Love Inspired Suspense January 2014 by Shirlee McCoy, Dana Mentink, Jill Elizabeth Nelson, Jodie Bailey

them. Not in any way that she thought Hunter would understand.
    â€œThere. Done.” She stood.
    â€œNot quite.” He grabbed her wrist, tugging her to a stop.
    â€œWh—”
    He flipped her hand over, frowning at the raw skin on her palm. “This is going to hurt for a few days.”
    â€œI’ll live.”
    â€œLet’s hope so,” he muttered, swabbing her hand with alcohol.
    It stung like crazy, but she refused to complain.
    He was right. She’d done this to herself.
    â€œYou know,” she said as he studied her other palm, “you didn’t let me do this, Hunter. I did it all by myself.”
    â€œI don’t agree. Neither do my coworkers.”
    She hadn’t thought about how her escape might be viewed by the men and women who worked for Hunter. She’d known before she’d met him that he had a great reputation within the marshals. The FBI agents and prosecuting attorney that she’d met with after Joe’s death had assured her that the best of the best would be protecting her and making sure she made it to trial safely.
    Her escape had probably embarrassed Hunter, and she hated that. The last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt someone.
    â€œSometimes I do things without thinking them through,” she admitted.
    â€œI guess that makes you human.” He finished cleaning her palms and tossed wrappers and gauze onto the table. “How about we just move on from here?”
    â€œSo, forgive and forget?”
    â€œMore like forgive and remember so that we can learn from our mistakes.” He smiled a little as he answered, his eyes the deep black of a moonless night. They were darker than she’d thought, the irises rimmed with black, his lashes thick and long.
    A handsome man. Really handsome, and she wasn’t quite sure why it had taken her so long to notice.
    She looked away, saw that Sophia had snatched several Band-Aids from the first-aid kit.
    It was as good a distraction as any.
    She took them and spent a little too much time neatly organizing the box.
    Hunter didn’t say a word, but she could feel the weight of his stare, feel the warmth of his body as he moved closer.
    â€œYou can’t avoid it forever,” he said quietly.
    â€œWhat?” Did he know that she had been avoiding his eyes, his handsome face, the butterflies that were fluttering in her stomach?
    â€œHearing the new plan and agreeing to it.”
    â€œOkay.” Relieved, she closed the first-aid kit, met his eyes. “Go ahead. Tell me all about it.”

EIGHT
    â€œA re you kidding me?” Annie said so loudly that Hunter was pretty sure the windowpanes shook. “That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard!”
    He’d had a feeling she would react that way when he’d told her that he planned to bring her to the house he shared with Burke.
    Truth be told, he wasn’t all that happy with the plan, either, but after discussing it with the team, he’d had to agree that it was the best option for keeping Annie safe.
    â€œI disagree. The worst plan would be me putting you into another safe house.”
    â€œActually,” she said, lifting Sophia into her arms and heading toward the door. “The worst plan would be me sticking around and hoping that you guys can still do what you promised me that you would.”
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œForget the meeting with Antonio. Forget the whole thing! I’m getting out of here.” The meeting with Antonio had been postponed until they got Annie settled, but Hunter didn’t think now was the right time to tell her that. “Where are you going?”
    â€œI don’t know.” She tossed the words over her shoulder as she walked into the hall.
    He followed, but he didn’t try to stop her.
    Let her go and see how far she could get with no transportation and no money.
    Not far. That was for sure. She didn’t even have a purse.