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“I think he’s found her car,” Blake corrected. “And I’m beginning to wonder if that’s how he’s kept up with her all along. Didn’t you tell me it’s the same car she was driving when she left Austin?”
“You think he’s had some sort of tracking device on it?” It sounded like something out of a spy movie—but then, everything that had happened to Page was hard to believe. No wonder she’d doubted that the police would find her story credible: Had Gabe not seen her terror firsthand, he might still be doubting it himself.
“That’s something I’ll check out,” Blake promised. He sounded a bit chagrined that he hadn’t already thought of it. “He shouldn’t be able to track you and Page there, but don’t take any chances. Keep an eye peeled.”
“You can bet on that. Good job, Blake.”
“Remember, we don’t even know Phillip Wingate is the guy we’re after.”
“No. But it sounds like a damned good lead.”
“That’s what I thought How’s Page holding up?”
“She’s resting.”
“Any aftereffects from the sedative I gave her yesterday? Nauseau, rash, headaches?” Blake sounded a bit worried.
“Not that she’s mentioned. I think she’s just exhausted from the stress she’s been under for so long.” Gabe saw no need to add that her rest had been interrupted during the night.
“Good. She’s really something, Gabe. It took a lot of strength for her to get through the ordeal she described to us.”
Not at all certain he liked the open admiration in Blake’s voice when he spoke of Page, Gabe said, “I’m fully aware of what Page has been through.”
“Are you?” Blake murmured. “Are you really?”
Gabe didn’t know what to say.
“Tell her I said to hang in there,” Blake said after a beat of silence. “With any luck, this will all be over soon. I’ll be in touch.”
He disconnected before Gabe could form a reply.
This will all be over soon.
Blake had sounded so confident. And given the P.I.’s track record so far, Gabe had to share Blake’s confidence.
And then what?
Assuming this ended satisfactorily, with the stalker put away and Page freed from his threats, what would happen next? Could they really return to Austin and take up their lives as though nothing had happened between them?
They’d been married almost three years, and yet they were still newlyweds in a way, having lived together only three weeks before this nightmare separated them. Both of them had changed while they were apart.
Had their feelings changed, as well?
Could they ever get back what had been taken from them?
Remembering that he’d promised to tell her when Blake called, he walked quietly into the bedroom. Page was still sleeping, lying fully dressed on top of the sheets. She was curled on her side, one hand lying palm-up beside her face in a pose that made her look deceptively fragile.
She was pale, he thought, studying her closely. The faintest of purple smudges beneath her eyes testified to the strain she’d been under. Despite Blake’s doubt, Gabe was fully aware that it had taken an amazing amount of strength for Page to do what she’d felt she had to
do during her ordeal.
As much as he regretted her decision to handle the danger on her own, Gabe still loved her. His love had survived the pain, the anger, the grief and the anguish of the past two and a half years. He didn’t fully understand it. Nor could he have explained it had he been asked. But he knew it with a certainty no amount of self-argument could shake.
His assurance of his own feelings made it all the more important for him to believe that she loved him as fully in return. And that, he thought glumly, was something he still couldn’t take for granted.
“Page?” Emotion made his voice gruffer than he’d intended.
She opened her eyes, instantly awake and alert, instinctively braced to react. It disturbed him to think her experiences had left her so wary and anxious.
