A Hard Man to Forget Read Online Free Page A

snapped.
    “I came to the aid of someone after an accident.”
    The moments after she’d seen him in front of her building, when
she’d been struck by something, came back with painful
vividness. “And you didn’t think of calling an ambulance?
I could have been seriously hurt.”
    “You weren’t. I could see that. And I couldn’t take
a chance on you getting away again without explaining yourself.”
    “So we’re back to this being a kidnapping.”
    “More like a ‘citizen’s arrest.’”
    She gawked at him and his damnable passiveness. “I haven’t
committed any crime!”
    “The last time I checked, faking your own death was illegal.”
    “I faked...” Incredulous, she couldn’t finish the
sentence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
    He lunged at her, moving so fast she didn’t realize what he was
doing. One moment he was in the chair, the next he was at the
bedside, towering over her. She lurched back into the corner of the
bed, withdrawing from the force of his presence and the words he
rained down upon her.
    “Just stop it, Meredith! You were never much of a liar and I
don’t believe you any more now than I did then, especially not
after everything you put me through.”
    Laura stared up at him, frozen in terror. He was a tall man, not
particularly muscular, but whipcord lean. In a black T-shirt and
jeans, he shouldn’t have looked dangerous. He did. There was
more to this man than his handsome exterior. He exuded an aura of
danger, the same one she’d detected that evening. If it had
been that evening. She realized in a panic that she didn’t know
how long she’d been unconscious. At the moment it seemed the
least of her problems.
    At least she’d managed to knock him out of his cool facade.
Suddenly she would have given anything to have it back.
    Half-hidden in the shadows, his expression looked even more fearsome
than it was. She knew his features were contorted with rage. More
forbidding were his eyes, gleaming at her in the darkness, seeming to
see straight through her. If he noticed how scared she was right now,
he certainly didn’t care. Or maybe he thought she was faking.
He’d certainly imagined greater crimes for her.
    Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Laura tried affect a calm she
wasn’t feeling. Was it possible to rationalize with a crazy
person? She was about to find out.
    “I don’t understand. Who is it you think I am?”
    She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but his countenance
darkened further. She almost recoiled from it. When he spoke, his
voice was dangerously calm.
    “Our vows may not have meant anything to you, Meredith, but
until we have them severed, I am still your husband.
    “And you are my wife.”
    Laura blinked up at him stupidly. The words were so absurd she almost
laughed. She’d never met this man, let alone married him.
    Only the faint uncertainty in the back of her mind kept her from
disputing the claim. She knew nothing of her life before the last two
years. Could this be it? Could she be this man’s wife?
    The initial flash of excitement was almost immediately replaced by a
trace of nervousness. She didn’t know whether the idea was
comforting or terrifying. Recalling the way she’d been found
and the powerful anger she read in this man’s eyes, Laura
couldn’t help thinking she still would have been better off if
he hadn’t found her.
    He was staring at her, this stranger—her husband?—waiting
for a response. And she had absolutely no idea how to respond to the
bombshell he’d dropped.
    She settled for honesty. “I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”
    His eyes narrowed to slits and it was all Laura could do not to
retreat further. Not that there was anywhere to go. The bedpost was
digging into her spine.
    Without a word, he reached over to a table she hadn’t seen at
the side of the bed. Sliding open a drawer, he pulled out a picture
frame. He handed it to her without looking at it.
    The hand that