Jake's child Read Online Free PDF Page A

the ripple. His face told her so. So, too, did the slow stroke up and down her captured arm.
    She pulled against his fingers, lifting them with all her strength. Momentarily they tightened, then freed her. Only now did her heart speed erratically, a sickening rhythm of fear and excitement.
    Sarah whirled, her heart pumping madly for flight.
    "God, what a mess. Wait." His large arm once more wrapped around her, efficiently halting her.
    Her heels stung from the skidding slide on the hall rug.
    She almost stuttered in her frenzy to speak. "Just go, go. I swear I won't tell anyone you were here. Leave the boy—" Ah no, she thought as his hand tightened on her. He'd kidnapped the boy. "Just go, please." She tried not to sob.
    "Easy, look, I'm not touching you. Just hold still a minute and listen to me, okay?" He raised his hands palms up *o her.
    Sarah swayed, but he didn't touch her. She gripped her hands tightly to stop their shaking. "I'm listening." She couldn't hear anything except his harsh breathing. "I won't run," she added as he moved closer to her. His exasperated expression calmed her by its very ordinariness. "But you're right," she said. "This is ridiculous. You can't stop me from making a phone call." She poked her trembling hands into the pockets of her shorts, pulling the threads at the bottom. If she could keep him talking, distract him... "You came shoving your way in here—"
    "Now wait just a minute! I didn't shove my way in anywhere! And I didn't force your door open. Although with those flimsy locks I could have and, believe me, it would

    have been faster than waiting for you to decide whether or not you wanted to let some sick kid into your house. Here," he dug deep into the pocket of his jeans, "here's a quarter." He flung the coin towards her. "Isn't that about the going rate for a public bathroom?"
    The coin rattled on the floor. Sarah gasped.
    Jake frowned. "Hell." Holding her still, he stooped to pick up the coin. He'd really screwed it up. Why had he grabbed the phone from her like that? Of course he'd scared her. But something nasty in his nature had wanted to scare her, mess up her pretty sheets, push against her. What a pig he was. He should have defused the situation, not poured kerosene on it.
    When he'd seen her with the receiver at her ear, though, he'd known she was calling the police. He couldn't afford that. He should have reacted differently, but her softness and vulnerability triggered something in him he couldn't curb. If all that softness and smoothness and that tender blue stare hadn't knocked him for a loop when she first opened the door, he'd have been fine. He just had to kill this leap in his blood when he was around her. Staying angry wasn't the way. Anger could slide too easily into something else. He'd just had proof of that.
    Why in hell had he flung the quarter at her like that, though? He rubbed the cleft of his chin and looked at the bit of shaving cream. Good thing he'd hurried. Hell to pay if the police had roared in. No, he couldn't have police showing up.
    Holding the coin in his hand, Jake flipped it up and down while he thought. Heads. Tails. Heads. He flipped the coin one last time and held it in his fingers, turning it in the dim light. "I'm sorry I scared you." He handed her the coin.
    Her fingers were icy as he folded them around the quarter, and he wanted to kick himself for being so cynical. "Can we go downstairs? This whole situation has gone cockeyed. I'm not going to hurt you," he insisted. "Believe

    me, if I were going to do anything, I'd have already done it."
    Sarah believed him. His voice rang with conviction. Thinking about his actions, she had to admit to herself that he'd been careful not to hurt her, but his very presence threatened her. "I guess so," she admitted, still uneasy.
    Making up her mind, she slipped the coin into her pocket. Whatever he was up to, this hostile-eyed male wasn't going to attack her.
    How she'd reached that decision, she