Cornered At Christmas

Of course, a stalker would be alone. The guy standing next to the picture taker seemed just as interested in her, and didn’t that jack up more of Mitch’s danger radar? Were the men targeting her?

The blonde seemed to realize something was going on. Good for her. She wouldn’t be an easy mark that way.

Once again his thoughts circled back to how familiar this woman seemed. Was there any chance his wife had survived the accident but lost her memory? Could she have been walking around for the past eleven months with no idea who she was or where she came from?

It might be a stretch but he’d heard stranger things had happened.

Or did he want to see his wife again so badly that he was confusing her with a stranger? A woman who was similar in size and shape, who also seemed to be alone and in trouble? Was he grasping at any sign of hope?

There was only one way to find out.

Chapter Two (#u8a2678ba-1ad0-5002-bd7a-d59d385ca9bb)

Kimberly’s husband turned toward her and took a few steps in her direction. No. No. No. Go back.

Seeing her babies, their sweet faces, was so much harder than she’d thought it would be. The twins were one-year-old now and she’d known their first-year checkup would be around this time. It wasn’t difficult to call the scheduler of the pediatrician she’d meticulously vetted to get the exact day and time.

Pain nearly crippled her but she fought against the tide of emotion. She couldn’t lose control. There was too much at stake.

Life was about to spin out of control. Again. Seeing her twins one more time was a risk that Kimberly Kent—correction, Lily Grable—had had to take. The past eleven months had been excruciating, like living in a cave with no prayer of sunlight breaking through the darkness.

Life had taught Kimberly how to deal with loss early on. But nothing had prepared her for walking away from the only man she could ever love and the babies she’d only dreamed were possible. Happily-ever-after was for princesses, not orphans like Kimberly. And now she risked making all of that heartache count for nothing if Mitch recognized her. Or worse if the men watching her connected the dots to her family.

Panic seized her.

Let Mitch get a few steps closer and he would make a scene. She let herself take another look at him even though the grip around her heart from before tightened the minute she did.

Mitch looked even better than she remembered. At six foot four he’d always dwarfed her. His wide chest and ripples of muscles were visible underneath his Western shirt. Those muscled thighs... She could see wisps of his sandy-brown hair from the rim of his gray Stetson. The color of his hat would match the steel of his eyes.

Maybe she could play it cool and Mitch would stop. There was no way he could realize who she was with as much as she’d changed her appearance. Right? She looked at her husband from out of the corner of her eye and her stomach fell. He was too curious to give up, and that was bad.

He’d expose her, himself and the babies. She glanced toward the pair of men who’d found her. They’d seen her but had they pegged her? Did they know who she was? That was the big question.

Kimberly eased around the back of the sculpture, forcing her body to move away from Mitch when every muscle inside her wanted to run toward him instead. She breathed in the heavy Texas autumn air and tried to block out the memories of feeling safe in his arms. A storm was brewing and the humidity kicked up a few notches alongside her pulse.

Her heart pounded against her ribs at the thought she might be bringing the men who were chasing her right to her husband and children’s doorstep. Whoever had killed her father and was now after her seemed ready to stop at nothing. The men wouldn’t think twice about using her children or Mitch to draw her out. And even after two and a half years she had no idea what they wanted from her. All she knew was that her father had gotten himself into trouble. Beyond that she had no idea with whom or how. Her street smarts had kept her alive. She’d immediately changed her identity and gotten out of New Mexico.

But those creeps always seemed to catch up no matter how well she hid.

She’d had no choice but to disappear after giving birth, once the creeps had shown up in Jacobstown, Texas. She still had no idea what they wanted from her. Her father had left her a cryptic message to stay in the shadows until he cleaned up his mess hours before his death—a death that had been ruled an accident, but Kimberly knew better. There was no way her father would’ve drowned. He couldn’t swim and was deathly afraid of the water, although he’d never admitted to that fear. The man had never once been out on a boat, so it made even less sense that he would’ve rented one, taken it out and then—what?—decided to jump off the side and swim for the first time in his life?

Guilt nipped at her. She’d known he was in trouble but she had been too involved in work at the small craft boutique and night school to stop to ask why. Her father had been acting strange for months, missing their dinner dates and not picking up his cell when she called. His behavior had been erratic and she could kick herself for not pressing him for details about why he was acting so weird. She’d honestly and naively believed that he’d tell her if something was really wrong. He’d always been her rock and she’d been able to count on him. Losing her foster mom to kidney disease had been hard on both of them. At the time she had thought that most of her dad’s antics had to do with grief.

Looking back she should’ve seen the signs. Should’ve taken him more seriously. Should’ve been a better daughter to the man who’d taken her in when she was at her lowest point and saved her life.

“You’re scaring me, Dad,” she’d admitted when he’d asked her to get rid of her cell and use the new one he’d handed her.

“I’m being cautious,” he’d defended. “Make your old man happy and use the phone.”

“Only if you promise to tell me what this is about,” she’d said.

“I will. Give me a couple of days to get it sorted out first,” he’d promised.

“You’re sure this isn’t a big deal?” It had felt like one with the way he was acting.

“I owe someone a little money and they’re blowing it out of proportion.” He’d winked at her. “Nothing I can’t handle. I just don’t want you being bothered until I get this sorted out.”

The only reason she’d left it at that was because he’d seemed embarrassed. She’d thought maybe he didn’t want his creditor calling her, so she’d left it at face value.

Guilt was a face punch. If she’d pushed him for answers, he might still be alive.

When Deputy Talisman had all but accused her of foul play in order to inherit her father’s business, she’d been defensive. It had become clear to her pretty quickly that she was going to be the target of his investigation. And then two men had busted into her apartment in the middle of the night. She’d barely managed to escape and had been on the run ever since.

Marrying Mitch had been done on a whim. The almost-immediate pregnancy had been a shock. And she would pay the price for those lapses in judgment for the rest of her life, which would be short if the creeps following her caught up to her.

A part of her wondered if this whole ordeal would ever be over. Could she come back to the life she’d loved with Mitch and the babies?

Reality said it would be impossible.

Her heart galloped at the sight of her husband moving toward her out of the corner of her eye, along with her sweet babies, who turned one today. Birthdays were supposed to be happy events. But being this close without being able to touch her children felt like knife jabs to her chest.

Knowing that the twins would be at the office of the pediatrician she’d meticulously vetted prior to having those two little miracles had made it far too tempting. Going anywhere near Jacobstown, Texas, or the ranch was and had been off-limits. Those were lines she knew better than to cross. No matter how much she wanted—no, needed—to see her babies again, she couldn’t risk bringing the creeps she’d been running from for an exhausting two and-a-half years to their doorstep. And then there was Mitch...

Seeing him again hurt.

Leaving a question mark in her husband’s mind about her death wasn’t ideal—a determined man could be dangerous. And part of her wished she could’ve confided in him, wished he could save her. She’d been close to confessing in the days before finding out she was pregnant. She’d known he would put his life at risk and she’d needed him to focus on protecting the twins.

How stupid had she been when she’d met him to think she could ever have a normal life? A normal life with kids and a man she loved, who loved her in return more than anything else?

That kind of love had been too powerful to turn her back on and had seduced her into thinking she could disappear into obscurity in the small town where she’d been hiding.

Mitch was everything a man should be to her—strong, virile...honest. Lying to him about her identity had been even more difficult because of that. Kimberly had been lying to herself for so long that she’d all but forgotten how to be truthful anymore. And maybe that’s what had drawn her to the serious rancher with the steel-colored eyes.

Falling for Mitch Kent had been the easy part. She’d done that hard. Apparently she’d knocked a few screws loose when she’d made that tumble, because she’d landed in a fantasy that said if she kept a low profile, everything in her life would magically work out. But there were a few determined men who wanted to erase her presence. By the time she’d met Mitch, she’d already been running for six months.

A part of her wished—prayed—that he would forget all about her. The other part—the selfish part—couldn’t go there even hypothetically. She wanted him to remember her, to love her.

“Kimberly,” he said from behind her, and there was certainty in his voice instead of a question.

Certainty would kill them all.

A glance to the right said Mitch wasn’t the only one about to close in on her. She felt like a mouse trapped in a maze.

There had to be something to use to create a distraction so she could get out of there. The air thinned, making it difficult to breathe.

A middle-aged woman wearing jeans and a light sweater walked toward her from the south with a black Lab on a leash. Kimberly bolted toward the woman and forced a smile.

“Can I pet your dog, ma’am?” she asked, pouring on the sweetness.