Page 88 of In Hiding

She chuckled and they both watched him go. “That’s her son?”

Nodding, Jake turned back to her, noticing her baby bump had disappeared. “What brings you by?”

She glanced down at herself. “We had a boy, if you must know. He’s fine. I’m fine. My husband home alone with a newborn?” She chuckled. “Maybe not so fine.”

“Then I won’t keep you too long. Why are you really here?”

Her face turned serious as she stepped close. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

His stomach clenched. “Follow me.”

Leading her up the drive toward the guest house, Jake felt Lucy’s presence slip into his veins. She’d always had a way of getting under his skin and that had rankled him in the past. The power she’d had over him had always threatened him though, looking back on it, he couldn’t understand why. Granted, she was the first strong woman he’d ever been attracted to and yet, he’d felt the need to overpower her.

It occurred to him he’d always felt outgunned in her presence and needed to drag her down to his level. Shame rolled through him. He understood now that women of fortitude had more to offer than he gave them credit for.

As they neared the guest house, he stopped and touched her arm. “I hope you understand that what I did to you was wrong?”

She frowned. “Haven’t we had this discussion?”

“Why couldn’t I see how remarkable you were? Why did I need to cut you down?”

Standing higher on the hill than he, she looked him straight in the eye. “You were full of demons back then. Me, too. We crossed paths for a reason, Jake. Of that, I am sure. It had a profound effect on us both.”

He hadn’t thought of it in those terms.

“You’ve changed,” she continued, with a nod as a light rain began to fall. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“We both have.”

He pointed up to the guest house and they jogged up to the veranda, stepping under the stoop to get out of the rain. Lucy shook the drops out of her hair and sat on the bench in front of the window.

“You need to know,” she grimaced. “I’m hearing a lot of chatter about Ryan Mitchell. He’s been released on parole.”

He nodded and leaned against a post. “We know. Sarah was contacted by the Victim’s Register.”

A tight smile crossed Lucy’s lips. “There have been a lot of inquiries about a Katherine Mitchell. Someone’s looking for her and they’re putting the feelers out to all private eyes, the good and the not so. It’s only a matter of time.”

He sighed, accepting her warning. “We know.”

“She’s not safe here.”

None of them were. “She can’t run and hide forever,” he mused.

“Be that as it may, but if she stays, she’ll be outnumbered.”

“Why do you say that?” Dread settled in his gut like lead.

Lucy’s features hardened. “He’s not alone, Jake. From what I can gather, he has at least two to three allies.”

Fuck. That hadn’t occurred to any of them but it made sense. Brutal as he was, Mitchell possessed a sadistic charm that either attracted the lowest of the low, or deceived them until they owed him. “I appreciate the head’s up.”

She stood. “Don’t get killed, Jake.”

Direct as always, Lucy made him smile. “You know me.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s what worries me. Is she worth it?”

Jake’s heart skipped a beat as his mind turned to Sarah. Closing his eyes, he indulged in the memory of her scarred and naked body reaching climax at his touch. Beside him, Lucy chuckled.

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