In the Arms of a Stranger (Entangled Ignite) Read Online Free PDF Page A

have put it on him, though he couldn’t remember a cut, only the bump he’d gotten the day before when he’d evaded the kill shot. Gingerly, he flexed his legs and arms. Everything worked. Rolling to his left, he sat up, shivering from his wet clothes. His side hurt like hell, but at least the room didn’t tilt.
    The voices outside had stopped.
    Heaving himself to his feet, holding on to the couch just in case, he swiftly checked the end table drawers for his pistol. No luck. Careful to stay behind the candlelight, he made his way around the couch to the front windows. He needed to see what was going on, but the angle was all wrong. He couldn’t see a damn thing.
    A car door had slammed, and now headlights were backing away from the house.
    A framed picture on one end table glinted in the beam of light. He looked closer. The brown-haired woman in a wedding dress, and the side of a man’s face. A face almost as familiar as his own.
    Like an idiot, he hadn’t asked her name. That would have told him he’d found what he’d come for.
    The man he had once considered a friend and a mentor.
    The man who now wanted him dead .
    …
    Abby ushered Cole inside, and turned to close the door. Suddenly, someone grasped her wrists from behind, pressing them unrelentingly against her chest. Oh, God! The stranger! She dropped the boots she was carrying, and fought, twisting and kicking with all her strength. He grunted in pain. Her momentary satisfaction quickly gave way to fear as he transferred her wrists to one hand and pulled her against his chest, his free hand at her throat.
    “Mommy!”
    “It’s okay, son,” the stranger said. “I’m not going to hurt your mom.”
    “Let me go!”
    “Take it easy. I’m not—”
    “What do you want?” God help her, she’d made a horrible, stupid mistake! She should have taken Cole and run like hell the moment she’d seen that gun. She should have told Brooks about him. Wade hadn’t trusted Brooks, but she had no one else to turn to.
    “The Glock.” The word rumbled through her body.
    She twisted and stomped at his feet, but he lifted her off the ground. Breathing hard and cursing herself for a fool, she kicked at his legs again.
    “Calm down,” he said, sounding more exasperated than angry. “All I want is my weapon.”
    “So you can use it on us?” she spit out.
    “Damn it, woman! I’m not going to hurt you!”
    “You’re hurting me now!”
    His body relaxed against her. The hand he held at her throat gentled, and his grip on her wrists eased a bit. Still, she knew that despite whatever injuries he might have, she didn’t stand a chance against him.
    “I said let me go!”
    His arms dropped from around her and suddenly she was free, stumbling forward. She spun around, her heart racing. Even in the flickering candlelight, she could tell his eyes were a deep brown. Just as Wade had said.
    “Where’s Wade?” he asked.
    Her pulse leapt, her thoughts racing ahead. She’d been right to hide him. He did know her husband. But surely he knew Wade was dead.
    “Daddy’s sleeping,” Cole said.
    The stranger frowned down at her son. “Sleeping?”
    “Cole—” she began, wondering why she had to tell this man—
    “You said we can eat now,” Cole interrupted, whining.
    “Where the hell—”
    “Watch your language!” she admonished.
    “I need to know where—”
    “Unca Steve uses bad words. Mommy gets mad at him, too.”
    The stranger took a deep breath. A really deep one. A frisson of fear chased down her spine, and she braced herself for his next move.
    But he just said, “I’m sorry,” looking first at Cole, then at her.
    Confused, her anger rising, she bit out, “I don’t want your apology. I want to know who you are and what you’re doing here.” And if I’m right, why it took you so long to get here .
    Cole said something, but her attention was riveted to the man’s eyes, on the way lightness faded from them and moved into darkness, the way his