In the Arms of a Stranger (Entangled Ignite) Read Online Free Page B

was resignation. Brooks wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t divulge anything, under normal circumstances. The man inside proved circumstances weren’t normal. “Why are you telling me this?”
    “We think they’ll try to get in touch with Wade.”
    “Why?”
    “I need to know if they do.”
    “Why? Have you lost another man?” Her question seemed to echo around them, even as she mentally kicked herself for asking it. She couldn’t risk making Brooks suspicious enough to come inside.
    His expression didn’t change. “Just call me, Abby,” he said.
    “I’m hungry, Mommy.” Cole’s plaintive tone drew Brooks’s attention.
    “We’ll eat dinner as soon as Mr. Andrews leaves.”
    Brooks handed her his business card. When she grasped it, he held on long enough to make her look up at him. “Call me.”
    She wanted to ask again—demand—to know exactly what had happened to her husband. How and why he’d died. Now she might get the answers from someone other than Brooks, someone Wade had trusted.
    “Daddy went nighty-night,” Cole said.
    Startled, she turned toward her son. Brooks frowned.
    “Daddy went nighty-night,” Cole repeated.
    “Abby?” Brooks prodded, his eyes still fastened to hers intently.
    Heart pounding, she looked back at him, certain he’d notice how her legs were shaking. “Cole thinks his father is…asleep.”
    Cole nodded solemnly. “Daddy is sleeping,” he said.
    Brooks, his mouth a grim line, studied her, then turned and walked back to his car.
    “Good boy,” she murmured to Cole.
    Brooks turned back, surprising her. “You need me to call a tow truck?”
    She stared at him, unable to think. “A tow truck?”
    “For your car.”
    “Oh. No.” She had to control herself, her tendency to babble. “I’ll call them.”
    “Phone’s working, then?”
    “Yes. Yes it is.”
    Brooks looked at Cole, then back to her. “Stay well, Abby.”
    Afraid Brooks would say something, see something—anything—else, she watched him start his SUV and check the headlights to be sure they were still on. She didn’t move until the vehicle disappeared behind the trees. Then she leaned back against the door, lowered Cole with shaky arms, and waited endless moments for her heart to quit racing.
    That’s when she saw the man’s lace-up boots, sitting next to her tennis shoes on the porch.
    Oh, God!
    Heart thundering again, she bent and picked them up. Brooks couldn’t have seen them. Could he? Surely, he would have said something. Wouldn’t he?
    Desperation bubbled up inside her. What now?
    She wasn’t a gambler or a risk taker. All she’d ever wanted from life was the simplicity of a family, a husband, children. But she had loved a man she never really knew, had questions no one could, or would, answer.
    No one but the stranger inside.
    And until she got those answers, she had to hide him from Brooks.
    No matter what.
    …
    JP awoke startled, flat on his back, a burning ache in his right side. Candlelight flickered from a coffee table, thunder rumbled in the distance, and faint streaks of lightning lit the sky beyond the curtained windows. He was soaking wet, but he wasn’t bound; there was no one around, no palpable danger.
    Automatically, he felt for his Glock.
    Gone .
    Voices drifted in from outside. A man’s deep bass, a woman’s, melodious but soft. He strained to hear the words, but they were indistinct. She sounded nervous. More than nervous. The hair on the back of his neck bristled.
    He had a sudden flash of a pretty face, unusual light brown eyes. Hair in a ponytail. And it all came rushing back. The accident. The woman. The sudden dizziness.
    Well, hell , he thought, disgusted with himself. He’d fainted. Blood loss had finally gotten to him.
    He unzipped his jacket and looked at his side. He’d bled through the T-shirt pad. Not good. He adjusted it, then ran his hand over his forehead. Something was stuck to it. A Band-Aid? He wanted to laugh. If only she knew. The woman must