Lover Beware by Christine Feehan, Eileen Wilks, Fiona Brand, Katherine Sutcliffe

the man he had been. If he spent too much time thinking about it, his feelings made no sense, but he didn’t want to think about it. He simply accepted it, embraced the opportunity destiny had given him.
    Sarah called out, moving through the store with the natural grace Damon had come to associate with her. “Donna’s daughter went to school with Joley. Donna is a sweetheart, Damon—have you met her?” She peeked around the bead-curtained doorway leading to the back of the store.
    “I’ve seen her,” Damon said, “in Inez’s store. She and Inez like to exchange sarcasm.”
    “They’ve been friends for years. When Inez was sick a few years ago, Donna moved into Inez’s house and cared for her, ran her own gift shop and the grocery store. They just like to grouse at one another, but it’s all in fun. The back screen is open. That’s strange. Donoa has a phobia about insects. She never leaves doors open.” There was concern in her voice.
    Damon followed Sarah through the beaded curtain, noting the neatly stacked paper tied with cord and the barrel of plastic labeled with inch-high letters. “I’d have to say Donna knows more about recycling than most people.”
    “Of course she does.” Sarah’s tone was vague, as if she wasn’t paying much attention. “She just likes to give Inez something to say.”
    “You mean she does it on purpose?” Damon wanted to laugh but Sarah’s behavior was making him uneasy. They stepped out of the shop onto a back porch.
    The wind rushed them, coming at them from the sea. Coming from the direction of the cliff house. Sarah raised her face to the wind, closed her eyes for a moment. Damon watched her face, watched her body. There was a complete stillness about her. She was there with him physically, but he had the impression her spirit was riding on the wind. That mentally she was with her sisters in the cliff house.
    The wind chilled him, raised goose bumps on his arms, sent a shiver of alarm down his back. Something was wrong. Sarah knew something was wrong and he knew it now as well.
    Sarah opened her eyes and looked at him with apprehension. “Donna.” She whispered the name.
    The wind whipped leaves from the trees and whirled them in small eddies of chaos and confusion. Sarah watched the whirling mass of leaves intently. Her fingers closed around his wrist. “I don’t think she’s far but we have to hurry. Call the sheriff’s office. Tell them to send an ambulance and to send a car over. I think one of your kidnappers did decide to shop at Donna’s.”
    She started away from him, toward the small house that sat behind the gift shop. It was overgrown with masses of flowers and bushes, a virtual refuge in the middle of town. “Wait a minute!” Damon hesitated, torn between making the phone call and following Sarah. “What if someone’s still there, and what if the sheriff thinks I’m a nut?”
    “Someone is still there and just say I said hurry.” Sarah flung the words back over her shoulder. She was moving fast, yet silently, lithely, so graceful she reminded him of a stalking animal.
    Damon swore under his breath and hurried back inside the store. Inez was standing just inside the beaded curtain. Her face was very pale. “What is it?” she demanded, her hand fluttering to her heart.
    “Sarah said to call the sheriff and tell them to hurry. She also said to call an ambulance. Would you do that so I can make certain nothing happens to Sarah?” Damon spoke gently, afraid the older woman might collapse.
    Inez lifted her chin. “You go, I’ll have a dozen cops here immediately.”
    Damon breathed a sigh of relief and hurried after Sarah. She was already out of his sight, lost behind the rioting explosion of flowers. He silently cursed his bum leg. He could go anywhere if he went slowly enough but he couldn’t run and even walking fast was dangerous. His leg would simply give out.
    His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he feared it would explode.