Free Bound by Honor by Diana Palmer Page B

tender.
    â€œOkay now?” he asked.
    She nodded. “I’m okay.” She glanced toward the road and shivered a little. “They won’t come looking for me?”
    â€œNot in that condition they won’t,” he said matter-of-factly. “And they’re very lucky,” he added, his whole face like drawn cord. “Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been so gentle.”
    Both eyebrows went up at the imagery.
    â€œYou know what I was,” he said quietly. “Until comparatively recent years, I lived a violent, uncertain life. Part of the man I was is still in me. I won’t ever hurt you,” he added. “But I have to come to grips with the old life before I can begin a new one. That’s going to take time.”
    â€œI think you’re saying something.”
    â€œWhy, yes, I am,” he mused, watching her. “I’m giving notice of my intentions.”
    â€œIntentions?”
    â€œLast time I stopped. Next time I won’t.”
    Her mind wasn’t quite grasping what he was telling her. “You mean, with those men…?”
    â€œI mean with you,” he said gently. “I want you very badly, and I’m not walking away this time.”
    â€œYou and what army?” she asked, aghast.
    â€œI won’t need an army. But you might.” He smiled. “Go on in. I’m having the house watched. You’ll be safe, I promise.”
    She pulled his shirt closer. “Thanks, Eb,” she said.
    He shrugged. “I have to take care of my own. Try to sleep.”
    She smiled at him. “Okay. You, too.”
    He watched her go up onto the porch and into the house, waiting for Dallas, who came out tight-lipped with barely a word to Sally as he passed her.
    He got into the truck with Eb and slammed the door.
    â€œWhat happened to Sally?” he asked, putting his cane aside.
    â€œLopez’s men rushed the truck when she had a flat. I don’t know if it was premeditated,” he added coldly. “They could have lain in wait for her and caused the flat. The tire was almost bald, but it could have gone another few hundred miles.”
    â€œShe looked uneasy.”
    â€œThey assaulted her and may have raped her if I hadn’t shown up,” Eb said bluntly as he backed the truck and pulled out into the road. “I want to have another look, if the ambulance hasn’t picked them up yet.”
    â€œYou sent for an ambulance?” Dallas asked with mock surprise. “That’s new.”
    â€œWell, we’re trying to blend in, aren’t we?” came the terse reply. He glared at the tall blond man. “Difficult to blend in if we let people die on the side of the road.”
    â€œIf you say so.”
    They drove to where Sally’s pickup truck was still sitting, but there was no sign of the two men. The house nearby was dark. There wasn’t a soul in sight.
    As Eb digested that, red lights flashed and a big boxy ambulance pulled up behind the pickup truck, followed closely by a deputy sheriff in a patrol car.
    Eb pulled off the road and got out. He knew the deputy, Rich Burton, who was one of the department’s ablest members. They shook hands.
    â€œWhere are the victims?” Rich asked.
    Eb grimaced. “Well, they were both lying right there when I took Sally home.”
    The deputy and the ambulance guys looked toward the flattened grass, but there weren’t any men lying there.
    â€œUnless one of you needs medical attention, we’ll be on our way,” one of the EMTs said with a wry glance.
    â€œBoth of the perps did,” Eb said quietly. “At least one of them has broken bones.”
    The EMT gave him a wary look. “Not their legs, by the look of things.”
    â€œNo. Not their legs.”
    The EMTs left and Rich joined Eb and Dallas beside the truck.
    â€œSomething’s going on at that house,” Rich said quietly. “I’ve had total