Keeping Guard

“But you’re there now? You found Nate?”

“Yeah, I’m here now.” She glanced around the small apartment. “But I don’t know about Nate. I think I’m just going to be in his way. And you know me, I like to do things my way.”

“Yes, believe me, I know you.” Her brother chuckled. “Listen, I know Nate comes across as tough, but once you get to know him, he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. He’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

Kylie raised an eyebrow as she remembered their introduction earlier. “I have my doubts.”

“Kylie, believe me. You can trust Nate. I wouldn’t have sent you there if you couldn’t.”

She didn’t know who she could trust. And of all the people who came to mind, Nate Richardson sure wasn’t one of them. Not with the cold reception she’d received from him. Not that she could blame him. He had been rendered unconscious because of her.

“Thanks for your help, big bro. You’ll let me know as soon as he’s arrested, right?”

“You’ll be the first person to know. One of the officers here is a dead ringer for you. She’s going to do the cooking demonstration on Friday and we’ll wait for your ‘friend’ to show up. Then we’ll arrest him. We’ve got him on breaking and entering and harassment. This nightmare will be over soon. I promise.”

Kylie closed her eyes and said a feeble prayer that things would go as planned. “Thanks, Bruce.”

“Tell Nate I said hi. And Kylie? You can trust him.”

She still wasn’t sure about that. “Thanks.”

She hung up and shivered again. She had to get some dry clothes.

She glanced out the window as lightning flashed across the nighttime sky. The last thing she wanted was to go outside again. Was the only way to get to her car through that dark alley again? There had to be another way. She bit her lip, considering her options.

Beneath her, a nice-size puddle had formed on the floor. She opened a door beside the bathroom, hoping to find some towels. Nothing. She frowned. She couldn’t—or shouldn’t, at least—complain. At least the place was furnished. But the furnishings would do nothing right now to keep her from catching cold in her soaked clothing.

That settled it. She had to get to her car. She could ask Nate to go with her.

She shook her head, remembering his rotten mood and realizing she’d only further perturb him by disturbing him now. They’d already gotten off to a rough start.

As quietly as possible, she opened the door and tiptoed into the hallway. A wooden floorboard creaked underneath her and she shushed it. Lightly, she crept down the stairs. She paused at the outside door, trying to gather her courage before plunging into the night.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Nate stood at the top of the steps and watched as Kylie gasped, turned around and pressed herself against the door with wide eyes. A hand went over her heart. The woman looked almost childlike with her big eyes and delicate features.

“You scared me to death.” Kylie’s hand moved from her heart to her forehead and she closed her eyes, looking as if she wanted to melt right then and there.

“Yeah, same here. I thought someone was trying to break in.” He lumbered the rest of the way down the stairs, his head still throbbing. When would that aspirin kick in? “What are you doing? You have no business going out at this hour.”

“I need my bags.” She looked down at her clothes. “I’ve got to change or I’ll end up sick and be no help to you at all.”

It was true. Nate had already changed into some sweats and a T-shirt. He hated to go back out into that rain again. But he would, like it or not. His mother had raised him well.

He nodded the opposite way of the back door. “Come on. We’ll go through the kitchen and avoid some of the storm outside.”

He didn’t check to see if Kylie was following him. He could hear her soft steps behind him, though. He unlocked the door leading to his kitchen and allowed her to go inside first.

She stopped in the doorway and her face lit up as she looked around. “This is fabulous.”

Her compliment gave him a small amount of satisfaction. “Thanks. I like it.”

She stepped forward and gingerly ran her finger across the tile counter. “You’ve kept this as original as possible to a Colonial times restaurant, haven’t you? That’s just brilliant.”

Nate watched her carefully, surprised by her fascination and knowledge. “Yeah, I wanted to give people the experience of what it would be like to eat in Revolutionary War times—with a few modern amenities, of course. That’s why they come to Yorktown, after all. To experience a bit of the past.”

She twirled around, apparently forgetting about her wet clothes and whatever problems had brought her here. Her eyes seemed to absorb each and every appliance—or lack thereof. She looked like a girl who’d woken up on Christmas morning to find she’d gotten everything she’d asked for.

“This is going to be amazing.”

Nate actually felt his lip begin to twitch in the start of a grin. Seeing someone who actually had some passion for the place felt nice. He only wished he had a touch of that same fire. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I more than like it. I’m just…I’m amazed. Maybe being here won’t be so bad after all.”

The beginning of Nate’s smile slipped into a frown. She seemed to catch what she said and she dropped her hand from the countertop to look at him with doelike eyes. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, Kylie.” He stepped around her, going toward the front door.

If she didn’t need to apologize, then why did he feel so annoyed? He knew the answer. He’d already screwed up one rescue mission and he had no intention of screwing up another. But Kylie—the very person he was trying to save—could very well be his biggest obstacle also.

Just as he reached the front door, lightning brightened the sky to purple. The flash of light illuminated a man at the restaurant’s front window. The man stood with his hands to his eyes, peering through the glass into the darkness.

Before Nate could say a word, a splitting scream cut the air.

FOUR

“Harvey,” Nate mumbled, walking toward the door.

The tall, lanky man grinned and waved from outside, clueless to how shocking it had been to see his face pressed to the glass.

Nate unlocked the door and pushed it open. “All due respect, Harvey, but are you crazy?”

Harvey stepped inside, shaking the rain from his coat. His miniature poodle walked in behind him and followed suit, sending water all over the entryway.

“No, I’m not crazy. Your earlier fiasco, you know, the one where you drug me out of bed? Well, that woke up Tinkerbell and she insisted on coming outside in the rain for a little potty break. As I was walking past, I saw the light on and just wanted to make sure all was okay.”

Nate glanced behind him at Kylie, who still stood with a ghost-white complexion. Her hands gripped the countertop, the skin tight over her knuckles. The woman was a basket case. He knew she needed to hide for a few days, that someone had threatened her. But he would need to find out more. Terrified seemed to be an understatement.

“Harvey, wait here with Kylie for a minute, will you?” He turned to Kylie. “Kylie, let me have your car keys so I can grab your stuff.”

She nodded, fished through her pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. She tossed them to Nate, her hands trembling. She noticed him staring and quickly stuffed her fingers into her jean pockets.

With Kylie under Harvey’s watchful eye, Nate jogged into the rain to her car—the only one in front of his restaurant at this hour. He popped the trunk and heaved out a large—very large—suitcase. This is how the woman packed for a few days?

He slammed the trunk closed and hauled the suitcase inside.

Harvey and Kylie were chatting like old friends when Nate stepped back into the restaurant. Kylie’s face had lost some of its ashen appearance as she squatted, petting Tinkerbell. He noticed her hands still trembled, though.

She stood when Nate approached and leveled her gaze with his, seeming to retrieve some of her confidence. Nate dropped the suitcase in front of her, a little harder than he intended. “Dry clothes.”

He chose not to mention that his were now soaking wet—again. Instead, he looked at Harvey. “Why don’t you go out the back door, Harvey? You won’t get quite as wet.”

“Sounds good.” Harvey winked at Kylie before turning to walk through the kitchen. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning!”

“Tomorrow morning?” Nate questioned.

“I just invited you and Kylie over for breakfast. We’ve got to get to know our new neighbor. It’s the Southern way.”

Nate started to argue but changed his mind. “I’ll see you then, Harvey.” He opened the door for his neighbor, watched as he exited and then turned, expecting to see Kylie behind him. She was gone.

Curiously, he wandered down the hall, through the kitchen and back into the dining area. By the front door, Kylie knelt with a roll of paper towels, wiping up the rain Harvey dripped inside.

“You don’t have to do that, Kylie.”

She glanced up, her face pale again. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. Besides, I need to earn my keep. Call me crazy, but it’s the way I was raised.”

He started to deny what she’d said but changed his mind. Instead, he grabbed some more paper towels and wiped at the wet footprints tracked across the floor.

After they finished cleaning, Nate touched Kylie’s arm. She flinched.

“Listen, I know you’re wet and tired. Will you do me a favor, though?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Go upstairs, change and then come back down here, have some coffee and tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you if I’m in the dark.”

She looked numb as she said, “Okay.”

“Let me get your suitcase upstairs for you then.”

Dressed in dry yoga pants, a sweatshirt and slippers, Kylie crept downstairs. Her gaze darted to every dark corner. She flinched at each creak of the old wooden staircase. Her heart sped as she paused by the backdoor.

How had her life become this? Just when she’d been doing so well, truly beginning to stand on her own feet. Then one man had decided to turn her world upside down.

She’d fought coming here, convinced herself that going into hiding made her look weak. She wanted to stay in Kentucky and confront her faceless nightmare head on. Her brother insisted staying in Kentucky wasn’t safe. And after that last encounter with the person she called “the Man in Black,” she’d conceded—but not happily.

She’d come to refer to him as the Man in Black because that was simply all she knew about her stalker. Not knowing what his face looked like only increased her anxiety. His eyes and features were always shadowed by that hood. He could be anyone.

Kylie had seen him only three times. Once he’d been outside the window at her house. Another time he’d been watching in the distance as she went grocery shopping. He hadn’t gotten close to her, but she’d known it was him from the way he’d stood idly by, watching. And at her last cooking demonstration, he’d been there, at the back of the crowd. By the time she’d alerted someone, he’d disappeared, probably abandoning the sweatshirt so police couldn’t identify him.

All she knew was that he was tall, broad-shouldered, relatively thin. On the phone, his voice sounded gravelly and low—probably disguised. In emails, he used proper English, which made Kylie think he had to be educated. On handwritten notes, his writing appeared calm, controlled—like he knew just what he was doing.

Kylie shuddered.

She’d been over a list of suspects with the police, but the list seemed so ambiguous. There was the fan who constantly left aggressive messages on the public online forum to her cooking show. Of course, the police could never trace the address, as the man seemed to use computers at various places around town, all without security cameras. However, the stalker could be someone who’d given no clue to his identity—someone who’d watched her show and developed an obsession, someone who’d seen her shopping and she’d caught his eye. He could be a friend, a neighbor, an ex-boyfriend.

At the thought of an ex-boyfriend, Kylie squeezed her eyes closed. Colin was far too sophisticated and cultured to pull off a stunt like this. Besides, he’d avoided her since they broke up. Why would he avoid her in general and stalk her at every other time? Sure, he’d been controlling, but he would never go this far.

Would he?

They’d dated for a year before Kylie finally had the sense to break up with him. He was the president of a local advertising agency. She’d catered an event at his office and he’d immediately taken an interest in her. She’d been flattered and, initially, swept off her feet. His strength and advice had been comforting in the beginning. But as she got to know him, she realized that the more they were together, the more she was losing herself.

Slowly, he’d begun to isolate her from her friends and family. He’d begun to critique everything she did. He’d begun giving career advice and calling her producer to insist he make it happen. He’d even figured out her email password and begun answering her emails. He’d accepted invitations or declined opportunities without so much as a mention to Kylie. He’d claimed he was only trying to make her into the successful woman she had the potential to be, and in order to do so, she needed to align herself with certain people and write others out of her life completely.

The final straw came when she found out he was cheating on her. She wished she’d seen the signs earlier, that she’d gotten out before discovering his betrayal. The good thing, she comforted herself, was that at least she’d gotten out.

Despite his cheating, Colin hadn’t taken the breakup well. Told her she’d realize her mistake and come running back.

She hadn’t.

Instead, she’d avoided him whenever possible and comforted herself with her friends and family, who’d been terribly neglected. Life had finally started feeling normal and happy again.

Until her stalker showed up.

She braced herself to face Nate. She rounded the corner into the dining room, where Nate sat with two steaming mugs before him. The rain still pounded against the window as the storm raged outside.

Kylie took a minute to observe him as she approached. He really was a good-looking guy in a tough, outdoorsy type of way. As his arms rested on the table, she noticed the fine definition of his muscles peeking out from under his T-shirt. She scolded herself for even noticing.

Nate nodded her way when he spotted her in the doorway, thankfully not seeming to notice that she’d been staring. “Come on over and have a seat, Kylie.”

Her slippers made no sound as she crossed the floor and sat across from Nate. He pushed a ceramic mug toward her.

“It’s decaf.”

She wrapped her fingers around the warmth of the mug. “Thanks.” She normally used cream and sweetener, but tonight she’d drink it black. She sipped the bitter liquid.

“So, Kylie, I need you to tell me what’s going on. I don’t mind you staying here—I’m more than happy to help out you and your brother—but I need to know more about the circumstances bringing you here.”

How did she tell him without causing him to overreact? Of course, with everything that had already happened since she arrived, him overreacting could be a forgone conclusion.

“How much did Bruce tell you?”

“Just that he was fearful for your safety. He told me you would fill in the rest of the blanks.”

She’d have to give her brother credit for that. It must have killed him not to go into detail, but that’s what Kylie had requested. She wanted to handle this mess on her terms, as much as possible, at least.

She sucked in a breath. “The rest of the story would be that a man has been following me—stalking me, I suppose—for the last several months. Recently, he’s become more aggressive. It’s become more and more apparent that this man has no intention of backing off. The police finally collected enough evidence to press charges, but first they have to figure out whom to press charges against. My brother is working with the police to set up a sting and make that happen. I just need to lie low until everything settles.” She looked away and took a sip of coffee.

“Are you sure he didn’t follow you here?”

The thought caused fear to grip her heart as the emotion had done several times already this evening. “I’m not sure of anything, Nate. My brother is the only one who knew I was coming here. I didn’t even tell my best friend or boss. I took back roads on my way here. I didn’t see any signs of anyone following me. But this man always seems to be a step ahead of me.”

“And you have no idea who he is?”

She shook her head. “No idea. I’ve never seen his face.”

“Which is why you freaked out when you saw me approaching you with my sweatshirt hood up…”

She nodded and glanced at the knot already forming at his temple. “I’m sorry about that. Is your head okay?”

His eyes darkened. “I’ll be fine.” He leaned back in his chair and took a breath. “You know anything about working in a restaurant, Kylie?”

“A restaurant? No, not terribly much. But I have experience as a cook.”

He cocked an eyebrow and waited for her to explain.

Was this the time to tell Nate about her cooking show back in Kentucky? Or about the successful catering business that she and her friend had started? No, she decided. She’d have time to share that later. Right now, her head pounded and she needed some time alone.

She stood. “I’ll explain tomorrow. I promise you have nothing to worry about. I may not have restaurant expertise, but I’ve got plenty of experience. But before I get into that, I could really use some sleep.”

In her room, Kylie pulled the covers up tight around her neck. Despite adding another layer of clothing, shivers still racked her body. Was the weather causing her chills? Or could it be everything that had happened?

She pushed her face into her pillow, remembering what a fiasco tonight had been. The fact that someone had intimidated her enough for her to go running sent a flare of anger up her spine—at herself and her stalker. She fought against anyone dictating what would happen with her, preferring to make her own decisions. But now she found herself in this situation.

Thunder rolled outside. She pulled the covers up to her eyes.

Soon enough, all this would be over. Her brother had promised her. She expected a call sometime this week saying that her stalker had been arrested and she could go back home and resume her normal life.

She sighed and turned over in bed. Would her life ever be normal again? Or would she always jump at every shadow, tense at every unknown sound? She bit her bottom lip, hoping that wouldn’t be the case. She’d overcome other obstacles in her life—big obstacles. She could overcome this also.

As thunder grumbled again outside, Kylie realized she shouldn’t have drunk that coffee, even if the brew was decaf. Despite how tired she’d felt downstairs, her mind felt fully alert right now. She glanced at the clock beside her bed. 3:23 a.m.

She pressed her head back into the pillow, wishing sleep would find her. Instead, her thoughts raced, replaying her drive here.

Could she really be certain that no one had followed her? She’d continuously checked her rearview mirror for headlights. At times on the road, no one was behind her. That meant no one could be trailing her, right? She had no reason not to feel safe here.

Her heart slowed some.

She sat up and flicked the light on. She had to distract her self from these thoughts before she went crazy. From the floor, she grabbed her oversized purse, reached into it and pulled out a paperback novel.

Reading always relaxed her. This particular book was a romance novel. Just the thing to distract her from her troubles.

She leaned back into her pillows and opened the first page.

She gasped.

Written across the inside cover, in fat red marker, were the words “Kylie, I’ll always be watching you.”

FIVE

Nate’s eyes drooped with sleepiness as he rapped on Kylie’s door at seven the next morning. He’d downed two cups of decaf and three cups of full-strength coffee last night to make himself stay awake. Good for his possible concussion but bad for his mental health.

He hadn’t been able to get Kylie Summers’s porcelain face and delicate figure out of his mind throughout his sleepless hours. He didn’t know what he’d expected of his best friend’s sister, but not the beautiful woman who’d shown up three hours late with rain plastering her chestnut hair to her face and wide, imploring eyes.

He rapped at her door again, harder this time.

“Coming.” The word couldn’t have been said with much less enthusiasm.

Nate shifted his weight until Kylie finally pulled open the door. The circles under her eyes showed him that she clearly hadn’t gotten much more sleep than he had. But she still looked beautiful, even in khaki pants and a long-sleeved red T-shirt.

“Morning.” She barely smiled as she reached over to grab her coat from the couch.

Nate stuffed his hands into his pockets, unsure of exactly what to say to his new boarder. “Morning, Kylie. Rough night?”

“You could say that.”

“Too much on your mind?”

She reached back inside the apartment and fumbled with something before finally revealing a book. She shoved the paperback toward him and frowned. “Open it.”

He did as she said. His eyes widened at the roughly written words on the inside cover. “You just found this?”

“No, I found the message last night as I tried to relax before going to bed.”

“Hence your sleepless night.” He stared at the words, personalized to Kylie so she could make no mistake they were written for her. “When did you get this book?”

She answered immediately, probably because she’d been replaying all those events during her sleepless night. “Right before I left for this trip. I bought it at the grocery store and stuck it in my purse.”

“Did you go anywhere after that?”

She shrugged. “I stopped by work for a few minutes to pick up some papers and then I had dinner with my brother.”

“Any opportunities for someone to access your purse?”

“Apparently.” She shrugged, sounding defeated. “It makes no sense.”

“I’m sorry, Kylie. I know this guy has got you shaken up.”

“He’s right, you know. He is always watching me. He must have been waiting until just the right moment when he could grab the book from my purse and send me that message.” She tossed the book back onto the dinette and raised her eyebrows in conjunction with her sigh. Nate couldn’t help but think she looked like she bore the weight of the world. “It doesn’t matter now, I guess. What matters now is that we go eat breakfast.”

“I know Harvey and Darlene will be a nice distraction from everything. They always are. Full of surprises.”

“I would have guessed that.” Her face registered a slight but genuine smile.

The two walked silently down the steps and out the back door. A brisk wind greeted them, matching the gray day. Kylie’s gaze roamed the parking lot behind his restaurant.

“So, this is Yorktown?”

Nate shrugged. “Well, this is a public parking lot for Yorktown. The rest of the town is there on the waterfront or on the bluff to the south.” He pointed to the blocks of historic houses. “There’s some great stuff to see around here if you like history.”

“It was always one of my best subjects in school.” She stuffed her hands into her coat pockets as they journeyed across the parking lot toward Harvey’s house. “I’ll have to take some time to explore, if I have the chance. Of course, I may not be here long enough.”

It sounded like they were both praying for the same thing.

They reached the house, which also served as a bed-and-breakfast, and Nate rang the doorbell. He knew the couple didn’t have any guests at the time. Immediately, Tinkerbell began barking inside. Sometimes Nate was convinced that the couple would never know anyone was at their door if it weren’t for that dog. Neither of their hearing was great.