Let me in, Darby, he whispered silently. Let me in.
SHE TRIED TO WAKE UP from the dream. Darby kept telling herself not to look, to open her eyes and wake up. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t find her way back.
He was there…somewhere. She could hear him calling to her. But they weren’t alone.
She felt the evil. Felt it trying to seep into her pores. She had to fight…to run. She ran harder…faster, but it was like everything had lapsed into slow motion. The faster she ran, the slower she moved through the dream.
He was going to catch her.
There were trees all around her…a forest. The route she followed was dark and foreboding.
Voices. She heard voices. Crying. The children were crying for her. They wanted to go home. She could take them home. All she had to do was find them.
A face zoomed into focus right in front of her. She stumbled…fell onto her hands and knees. She screamed at him to leave her alone but it was Jerry Lester and he wouldn’t listen.
One, two, I’m coming for you. Three, four better lock your door. I’m coming for you, Darby Shepard. You can’t hide from me. We have a score to settle. These children belong to me!
She scrambled to her feet once more and started to run…had to run. He would catch her if she didn’t run. His face faded, but another image took its place. The men in white coats. They poked and prodded, tested her, made her keep trying…but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do what they wanted or she would never get away. They would keep her forever.
She never wanted to go back there.
Never. Never.
She had to find the children. They wanted to go home. She could find them…she’d found the others. Not now…another time. She wasn’t strong enough now. Run…she had to keep running.
She saw him from a long way off. Standing in the mist, moving toward her. He was tall and dark, the white mist swirled around his long legs. He came closer and closer and she couldn’t move.
Aidan.
Her dream man.
He had said he could protect her. He would keep her safe. She could trust him. He’d kissed her and she’d felt something strong…something familiar.
In her dream, he stopped a few feet away and held out his hand.
She moved toward him. It was only a few feet. But the faster she ran the farther away he looked. She called his name. Reached for him. But he only moved farther away without actually moving at all. He was so far away now she could scarcely see him. Her heart hammered in her chest. She felt too tired to keep running; yet if she lost sight of him, she knew she would not survive the coming battle. She needed him. But he was just out of reach.
“Aidan!”
Darby bolted upright and fought to catch her breath. Her side ached as if she’d run a marathon. Perspiration dampened her skin.
Aidan was at her side before her eyes could adjust to the dark. “It was only a dream,” he murmured.
She hugged her arms around her knees and rocked herself gently. “I need to see where the children are,” she whispered, her mind still reeling from the images in the dream. “They want to go home.”
The tears would not be denied. It didn’t matter how hard she tried. She couldn’t stop it, just like she couldn’t stop the things that were about to happen. He had escaped. He knew her name, what she looked like. With every fiber of her being, she knew he would not just run; he would want his vengeance first.
Better lock your door.
But Aidan was here.
He would protect her.
Strong arms went around her and she felt safe.
The FBI had sent him here. Though she knew that there was more involved here than his job…an attraction…a bond. He wanted to keep her safe. She knew that as surely as she knew Lester would come for her. He would find her…reach her somehow.
“Would you like me to get you a glass of wine? Something to help you sleep?”
Aidan’s gentle voice, so deep and alluring, made her want to sink into his arms, to be one with him completely. He felt so familiar…like a part of her. She pushed the unrealistic concepts away. Stress, she told herself. It was playing havoc with her ability to reason.
She needed someone and all her friends had deserted her. He was here, willing and ready to hold her, protect her. That had to be the connection she felt. She needed him…that was all it could be.
“Wine would be good, I think.”
He drew back, smiled down at her.
Her heart thumped against her sternum. He was so beautiful.
Her eyes had adjusted to the dark now. Still, it seemed odd that she could see the details of his handsome face so well. A hint of moonlight filtered through the sheer drapes, but not much.
He pushed up from the bed and left the room. She sat very still for a time, completely disarmed by the way he moved. She closed her eyes and remembered the way he’d kissed her. Had shown her the depth of the connection between them. Not for a second had she been able to deny how he’d touched her. It felt right…safe…like home.
“Get a grip, Darby,” she muttered. Getting any more deeply involved with a stranger, no matter how right it felt, was not a smart move.
She’d already asked him to spend the night…on the couch, of course. She didn’t usually behave so irrationally. Not once in her entire life had a man spent the night in her apartment. She tried to remember when was the last time she’d had sex. Too long ago to recall. At his place and she’d left immediately afterward, regretting the act even before she had her clothes back on. The two times she’d allowed herself to become physically intimate with a man had felt wholly wrong. She told herself it
