Free Dead Wrong by Mariah Stewart Page A

them.
    Annie’s step slowed. “Mara’s the only person I know who permits almost as few people in her personal space as you do.”
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that she . . . she’s been pretty much alone—except for me—for the past seven years.”
    “Why?” He frowned.
    “She’ll have to tell you that. If she wants to.”
    “Why bring it up if you’re not going to tell me?”
    “Because I want you to know that, well, just that she’s used to being alone, that’s all.” Annie opened her trunk, dropped her bags in, then turned back to him with worried eyes. “Watch out for her, Aidan. Guard her with your life. She’s all I have.”
    “I’ll be here.”
    He stepped back onto the sidewalk and stood with his hands in his pockets, watching Annie’s car until it disappeared around the corner, then retrieved his own bag, a beat-up navy blue duffel that he’d had in college and found in the front closet of his apartment. He hesitated at the rear of the Corvette. He hated to leave it out on the street where who knew what could happen to it. He glanced at the driveway. There was plenty of room behind the Jetta.
    Mara was standing in the doorway, watching as he backed up the Vette and parked it behind her car.
    “Do you mind?” He stopped halfway to the door. “I didn’t want to leave it parked out there overnight. It could get rear-ended or sideswiped.”
    “No, I don’t mind, but you’ll have to move it before I go to work in the morning.”
    “Well, since I’ll be following you, that won’t be a problem,” he told her as he walked up the front steps.
    “I don’t think that’s necessary, really.” She stepped aside to let him in.
    He didn’t bother to respond. He’d do what he was going to do. There was little point in discussing it.
    “So. I guess you want to get settled.” Mara stood in the center of the living room, feeling awkward. It had been a very, very long time since she’d been alone in her house with a man. Any man. “Second door on the right. Annie said she made the bed up for you before she left.”
    “Thanks.” He nodded somewhat stiffly as he went up the steps, obviously no happier with the situation than she was.
    Great, she thought with a grimace. This should be one hell of a fun time.
    Thanks, Annie.
     
     
    “Annie didn’t mention that you had a daughter,” he was saying as he came down the stairs.
    “What?”
    “I said, I didn’t know you had a daughter. Where is she?”
    Mara appeared frozen where she stood, her face without color.
    She wet her lips and turned her head away from him.
    Aidan stood on the last step, confused. Her entire demeanor had changed in the blink of an eye.
    “I’m going to take Spike for a walk. I won’t be long.” She hurried brusquely into the kitchen and returned with the dog and leash in tow.
    “I’ll go with you.” The mention of her daughter had obviously upset her, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.
    “No, no need. Same walk I take every night.” She was fumbling with Spike’s collar. Her hands were visibly shaking, and her best efforts to hide the fact were not quite good enough.
    “Wait up . . .”
    “I said no need. I’ll be back.” She walked out the door.
    Aidan followed.
    “I said you didn’t have to come with me. I don’t want you to come with me.”
    “I promised Annie I’d keep an eye on you. Tough to do if I’m sitting on the sofa, playing with the remote, while you’re out roaming around town in the dark.”
    He fell in step with her. She responded by gravitating to the far edge of the sidewalk, as if to put as much distance as possible between them.
    “Look, obviously I’ve upset you somehow but I don’t know what I’ve done.”
    “It’s okay. Forget it.” She brushed him off without looking at him.
    They walked the entire four-block square without speaking further, Aidan doing his best to keep up with her, but she was in far better shape than