Heart Of A Lawman

For a second she felt suspended…her world turned upside down…a roller-coaster ride…only this time with no safety net….

Chapter Two

Josie fought the panic attack that threatened to engulf her. Shaking…lack of breath…heart threatening to pound right out of her chest.

She hadn’t fallen far, she told herself as rationally as she could—only to the rotting floor—but her boot had gone through the boards, ankle-deep. She tried to free herself. But no matter how she turned or twisted her foot, she couldn’t seem to manage it.

She was stuck!

Gasping for air, ribs and chest hurting where the seat belt had constrained her, she told herself to calm down. She was all right. She could get through this.

Unless…

Ghost memories of hands on her, touching her, pushing her, jumped back at her in a flash.

But had it really even happened?

She couldn’t say for certain. She only knew that same sensation of personal violation had invaded the deep unconscious from which she’d thought she would never awaken while in the hospital. That same sense of physical unease had pressed down on her then, too.

The same paranoia.

Josie willed herself to focus on any lurking danger, but she could no more see a threat in the dark than she could her own fingernails, which were digging painful little ditches in her palms.

Through fear-stiff lips she whispered, “Is someone there?”

Every muscle in her body tightened into knots as she waited for a response.

“Meow.”

She jumped. The cat! She’d almost forgotten….

“Yes, kitty, I’m still here.”

But was she the only one?

No noise alerted her to another presence. No sudden intake of breath. No stirring of foot against rubble. And the cat’s call had once more sounded pitiful rather than angry.

If any threat had been present a moment ago, surely now it was gone.

Not wanting to think too deeply on it, she muttered, “Give me a minute, kitty, and I’ll get us both out of here.” And willed her hands to unclench.

Panic receding, Josie carefully slid her bottom forward over creaking boards and hunched up as close to her foot as her aching middle would allow. Blindly, she felt for the problem. Ragged wood had gashed and caught the worn leather of her boot and held it fast in several places.

Concentrating on working herself free, Josie almost missed the import of several quiet footfalls coming at her.

Then her hands stiffened again and sweat popped down her spine. A wave of intense heat poured through her as she literally ripped at the wooden slivers trapping her boot. Carefully, she wiggled her foot and pulled…even as a bright light suddenly blinded her more effectively than had the dark.

“What are you up to?” came an arrogant male demand.

Freed at last, avoiding looking directly into the beam, Josie put out a hand to shade her eyes. All she could fathom was a dark silhouette against the bright light. Her impression was of a tall man, one broader than most. She cautiously rose, careful not to step back into trouble.

“Maybe you should be the one answering that,” she said more bravely than she was feeling.

“I’m not the one sneaking around here in the dark.”

“I wasn’t sneaking! I heard the cat—”

“What cat?” The disembodied voice sounded rife with suspicion.

Helpfully, the animal she’d been trying to rescue chose that moment to agree in the tiniest of voices—one Josie hadn’t before heard—almost as if the feline were satisfied that her rescue was imminent.

The bright beam moved away from her toward the sound. She followed its course and finally was able to see the object she’d been fumbling over—a cat carrier with a glowing-eyed occupant peering out hopefully at them.

“Meow.”

Josie reconnoitered, decided to get going and fast. But she wasn’t about to leave the animal she’d determined to rescue. Thinking she could use the carrier as a weapon if she needed to—only if forced, of course, lest she further scared the poor creature inside—Josie swooped down on the cage. Ignoring the pain that twinged through her middle, she grabbed hold of the handle and proceeded to bluff her way out of the place, a distant gray haze identifying the general area that would lead to the street.

“Wait a minute!”

She quickened her step toward the film of light ahead, muttering, “Forget it. I’m outta here!”

The beam turned and swept before her. “Have some light before you really hurt yourself.”

Josie didn’t so much as falter. She kept right on going, straight out the door. Just in case she needed some, she looked around for help. The street was deserted—no chatty women, no sleepy cowpoke. But the black SUV had been abandoned at the curb opposite.

Had the driver been looking for her, after all?

Knowing she was alone but for her furry companion, Josie flipped around and bravely faced him.

He was tall. He was broad. And he was definitely unhappy. A scowl marred an otherwise attractive face—rather, as much as she could see of it beneath his broad-brimmed black hat. His hard gaze met hers, trapping her as effectively as had the broken boards.

Any thanks for the rescue she might have uttered died on her lips.

“So what was this cat doing inside what should be a boarded-up building?”

His demand for an explanation immediately made her bristle. “Like I should know?”

“You obviously knew the cat was there.”

He moved closer to her, and his aura of power threatened to smother her. Normally she didn’t put credence to that sort of thing, but when her pulse lurched, Josie took a step back. Then she winced when the cat carrier smacked into a sore spot. A sudden acid taste in her mouth soured her mood further. If anyone had meant her harm in there, this man couldn’t have been the one, she assured herself, or he wouldn’t be asking so many questions.

Realizing that she probably had been alone, that she had spooked herself, and that her imagination had conjured some other “presence,” that, sensing her fear, the cat had appropriately responded to, Josie couldn’t figure out why this stranger had such a suffocating effect on her.

What in the world was wrong with her?

“I told you I heard the cat,” she finally said to break his invisible grip.

“And so you just went inside…”