NAH

d to bore right through the leaves, right into me. My breath was trapped in my lungs, a painful, burni

the shadows and landed on a small, gray, weatherproof box mounted on a post near the edge of the rose bed-the control panel for the irrigation sys

ul jets of water arcing across the patio. There were screams of surprise. The cake w

t precious moment. I scrambled to my feet and melted back into the shadows of the trees, my heart still pou

aimed he couldn't bear for me to suffer the pain of childbirth, had a four-year-old son. The refusal wasn't about protecting me. It was

s no longer a vague idea. It was a crystalline structure in my mind. This wasn't goi

ate attorneys, but a name I'd gotten from a fellow teacher who had gone through

ou. Now," I said

e between us. I told her everything. The hit-and-run. The faked death. The secret

years, Hannah," she said, her voice t

ly. "I don't want their money. I don't want

if I ever became a problem. Something about a Dr. Alistair." I pushed a slip of paper across

inding relinquishment of rights. I was renouncing the Wallace name, my inheritance, any and all claims to

eady by the next day. But late

d my investigator found a pre-signed committal order from five years ago. It was contingent on a diagnosis from Alistair."** She took a breath before pl

rgan's voice hissed. "If s

d a case. Her unstable childhood, her 'desperate' need for a family. It won't be hard to have her declare

my reputation. They had been willing to steal my mind, my freed

armth in my soul

s office the next afternoon when Da

"I'm on my way home now. I'll make it up to you. I bought that special bott

y voice a perfect imitatio

ken. I was wearing the dress he loved, my hair done just the w

ep red wine, his eyes sparkling

the fire in my veins. I looked into the eyes of the man who was willing to ha

empty smile that d

ed, my voice a

to my lips and drank it