Brodie’s face tensed. “He got away.”

Her racing heartbeat stopped.

Brodie jumped into the ambulance.

The EMT tried to push him back out, but Brodie ignored the tech. “Davis is searching for him. Mac is combing the woods. We’re going to get him.”

She let go of the EMT. Her hand rose to her shoulder. Jennifer remembered the slash of the knife against her skin. She flinched when she felt the bandage that had been placed there. “He...he started the fire in the stables.” He could have killed you! “Your friend, is he—”

“Everyone got out.”

“Uh, excuse me.” The EMT’s face had reddened. “I need to take care of her. You two can talk at the hospital.”

She didn’t want to leave Brodie. There were so many questions she needed to ask him, but the pounding in her head was growing worse and spots were starting to appear around her eyes.

Jennifer slid back down onto the stretcher. “I’m glad you’re safe. That everyone’s...safe.” Because if anyone had been hurt, it would have been on her. She’d brought this danger right to all of them.

“Sir, you have to leave now,” the EMT said.

Brodie leaned toward Jennifer. “I’ll be following right behind the ambulance.”

Tears stung her eyes. Jennifer managed a small nod. “I’m sorry.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “If I’d gotten there a few minutes later, he would have already taken you away from me.” The words were a dark rumble. “What would I have done then?”

Before she could think of any kind of answer, Brodie slid out of the ambulance. The EMT leaned over her and started asking her how many fingers she saw.

She pushed his hand out of her way. Jennifer craned her neck so that she could stare at Brodie. “What would I have done without you?” she whispered.

Another EMT slammed the ambulance doors, blocking her view of him. A few moments later, the ambulance lurched away.

* * *

BRODIE PACED THE hospital waiting room. Just being in that place made him too damn tense. He’d been in this hospital a few months back, when his brother Grant had been injured—and that scene sure hadn’t ended well.

He went up to the nurse’s desk for the fourth time. “Can I see her yet?”

The nurse, an older woman with stern blue eyes, frowned at him. “Sir, I’ve told you that your fiancée is still being examined—”

The wide doors swung open behind her. A doctor appeared—the doctor who’d been checking out Jennifer. When he saw Brodie, the man nodded.

Brodie gave up his post near the nurse. “I want to see her,” he told the doctor flatly.

The doc nodded. “Right...and she wants to see you, too.” He cleared his throat. “She is also rather adamantly insisting that she be released. I can’t keep her here, but I think the woman needs—”

The door opened again. Jennifer was there, wearing a hospital gown, a bandage on her forehead and a very determined-looking expression on her face.

Brodie pretty much jumped toward her. “What are you doing?” And he pulled her against him, holding her carefully. “You aren’t supposed to be walking around out here!”

“They took my clothes, so I had to come out like this.” She sounded disgruntled. “Why’d they take my clothes?”

The doctor cleared his throat. “Uh, miss, your clothes were taken because they were covered in blood and ash. We bagged them for you—”

Jennifer turned in Brodie’s arms. “Please take me out of here,” she whispered to him. “He could come for me here. I’m not safe.” Her voice didn’t carry past him.

He tensed against her. Davis had been attacked in the same hospital. The attack had come when Davis was trying to protect Grant’s fiancée...only Scarlett hadn’t been his fiancée back then. Scarlett had been lured away from Grant’s bedside. Davis had tried to guard her, but he’d been shot.

He was bleeding out in front of me.

That hospital held far too many bad memories for Brodie. And Jennifer was right—the security at that place left a whole hell of a lot to be desired.

But with her concussion...

He glanced at the doctor. The man sighed. “She can leave. But keep her monitored, you understand? If she sleeps, wake her up every two hours to assess her condition. If you see her exhibiting any signs of confusion or if her nausea gets worse, contact the hospital immediately.” He frowned at Jennifer. “I would feel better if you stayed for observation but—”

“There’s no way I’m staying,” she said. Her hold tightened on Brodie. “Please, just get me out of here.”

His gaze held the doctor’s for a moment longer.

“When you check on her, ask her name,” the doctor added. “Review her vitals. Even if she’s progressing well, I want her brought back in within twenty-four hours so that I can assess her once more.”

“Anything else?” Brodie asked.

“Take care of her,” the doctor said, then nodded, giving the all clear.

“Always,” Brodie promised. Then he bent his head toward Jennifer. “On our way, sweetheart,” Brodie whispered as he lifted her into his arms. He held her carefully, cradling her as he walked past the nurses’ station.

“You take good care of your fiancée!” the nurse called after him.

Jennifer stirred a bit in Brodie’s arms. They slipped into the elevator, and when those doors closed, Jennifer peeked up at him from beneath her long lashes. “I’ve got a bump on my head and a scratch on my shoulder. I can walk.”

“And I can carry you.” He liked holding her. “So let me.”

Her breath sighed out and blew lightly against his throat. “I’m your fiancée?” she asked softly. “I don’t remember you proposing.”

Despite everything that was happening, his lips almost twitched. “Probably your concussion,” he told her. “I’ve heard those can make folks forget things.”

She laughed then. A sweet, light sound that made his chest feel funny. He pulled her even closer against him. When the elevator doors opened into the parking garage, he carried her back to his SUV.

He put her down long enough to do a sweep of the vehicle—the last thing he wanted was another explosion; then he settled her inside, adjusting her gown, and he realized... She doesn’t have shoes on!

His laughter came then, unexpected. Rough. Relieved...She’s alive. She’s safe...with me.

He shut her door and hurried around to the driver’s side of the vehicle. His door slammed behind him, and Brodie reached out to start the SUV, but Jennifer’s hand closed around his.

“He got away, didn’t he?”

His head turned toward her. The laughter had faded completely as the fear came back. He wasn’t used to fear, and the emotion made him angry. “For now.”

She gave a little nod. “He’ll be back. He won’t stop.”

No, Brodie didn’t think he would stop. Not until the guy had gotten what he wanted.

And what he wanted...that was Jennifer.

“Don’t take me back to the ranch,” she whispered. “He’ll strike there next. He could go after your stables or your house and—”

“The security we have is too good. That’s why he hit the Montgomery ranch. He wanted to draw you out. To make you vulnerable.” He cranked the SUV and drove them away from the hospital. “Our ranch is the best place for you.”

“Not if I’m putting a target on your home.”

The stalker’s words played through Brodie’s mind. I’ll destroy your family. “This whole thing is personal,” Brodie said. “He knows you.”

“Almost intimately,” she whispered.

His gaze shot to her. “What?” Now the fear was totally overpowered by the fury pumping through him.

She rubbed her eyes. “That’s what he told me... That we almost knew each other intimately.”

“I asked you about former lovers—”

“He wasn’t my lover.” Her voice was adamant. “But...I knew his voice... It was so familiar.” Her hand fell to her lap. “I just have to remember him. I have to remember who he is. Then I can understand why he hates me so much. Why he wants to hurt me.”