Page 31 of Running to You

“I thought you were nervous about seeing your mother. You never said anything about danger.”

“It didn’t make sense. I didn’t understand, and your logic was sound.”

“My logic was based on the information I had. I didn’t realize…”

Getting angry with her wasn’t going to help. They’d survived, somehow. She hadn’t been hurt too badly. She hadn’t been taken. Thank God.

Eliza obviously hadn’t known what would happen. Except she’d had a feeling, which he definitely should have heeded.

He worked kindness into his tone. “If you get another feeling like that, will you please tell me?”

“Sorry. I will.”

“You need to trust your instincts. Your wisdom.”

Words he’d said to her plenty during their relationship. Words she’d rarely heeded.

“Are you hurt? More than before?”

“He punched me in the head. It…I nearly passed out. But I made myself stay awake.”

He’d always marveled at Eliza. Once she made a decision, she had a stone will. She’d follow it through, and nobody could stop her. Getting to the decision was hard for her, but once she did, she was unmovable. So different from how he lived, making snap decisions based on the information he had. Not always the best decisions, but he kept moving forward.

Eliza was a ruminator. Sometimes, that drove him nuts. Other times, her thoughtfulness, her desire to seek counsel, brought him fresh insights. They’d been a good team, once upon a time.

“Do you need a hospital?”

“I think I’m all right.” Her eyes opened, and she turned to him. “How about you? Are you hurt?”

The adrenaline had drained now, and he felt the bruises. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“I didn’t know you could fight like that.”

“It’s my workout. Martial arts. I train every day, just to stay in shape. I’ve never had to use it in real life.” Of course, back in the day, he and his brothers had gone at it more than once. Never to hurt, just to see who could best the others. Sam liked to think he could take any of his brothers. He liked to think it, but Grant had been a Green Beret. Suffice it to say, he wouldn’t be challenging his little brother to a fight anytime soon.

Her eyes drifted closed again. “It works.”

It had, this time.

He stared at her, this woman he’d loved so much. She looked small in his passenger seat. Bruise darkening beneath her eye. Tiny bandage on her cheek.

Someone had done that to her.

The men who’d just come after her?

Was she in a relationship with one of them? Or had she been? But why would the other man help him?

Abusive boyfriends didn’t recruit abusive friends, did they?

And they hadn’t seemed emotionally involved. It hadn’t felt like a crime of passion. They’d been calculating. Their attack had come from two directions. One to distract, maybe kill him, while the other dragged her away.

She’d almost been taken. Maybe murdered.

The thought had his stomach wanting to expel breakfast.

He itched to question her. Demand answers. Demand she tell him everything.

Which would do no good at all.