Times Change Read Online Free PDF Page B

brother and her sister married. Not to congratulate them, she thought furiously. Not for a nice family reunion. But to offer his half-baked opinions as to whether Libby was worthy of his brother.
    Creep. Jackass. Imbecile.
    As she swung past the window, she spotted him down below. Her hand was already on the window sash, prepared to lift the glass so that she could shout the epithets at him. Her anger snapped off as quickly as it had ignited.
    Why in the world was he walking into the forest? Without a coat? Narrowing her eyes, she watched him trudge through the snow toward the sheltering trees. Where the hell was he going? There was nothing in that direction but more trees.
    A question sprang into her mind that she’d been too occupied to consider before. How had he gotten here? The cabin was miles from town, and a good two hours’ drive from the nearest airport. How the devil had he managed to pop up in her bedroom, coatless, hatless, gloveless, in the middle of winter?
    There was no car, no truck, not even a snowmobile, outside the cabin. The idea of him hitchhiking from the highway was ludicrous. A man didn’t simply walk into the mountains in January. At least not if he was sane.
    With a shudder, she stepped back from the window. Maybe that was the answer. Jacob Hornblower wasn’t just a jerk. He was a deranged jerk.
    That was an awfully big leap, she told herself. Just because she didn’t like him wasn’t a good enough reason to assume he was crazy. After all, he was Cal’s brother, and over the past year Sunny had become very fond of Cal. Brother Jacob might be an annoying, interfering pain in the neck but that didn’t mean he had loose screws.
    And yet . . .
    Hadn’t she thought he was weird? Hadn’t he acted weird? She looked out the window again, but the only sign of him was the fresh tracks in the snow.
    Cal seemed normal enough, she mused, but what did any of them know about his family or his background? Next to nothing. It had always seemed to Sunny that her brother-in-law was strangely close-mouthed when it came to his family. She glanced back toward the window again. Maybe he had his reasons.
    The man had acted odd right from the start, Sunny decided. The way he’d come into the house unannounced to stand in her bedroom and pore over a copy of
Vogue
as if it were the Dead Sea Scrolls.
    Then there was his behavior in the kitchen. Playing with the faucet. And staring. It was as though he’d never seen a stove or refrigerator before. Or hadn’t seen one in a very long time. Her mind was jumping like a rabbit. Because he’d been locked up, she thought. Put away where he wasn’t a danger to society.
    Catching her lip between her teeth, she began to pace again. Her foot connected with his flight bag. Jolting backward, Sunny stared at it. He’d forgotten it. That meant he would be coming back.
    Well, she could handle it. She could take care of herself. Rubbing her palms against her thighs, she stared down at the bag. But it wouldn’t do any harm to take a few precautions.
    Going on impulse, she knelt down. Invasion of privacy or not, she was going to look through the bag. It was odd itself. No zipper or straps. The Velcro peeled apart almost soundlessly. Casting one guilty look over her shoulder, she began to dig.
    A change of clothes. Another sweater, black this time. No label. The jeans were soft and obviously expensive, though there was no designer name on the back pocket. No label anywhere. And they were new. She would have sworn they had never been worn. Setting them aside, she pushed deeper. She found a vial marked fluoratyne that contained a clear liquid, and a pair of high-top sneakers in supple leather. No shaving gear, she mused, no mirror. Not even a toothbrush. Just a set of obviously new clothes and a vial that might very well contain some kind of drug.
    Her last discovery was the most puzzling of all. An electronic device, no bigger than the palm of her hand, was tucked in the corner of