Months ago when she’d started getting the calls she’d chalked it up to a prank caller. She’d changed her number, and the calls stopped. For a while. Then a car began following her, only to vanish when she tried to identify the driver.
Then a few weeks ago, it all stopped. No calls, no messages with dead air, no more car. She’d convinced herself it was nothing. Time passed, and she’d begun to relax. Only here it was again, a caller ringing her at all hours of the day.
The first bite of real fear in weeks tightened her belly. She looked up at the house. As a cop, Ace would know how to deal with a stalker. Yet the idea of telling her family made her muscles clench.
If he was back, what did he want? Who was he? She shivered, and not from the cold.
The phone rang, making her jump. Heart racing, she stared at the same number. The shrill ring filled the night.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
Gwen swallowed. “Hello? Who is this?”
Her heartbeat pulsed in the back of her throat. She swore she could hear breathing that wasn’t’ hers.
A soft click cut the call off.
Gwen swatted white flakes off her shoulders and marched across the street a few blocks from her apartment. Memories of her family’s behavior tonight reared up, hot and painful, and she shook her head. She should have turned down Ace’s invitation to dinner as usual. Even turkey dinner alone was better than the way things had ended.
Typically, when shed gone back inside after the guests had left, her dad had launched into one of his spiels. She was only in the situation because she’d never applied herself like her brothers. As if being a personal assistant was a job people took when they were out of options. Why was it so hard to believe she was happy where she was?
Gwen kicked at a snow bank. Next Christmas, she’s take Nick up on the offer he made every year and spend the day with him and Zoe. Or she’d go to Florida and see Mom. Who cared if Ace gave her the third degree and she never heard the end of it from Dad?
Gwen shook off the snow in her hair and walked faster. Her phone buzzed and she ignored it. Him again. Or Ace, calling to rip her a new one for stomping off in the middle of Dad’s rant. She didn’t know which was worse.
Ringing again. Okay, the stalker was worse.
An engine rumbled behind her and Gwen spun. A car sped up, swooshing passed her. Shit, she was getting paranoid now. She turned down another street, not caring where it led.
A car—the same one?—slowed down behind her. She glanced back. It looked black or dark blue in the moonlight. She couldn’t see the driver at this distance, except that he wore dark glasses.
Throat dry, she turned and continued down the street. Gravel and salt crunched under tires. The phone blared from her pocket. Gwen’s fists tightened and she quickened her steps.
She threw a another glance back. The man in the car held something to his ear. Her phone kept ringing. Jesus. She swore she could feel his eyes on her.
Fuck…
She broke into a run.
The car raced after her. She heard it bumping into snow banks, sliding in the slush as it went. Gwen panted and bolted down the street, turning corners this way and that. She raced into a parking lot and across…
She stopped and looked around. An alley, Smooth, Gwen. Run into an alley with a car after you. Stellar move.
She looked at the opening that lead to another street, then back the way she’d come. Was he gone?
The car pulled into the alley, blocking it. The engine rumbled. Her phone screamed.
Gwen bolted toward the end of the narrow passage. Her legs cried out for rest, but she pushed onward. If she got trapped here, he could drag her into that car and no one would ever know.
She glanced back again. The car sped toward her, its silver fender a sharp flash in the night. She raced for the opposite end of the alley. The exit couldn’t have been more than two hundred feet ahead, but it seemed to stretch for miles. Lungs burning, she pushed her legs until they threatened to fold under her.
Across the road, an all-night diner’s neon light flashed. She bolted for the entrance. At the door, she threw a last look back. The car raced past.
The ringing from her phone stopped and she thought she heard someone laugh. The car’s taillights disappeared as the vehicle turned the corner.
Gwen leaned against the doorframe, gulping in air and clutching her side. Her head pounded, her whole body trembled.
Was he trying to kidnap her? Who was he? She groped for answers but her brain spun too fast. She closed her eyes. This had to stop now.
Gwen snatched up her phone from the pavement where it must have fallen. A crack ran across the screen. She dialed the police, but nothing happened.
“Great.” She tossed the phone aside. One of her heels was broken. She kicked the other shoe off and half ran to the street, ignoring the cold and ice that bit into her feet. A cab whizzed past and she hailed it.
“You okay, Miss?”
She slid in and shut the door.
“Where to?”
“The police station, please.”
With any luck, Ace would be starting his nightshift soon.
2
Woman In Jeopardy
She pushed out a breath. Archer Drake. Of all the people Nick could have recommended.
Gwen pushed open the front door of the dojo wishing her heart would stop racing.
Last night when her conversation with Ace had gone nowhere, she’d let Nick talk her into turning to Archer for help, but now that she was here, everything in her told her to bolt.
Drawing a deep breath, she walked across the front hall of the dojo to the window at the back, looking in on the class. Rows of students filled the room, fists lancing out in perfect unison, each one punctuated by a loud yell.
Wow. They’re like an army.
The thought of deliberately hitting another person made her queasy. From the front of the classroom, Archer’s voice rang out. Strong, Commanding, All male.
“Break off into pairs. Practice those maneuvers we went through last week until the end of class.”
The students obeyed, spreading out across the room in pairs, kicking and punching at each other. She caught a glimpse of Archer and swallowed hard.
When she was a teen, he’d come over to her dad’s house often enough that she was no stranger to him, but she’d not seen him in at least five years, except a few times when he and Ace had gone out. He looked different now. Tall. Relentless.
Jesus. Every part of him moved with fluid grace that belied his huge size. Long limbed with impressive hands and feet, his face was too harsh to be handsome. Dangerous was a better word.
Had he always looked that hot, that lethal?
Once inside the large classroom, she joined the rest of the spectators sitting on the benches. She set her purse in her lap and clasped her hands to stop their shaking.
Archer strode toward two sparring students. Without warning, her grabbed one of the men’s arms and threw him easily to the mat. The student, nearly Archer’s size, stared up at him.
“Never take your eyes off your partner.” He put his face nose to nose with the student. “How the hell are you a champion fighter?”
“I...It was an accident, Sensei. I only looked away for a second.”
“No excuses. You can’t anticipate your opponent’s next move if you don’t watch him.”