her smile brightened. "no problem." she laced her fingers through dale's as they left.

keith sat down next to isabelle's bed and put his hand on her shoulder. the kick of jealousy grant felt made him grit his teeth.

"i'm not sure you should leave," said keith. "you'd be safer here."

"i'll rest better at home."

"and i'll be there to make sure you do," said grant.

keith's mouth tightened with irritation as his gaze shifted from isabelle to grant. "she'd be safer here."

isabelle gave keith a warning look. "i know you mean well, but i'm going home. feel free to come by the house tonight if you're worried. in fact, maybe you should come stay with us until the whole thing is over."

grant barely stomped on the urge to demand he be the only one to take care of her, but he managed to clamp his lips over the words that would have surely gotten him in trouble. keith was her friend and, like it or not, grant had to respect that.

"three's a crowd, don't you think?" asked keith as he stood to leave. "is there anything i can get you before you leave?"

"will you check on amanda?" asked isabelle.

"sure. she's at work, right?"

"i think so."

"i'll take care of it. call me if you need anything else."

keith left, and grant couldn't stop touching isabelle. he tried to reassure himself she was fine, but parts of him were still shaking with panic, unconvinced. he stroked her hair, relishing the feel of the slippery strands under his palm.

"keith is threatened by you," said isabelle.

good. at least he'd done that right. "he'll live. i'm more worried about you. you could have been killed."

she gave him a slight nod, her mouth drawn tight with fear. "you don't think my accident was accidental, do you?"

god, he hated seeing her afraid. still, he wasn't going to lie to her. "i'm sure you had to have considered the possibility."

"i thought it was just my way of finding someone else to blame for my mistake so i wouldn't feel so guilty, you know?"

"this wasn't your fault."

"tell that to the man whose wrist i broke today by slamming my car into his. i doubt he'd agree."

grant took her face in his hands, holding her gently. "you can't do this to yourself. i've seen what guilt can do to a person, and i won't let that happen to you."

isabelle blinked back tears. her green eyes, normally so bright, were dimmed by shame. "i've never hurt anyone before."

"and you didn't this time, either. and to prove it, i'll have mathews check out your car and see if it's been tampered with."

"i don't know where it went," she said. "they must have had a truck tow it away."

grant smoothed her hair away from her face. "don't worry about it. i'll find it and take care of everything."

she nodded and leaned her head against his chest. "everett's dead," she whispered in a bleak tone.

grant climbed up onto the edge of the bed and held her close, wishing he could make her grief disappear. "i know, honey. i know."

"he doesn't have anyone to plan his funeral."

"we'll do it together," he assured her.

she was quiet for a long time and then, in a faint voice, said, "amanda's next. i can't lose her, too."

"you won't lose her. i promise. it's going to be okay." grant wanted to hold her until this whole mess went away, but it wasn't in the cards.

the nurse came into the curtained area, interrupting her reply. "you're all set to go home now, isabelle. call or come back if you have any problems, okay?"

"i will," said isabelle.

the nurse looked at grant. "are you going to be with her tonight?"

"yes." right by her side. he'd seen men who'd been hit in the head take a turn for the worse in the blink of an eye. her bump didn't look so bad, but he wasn't taking any chances. isabelle was too precious.

"good. keep an eye on her, just in case, but she should be fine."

"i won't let her out of my sight."

grant wrapped his long fingers around isabelle's upper arms in a gentle grip to help ease her from the hospital bed.

"i'm fine, grant. really. you don't need to hover."

his jaw was hard and his mouth tight with anger. she could see him vibrating with it, all his muscles drawn tight. "i almost lost you today."

isabelle slid her arms around his muscled body and pressed herself against him in a hug meant to comfort both of them. she laid her head on his shoulder and breathed in the warm scent of his skin, ignoring how he stood stiff in her arms like he didn't really want to be here. whether or not he admitted it, he needed this. he needed to know she was safe and whole and that she cared about him.

maybe too much.

"see, i'm perfectly fine."

he pulled in a deep breath, which shifted her head more closely to his neck. she could see his pulse pounding in his throat, fast and hard.

her hands stroked down his back over and over, and slowly, he started to relax. one by one, the corded muscles along his spine became less rigid. the coiled strength of his body yielded to her touch and she felt him soften, heard a nearly inaudible sigh of relief slide out of his lungs.

after a few moments, his arms closed around her, then tightened as if he'd never let her go.

that was a really nice thought, even if it was pure fantasy.

his mouth moved over her hair. his words were quiet and clipped. "i should have known this could happen."

"how could you predict a car accident?"

"i'm not sure it was an accident. and if it wasn't, not only did the killer go after you when it wasn't your turn, he also changed his tactics from making it look like suicide to making it look like an accident."

a cold, oily fear settled low in her stomach. had she been fooling herself thinking she was safe for now? that grant was, as well? she'd held herself together by focusing on the others-trying to keep them safe. if she had to worry about grant and what would happen to dale if she was murdered, she didn't think she could survive.

"call detective mathews and tell him," said isabelle.

his body went tense, and it wasn't just anger. it was more than that. isabelle pulled away so she could look into his face. his expression was tight, his lips pressed into a hard, flat line. but it was his eyes that shocked her. they were cold and glittering with disgust, not warm and bright.

"i'm not sure i'm the best person to be dealing with mathews right now," said grant.

"he didn't really think you were the killer, did he?"

he let out a harsh bark of laughter. "are you kidding? he was sure i was his guy. a fucking murderer. it's like my fourteen years of service meant nothing and i'm right back to where i started with everyone seeing me as a punk kid who killed his foster father."

"i don't see you that way."

he gave her a sad smile. "yeah, but you were there. you knew what would have happened to you if i hadn't stopped lavine that night, what would have continued happening to all those defenseless kids."

isabelle barely controlled a shiver of revulsion. she'd dealt with the terror of nearly being raped, but that didn't mean she didn't remember what it had been like to be victimized, or to hear the other children cry at night, afraid to go to sleep.

"i'm sorry," he said on a sigh. "i shouldn't be talking to you about this. digging up the past won't make things better."

"i don't see any way around it. this whole situation stems from our past. we can't simply ignore it because it's unpleasant."

"unpleasant? is that what you call nearly being raped? living in a home of a child molester?"

"i was only there a few weeks, and i didn't really understand what was going on around me. i mean, i knew that some of the kids were afraid and sad, but i didn't understand why."

"didn't that make it even more frightening?"

isabelle shrugged. "i'd been moving around between homes and hospitals my entire life. everything was always different at each new place. i learned to adapt, to accept the differences, and try to make the most of it until it was time to move on again."

"no kid should have to grow up like that."

"it wasn't that bad, or if it was, i didn't know any better. i'm happy with the way my life is turning out, and i feel blessed to be given the chance to make the lives of kids better than mine was."

"and i'm going to make sure you're able. i'm not going to let anything happen to you again."

"what happened today wasn't your fault."

he tightened his hold on her, fisting his hands in her shirt like he couldn't stand the thought of letting go. fooling her like that was such a dangerous temptation. she wanted to believe it so badly.

isabelle closed her eyes to block out the beautiful lines of his face, but it did nothing to stop his smooth, deep voice from sliding into her. "i should have realized the threat to you, rather than assuming the killer would continue the same pattern."

"why? i didn't."

"i'm not going to make the same mistake again." grant rubbed his cheek over her hair, and she could feel strands of it clinging to his evening stubble, connecting them. the slight tug on her hair made her shiver. "too many people need you."

his flattery swept over her like a warm caress.

she looked up at him, expecting to see a teasing grin lighting his amber eyes. instead, his face was hard and serious. "i don't think i could live with myself if anything happened to you. i need you to stay safe. to be happy."

"why?" she asked.

his thumb traced a gentle arc over her eyebrow, careful not to hurt her bruised skin. that touch slid along her temple, over her cheekbone, and down to her mouth. "i just do. promise me you won't take any chances, isabelle."

her lips parted under his touch, and she longed to let her tongue reach out and taste his skin. just once. just to see what it was like to share the intimacy with him.

she was shaking with the force it took to hold herself back, and the tremor came out in her voice, dark and soft and nothing at all like fear. she sounded sexy and sultry, even to her own ears. "i'll be careful. i have too much to live for not to."

chapter sixteen

isabelle was shaking with fatigue by the time grant drove her home, but she had one more thing to do before she could go out and join the others for dinner.

she shut the door to her bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed, and dialed amanda's cell phone. it was the middle of the dinner rush, but isabelle knew amanda always kept her cell phone handy in case rachel needed her.