Keeping Guard. Christy Barritt

just live right there.” Darlene pointed to a white clapboard home only a few feet away. “So let’s take him inside. I’ll get my husband, Harvey, to help. It may take a moment. He’ll have to put his dentures in first.”

      As the woman retreated inside, the rain began to taper.

      Kylie knelt down beside Nate and flinched at the nasty bruise on his forehead. She should have known the man was Nate. But his hood had brought back so many bad memories. Fear had conquered her thoughts, as it often did lately.

      Kylie closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Nate.”

      “You should be.”

      Her eyes snapped open in time to see Nate’s eyelids flicker. He rubbed his forehead and attempted to sit up, the sudden lines around his eyes revealing his discomfort. Once he propped himself up on one elbow, his eyes narrowed at her.

      “What’s wrong with you? Kylie, I presume?”

      Kylie opened her mouth, tried to form words. But how did one explain to a stranger the events of the last six months? How could she summarize the terror she’d felt without looking crazy?

      “I know it will sound insane, but—”

      “Wait till I tell the guys at Bible study about this.” A man interrupted as he approached them, lumbering along beside Darlene, a huge grin stretched across his face. “Nate Richardson getting conked in the head by a girl.”

      Must be Harvey. Kylie looked closer. The man had teeth—nice, white, straight ones. He must have put his dentures in.

      Darlene swatted him on the arm. “Harvey, don’t give the boy a hard time. It’s not his fault that I’m stealth-like.”

      “Stealth-like? You couldn’t sneak up on an elephant. Beats me how someone who weighs so little can make so much noise stomping around the house all the time.”

      Harvey stuck his hand out to Kylie. “You must be the girl that Nate’s fallen for.”

      “Just give me a hand, Harvey, and drop the comedy routine for a few minutes, will you?” Nate reached his hand up, grimacing at the movement.

      Harvey still grinned as he pulled the broad ex-Coast Guardsman from the sopping ground. Nate’s free hand still grasped his head and his eyes locked on Darlene and her rolling pin.

      Darlene shook her head and raised her hands in the air in innocence. “Don’t give me a dirty look. I was only trying to help the poor girl you were chasing. How was I to know it was a misunderstanding?”

      “I just want to get out of this rain and lie down. Do you mind?” The commanding look in his eyes left little room for argument—from any one of the three.

      Kylie shrank back and nodded. “Getting out of the rain sounds like a good idea to me, too.”

      Nate raised a finger as if he were going to lecture her, but then pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Right this way.”

      He took a step and stopped. His hands went to his temple.

      “I better walk you back,” Harvey said. “You need to go to the hospital?”

      “No, I just need some aspirin and a rewind button.”

      “I can help with the aspirin but that’s about it.” Harvey squeezed his shoulder. “You’ll have to get that rewind button from your magic genie.” He paused and pretended to rub an imaginary genie lamp.

      Nate put his hand on Harvey’s shoulder. “If only I had one, Harv.”

      Kylie wrapped her arms over her chest and tried to will her teeth to stop chattering. They wouldn’t. Nor would her limbs stop shaking. This whole night was just too much. Yes, she’d take one of those rewind buttons also. If only they existed.

      Nate knew he shouldn’t snap at the woman. She hadn’t been the one to hit him over the head with a rolling pin. But if she had waited just a moment to have a logical conversation then maybe she would never have run away and caused this whole fiasco. To Nate, logic and reasoning were the solution to…well, just about everything.

      Still, he couldn’t deny that Kylie looked just about as skittish as a cornered cat. Maybe he should have just let her run. Maybe he shouldn’t have gone after her.

      He sighed. He could do nothing about it now.

      And man, his head was killing him. He’d never underestimate Darlene’s brute strength again. Who knew the little woman who worked in the church nursery every Sunday could pack that much punch?

      Thunder crashed again in the distance. The storm didn’t want to let up. He had a feeling it was going to be a long, long night. A long week, for that matter, now that he’d have Kylie underfoot. Or was it a week? How long had Bruce said she’d be here? For as long as needed until an investigation he was working on was over. Kylie was supposed to fill him in on the details.

      If it had been any other friend, Nate would have said no. But not to Bruce. He could never say no to Bruce, especially not after Bruce had saved his life so many years ago. He was forever indebted to his friend.

      He reached the alcove of his back door and stuck his key into the lock. He pushed the door open before turning to Harvey and Darlene. “I don’t know whether to thank you or tell you I never want to see you again.”

      “You know you love us, Nate.” Darlene smiled sweetly, her rain bonnet reminding him a bit of a halo.

      Yes, he did love them and knew they were only watching out for a woman in distress…distressed for some unknown reason.

      He bid them good-night before sweeping his hand inside, motioning for Kylie to go in. Instead, she nodded toward the alley.

      “I’ll be going.”

      He raised his eyebrows. “Going where?”

      “I’m not sure. But I understand that you probably don’t want me here anymore after the headache I’ve caused you.”

      “You’re not going anywhere.”

      The petite woman stopped and raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t sure if the look in her eyes was relief or fire. Maybe a mix of both. “Excuse me?”

      “I told your brother I’d watch after you. I plan on doing just that.”

      Her chin rose. “I don’t need a babysitter. I just need a place to lie low for a few days.”

      Good, she’d said a few days. He could put up with her for a week, but no longer.

      “Your apartment is already ready for you. It’s no problem. If it was, I would have said no.”

      He climbed the stairs and listened to the sound of her shoes clicking on the wood, a much more pleasant sound than his heavy stomps.

      Yep, just a few days. It was a good thing. The last thing he needed in his kitchen—or in his life—was a woman.

      THREE

      How could her brother ever have trusted this cranky man?

      Their gazes locked, and Kylie knew this would be the longest week of her life. Yet at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel relieved that she had a place to stay, somewhere to lie low until the madman back in Kentucky was arrested.

      He would be arrested, right? The police had said they had a good lead and they should have the man behind bars within a matter of days. And with the man’s advances becoming more aggressive, they’d suggested that Kylie get away until everything was cleared up.

      She’d overcome obstacles before in her life—huge obstacles, she reminded herself. She could overcome this, also. Though it was the second time in her twenty-nine short years that she’d had to fight for her life, she’d learned a lot during that first battle.

      Nate cleared his throat, and Kylie snapped from her thoughts to see him