Neither of them made a move to leave the bed for several long, wonderful minutes. The phone in his kitchen began to ring, the sound distant and yet a reminder that they were not alone in the world. Silas ignored the phone, and eventually it stopped ringing. No more than a minute later the persistent ring started again.
Silas sighed and left the bed, grabbing his pants off the floor and ordering her, in a nice but firm way, to stay put. She did.
When he returned a couple of minutes later, all evidence of his contentment had disappeared. He frowned, a little. There was a little crease between his brows that she hadn’t seen before.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up and bringing a corner of the sheet with her. It was a little late to be modest, but still…
“That was Jordan on the phone. A man came into her place asking when the beauty shop was going to open up.”
She tried to ignore the chill of warning that crept up her spine. When would she stop seeing Blake everywhere? “Could be anyone needing a haircut.”
“Jordan didn’t think so. She had a bad feeling about him.”
“What did he look like?” Not Blake, please, not Blake.
“Maybe forty, blond hair, blue eyes.”
There were millions of blond-haired blue-eyed men, and any one of them might’ve wandered into Mystic Springs as she had. She wanted to believe the man who’d been downtown looking for her was nothing more than a stranger in need of a haircut.
But she didn’t. The man who’d come looking for her was the same one who’d scared her into hiding here. It was the man who made her lock all her doors, and hide from cameras, and always sit with her back to the wall. She had seen him at Eve’s window a couple of days ago. That face that had come and gone so quickly hadn’t been her imagination; it was her worst nightmare come true.
“I have to go,” she said.
A moment ago she’d been relaxed, happy, even peaceful. Now she was frantic, returning to flight mode in the blink of an eye. She leapt from the bed, started gathering her clothes, and dressed so quickly it took Silas a moment to realize that she was in a panic.
“What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer his simple question.
Silas rounded the bed, and as Gabi straightened with her bra and blouse in her hands, he placed steady hands on her shoulders. He asked again, “What’s wrong?”
She went very still. “I guess it doesn’t matter, now. I’m going to have to leave town.”
“Why?”
“Mia’s father. I know it’s him, looking for me. I don’t have much time. He’ll find me, he’ll…”
“No one is going to hurt you, I promise.”
She laughed, but it wasn’t a pretty laugh, not at all. “My ex-husband, Blake Pierce, will kill me and take Mia, if he gets even half a chance.”
“Your….”
She didn’t wait for him to go any further. “My real name is Gabi Pierce. Gabrielle Katherine Pierce. I’d planned to go back to my maiden name after the divorce, but since Mia is a Pierce, whether I like it or not, I changed my mind. We should have the same last name. Lawson is just a name I plucked out of the air when I came to Mystic Springs. I lied to you,” she said, knowing it was a truth that would hurt him. “I lied to you and everyone in town about who I am and why I’m here.”
After a moment of silence he said, “You had your reasons.”
“I did. I do. And now I have to get out of town. If Blake finds me…” She felt the blood drain from her face, and her heartbeat sped up. “If he finds Mia…”
They both finished dressing as quickly as they could and ran for the truck.
It had been fun while it lasted. It hadn’t lasted long,
He’d started off trying his best to find an easy way to get Gabi out of town. Lately he’d been wondering what was best for her and the kid, whether they should stay or go. And now here he was trying to think of a way to convince her to stay. Stupid.
Whether she left town or not, her ex-husband wasn’t going to hurt her. He’d see to that.
“I can’t believe I ever trusted him,” Gabi said softly. Silas wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to him.
“What happened?” he asked. “Why are you so afraid of him?”
For a long moment she didn’t answer. He