Steal My Heart Read Online Free PDF

get some sleep.
    Maybe when she woke up, she’d discover this was all a bad dream.
    ###
    Mark sat in his beat up old Chrysler that he’d pulled along the curb on Salisburg Street and stared at the building he’d seen Paige enter half an hour ago.
    Williamsburg. Brooklyn. Not exactly the upscale Manhattan apartment they used to share. And nothing like the fifty-story buildings he was used to scaling. This was a two-story family dwelling of white vinyl and red brick. One of those renovated jobs. The area was nice. Totally suburban. Near a school.
    What in the world was Paige Dunbar doing living here?
    He took his binoculars out from his duffle bag, the gear he’d brought along tonight out of habit, and read the name on the mailbox again. Dunbar. She’d taken back her maiden name.
    “But then why should that come as a surprise?” he grumbled to himself as he laid aside the binoculars, loosened his tie, and slipped out of his tuxedo jacket.
    She hadn’t come to his trial, she’d visited him just once in prison. Then she’d dumped him. Reaching into his bag for his “work clothes,” he recalled the chill in his gut when just five days after he was sentenced, a stranger came to see him in jail and handed him the divorce papers through the secured window.
    He’d signed them right away. Why fight the inevitable? If Paige couldn’t accept who he was, he didn’t need her. At least that’s what he’d told himself. It was only when he was alone in his cell that his pride gave in to grief and sorrow and he mourned bitterly over what he’d lost. Paige had been the love of his life. The woman he’d give his life for. The woman he’d do anything for.
    Except go straight.
    It had taken prison and an offer from the FBI to make him do that. With a nimbleness in his limbs he’d never lost, he took off his shirt, changed his pants, and tugged the skintight crew top over his head. Then he pulled on the black stretch jacket and drew the hood over his head.
    And now? He thought of the way Paige had felt in his arms tonight. The intoxicating smell of her hair. The softness of her skin. She’d had the band play Misty . The old-fashioned song they both loved. Their song. Did that mean anything? Probably not. But so what if it did? She’d stolen the Fantasia necklace.
    He couldn’t believe it. Why? She had to have a good reason. Paige never did anything without a good reason. Maybe she was working on a column. Maybe she wanted to teach Adolphus a lesson for his lax security.
    He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that simple.
    A light went off in an upstairs window. That was his cue.
    He pulled down the visor and used the mirror as he daubed his forehead and cheeks with his old supply of black face paint that he’d made out of cornstarch, cold cream and the burnt end of an old cork.
    With luck, he’d never know her reason. He’d be in and out in a matter of minutes. He’d tell his boss, Foley, that he’d found the jewels in a dumpster.
    Silently, he emerged from the car and slipped through the shadows to her door.
    Credit cards were inferior tools. From the pouch in his jacket, he took out his favorite lock pick. He hadn’t done any B&E since the night of his arrest, but as soon as he started, the technique came back to him like it was yesterday. His movements were silent, smooth. In three seconds he had the door open.
    Quietly, he stepped into the foyer and saw it led to a living room. Off to the side was the kitchen. Paige wouldn’t have put the necklace in either of these rooms. She’d keep it with her, probably had it tucked under her pillow. He found the staircase and ascended the steps without a sound.
    ###
    What was that?
    Paige’s eyes flew open. It wasn’t exactly a sound. It was more like a…presence. The kidnapper? Was he coming for the necklace? Was Holly…? She didn’t dare even think it.
    Holding her breath, she listened hard. All she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.
    But she felt