(2000) To Trust a Stranger by Karen Robards

Author:Karen Robards [Robards, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781416503835
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2000-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

18

TERRIFYING MEMORIES CAME BACK IN A RUSH, threatening to swamp every last vestige of calm that remained to her. Julie’s pulse raced, and her breathing grew choppy. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her palms.

“I’m right here.”

Mac had obviously heard the sounds too. He was behind her before she could break and run, his voice low, one hand wrapping around Josephine’s muzzle. Even as he spoke he drew Julie back inside the den. A glance told Julie that the computer was now dark and still; Mac must have turned it off.

“Keep Josephine quiet,” he breathed in her ear, closing her hand around the poodle’s muzzle as he removed his own. Julie obediently held Josephine’s mouth shut, but to the dog’s credit she showed no inclination to bark. Still, she seemed almost as petrified as Julie felt, and Julie wondered with the part of her mind that was still capable of entertaining such speculations if the dog was somehow able to pick up on her emotions. Josephine’s slight body was stiff in Julie’s arms, and her eyes bugged out, as shiny and round as black marbles in a nest of white frizz. Like Julie, she was breathing fast, and her heart was thudding. Julie could feel it pounding in double-quick counterpart to her own.

“Shh.” Mac’s arm slid around Julie as they reached one of the two long windows overlooking the manicured back lawn and the pool. He pulled her with him behind the drapes that hung from ceiling to floor, letting the heavy taupe velvet and the whisper-soft sheer beneath wrap around them, hiding them from sight. Enveloped by the sickly-sweet aroma of the rose-scented air freshener that clung to the curtains, shrouded now in shadow, Julie discovered that she was trembling; fear washed over her in waves. Trying to keep her breathing under control, she leaned against Mac, her cheek resting against his chest, listening to the steady drum of his heart. Josephine remained stiffly alert in her arms. Julie prayed that the dog would remain silent and they would not be discovered. She didn’t think she could live through another terrifying encounter, not even with Mac and Josephine the would-be guard dog for protection. Confronted, she would die of a heart attack on the spot.

Mac held her close, an arm hard around her waist. The sheer size of him was reassuring. She tended to forget what a big man he was until she was in his arms. A sideways glance told her that he had produced a gun from somewhere on his person, which he now held in his hand. It was the black, businesslike weapon she had seen before, when he had appeared like a guardian angel in her kitchen, when the monster had been hard on her heels and she’d been running for her life.

The world spun as she remembered, and for a hideous, horrible moment Julie feared she might faint. Mac’s arm tightened as if he sensed her sudden weakness. She closed her eyes

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