Time to Run Read Online Free PDF Page B

that thudded steadily at the base of it. Drawing a secret breath, she decided that he smelled like fresh-cut wood.
    "Close your eyes," he said, going to work on her bangs.
    Snip, snip, snip.
    She heard the scissors slide onto the sink. Chase ruffled her hair. "You're done," he said.
    Sara turned toward the mirror. "Oh, my," she exclaimed, discovering that she looked more like Meg Ryan than ever. She touched the soft, spiky strands by her ears. "How'd you learn to cut hair so well?"
    "No barbers in the places I go," he answered matter-of-factly. "While I clean up in here, why don't you check out the clothes I bought for you?"
    She'd seen the bags that he'd brought back from the Super Kmart. This was her getaway, and yet he seemed to be masterminding it.
    Kendal stared at her as she stepped from the bathroom. "You look like that movie star," he commented.
    "Meg Ryan?"
    "I don't know her name." He went back to watching TV.
    Moving past him, Sara spilled the plastic sacks open on the second bed. Oh, no. For a shocked minute she stared at the clothes and accessories that Chase had bought her: shorts from the juniors department; baby-doll T-shirts in every pastel hue imaginable; two pair of sling sandals, pink and green with sequined flowers on them, and a bagful of makeup.
    She couldn't dress like this! She would look like ... like a completely different woman, a teenager, practically.
    She glanced up as Chase stepped into view, carrying their hair in a sack. He paused by the bed, taking in her reaction with a challenging lift to his eyebrows.
    "This had to have cost more than forty dollars," she said, trying to find some way around having to wear what he'd bought.
    "End-of-summer sale," he countered, eyes narrowing. "Sixty percent off."
    She just looked at him. "So, no refunds then."
    "Nope."
    With a nod, she started putting the clothes away. "Kendal's going to need clothes, too."
    "You can shop for him tomorrow," Chase said.
    Sara drew a deep breath. "You know," she said, giving rare voice to her opinion, "I wouldn't have bought these kinds of clothes for myself," she dared to tell him.
    A tiny smile touched the edges of his mouth. "I know. And trust me, ma'am, I don't get my kicks out of tellin' you what to wear. But this is what I do for a living. You wear these clothes, and no one's going to recognize you."
    His argument was infuriatingly reasonable. With a sigh of surrender, Sara put the clothes in the bags for the night.
    Chase went outside to toss their hair in the Dumpster. When he came back in, he grabbed sweatpants from his duffel bag and disappeared into the shower.
    Sara went to sit with Kendal. Everything was happening so quickly, yet, at the same time slowly enough to fray her nerves. What if, in the next twenty-four hours, Garret guessed how she'd engineered her flight?
    Impossible. He didn't even know that she knew Chief McCaffrey. How could he guess he'd helped her get away?
    The bathroom door yawned open, and Chase materialized on a puff of steam, wearing nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants.
    She and Kendal both stared. Sara had never seen a man more powerfully put together. His was the body of a warrior, with muscles that came from daily, rigorous training, and scars suggesting deadly hand-to-hand combat, not to mention a fearsome black tattoo on his left triceps. The rest was golden skin and tawny fur, a combination that left her dry-mouthed.
    He crossed in front of them, heading toward his duffel bag, and his footfalls were undetectable.
    He leaned over his bag, and when he straightened again, he was holding a gun in his hand.
    Sara gasped, reaching for her son.
    "Relax," Chase told her, keeping it pointed at the floor. He carried it over to his bed, pulled the quilt down, and stuffed it under the pillow. "It's my security blanket."
    "Is it... loaded?"
    He sent her an incredulous look.
    "Stupid question," she acknowledged.
    He sprawled with masculine grace upon his stomach, and her gaze slid helplessly to