If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense (20 page)

“Please. There’s no need for insults,” she said, summoning up a weak smile. Then, weary to the very bone, she sank down into the overstuffed armchair. There was a throw artfully draped over the arm and she caught one end, dragged it across her knees. “I can’t go home. I can’t. In my gut, I know there’s something more to what happened. I know it. And I’m going crazy just sitting at home—I can’t work. I can’t sleep. I can barely eat. This is dominating my mind and unless I do
something
, it’s going to drive me crazy.”

“I think it already has,” Ezra muttered. “You realize that if you get involved in any way, do anything that I perceive as interfering in a case, or as dangerous—to you, to others—I’ll lock your butt up. And that’s not an empty threat.”

She gave him a ghost of a smile. “Hey, how can I be doing anything that’s getting
involved
? The case is officially closed, right?”

Ezra just grunted. “I meant what I said.”

He headed for the door.

“Remember—you see even a jackrabbit, you call.”

She’d seen him. He’d thought she had—had heard the movement.

But the police sirens confirmed it.

Smirking, he wondered what she’d been thinking as he had stood there outside her window.

Would she leave now?

He thought about it for a minute and then decided. No. She wouldn’t leave. Not that easily. It would have to be a slow thing, he suspected.

Terror coming at her in the dead of the night, gradually.

He’d have to be more subtle next time, though. He shouldn’t have left the footprints. But he’d wanted to see how she would react when she saw him—know thy enemy.

And his enemy had balls of brass, even if she was a woman.

It would take a lot to really throw her off. To make her leave. It was a waste really. What he
wanted
was to
take
her. Not chase her away, but to take her, break her. But that would be too risky.

The sheriff had already left deputies watching her cabin.

Anything that happened to her now would cause him problems, and he already had enough problems, just having her here.

Later, though … Yes. Perhaps later. Years later. Down the road.

Smiling, he tucked that thought into the back of his
mind as he climbed out of the shower. He needed to get ready to face the day. He had a present to give to a lovely lady. He had work to do. He had planning to do.

Busy, busy …

“What?”

Ethan lowered the cup of coffee and stared at Law’s furious face. “Ah, well. She saw somebody outside her window. Me and Kyle Mabry had to spend the rest of the night out there—I was covering for Keith, needed the money and—”

“Forget that, don’t care—what do you mean she saw somebody out her window?” Law demanded.

“Just that.” Ethan shrugged and took another sip of his coffee.

Law was about ready to shove the coffee cup down the deputy’s throat if he didn’t start talking. Right before he opened his mouth to make the threat, Ethan said, “Call came in about two this morning. We went out there and I put in a call to the sheriff.”

“Why call Ezra?”

“Because he expects us to—just like Nielson did. Weird stuff, he wants to be told. This is weird, you know? I mean, she’s not local, plus she’s related to the woman who died. And …” His voice trailed off.

“And what?”

Ethan shook his head. “Shit, I keep talking about this, the sheriff is going to have my ass.”

“I’m tempted to beat your ass if you don’t talk.”

“Yeah, but you can’t fire me.”

“Fine.” Law slammed his mug down on the counter. “I’ll just head over to the sheriff’s office, talk to Ezra.”

“He’s coming in late today.”

“Then I’ll head to his house. I know where he lives.”

Although he was tempted to go to Nia’s. And he would—right after he cooled off.

Why hadn’t she called him? What the hell was going on?

Abruptly, he found himself thinking about what she’d told him. Her fears that Joe Carson hadn’t killed her cousin. An icy sweat broke out over his spine and all of a sudden, he didn’t give a shit about cooling off. He took off for his car at a jog. Blind fear grabbed him—almost choked him. Would have choked him, if he hadn’t throttled it down.

It wouldn’t be smart for somebody to grab her, he told himself. Not if the killer really was still alive.
If
the killer was alive, then there was some sort of connection, or something—something that Nia had stumbled on to, knowingly or otherwise.

Killing her was stupid now. If the killer
was
alive, then he was smart.

Wouldn’t risk killing her … yet.

Law didn’t think.

Sleep evaded her, but she didn’t want to sleep anyway.

Nia was happy to stay in that chair, floating along in that little twilight place between sleep and wakefulness. Zoning out. That’s what she was doing. Zoning out.

But when a fist started pounding on the door, it damn near scared her to death and she shrieked, struggling free of the blanket, ending up in a tangle on the floor.

Something crashed against the door.

She heard somebody call her name.

Confused, her butt hurting, she looked up and stared at the door, shuddering in its casement.
Law—?

Another crash against the door. Damn it, he was going to tear the damn door off the hinges! Swearing, she shoved to her feet and rushed to the door, throwing it open just as he was about to throw himself against it a fourth time.

“Damn it, are you insane?” she snapped.

He caught her around the waist, jerking her against him.

Stunned, her head spinning, she stood there, her face pressed against his neck, the scent of him flooding her head. Right when she’d almost caught her breath, he pushed her away and stared down at her. “Are you okay? Why in the hell did you scream?”

Then he was turning her head this way, that way.

The concern in his eyes was doing weird little things to her heart—as was the fact that he’d all but busted the door down because he’d been worried, but still. Scowling, she pulled away from him and smoothed her shirt down, noticing that she was still wearing the wrinkled T-shirt she’d pulled on when she’d called the sheriff’s department.

“I’d been sleeping,” she said. “I … well, I fell out of the chair when you knocked. Guess that’s what you heard.”

“I … oh.” He frowned, shoved a hand through his hair. It was standing up in spikes and tufts, like he’d been doing that a lot lately. He had the grace to look a little abashed, but that faded about three seconds later, replaced by an annoyed look. “I heard you had some company last night.”

She cocked a brow. “Well. That small-town gossip really does get around, huh?”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I called the sheriff’s department,” she pointed out, gesturing to the rapidly approaching deputies who’d been sitting in their car.

“Yeah. I’m glad you did. But you could have called me, too.”

Something flashed in his hazel eyes … something that looked like hurt. It made her uncomfortable, she realized. And it made her wish even more that she
had
called him.

“I wanted to,” she said quietly, unaware she’d been planning to say it until the words were already there, hanging between them. Sighing, she waved the deputies off and retreated back into the cabin, leaving Law to deal with the door. “But I … hell.”

Tired, she sat on the side of the bed, clasped her hands between her knees. “We still don’t even know what we’re doing together, do we, Law? Other than sex and me waving a gun at you and you trouncing my ass, we have no history.”

“Do we need a history for me to worry about you?”

She looked up, watched as he crossed the floor. He crouched down in front of her, reached up. He cupped her cheek and rubbed his thumb over her lips. “Do we, Nia?”

“No … I don’t guess we do.” He was melting her. Working his way so deep inside her already. How did she handle it? How? Blowing out a shaky breath, she reached up and covered his hand with hers. “I wanted to call, almost did several times. But I … well, I needed it too much. I don’t like needing people, needing anybody. Especially when I’m already freaked out.”

A faint smile tugged at his lips. “Well, I think I can get that.” He eased up, rubbed his lips over hers. “Maybe you can tell me what happened, then. So I don’t have to go beat it out of the sheriff.”

That startled a laugh out of her. “Beat it out of the sheriff?”

“Yeah. Although sometimes I think about beating him up just for the hell of it.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I heard you have a thing for his wife.”

“Had—it’s a past thing.” Law scowled. Then he settled down on the bed next to her, slid her a sly grin. As he laid a hand on her thigh, he murmured, “I got a thing for you, if you want the truth.”

That grin of his made her heart race. Or maybe it was the fact that he had his hand resting so high on her thigh. Both, perhaps. “Do you, now?”

“Hmmm. But you’re not talking.”

“No. I guess I should. Would hate to see you get arrested for assaulting the sheriff.” The lighthearted moment passed as she looked at the window. The terror of the past night rushed up, grabbed her. “I was sleeping. Something woke me. I don’t know what. I don’t remember hearing anything. When I opened my eyes, it was too dark in here—earlier there had been lights, and last night. From outside. But not then. The only light was from the moon. I saw …” She broke off, took a deep breath. “I saw something out the window—a hand. It moved, closer.
He
moved. He was standing right outside the window. Staring inside.”

“He … you’re sure it was a man.”

“Yes.”

“Did you see him? I mean, his face? Any idea what he looked like?”

“No, just a silhouette. But it was a man, I’m sure of that.” She turned her head, met his gaze. “I didn’t turn on the lights—didn’t want to look. I had a feeling he
knew
I was there, watching him. But I didn’t want to see if I was right. I grabbed my gun, called nine-one-one. Right before I started to talk, he turned around, left. Just like that. Almost like all he wanted to do was make sure I
saw
him.”

For a long time, Law was quiet, his face grim, eyes staring off into the distance. Finally, he looked back at her. “You know this could just be some kid trying to freak you out, right?”

“Please.” Nia sneered.

He shrugged. “I don’t entirely believe it either, but I don’t dismiss any possibility. Speaking of which … any chance it could be an ex-boyfriend? Ex-husband?”

“There are no ex-husbands and the possibility of it being an ex-boyfriend is so slim, it might as well not exist.” She eased away from him, pushing a hand through her hair as she stood and started to pace. “Look, Law, I appreciate you not just laughing the idea away, but I already know who this is—there’s only one thing that makes sense to me. It’s the bastard who killed my cousin … and it wasn’t Joe Carson.”

Golden eyes shouldn’t burn that hot, he thought. Molten gold. Fiery. Full of fury, despite the fear.

Rising from the bed, he cupped her cheek in his hand and rubbed a thumb over the curve of her lip.

“I’m really starting to suspect you’re right,” he said, his gut going tight with both fear and rage. As he stared at her face, images of the girl who’d been killed, dumped on his land like so much garbage—her cousin, her family—flashed through his mind. That could be her.

If the killer wasn’t Joe, if he wasn’t dead, then he was out looking to terrify her.

Nia’s brows drooped low over her eyes. “You … wait. What, you believe me?”

He stroked a hand through her hair, curled it over the back of her neck. “Nia, you don’t strike me as a woman who is going to jump at imaginary shadows.” He smirked and added, “I might. But I’m a paranoid bastard. If you’re positive it’s not an ex, and you’re probably right it’s not some kid looking to freak you out … what else is the logical conclusion?”

“You know, not too many people would come to the logical conclusion that the killer isn’t the dead guy everybody thought.”

The suspicion in her eyes, for some reason, appealed to him. Grinning, he dipped his head and nipped her lower lip. Against her mouth, he murmured, “Well, I don’t tend to think like most people, maybe.”

Then, because her mouth was still so handy, and because she tasted so fucking good, he kissed her.

She opened for him with a sigh, arching against him as she slid her arms around his neck. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he kept the other curved over her nape, angling her head to deepen the kiss.

Her hands stroked down his chest, slid under his shirt. Short, neat nails bit teasingly into his skin, raking lightly over his flesh. But when she went to stroke him through his jeans, he groaned and pulled away, catching her wrists. With his breath coming in hard, ragged pants, he pressed his brow to hers. “Didn’t come here for this,” he muttered.

“So? Does that mean we absolutely can’t?”

Opening his eyes, he stared at her. Lost himself in her … it could be so easy to do that … so easy.

“No.” Boosting her up into his arms, he whispered, “It doesn’t mean that at all.”

“S
O WHAT ALL HAVE YOU DONE
?”

Nia forced one eye to open, staring at Law. “Pal, if I need to explain it, then I must not have been doing it right,” she said dryly.

He grinned.

“Funny.” With one palm cupping her breast, he lightly pinched her nipple. “I promise, you did all of
that
right, absolutely. But I wasn’t talking about us. I’m talking about whatever you’ve done that’s caught his eye. If we’re going forward on the assumption that it’s him, then something you’ve done must have freaked him out if he ran the risk of coming out here where he could be seen.”

She scowled. “Hell, he’s a sick fuck and sick fucks get off on scaring people—that’s their pleasure in life. Does he need a reason to come out here and scare me?”

“Actually, yeah. Because sick fucks usually like to continue their mission of being sick fucks,” Law said. Absently, he stroked his thumb along the silken curve of her breast. “And if he gets caught, that interferes with his mission. He’s gone to a lot of trouble already to avoid getting caught. That’s what Joe was about—throwing people off the trail. That’s what leaving your
cousin on my land was about, too, I bet. Throwing people off the trail.”