Banishing Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page B

when I saw him dragging you toward the road.” His fists clenched.
    “Are you sure he didn’t harm you?” He reached out to touch her again, but she held up a hand, shaking her head. “What happened, Kayla?”
    “He grabbed me as I left the bathroom. Put his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream and dragged me out into the alley.”
    He frowned sternly. “Why did you just lie there when that van was coming straight toward you?”
    She took a deep breath but remained silent.
    “Do you know why someone would want to kidnap you?”
    She shook her head.
    Cord loomed over her, his voice eerily calm. “Damn it, Kayla. Talk to me. What happened to your spunk? The girl I knew was a fighter. If I said the sky was blue she’d have argued it was green.”
    Shuddering with nerves and shock, she snapped back, “I grew up! I learned that life isn’t always fun or carefree. Anyway, it was only with you that I argued every point. You were so arrogant. No one ever fought you on anything. I was doing you a favor. Your ego was so inflated that if your head had gotten any bigger it would have exploded.”
    “Is that so? Sounds like I was a real ass. And yet you still tried to seduce me.”
    Don’t blush, don’t blush , she repeated the litany over and over, knowing it was a futile wish. “Like I said, I was a child back then. I’ve grown up.”
    “Does that mean you won’t be throwing yourself at me again?”
    Her head flew up as her temper fired. “God, you’re even more arrogant than before, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, baby, I am.”
    Sirens sounded. The police. God, did she even have the energy for this? She rubbed her forehead with a shaking hand before attempting to climb from the desk. She was too vulnerable with him standing over her. But Cord grasped her shoulders, his superior strength easily holding her in place.
    “Why the hell didn’t you fight? Scream? Yell? Kick? Hell, I know you’re capable of defending yourself, Kayla. I helped teach you. Yet you didn’t even try to avoid that van. What were you going to do? Let it run you over? Why the hell didn’t you move instead of lying there like a beached whale?”
    Her jaw dropped as shocked anger surged inside her. “You did not liken me to a whale. You ignorant jerk. How dare you yell at me!”
    “I am not yelling at you.”
    He was right. He wasn’t yelling. She almost wished that he would. Anything would be better than the icy fury in his voice. The angrier he got, the colder and quieter he became.
    “When I saw someone trying to hurt you—” He broke off. Kayla was shocked by the pain in his voice. Stepping back, he turned away from her.
    There was a brisk knock on the door.
    “Police are here,” Luke called out. “They want to talk to both of you.”
    For the next twenty minutes, as the police officer interviewed her, Kayla’s mind continuously mulled over their conversation. Why was he so angry? He acted as if he actually cared about her. But was it because she was his best friend’s little sister or something more? She shook off her thoughts as foolish. He was merely acting like an overprotective brother. Sighing, she stretched, trying to ease the tension in her muscles.
    All she wanted was to go home and forget tonight had ever happened.
    * * * * *
     
    “Of course you’re coming to stay with us.”
    Kayla winced as Quinn’s voice boomed at her angrily. Stay with him and Joe? Was he mad? She’d only just gotten away from Luke’s overprotective love, there was no way she was going to turn around and move in with the twins. Unfortunately, the stony look on Quinn’s face told her he wasn’t budging. He was already on edge, worried about her, livid at Cord for shutting them out. She just wished he’d quiet down a little because his temper wasn’t helping calm her anxious nerves.
    “I’m not coming to stay with you,” she insisted, glaring at her three brothers. Overwhelmed, she felt as though there wasn’t enough oxygen in the small