Never Let Go Read Online Free PDF Page B

Millie said. She made me shave it off for her wedding."
    Dinah blinked back tears. Millie Surprise had been Rucker's secretary and a good friend to both of them. They had played matchmaker between her and a rowdy country and western singer named Brig McKay. "When did Millie and Brig get married?"
    "About six months ago. They're livin' in Nashville."
    He didn't mention that just before the wedding Millie and Brig made an unannounced visit to Mount Pleasant, where they found him asleep in the middle of his living room floor, surrounded by beer cans, with Jethro perched on his stomach gnawing a slice of cold pizza. For a few minutes Millie had cried with heartfelt sympathy. Then she went on a rehabilitation rampage.
    Dinah hesitated, gauging her words carefully. "I suppose they think I'm dead."
    Rucker tossed the tube of ointment to her and stood up tensely. "That's what everybody decided. When there wasn't any ransom note we knew you hadn't been kidnapped. Since your pocketbook was still in the car when the police found it, we knew you hadn't been robbed."
    He paused, and she saw tendons flex in his neck. His next words were very low and controlled. "So, the chief theory was that somebody had seen you in town, liked what he saw, so he followed you and ran your car off the road. And then ..." Rucker stopped and studied her grimly. "You get the drift."
    "But you never stopped looking for me." Dinah hugged herself and looked at him in mute agony. "You went through hell," she whispered.
    His body stiffened and his chin rose. Dinah realized wretchedly that she'd just reminded him of all his reasons for despising her.
    "I called for a cab again, while you were takin' a bath," he said in a lethal voice. "You can't get one until mornin'." He jerked a hand toward the hall that led to the master bedroom. "Go back there and stay. If I see you before mornin' I'll turn you out of my house."
    ***
    The bed sheets smelled like Rucker. She slept fitfully, and everytime she woke up she took a moment to burrow her face into the pillow that carried the much-loved scent. Depression weighed on her like a dark mantle and thoughts whirled in her mind. If he'd really wanted her out of the house tonight, he'd have driven her to the bus station.
    If only she could break through his anger. She could tell him that she hoped to come back to him soon and never leave him again, but he wouldn't believe it. She'd tell him anyway, in the morning.
    Dinah woke around two a.m. and dimly heard his voice. She bolted upright in bed, her skin prickling with fear. Rucker was talking to someone.
    Praying that she was mistaken, Dinah tiptoed to the bedroom door. She eased it open. The hallway was dark except for light coming from the living room.
    The low rumble was definitely Rucker's voice. Her stomach twisted in dread. She slipped into the hallway and padded closer, her ears straining. She stopped just before the living room entrance. Cold perspiration rose on her forehead.
    "I don't want to do this," Rucker was saying, his deep voice so leaden that she barely recognized it. "I know. Keep remindin' me that it's for her own good." There was a long pause as he listened. "All right. Eight a.m. And Jeopard? I don't want you to use any damned handcuffs or anything else that'll humiliate her." He cleared his throat roughly. "Right before you get here, I'll tell her that you know about her and Valdivia working for the Russians."
    Dinah sagged against the wall as she heard Rucker place the phone back on its cradle. So Rucker knew about Valdivia's work and her participation in it. And he had turned her in.
    Anguish made her groan like an animal caught in a trap. Rucker vaulted to his feet as she entered the living room.
    "How could you?" she cried hoarsely. "Rucker, you don't know what you've just done!" He looked down at her with a weary, shattered expression as she wound her hands into his shirt front and tried to shake him. He grabbed her wrists but didn't offer much