Free When The Heart Beckons by Jill Gregory Page A

I
was
. But since your attitude is so rude and so
very insufferable, Mr. Steele, as to hardly inspire confidence, I
believe I will take my business elsewhere. I won’t be troubling you
anymore ...”
    He blocked her path as she started to sweep
toward the door.
    “Not so fast.”
    He gripped her wrist and held it, not hard,
but hard enough so that she couldn’t wrest free. Annabel bit her
lip, her hopes plummeting.
    He doesn’t believe me
, she thought,
and wondered with a wild tug of fear what he would do to get the
truth from her. Lily’s casual words rang in her ears.
Honey,
whoever you are, you got on the wrong side of the wrong
man
.
    Searching Steele’s face, a face that was at
once magnetically handsome and terrifying in its coldness, she
yearned to find some hint of mercy, of sympathy, even of plain
decent interest stamped upon his features, but there was none.
There was only hard skepticism in his eyes, and callous disbelief
in his expression.
    She had never seen anyone so chillingly
dangerous. A shiver of dread ran through her as she pondered what
he would do if he suspected she was pursuing the same man he was
after—that her goal was to save Brett, putting her at direct
cross-purposes with him. No matter what happened, he couldn’t find
out. He must learn nothing about her connection with Brett, nothing
that would endanger Brett further or aid Steele in whatever dark
purpose he was engaged in.
    “Suppose you tell me a little more about
this man who wants to kill you,” he drawled, and she felt her pulse
racing beneath his thumb.
    So he’s testing me, trying to check out
my story
. There was still hope then of convincing him. Annabel
tried to think what her mother might have done when presented with
a similar sticky situation during the war.
Keep going
, she
decided.
Stick to your story and don’t give an inch. Don’t let
him see your panic
.
    “Well, his name is Walter ... Walter
Stevenson,” she improvised rapidly, blurting out the first surname
that popped into her head. “I thought he was a friend, a very close
friend, a suitor, actually, but he swindled me out of my
inheritance—five thousand dollars, Mr. Steele! Why, I was never
more hornswoggled by anyone in my life! I threatened to report him
to the authorities and he said he would
kill
me if I did.
Well, naturally, I didn’t believe him at first, but then ... oh,
dear, this is the most unnerving part. The next day I was very
nearly run down by a carriage in the street—and I recognized the
driver, it was Walter’s groom! I was so frightened I didn’t know
what to do, so I left town—started for New Mexico to visit my ...
my brother, who lives there, you see, but someone has been
following me and ...” Annabel took a deep breath and lifted wide
helpless eyes to his face. “I have money, Mr. Steele, I can pay for
your protection. If you’ll only escort me as far as New Mexico
until I reach the safety of my brother’s ranch ...”
    What on earth will I do if he
agrees?
she suddenly wondered in stark horror, somewhat awed
by her own newfound ability to spin tales on short notice. But the
next moment she realized she didn’t need to worry about that, for
Roy Steele displayed no signs of giving a damn about her supposed
predicament. The expression on his face was as menacing as
ever.
    “Why is it that I think you’re lying?” he
growled.
    “Really, Mr. Steele. Why would I lie?”
    There was silence in the room as their gazes
locked. Steele examined those astonishingly clear and intense eyes
of hers and against his will caught himself drowning in their pure
gray-green depths. She wasn’t being straight with him, he sensed
that, but he couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong with her
story. Instinct, that was all he had to go on, but it was the same
raw gut instinct that had kept him alive all across New Mexico,
Arizona, and Nevada over the past ten years. This beautiful young
woman with the delicate waif’s face and the long,