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“Sorry, Isabella, but the answer remains no. Photograph Jonah or Mike.”
“I have pictures of all of them already.”
“My answer is still no.”
“Let me know if you change your mind,” she said, certain that he would.
“You’re a bit stubborn, aren’t you?”
“No more than you are,” she replied easily.
“Tell me about your life, Isabella,” he said. Every time he pronounced her name, it sounded different from when anyone else said it. Everything about Colin was unique. Sympathy created a strong tie to him. Also, was she empathetic just because she had known him for years and remembered who he had been?
She did know he held a dazzling appeal for her, and he must have felt something, too. She had glimpsed his reactions, heard his voice drop to a husky note. But Colin was the last man on earth she would want to find captivating. He was hard, cynical and cold. She was appalled and saddened that he hadn’t seen more of his family or let them know sooner that he was alive. Still, she could remember Colin as the happy person he had once been. His harshness was easier to understand when she considered the trauma he had experienced.
No matter what the reason, it was an incredible loss and waste for him to give up on life. She looked at his thickly lashed, smoky eyes. They were startlingly pale and intense against his dark looks. Locks of black hair fell over his forehead. He was thin, the hollows in his cheeks dark shadows beneath the prominent bones. He was ruggedly handsome and she knew he would photograph spectacularly. In a picture, the brooding look in his eyes would tell its own story.
“Remember when you rode the roller coaster with me?” she asked, wishing she could get a smile out of him.
One dark eyebrow climbed and he stared at her. “I sort of recall that day. Don’t be insulted, but that wasn’t high on my list of unforgettable moments. You were a skinny little girl. How old are you now, Isabella? Seems like you ought to be about nineteen, but I guess that’s not right.”
She laughed. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to ask a woman her age? But then, to you, I don’t qualify as a woman. You still see a skinny kid.”
“No,” he answered solemnly, giving her one of those somber looks that stole her breath, “you definitely qualify as a woman, Isabella.” He stood and moved to the sofa beside her and leaned forward to take her braid in his hand. “A very beautiful woman,” he said in a husky voice.
She couldn’t move or take her breath. How could he have such an effect on her when he neither intended it nor cared and it was unwanted on her part?
“I know you’re a hell of a lot younger than I am.” He began to unfasten her braid. “Your hair is long. Let’s see it out of that braid.”
She felt faint tugs against her scalp as she watched his hands at work. He had well-shaped fingers, thick wrists, strong-looking hands. Tiny scars spread across the backs of his hands and wrists and upper arms. He had pushed up the long, black sleeves of his knit shirt and his forearms were sprinkled with short black hairs.
He smelled soapy and clean. He glanced up at her and met her gaze and tension running between them jumped another notch.
“You shouldn’t have to run all your life,” she said.
“I don’t intend to,” he replied grimly, giving her a hard look. She wondered to what lengths he would go to stop the killer. “If I can’t get my memory back, there are places in the world where a person can go and live and never see another living soul.”
“You weren’t meant for that kind of life, Colin!” she exclaimed. “What a waste that would be! You can’t become a recluse.”
“Being a hermit isn’t a bad life.”
“To never love someone else, never have a family—”
“I don’t see you with a family. Are you in love with someone?”
Startled, she blinked at him and was mildly annoyed. “No, but I’m out in the world and I enjoy people, and someday in the future I might have a family. Even if I don’t, I have a full, active life. I’m not hiding from the world.”
“I’m not exactly going to hide from the world, just from a killer,” he said as if explaining the situation to a child. He shot her a dark look and she knew she had touched raw nerves and hurt him.
“Colin, I just remember how friendly you were. I’m prying and being as pesky as a little sister, I guess.” She smiled at him and he touched the corner of her mouth, a touch that sent fiery tingles to the center of her being.
“Your intentions are good, but you know the old saying about hell being paved with them. Watch out, Isabella. I’m not a lost cause you need to save. I know what I want.”
He finished unbraiding her hair and began to comb his fingers through the long locks that fell to her waist. Her straight hair now held slight waves from being plaited for hours. He caught up a handful and rubbed the strands across his cheek. “You have beautiful hair.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. He’d leaned close enough that she could see the faint dark stubble on his jaw. His short hair was thick, an unruly tangle above his forehead.
“So tell me about your life. What have you done since that roller coaster ride?”
“I went to the University of Southern California on a scholarship and got into photography and found my field. By my senior year I was making so much money with my photography that I dropped out of college.”
“You must be good at picture-taking.”
“Good enough,” she answered in amusement. “After another couple of years I had my own business, and it’s grown. Then when Boone settled here and liked it so much, he talked me into moving my business to Stallion Pass. Photography is something you can do anywhere, and a lot of people come into Stallion Pass for one reason or another. In a lot of ways it’s like a resort town.”
“So where is the romance in your life?”
“At the moment it’s nonexistent.”
“Which I find surprising. All right, who was there, and why is he gone?”
“There was someone a while back, but he wanted to get serious and I didn’t. I’m not ready for marriage.”
“Why not?”
“My business. Right now that’s more important. It won’t always be, but it is now.”
“Well, maybe you just haven’t met the right guy.”
If he weren’t so solemn, she would think he was teasing her, but he looked incapable of teasing anyone.
“Maybe I haven’t.”
“Any other guy, any other time?”
“In college—same deal. He wanted to get married and I didn’t. I have my plans for my business.”
“Sorry I won’t be around long enough to see some of your photographs.”
“Well, you can see at least one or two because I’ve taken some of Mike’s little girl, Jessie.” She was aware Colin still toyed with her hair, combing it through his fingers, letting it slip over his hand. “Colin, why didn’t you go into the witness protection program?” she asked. “You could have had a new life that would be almost like normal.”
“The killer is someone high up in the Agency. He would know where I am and who I was. I can handle a solitary life and I won’t have to worry about what’s behind the next tree or around the next bend. Or have government agents constantly after me to do something. I’ve served my time with the government and I want to end it soon.”
“Living in solitude for the rest of your life is like a prison sentence,” she argued, hating to see him give up on life.
“Solitude isn’t always bad. So what do you take pictures of?” he asked, turning the conversation away from himself.
“People, mostly. I do all sorts of portraits. A lot of babies and little children, newborns. I do weddings. I like it all. I had one assignment with a national magazine that took me to Patagonia and I loved it. I’ve had some showings of my photographs in galleries.”
“So, where are you building this house of yours?”
“Near this one. I’ll live close by. I bought an old house and had it torn down and I’m rebuilding what I want.”
“You wasted a house?”
“I didn’t want it, but I like the location and there aren’t any more lots available right around here.”
She heard the hall clock chime and then, an hour later, she heard it chime again. She liked talking to Colin, yet the whole time, she still felt an underlying sadness over the changes in him and the life he led. When the clock chimed three, she noticed the time.
“It’s getting late. Let’s go find you a bedroom. I need to go to bed. Jessie is up about seven in the morning. She won’t care what time I went to sleep.” Isabella stood. “So how safe are we tonight? We don’t have an alarm now, and one pane is out of one of the windows.”
“I’ll stay down here and guard you,” Colin decided. “I left a backpack outside behind the bush by the window. I’ll go out and get it.”
“Let me get it for you,” Isabella suggested. “You tell me where you put it, and that way you won’t be outside where anyone can see you.”
He nodded and led the way to the room where he’d entered the house. He pointed at the bush. “My backpack is there.”
“I’ll get it. I’ll have to call someone to come out and fix the alarm tomorrow.”
“Mike needs to get a different type of alarm. A lot of men can do exactly what I did. It was almost as easy as walking through the front door.”
“I wonder if that’s true at Boone’s and Jonah’s,” she mused.
“At least they’re out on ranches. That’s more challenging, but not impossible to break into. Wouldn’t hurt for all of them to take a close look at their security.”
“I’ll get your backpack.” She raised the window and put her leg over the sill.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Going out the way you came in. It’ll be easier.” She slipped outside and dropped to the ground, retrieving the backpack and turning to hand it to him through the open window. He reached down to lift her inside, his hands picking her up under her arms. She placed her hands on his forearms and felt the muscles knot.
He swung her inside with ease and set her on her feet, looking down at her. They stood in the darkened room. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark and she was certain his had, also.
“You’re as light as a feather,” he said.
She didn’t want to move away, her hands still resting on his arms. His hands slipped down to her waist. She wondered how long since he had kissed a woman. Was he going to kiss her now?
Chapter 3
He stepped back, inches farther from her. “You’ve got your life, Isabella, and I have mine. Don’t conjure up things that aren’t there.”
“You’re scared to let go and live again. Talk about waste—”
“I’m not complicating my life or yours anymore than I already have,” he said, and she knew she should leave him alone.
Wordlessly, she moved away and he picked up his backpack.
“You know where the bathroom is. I’ll show you one of the downstairs bedrooms. We should be safe.”
“I agree. But I’ll still sleep on the sofa. I’m a light sleeper.”
She led him to a bedroom and switched on a small lamp. The four-poster was covered in white eyelet and she couldn’t imagine Colin in the fancy bed. And she knew she shouldn’t try. She eyed the backpack. “Those are your things?”
“I travel lightly,” he said. “Clothes wash and I don’t need much to get along.”
“I think there are clothes here, and Mike probably has some that would fit you. You’re thinner, but about his height. There may be a robe in that closet.”
“I don’t need a robe,” he said. “I’m all right. Go to sleep and don’t worry. I’ll hear anything that’s amiss.”
“Well, if someone breaks in, don’t be so polite this time. You hit the intruder.”
“Now wouldn’t that have been terrible if I had hauled off and struck you?”
“Me, yes. Someone breaking in here, no.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t be anyone friendly coming after me, and I won’t hesitate,” he said, touching her hair. The light was a soft glow and they were standing close. Once again, her heart began a drumroll. His smoky eyes darkened as he stood looking at her.
She tilted her head to study him and touched his jaw lightly. “You should live where there are people who care about you, get back your old life.”
“Never.” He shook his head. “I won’t go through that pain twice in my life and I won’t ever trust a woman with my heart again, not after Danielle,” he said harshly, his gray eyes growing glacial.
“Half the world takes love lightly,” she said in exasperation, wishing she could reach him. “People marry and divorce with tears shed and short-term pain. You four guys fall in love with someone and it’s a forever deal. Jonah didn’t want to live without Kate. He didn’t date. He was bitter. Now you’re the same way, torn apart over your fiancée after all this time.”
“You’ve never been in love, Isabella, not really in love. Those guys who wanted to marry you and you didn’t want to, you weren’t in love. You don’t know what it’s like. And it is a forever thing. One love, always.”
“If it had been a ‘forever thing,’ for your sweetheart, she wouldn’t have married someone else. Get over Danielle, Colin. It was over for her a long time ago. Life is wonderful and people are marvelous and caring and exciting. Stop trying to be the walking dead and come back into life.” Isabella knew she should stop, but this was probably the last time she would be alone with Colin. Tomorrow morning she would be busy with Jessie. Then she expected Colin to be with Mike and the other guys and then gone forever.
“I’ll bet you’ve never been a coward about anything else in your life,” she said. “But you’re scared to live.”
“You’re scared to love!” he snapped back, a muscle twitching in his jaw.
She blinked and then stared hard at him. Slowly she shook her head. “No, I’m not,” she said. She stepped close, wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Stunned, he was caught off guard as much as he had been the first few seconds he had accosted her in the dark hallway when he’d broken in. When her tongue slid over his, his insides clenched, his heart thudded and he came to life.
His arm banded her waist. Standing in the middle of an inferno could not heat him more. Holding her tightly in his embrace, he leaned over her while he kissed her in return. She wouldn’t call him scared again.
The desire was like an explosion. Something he hadn’t felt in so long, it shocked him. His body had been as numb as his heart. But he was coming back to life in a rush.
Passion raged like a roaring bonfire. His heart thudded and he ran his hand down her back, over her buttocks, pulling her up tightly against him as he kissed her long and thoroughly.
Anger, lust, a staggering hunger for her mouth rocked him and he poured himself into kisses that were the first real ones in too long to remember. Her kisses were hot and sweet and unbearable torment.
Then he remembered that he was holding Boone’s sister in his arms.
Colin raised his head, gazing down at her as she opened her eyes. Fire burned in depths of blue, accelerating his pulse. It was an effort to release her. Her lips were red, her long hair cascaded around her face and over her shoulders. Her nipples pushed against the tight T-shirt and her breathing was as ragged as his as they stared at each other.
“You’re off limits.” His voice grated. “I haven’t—” He broke off his words.
