Abby blinked back the tears. "I can't talk about him to you, Matt. I just can't."

"Okay. Okay, sweetheart." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. The dog didn't growl in protest this time, so things were definitely improving on that end. But Abby was just a bit too tense in his arms, and the embers of rage glowed deep inside Matt. Given the chance, he knew he'd beat Gary Montgomery to a bloody pulp.

"I could stay here tonight," he offered huskily.

"No, you couldn't. Not all night." But her arms slid up around his neck, and her body was relaxing, softening against his. "For a while though. You can stay for awhile."

And it seemed her talk with Bryce had done some good after all. The dog didn't even follow them to the bedroom.

It was still well before midnight when Matt reluctantly pulled himself from Abby's bed and dressed. She got up as well, because she wasn't yet ready for sleep and she needed to reset the security system behind him. She didn't bother to dress, just pulled on a robe and belted it tightly, then walked him to the front door.

"Look how much it's snowed. Be careful driving home," she told him.

"I will. And you be careful, especially later, when you let the dog out," Matt told her.

"I will, don't worry."

He kissed her a last time, then left, waiting on the front porch until he heard her throw the dead bolt.

Abby went back into the kitchen. "You're a good boy," she told Bryce, who was still lying patiently near the table. "Just let me finish cleaning up in here, and I'll take you out one last time tonight."

Like any housebroken dog, Bryce recognized the word "out" and sat up eagerly. But he was a very patient dog and whined only once while she finished cleaning up from supper.

"All right, let's go." She decided to take him through the back door so that he could run free in her fenced yard; that way, she didn't have to get dressed and could wait on the porch for him until he was ready to come in.

With the dog at her side, she went to the back door and put the security system in a standby mode, then unlocked the door and pulled it open.

She was barely able to grab Bryce by the collar, when he lunged with a deep-throated snarl at the man standing on the top step.

" Gary," she said.

"All I know is what the sheriff and Judge Ryan said in the paper," Hannah Payne told her boyfriend worriedly as they sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and finishing the last of the muffins she'd fixed earlier. Joe was about to leave for his third-shift job at the plant, and she was up because he was about to leave her alone in the house they shared.

"Baby, he just wants to scare you girls into being careful, that's all," Joe said patiently. "And he's right. But s'long as you are careful and don't go anyplace by yourself, you'll be fine. I checked all the doors and windows, locked everything up tight. You've got a dependable car, a cell phone, a pistol in the nightstand drawer, and Season."

Half asleep under the kitchen table, the big mongrel thumped his tail against the floor in a brief response.

"I know, but – "

"Take him with you when you leave the house, and be sure you drive with all the doors locked. Don't open the doors here to anyone but me or your sister. Let the machine screen all the calls, and don't pick up if you don't know who it is." He smiled at her. "Just be careful, Hannah. If you're really scared, I'll take you and Beason over to your sister's every night when I leave for work, and you can stay with them till morning."

"No, I don't want to do that. You know we always end up in a fuss over something stupid if we spend too much time together. I'll be okay here with Beason."

"You sure?" He watched her intently. "I don't know if I can, but if you want I'll try to get some time off maybe next week. We could drive up into the mountains. Unless they catch this bastard before then."

"Well, let's wait and see."

"I need to go ahead and put in for the time."

Hannah considered, then nodded. "I think I'd like to get out of town for a while. Even if they do catch him."

"Okay, I'll see if personnel can schedule me off for a few days. Just stop worrying, baby, okay?"

"I'll try. But I need to get groceries tomorrow morning," she said.

"I'll be home by eight-thirty. I'll take you."

"You need to sleep."

"I can sleep later. Now, come on – and lock the door behind me."

Hannah went with him to the front door of their small house and kissed him good-bye, perhaps clinging a bit more than was her habit. "Drive carefully. It's still snowing."

"I will, don't worry." Joe patted her on the bottom and whispered a lewd suggestion in her ear, which made her smile and remind him they didn't have time and he was going to be late for work. He grinned and winked at her.

And then he was gone.

Hannah locked the door behind him and checked the locks twice. She took Beason with her when she finally went to bed, even though he was supposed to stay in his bed in the living room.

She turned on the TV and watched a very old movie just so she wouldn't have to listen to the thick silence of the snowy night.

" Gary," Abby said.

He kept his gaze on the dog and didn't venture to cross the threshold. "Where the hell did you get that?" he demanded.

Abby was about to answer him, when it occurred to her that she didn't have to. " Gary, what are you doing here? It's nearly midnight." She made no attempt to quiet the tense, growling dog at her side.

Gary tore his gaze from the dog and smiled at her. It was the charming smile she had fallen for as an eighteen-year-old girl too young and inexperienced to worry about his brooding silences and bursts of jealous rage. He had been a strikingly handsome man then; at forty, he was thickening – around the middle and in his features. Too many years of indulging his temper and his appetites had left their mark.

"I just came to see you, Abby. What's wrong with that?"

She had been terrified, and fought not to let him see her overwhelming relief. He didn't know about Matt, at least not yet. If he had, he wouldn't have been able to keep quiet about it; in Gary, jealousy was immediate and unmistakable.

Abby drew a breath and kept her voice even and without emotion. " Gary, it's late, the weather's lousy, and I'm tired. And if that isn't enough, you must remember what Judge Ryan told you. You don't live here anymore, and if you keep showing up here unannounced, I'll get a restraining order. You don't want me to do that, do you? Talk about our business in court for everybody to know?"

It was the only real leverage she had against him, and she used it cautiously so as not to use it up. Gary was a vice president at one of the local businesses, a real estate development company that was highly respected and very prominent in town, and his reputation meant a great deal to him. A divorce was one thing; a divorce from a wife claiming physical and emotional abuse during a thirteen-year marriage was something else entirely.

She had gone to Ben Ryan the day after she'd ordered Gary – at the point of his own gun – to leave. He had listened to her story, the whole sad and messy story Matt still didn't know, and had given her both genuine compassion and excellent legal advice. Even more, he had paid Gary a discreet visit and had made it very plain to her husband that he could either quietly agree to an uncontested divorce, or find himself charged with assault and battery and divorced on the grounds of extreme cruelty.

In the months since then, Gary had been relatively cooperative, though at first prone to show up at the house from time to time. When she had gotten involved with Matt only a few months after her separation, Abby had grown fearful that her volatile husband would appear at just the wrong moment; combine Gary 's violent jealousy with Matt's fierce protectiveness and the meeting could only end in tragedy.