by Fiona Brand
The documents and photos weren't conclusive proof of her identity – she could have stolen them – but she clung to them; they were hers. She had changed – her breath caught in her throat when she thought of just how much she had changed – but the strong resemblance in those photos was all she had. When she'd stumbled, bruised and bleeding, from her wrecked car all those years ago, she had simply picked up her purse and run. She'd had the clothes on her back, the jewellery she had been wearing and some cash. She hadn't dared use the credit cards.
She had escaped Henry's last, clever attempt on her life by sheer blind luck. When her car's brakes had failed, a tree had been all that had stopped a certain plunge over the cliffs edge into the water far below.
Her utter helplessness in the face of her stepfather's relentless determination to remove her from his path had almost paralysed her with fear; but she had known in that moment that she couldn't afford to stay around – certainly not until she was twenty-seven – and give him another opportunity to kill her. When she'd later discovered that Henry had decided to cut his losses and had pushed her car over the cliff, making it look like she'd died, she had known she'd made the right decision.
She hadn't gone to the police. She had already tried that avenue, and no one had listened. She'd been twenty years old, and Henry had seen to it that her credibility was less than zero. He had painted a convincing picture of a hysterical young woman balanced on the edge of mental instability. He had done a great job of character assassination, and she had played into his hands on several occasions by openly accusing him of trying to murder her, from the age of eleven on. It had been a case of people thinking she was crying wolf. Even her own mother had believed she was mentally unstable.
Until the sabotage on her car's brakes, Anna had begun to believe it herself.
No one had given credence to the notion that Henry de Rocheford was doing anything more than looking out for the interests and welfare of the Tarrant family, as he had "selflessly" done for years.
She had to wonder if anyone would now.
*
Minutes later, they were standing in the shadow of the entranceway to the park.
Anna's wet coat clung and dragged. Moisture was seeping through in several places, and she was shivering, but she didn't protest; she wanted to check the street before she stepped out onto it.
Despite the fact that she'd insisted she was capable of walking, she felt disconcertingly weak and was sharply aware that she was in no shape to handle anything else the night might throw at her. She swayed, her hand groping for the rough surface of one of the stone pillars for support, and didn't protest when the stranger wrapped his arm around her waist, clamping her close against his side. The solid barrier of his body protected her from much of the wind and rain, and the heat that poured from him drove back the worst of the chill. Anna stiffened at her ready acceptance of the stranger's protection, the extent of her trust in him when she didn't trust anyone, the disturbing memory of those moments when she'd actually wanted to get closer to him. The bump on her head must have skewed her judgement.
His voice vibrated close to her ear, making her jump. "Where do you live?"
Anna didn't bother to dissemble. "I have a flat nearby." There was no point in not telling him where. She would have to leave, anyway. Tomorrow.
"I'll see you home."
The statement was delivered flatly, and she wasn't inclined to argue with it. The stranger was big, well over six feet tall, and from what she had seen and could feel, he was solidly muscled. His arm tightened around her as he urged her across the road to a Jeep.
He helped her into the passenger seat. The Jeep smelled new and expensive. For the first time, it occurred to Anna to question what a well-heeled stranger had been doing strolling through Ambrose Park in the rain, at night, and what had compelled him to even look in the storm drain?
She knew he wasn't the man who had chased her earlier; he was too tall, for one thing. But what if he had been looking for her? She couldn't discount that possibility, no matter how much she wanted to trust him He swung into the driver's seat with a sleek, fluid grace that drew her gaze. He had taken his jacket off, and in the dimly lit confines of the cab, his muscled biceps gleamed copper as he twisted and placed the dark bundle in the rear, along with the torch he'd carried. In the short time it had taken him to remove the jacket, his T-shirt had gotten soaked, and now it clung slickly to his broad shoulders and chest.
With dawning apprehension, she realised just how big, how powerfully built, he was, and that he was dressed completely in black: black pants, black boots – even a black watch, with a cover hiding the face. The colour of thieves and assassins.
His hair was long, caught back in a ponytail. She hadn't noticed that in the dark; she had assumed his hair was short. Anna swallowed, for a moment caught again in the hazy limbo between sleep and wakefulness that had swamped her when she'd regained consciousness. This was no dream, she told herself fiercely. And he was no knight in shining armour, despite the fact that he'd helped her.
She tipped her head back to meet his gaze, and her breath hitched in her throat despite her attempts at control. His eyes were as dark as his clothing, an intense shadow-black that seemed to absorb light, giving nothing back. The effect was sombre, electrifying.
The impact of his face hit her all over again, sending an odd quiver of mingled fear and elation through her, starting a queer shifting sensation deep in her stomach, as if her centre of gravity had just altered and she hadn't yet found her balance. Heat rose in her as she experienced another heavy jolt of the awareness that had disoriented her so badly earlier, as if she were once more caught in the relentless grasp of one of the vividly sensual dreams that had haunted her through the years.
Abruptly, she transferred her gaze to the rain-washed windscreen. Cold logic and bitterness dashed ice on the mystifying, aching flare of emotion. Whatever improbable fantasies had played through her mind when she'd first seen him, they were just that: improbable. She no doubt had a mild concussion, and her mind was playing bizarre tricks on her. The guy was big, tough and drop-dead gorgeous; he would have women queuing. She wasn't in the market for a relationship, and even if she were, she had absolutely no confidence in her ability to handle a man like him.
He shoved the key in the ignition; the engine rumbled to life. "Where to?" His gaze locked briefly with hers.
"Second left. Finnegan Street. Number fifty-four." Anna felt the touch of his gaze again; then he was all business, checking for traffic as he eased onto the road.
"If I had been going to hurt you, I would have done it back there," he stated flatly, his voice like dark velvet.
Pitched just that way to soothe her, she thought, realising just how tightly she was wound, just how paranoid her thoughts had become. "If I thought you would hurt me, I wouldn't be sitting here."
And it was the truth, she realised, startled at how bone-deep that trust had gone. Mysterious though he was to her, she couldn't shake the extraordinary compulsion to trust him.
Seconds later, he pulled over outside her block of flats.
"Thank you." She aimed a grateful look in his general direction, fumbled her door open, then almost cried with frustration when her briefcase caught under the dash, slowing her escape.
He was already swinging out, striding around to help her down. He gripped her elbow, steadying her when she almost fell – and another of those quivering shocks travelled up her arm. It was too much. She jerked free, stumbling back, almost oblivious to the cold, steady rain streaming down her face, penetrating the collar of her raincoat and trickling down her neck.
He was talking to her, that smoky, soothing rumble again, as if he were trying to gentle a wild animal. She stared at him blankly for long seconds, not comprehending a word he was saying.
He held both hands up, palms out, in a gesture that cut through her confusion and suddenly made her feel foolish. He had only been trying to help her.
Mortified he
at warmed her cheeks. He'd sheltered and protected her, driven her home – his actions those of a man used to caring for women, used to handling them. If he hadn't grabbed her just then, she would have fallen.
"I'm sorry, I'm not…" She stopped, feeling even more clumsy, more inept. Not what? she thought bleakly. Not used to kindness? Not used to men touching her?
"You're shaken. You've got a head injury. All I want to do is see you safely inside." His mouth quirked at one corner. "Out of the rain."
The rain. God, the rain. They were both getting soaked. She drew a breath. "Okay." With a nod that she instantly regretted, she started up the cracked concrete path.
Anna paused at the door to her apartment, which was little more than a one-room bedsit. She turned to thank him, but he forestalled her.
"I know you don't trust me, but I'm not leaving until you've either called a doctor or you let me take a look at that bump on your head."
Once again, Anna was struck with confusion. The mere thought that anyone wanted to help her, take care of her, was so alien that for a moment she couldn't take it in. She fingered the swelling, flinching at the hot bite of pain. Her fingers came away streaked with blood. "You're a doctor?" She didn't try to hide her disbelief.
Blade curbed the desire to reach out and try to soothe her with touch. It wouldn't work, he decided dispassionately. She was as jumpy as a cat with its paw caught in a trap, and just as likely to lash out at him. It wouldn't take much for her to kick him out on his ass, and he couldn't allow that to happen. Not until he'd found out the answers to some questions. "I've had medical training. I was in the military until a couple of months ago. 'Combat' medicine."
For a moment, Blade thought she wasn't going to go for it, and he was knocked off balance by another emotion entirely – one he wasn't pleased to admit to. Something about his ghost caught at his gut, grabbed him deep and hard. He felt … proprietary, protective. He had found her, and he was responsible for her. He wasn't willing to let her go just yet.
When she put her case down and began digging for her key in her raincoat pocket, relief and satisfaction uncurled inside him. She didn't want to, but she was going to trust him.
His gaze narrowed as he noted the strain she was still under, and the unusual control she was exerting now, despite the scare she'd just had. She should be shaking, coming apart, and he should be comforting her, lending her a shoulder to cry on if that was what she wanted – but none of those things were happening.
He didn't know what this woman needed beyond a painkiller and rest. She wasn't asking for his attention, and, even though she'd given him a measure of trust, he'd had to prise it from her. She would snatch it back in a second if he gave her reason.
She inserted the key in the lock, pushed the door open, stepped inside and flicked a switch. The small, sparse room flooded with the dim light of a naked, low-wattage bulb. Blade followed her in, cataloguing the room in one smooth sweep, noting windows and doors – the action as natural to him as it was to carry the Glock he'd left folded up in his jacket in the Jeep.
His persona shifted from soldier to male as she set the briefcase down beside her tiny dining table and began unbuttoning her coat.
He'd already noted that she was slim; now he saw that she could stand to gain a few pounds, although he knew there were curves beneath those shapeless clothes. When he'd helped her from that ditch, she must have had a dizzy spell, because she'd stumbled. For a split second she'd gone boneless against him and he'd felt the firm pressure of her breasts against his stomach.
She was also shivering and pale, her eyes big in her face. Too damn big. They were an odd colour, a strange, riveting, silver-grey, as if mist and shadows had taken up permanent residence there.
And her mouth… Something kicked hard in his gut. He hadn't noticed her mouth before, but now that she'd wiped off some of the mud, it took all of his attention. It was pale, lush, pretty and sultry. Grimly, he logged the growing tension in his groin as he closed the door behind him. Oh, yeah … in other circumstances, he would want that mouth.
She bent to unfasten the last button, and in the light, her wet spill of hair, which he now saw was caught back in some loose, intricate braid, took on a warmer hue. Blade stared, transfixed both by the length of her dark hair and by its coppery gleam. When it was dry, it would be a silky veil, cloaking her shoulders, falling past her waist.
Hit number two, he thought bleakly. She was delicately made, and she was a redhead. Now all he had to do was find out what she was running from, and whether or not she had a history of … unusual dreams.
Anna began to shrug out of her coat. She flinched, startled, as her rescuer helped her the rest of the way and then looped the coat over the hook on the back of the door. The easy, matter-of-fact way he carried out that small courtesy caught her attention. She had been right when she'd thought he was used to taking care of women, of handling them. The gesture had been pure gentleman, but the easy way he'd assumed she would let him take care of her had been one hundred percent male.
He studied her forehead, frowning. "You look like you've been in a fight. How did you say you got that?"
Anna tried to remember exactly what she'd told him, but her mind was a frustrating blank. The impression her rescuer had made on her was so vivid that she had trouble recalling anything but him. She decided to stick with the truth as far as she could. "Ran into a tree."
His fingers skirted the edges of the bump, and her insides lurched, both at the tenderness of the bruised area and her tingling awareness of his slightest touch.
"Hate to see the tree," he murmured.
That surprised a laugh out of her. The laugh hurt – as well as amazed her – and she groaned, lowering herself gingerly onto the single, hard-backed chair pulled up next to the table.
She heard him moving in the kitchenette. Heard her ancient fridge door reluctantly give way to the pressure of his hand, then suck closed with a tight-fisted finality, as if grudgingly giving up some of its meagre contents. A sharp sound had her eyes blinking wide in time to witness the brief tussle as he extracted ice from a frosted-up tray. A cube flipped out, evaded the snaking reach of his big hand and hit the floor. He swore as it skidded away, caught her eye and grinned.
In the dim light of her flat, his teeth were white against his skin – the wide smile so unexpected that she felt like he'd clubbed her with it.
Anna couldn't drag her gaze from the mesmerising flash of amusement and what it did to the strong, utterly male contours of his face. She swallowed, abruptly stricken by a sense of isolation, of removal from the human condition, so intense that she had to fight the need to curl in on herself and weep. She couldn't remember the last time she'd shared something as intimate, as silly, as that moment with the ice-cube – let alone the grin. Now that lack stunned her. She felt the deprivation as a piercing ache that drove deep, then burst outward, resolving into a twitching shiver that lifted all the fine hairs at her nape. She was starving for human contact, human warmth, and the knowledge filled her with desperate fear.
She had to pull herself together, and quickly. She was wary of any and all strangers, and had no friends to speak of. She lived this way for a good reason: to stay alive. To feel what she was feeling – this wild, famished hunger for a touch, a smile, from a man she had never met before and would never see again – was beyond odd; it was crazy.
"What's your name?" Her demand was raspy, hollow, even to her own ears. She didn't care. Suddenly it seemed very important that, if nothing else, she should have his name.
"Blade."
He went down on his haunches beside her, and her awareness of the hot sensuality that was as much a part of him as that big-cat grace shuddered through her in another aching wave, as if she were caught in the grip of a fever. He'd wrapped the ice in a tea-towel, and now he gently pressed it to her forehead. All the while, he watched her with an intensity that was blatantly male, speculative, and that made her feel unbearably aware of her own femininity –
something she had avoided thinking about for a very long time.
"Blade Lombard," he finished softly.
Anna froze. Lombard. She blinked, for a moment unable to move beyond this new shock. She knew him. Or, at least, she had known him in another place, another lifetime, when she'd been a child.
A flash of memory surfaced, pitched and rolled with a disorienting sense of déjà vu. Before her father died, they had lived in Sydney and moved in the same social stratosphere as the Lombards. Of course, Blade had been older – a lot older, to the five- or six-year-old child she'd been – close to adult status in her eyes. She remembered falling off a bike, and Blade helping her up. He'd comforted her, made her sit in a chair, just like this, while he cleaned her knee and applied a dressing. All the while, he'd resisted the taunts of the other children, bending all of his attention on her.
Would he remember her? she wondered on a beat of despair. And what would she do if he did? Could she risk revealing her identity to him?
The Lombards had had business connections with her father. She could vaguely remember, if not their actual faces, their occasional presence at social gatherings. She wondered if Tarrant Holdings still did business with the Lombards, if Blade and her stepfather were partners in some deal, if Blade was a potential threat to her?
She didn't dare find out.
The incongruity of Blade Lombard strolling through Ambrose Park at this time of night, or any time – of even being in the vicinity of this rough neighbourhood – struck her more forcibly. Something was wrong. It didn't fit. He shouldn't have been there.
No. She couldn't trust him, no matter how much she wanted to.
Her hand automatically rose to her face, as if she could shield herself from him. When she realised what she was doing, her fingers curled, forming a fist, and she let her hand fall back into her lap.
Blade didn't miss the wild dilation of the lady's pupils, her sharp intake of breath, although both reactions could have been attributed to the cold pain of the icepack settling against her forehead.
