He laughed then. “Almost intimately.”

Ice squeezed her heart.

“Was it all a game?” he suddenly asked her. “How many others did you lure in? Only to turn on them, just as you did me?”

Clinging tightly to a tree, she pulled herself up to her feet. She still couldn’t place his voice. But I know him.

“I went to hell because of you, dear Jennifer. A living hell. And before I’m done with you, I promise that you’ll share my nightmare.”

She already was. I need a weapon.

“Now, we’re leaving here. You can fight me if you want. That will just give me a reason to hurt you more...” He laughed again, and the chill around her grew worse. “As if I need a reason.”

She wasn’t leaving with him. She was dead if she left. And she was dead if she didn’t get away from him right then.

“Jennifer!” That roar was her name, and she could hear it so clearly—because it was close.

Brodie! He’d gotten out of the flames. He’d heard her cries. “I’m here!” she called out, lunging away from the tree. “I’m—”

Her attacker caught her and slammed her head into the tree. The hit was hard, brutal, and Jennifer’s body slumped forward as everything went completely black around her.

* * *

“I’M HERE!”

Brodie jerked at Jennifer’s desperate cry.

“I’m—”

Her scream was cut off.

He was already racing straight ahead. Racing and—

He burst through the trees. Brodie saw a man in black, a man who had Jennifer slung over his shoulder.

“Put her down!” Brodie shouted.

The man stilled. He didn’t look back at Brodie. “This isn’t your fight.”

Brodie bent and yanked a knife from his ankle holster. He always kept that knife close. Jennifer wasn’t moving. She hung limply over the man’s shoulder. What did that guy do to her? “It damn well is my fight.” Because Jennifer is mine. “Now put her down and back away!”

The man backed away, sliding deeper into the covering of the trees, but he didn’t free Jennifer. “Why does it matter to you? Why does she matter?”

“Let. Her. Go.”

“She’s a liar. She’ll betray you the same way she did me.”

Brodie’s fingers tightened around the knife.

“The SEAL,” the man murmured. “You think you’re the hero? Hasn’t she already brought enough torment to your life?”

A low moan came from Jennifer.

“Walk away,” the man said in a rasping voice. “And I won’t destroy your family.”

Brodie took a step forward. “Let her go.” I will destroy you, no matter what.

The fellow slid Jennifer off his shoulder, but he didn’t free her. Her body swayed in front of him as he held her with a steely grip. “In case you can’t see it,” the jerk told him, voice chillingly calm, “I have a knife at her throat. One fast move and she’s gone.”

“In case you can’t see it,” Brodie snapped right back, “I have a knife in my hand, and my brother Davis has a gun pointed at the back of your head.”

Silence. Didn’t see that coming, did you? “Now let her go!” Brodie ordered.

The man threw Jennifer forward. Her body pitched toward the ground, and Brodie lunged to grab her. He caught Jennifer right before she would have slammed, face-first, into the earth.

Footsteps thundered as the man ran away. Brodie wanted to rush after him—he’d been bluffing about Davis and his gun—but when he touched Jennifer’s hair, he felt something sticky and wet.

Blood.

“Jennifer?”

Her head sagged back against his arm.

“Jennifer!” His hand found the hard, bleeding knot on her head, and when his fingers slid down to her shoulder, he could feel her blood there, too. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” he promised as he lifted her carefully into his arms. “I’ve got you.”

He had to get her out of there. The attacker had vanished, but at any moment, the man could strike again—with his knife or any other weapon that the guy had on him.

Brodie backed away, his heart racing too fast in his chest. Jennifer was a deadweight in his arms, and fear was growing within him. Head wounds could be so tricky, so deadly. “Hold on,” he whispered to her.

Then he heard the sound of rushing footsteps coming from the right. The Montgomery ranch was to the right and—

He heard a high-pitched whistle. An old signal that he and Davis had used since they were kids. Brodie whistled back, and, seconds later, Davis was in his path.

“What happened to her?” Davis asked. He came closer, and Brodie saw the gun in his hands.

If only Davis had been there a few minutes sooner.

“Her stalker is here... He hurt her.” He jerked his head to indicate direction. “The guy ran that way—he’s armed.”

“On it.” Davis brushed by him. Stopped. “You got her?”

His hold tightened on Jennifer. Normally, he’d be joining Davis on this hunt, but not when Jennifer was hurt. Not when she needed him. “I’ve got her.” And he wasn’t letting go.

Davis headed into the darkness. He could handle himself, Brodie knew it, but...

“Be careful,” he growled after his brother because he could still hear the stalker’s threat. I’ll destroy your family.

The hell he would.

* * *

THE MOTORCYCLE WAS just where he’d left it. He jumped on the bike and sped away from the Montgomery ranch as if the damn devil were chasing him. Maybe he is.

He kept his lights off as he headed down the dirt road. He wasn’t looking to attract any more attention. Not then.

Brodie McGuire had Jennifer.

She’d been his for the taking. Justice had been at hand, but Brodie had interfered. Again. He’d tried to warn the man. After all, his battle wasn’t with the McGuires.

He’d done his research on that family once he’d learned of Jennifer’s connection to them. All the McGuire brothers were supposed to be tough and deadly, all ex-military. They played hard, and they didn’t mind getting their hands dirty—or bloody.

He hadn’t wanted them as enemies. He’d just wanted his pound of flesh from Jennifer.

He’d told Brodie to walk way. He’d warned the man.

Why wouldn’t he listen? Why was Brodie so connected to Jennifer?

She must have pulled him into her web, too. Jennifer, so tempting, so beguiling with her wide, dark eyes and that slow smile. Once she’d made him think that she was actually falling for him.

Until the authorities had come for him.

Until he’d woken in that cell.

So many days of torment. One after the other.

He wasn’t going to let her get away. Jennifer wouldn’t escape his punishment, and if Brodie McGuire wouldn’t get out of his way, then he would have to take out the ex-SEAL.

I warned you, McGuire. You should have listened.

There would be no more warnings.

* * *

SHE WAS IN an ambulance, and the shriek of the siren was making her head hurt. Jennifer groaned as the EMT leaned over her.

“Ma’am, are you in pain?” He touched her forehead, and her breath hissed out. “You’ve got a concussion. We’re taking you to the hospital.”

She grabbed his hand. “Where’s Brodie? Brodie McGuire?”

He didn’t answer her quickly enough, and she shot upright. Nausea rolled through her as the pounding in her head grew about a hundred times worse. “Did he get out of the stables? Is he—”

“I’m right here.”

Her head turned. Brodie was standing just beyond the open ambulance doors. Jennifer’s breath came out in a relieved rush. “I was afraid you were trapped in there. In the fire.”

His gaze searched hers. “Do you remember what happened?”

She remembered the flames. Her fear. Her—

“Ma’am, you need to let me finish my exam.” Jennifer realized she had a death grip on the EMT’s hand.

“He was here.” Her stalker. He’d been at the scene. He’d hurt her. Her breath came faster, and her heartbeat doubled.

“Ma’am, you need to calm down.”

Her gaze was still on Brodie. “Did you see him?” He must have... The last thing she remembered was Brodie calling her name. He’d been in the woods. Brodie must have found her and stopped the guy who’d been attacking her. “Do the cops have him?” she asked before he could respond. “Where is he?” She needed to see his face. To stare into the eyes of the man who’d tried to destroy her. I need to find out why.