Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

STEPH WASN’T SURE how long she’d been hunkered down behind the large oak, but she no longer heard her pursuer and that relieved and worried her at the same time. She hadn’t gone far from the deer stand, figuring Tate would come looking for her when she didn’t check in. She just had to be smart and stay alive until he found her.

And that meant getting into the house that was about twenty yards in front of her. Twenty yards of immaculate and wide-open space all around the perimeter of the house. She’d had no idea this home was in the area, but someone lived there. And they had kids, judging by the play set and sandbox.

Which was why she was still sitting where she was.

She had no idea if the man had managed to climb down like she had or if he’d jumped or if he was still in the deer stand, but she was just about convinced no one was home, and if she broke inside, she wouldn’t be putting a family in jeopardy.

She finally took a deep breath, pushed away from the tree, and bolted toward the house. Every second she was out in the open, she expected to feel a bullet slam into her. When she made it to the deck, she scrambled up the steps and tried the knob on the French door. To her amazement, it twisted, and she swung it inward, shut it, and locked it.

For a moment she stood in the den, taking in the emptiness of the home. No sounds of children playing or a parent in the vicinity. She went straight to the kitchen, looking for a landline phone.

Nothing on the wall.

“Home office?” she muttered. It didn’t take long to find the room upstairs at the end of the long hallway. She pushed through the cracked door and scanned the mahogany desk. No landline phone. “Ugh!”

A floorboard creaked and Steph swung toward the open door to find herself staring down the barrel of a gun. She gasped and held her hands in the air and scurried backward behind the desk. “Don’t shoot. Please.”

“Who are you and what are you doing in here?” The man was in his early thirties with spiky, sleep-mussed hair, pajama bottoms, and bare feet. He held the weapon like he knew how to use it.

“I’m Stephanie Cross. A man tried to kidnap me and I got away. I ran through the woods and saw your house. The door off your deck was unlocked, so I came in. I didn’t think anyone was here. I was looking for a phone. I ... I...” She snapped her lips shut to stop the flow of words and took a deep breath.

“Steph Cross?” he asked. “Your brothers are Dixon, Keegan, and James?”

“Yes.”

He lowered the gun and she sent up a prayer of thanks.

“I went to school with them. I’ve already called 911.” He pulled a phone out of his pajama pocket. “They’re on the way.”

A shadow flickered behind him. Movement. She opened her mouth to warn him when there was an audible thud. He crumpled to the floor.

Steph grabbed a paperweight from the desk and threw it at the attacker’s head. It slammed into his chest. A sharp gasp escaped him and he dropped his gun. Steph raced from behind the desk and jammed her fist into his throat. He went to the floor gagging. She zipped past him, but he swung a leg out and caught her foot, sending her sprawling to the polished hardwood with a pained grunt. When she rolled, she kicked the weapon and it slid under the armoire.

He growled a curse, snagged her leg, and yanked her back to his side. Then with a quick move landed on top of her, his hands around her throat. She reached up to grab his wrists while the pressure increased.

TATE SCANNED the property line, seconds ticking past while he made sure the figure who had entered the home a few seconds ago was alone. “That’s the guy who broke into Steph’s house and mine.” He started forward, racing across the open backyard.

Tate and Cole came up on the guy just after he’d slid a hand into the hole he’d cut in the glass. Within seconds he was inside. Sirens echoed in the distance. Backup was close.

“He’s the one who tried to frame Stan,” Cole said.

“Yep.”

Tate stepped through the door the guy hadn’t bothered to close, the hole in the glass mocking him. Too bad the homeowners hadn’t had an alarm on that door.

“Police! Show yourselves!” Cole and Tate called out twice.

“Tate! Cole! Up here!”

Tate’s heart lurched. “Steph!”