should know that by now.
    “Shay … it’s okay,” he said tiredly, watching the way her hands trembled as she scooped up one of the books. “I’ll take care of it.”
    She jerked her gaze to his, but he had the weirdest feeling she wasn’t seeing him. There was a glassy, disconnected look in her eyes, one that had him worried. Hell, should she even be out of the hospital?
    “Can you stand?” he asked quietly.
    Two seconds later, she was lurching to her feet, clutching one of the Shane Neil books she’d picked up from the floor. “I need to go home.”
    She barely made it halfway upright before she wobbled again. Scowling, he rose to his feet and steadied her. “I think you should sit down. Eat. Have a drink or something.”
    “I’m not hungry.” Her head swung to the left, then the right.
    Searching for Lorna, he knew. “You’re never hungry. Maybe that’s why you’re feeling so awful.”
    “No.” And to his surprise, she started to laugh.
    It was a harsh, ugly sound … one that hurt him just to hear it.
    “I need to go
home
,” she said again.
    She still clutched the book. He stared at it and then shifted his gaze up to her face.
    “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
    Something’s off
. Those dark eyes of hers, a color caught between the dusky purple of a twilight sky and the darkening navy of the coming night, stared into his, and he could see her trying to hide it.
    She was afraid.
    He could see it as clearly as he could see the bruises on her face, and the faint scars along her left cheek.
    “Tell me what’s wrong,” he said softly.
Please, damn it … for once, will you talk to me?
    Her lips parted. Something flitted across her face.
    His heart skipped a beat as she took a deep breath and looked down at the books all over the floor.
    Then the bell over the door rang and the moment shattered.
    “Nothing’s wrong,” she said hoarsely. “I just need to go.”
    It was a lie. He knew it. And she knew he knew.
    But still, she turned on her heel and slowly, carefully, made her way to the counter.
    Once more, she’d pulled away.
    It was why they’d broken up.
    It was why he never should have kissed her.
    Setting his jaw, he crouched down to gather up the books. It wasn’t until he heard the bell over the door again that he looked back to the front of the store. She was gone.
    He righted the book dump and put all the books backin place, positioning Neil’s latest release at the top, the gold foil of the autograph sticker displayed.
    “Hey, where’s Shay?”
    Looking up, he saw Lorna heading his way. He jerked his head