“It’s my business,” she said, despite her obvious weakness. “Just help me up.”

“I’m not going to let you try to drive yourself away,” Caleb gritted through clenched teeth. In her struggle to rise, her neckline had shifted, and his eyes were drawn once more to the lush crease and shadow at the top of her breasts.

He felt strange about focusing on her cleavage when she was obviously in pain, so he made himself look away.

She swatted away the hand that had been on her shoulder, the one he was using to prevent her from rising. She stumbled to her feet, and Caleb had no choice but to put a supporting arm around her waist, since she almost collapsed back to the ground.

Kelly smothered a groan and closed her eyes. She held his arm to keep her balance and put her free hand on her belly. Soon, she’d have a heavy bruise under one eye and a substantial knot on the side of her head.

“Where are my keys?” she mumbled, pulling away from him and trying again to stand on her own.

Caleb couldn’t believe how foolish she was acting. “Kelly,” he said roughly, then cleared his throat to restore his voice to normal. “I’m not going to let you drive. You likely have a concussion.”

Now there were tears leaking out of her pained eyes. “I have to go. He’ll find me again.”

Caleb filed that away with the other information he’d gotten from her thus far. Obviously she was running from someone. That would be helpful to know when he began to check into her background more deeply.

She was taking deep breaths and trying to steady herself, and her cheeks and lips were sickeningly white.

Part of Caleb—a part that he’d almost forgotten existed—wanted to take care of her. And the rest of him recognized a good opportunity when he saw one. So his whole self was speaking when he offered, “Come with me, then. Let me help you. I’ll take you somewhere safe where you can recover.”

“No, Caleb,” she objected in a quavering voice. “I don’t want you involved. I don’t even know you.” She sucked in an urgent breath, moved her hand back to her stomach, and turned away from him.

Caleb felt a little queasy himself when he asked, “Are you going to be sick?”

“No,” she replied, swallowing the word. “I’m okay.”

She definitely wasn’t okay. Caleb narrowed his eyes. “I’ll take you to the emergency room, or you can come with me and let me help you. Those are your only two options.” He wasn’t used to people not doing what he said, and he didn’t like it at all.

“Can’t go to emergency room,” she gasped. “He’ll find me.”

Caleb’s brow furrowed as he watched her. She was definitely concussed, and there was something else going on here.

“Come with me, Kelly. You have no reason to trust me, but you have no reason to think I’ll harm you either.”

“No.” She put both hands flat on her car for support.

“Kelly,” he urged, putting an arm around her waist again, since he was afraid she was going to fall down.

Finally, she slumped against him. And, since she didn’t argue anymore, he took that as her agreement. “My car is a couple of blocks away,” he said gently. “In the garage of my building.”

Kelly tottered beside him for half a block before her knees began to buckle. So, seeing no other available means of getting her to his car, Caleb swung her up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way.

He didn’t like it. It made him feel strange—as if the gesture were too clichéd, too heroic, too something. It didn’t suit him at all. The same way he’d felt making the call to Wes earlier that day.

But Kelly couldn’t walk anymore, and he had to get her to his car somehow. So he tried not to think too much about it.

Her body was soft and substantial in his arms. She was basically a dead weight—not trying to support herself or present a pretty picture. It made him feel uncomfortable. His chest felt too heavy and too tight all at once.

But his mind was whirling. There was a mystery here. So many unanswered questions.

After getting her into his car, he drove to his house outside of the city, since that would be less visible than his downtown apartment. Kelly was in and out of consciousness, but Caleb kept trying to keep her awake.

When he was stopped at a light, he glanced over and saw that her eyes were closed. So he picked up his phone and texted out a brief message to a guy he used to investigate things he didn’t want listed on the Vendella company books.

Find out more information about Kelly Watson. Focus on men she’s been in relationships with.

Kelly’s eyes were still closed when he put his phone back down and accelerated as the light turned green.

His mind was whirling with questions and possibilities.

He didn’t fully trust Kelly. He didn’t fully trust anyone. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

She obviously needed his help, and he liked that. But he needed to know her story in order to do anything about it.

When there were things he didn’t know, his world would start to spin out of control. And when things were out of control, he would have to resort to methods that were distasteful, unpleasant, in order to gain the upper hand.

He preferred not to have to do so.

He would if he had to, though. It was the reason he was sitting here now. He was willing to do what other men couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

And he never let weaker qualities like guilt or fear or morality get in his way.

Chapter 4

Kelly hadn’t intended to get quite so concussed.

The blow she’d taken to the head had been a bit harder than she had discussed with Jack Martin, the private investigator her mother had been working with. She’d contacted Jack that morning about what she needed to happen this evening. It was necessary for her to get roughed up a little, or else Caleb would never have believed the attack was real. But Kelly had been expecting a little knock on the head. Her concussion was supposed to be an act.

She hadn’t had to fake much of anything.

When her head had collided violently with the side of her car, Kelly had been temporarily dazed—then dizzy and disoriented. She had nearly vomited for real, right on Caleb’s shiny black shoes.

The headache that followed had almost leveled her.

So, she couldn’t have resisted much, even if she’d wanted to, when Caleb picked her up to carry her in his arms.

It was what she needed, what she’d been hoping for, but it was almost unbearable. To be totally dependent on someone—on Caleb Marshall—even for the short walk to his car. She’d learned a long time ago not to depend on anyone, even people she should be able to trust.

It might have been the worst part of the entire evening, being gently cradled in Caleb’s arms.

Except for the real concussion, however, everything was going according to plan. She’d needed a shortcut to get in closer proximity to Caleb and get beyond the superficial sexual attraction. No matter how much of an arrogant ass he was, he was also a man. And men like him wanted to be warriors, to feel like heroes.

So she’d given him a battle to rush into.

Shifting uncomfortably in the passenger seat, Kelly wanted to be proud of herself. Wanted to congratulate herself on a job well done. Caleb had played right into her hands. Not because he was an idiot or easily duped, but because she knew men well enough to plan effective tactics.

She wanted to be proud, but she couldn’t. Even being in the same car as Caleb was akin to torture. He still looked, felt, smelled like someone she wanted, no matter what her rational mind kept telling her. But she used her old mental strategy to push all of what she felt for him into a tight little knot in her heart, hiding it behind her walls along with her real self, keeping it safe and out of sight.