Page 54 of Nicole's Shelter

“No.” His lips brushed her temple. “Want to talk about it?”

“Did you already search the name?”

“No.”

No? “Why not?”

“Because no one has a perfect past. I’m only interested in yours so I know how to protect you.” His voice, so gentle and sure, offered more comfort and warmth than the blanket. “I’d like you to tell me rather than read a sterile report. Assuming it’s even available.”

“It’s probably wrong anyway.” She swallowed. “Kara Reynolds is the name I was born with. It’s the name we were all supposed to forget. I wished never to hear it again after that name killed my mom and sister when I was in college.”

“I’m sorry.”

“He killed them. Clifton.” She hated knowing his name because now she had to speak it. “But it was my fault.”

“You can’t blame yourself for someone else’s actions. Especially not a criminal determined to cover his tracks.”

“This is on me. I made a deliberate choice to enter some of my older pictures in an art show and used my home address.” She shifted and the ice pack slid down her back, but the shiver that coursed through her was connected to the terrible cold of those dark memories. “I went away to school so they would be that much safer. I never intended to go to that home again. What kind of criminal tracks art shows?”

“He went to the address listed with the contest?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“WITSEC didn’t move them?”

“They didn’t know to move them. Officially they died because of a home invasion, but I know he killed them to get me to show myself.”

“But he didn’t find you again until now?”

She shifted. “I’m well aware how paranoid this must sound. Witness protection teaches you not to talk about it, but honestly, who would believe anyone who did talk?”

He stroked a hand through her hair. “I believe you.”

She tried to resist his touch, but it melted her. “My college record shows I was awarded a special internship in Switzerland.”

“Nice. Were you really there?”

“No. I was in a research lab in Maine. It kept me off his radar though.”

“What kind of research?”

“Lobsters, tides, and ocean temperatures. It was interesting, but I would have preferred being out there with my camera.”

“He didn’t come after you when you got back to school?”

“No. I insisted on going back to finish my degree and they arranged for security to shadow me for a while.” She pleated the blanket between her fingers. “But everything was quiet until now. WITSEC checks in at regular intervals and it’s been situation normal.”

“In my experience that isn’t exactly cause for celebration.”

“Meaning what?”

“He either got caught with his hand in something else and was under close scrutiny or they had him working on a case that demanded 110 percent and distracted him from you.”

“Too bad he couldn’t stay distracted.”

“Uh-huh.”

Rick was thinking. About what, she couldn’t fathom. He’d proven himself a good strategist and must have been a real asset in the field. She was thinking it was past time to move out of his arms and give herself the physical distance that might ease the heartache that was obviously on the horizon.

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