The truth of that made so many things suddenly clear- like Richard's competitiveness with Luke, his resentment and jealousy. Richard, she realized, had seen Luke's success as his own failure.

She swallowed hard. "Thank you, Luke. For not deserting us. For being here for me even after…after everything."

He brought a hand to her face, tracing the curve of her cheekbone. Without thinking, she turned her face to it, moving her lips against his skin.

He sucked in a short, quick breath. "Kate, I-"

She lifted her gaze to his. She saw longing in his. Longing and regret. She opened her mouth to say something, though she was uncertain what. Before she could, he dropped his hand and took a step back from her.

"Try to get some sleep," he murmured. "Tomorrow's going to be an exhausting day."

And then he was gone.

The next day did, indeed, prove to be an exhausting one. To make the trip, Kate and Julianna needed clothing, cosmetics and other personal care items; Emma needed everything from clothes to diapers, toys to formula and baby food. Combat shopping, Julianna called it as they raced through the drug and department stores, pulling garments off racks and dumping items into carts.

Luke insisted on paying for everything with the cash he had withdrawn from the bank that morning. Credit cards and checks, he told them, left a paper trail even an amateur

P.I. could follow. And John Powers was anything but an amateur. For that same reason, he suggested they drive to D.C.

Despite what commercial airlines assured the consumer, flight manifests were easy to get ahold of. Flying also presented the problem of either renting a car at their destination or relying on taxis; in terms of stealth, neither of those options worked.

It was nearly three that afternoon before Kate had their things packed in Luke's Tahoe and was ready to go. She went in search of Luke, finding him in his office, on the phone. He waved her in. "Doing good, Frank." He covered the mouthpiece. "The P.I.," he murmured, then dropped his hand. "Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

"Look, I've got a job I need you to do for me. Three names. John Powers. Wendell White. David Snow." He spelled them for the man. "I believe Wendell White and David Snow are both aliases for John Powers. Get everything you can on all three. Addresses, phone bills, credit card summaries, travel destinations. If anyone going by one of these names has so much as burped in the past three years, I want to know about it."

Luke listened to the other man, then nodded. "Two. And a travel agency's name." He took the envelope and ticket stub from his jacket pocket. He gave the investigator John's address in D.C., the address on the envelope and the travel agency's name and address. "That's it," he said. "All I've got."

He smiled, met Kate's eyes and gave her a thumbs-up. "I'm leaving town for a while, I'll drop your retainer in the mail before I leave." Luke laughed. "Sure I'm sure I'm good for it." His amusement evaporated. "No number where I can be reached. I'll check in with you from the road."

He hung up, and Kate suddenly realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a rush. "You amaze me, Luke. How do you know all this stuff? I feel like I'm hanging out with James Bond or something."

"My work." He grinned. "I've basically spent the past ten years immersed in the world of spies, criminals and cops. I've been in the heads of cold-blooded killers and madmen, heroes and even the occasional damsel in distress."

"Now you're a real hero," she said softly, smiling.

"Then that would make you the damsel in distress."

"I guess it would." Her smile faded. "Heroes get killed, Luke. I don't want…I couldn't bear to…"

She couldn't bear to lose him.

She cleared her throat. "Just be careful, okay? No heroics."

"You don't need to worry about me, I've outsmarted guys like John Powers dozens of times."

But that was the beauty of fiction, being able to write the ending of your choice. The one where good triumphed, evil fell and everyone who deserved to lived happily-everafter.

But this was real life.

"Stop it, Kate," he said. "I know what you're thinking." He lifted her chin with his index finger, forcing her to look directly into his eyes. "We're going to beat this psycho. I really believe that."

She gazed at him a moment, heart thundering. "I wish I had your confidence. I wish I wasn't so scared."

He slipped his arms around her and eased her against his chest. She held herself stiffly a moment, then sagged against him, curving her arms around his middle, holding him tightly, half afraid that without his support she would fall.

He passed his hand over her hair, stroking. Comforting. "You can lean on me, Kate. I'm here for you."

She drew in a deep breath. He smelled of spicy soap and the sunny day. It would be so easy to do as he offered. Fall apart. Give in to her fear. Lean on him, let him hold her up and take care of her.

She couldn't do that. John Powers was too smart and too deadly to allow her that luxury.

Kate drew regretfully away. "I have to stay strong, Luke. For Emma. She's counting on her mother to keep her safe, and I can't turn that job over to anybody. Even you."

He gazed into her eyes a moment, his filled with respect, then bent and brushed his lips against hers. "Time to go."

Twenty minutes later, they were on the road. Kate tried to focus on Luke's confidence, on the reassuring things he had said to her about beating John Powers. She worked hard to put on a positive face, to keep her mood upbeat. Not only for herself, but for the others as well.

Even so, she was afraid. For all of them. She glanced repeatedly over her shoulder as they put mile after mile between themselves and Houston, all too aware that each one of those miles put them that much closer to a confrontation with John Powers.

At least they traveled well together. For Kate, being with Luke felt as natural as breathing. They talked and laughed together, often anticipating the other's need for rest or food or quiet.

Being with Julianna, on the other hand, was discomfiting. Kate still couldn't look at the woman without a rush of fury sweeping over her. Without remembering how it had come about that she was running for her and her daughter's life. Without remembering Richard.

Several times, Kate had caught the younger woman gazing at Emma, naked longing in her eyes. Those times Kate had felt anxious and vulnerable. Frightened in a way that had nothing to do with John Powers' threat on her life. She feared Julianna wanted Emma back. She didn't trust that she wouldn't simply snatch the child in the middle of the night and disappear.

Consequently, Kate never strayed far from her daughter's side; she never allowed Julianna to hold or touch her. She wasn't about to take any chances.

By the middle of the second day, Kate saw that the two-day trip would have to become three because of Emma. The hours confined to her car seat began to wear on the infant-she was unhappy and fussy, well on her way to being inconsolable.

"We're going to have to stop," Kate said, dangling Emma's favorite rattle in front of her. Instead of batting at it as she usually did, she turned her head away, screwing her face up with frustration.

Kate met Luke's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Emma's had it. If we don't give her a little downtime, she's going to make our lives very uncomfortable."

As if on cue, the infant began to cry, her cries quickly escalating to earsplitting howls. Kate began to rock the car seat and sing softly, trying to calm the infant. It took a few moments, but it began to work. As Emma's cries lessened to whimpers, Kate slipped a pacifier into her daughter's mouth.

"How do you do it?" Julianna asked suddenly. "How do you put up with her and stay so…calm? I think I'd lose it."