She ran past an outdoor café, taking a moment to fling the metal chairs into the path of the oncoming vehicle that swerved to miss them but didn’t stop pursuing.
She heard a horn blare and tires squeal from a different direction. She turned to look and saw a black truck swerve into the path of the car then slam into it. Elise dived into the alcove of an office building to escape the debris. Her head hit the hard glass doors and the mounted Christmas wreaths fell on her. Blinding pain exploded in her head and the world spun. The howl of metal on metal roared in her ears. She tucked her head into her knees and used her arms to shield her, but shards of glass and metal bit into them. Another blinding pain ripped through the back of her leg. She cried out, realizing a fragment had lodged in her upper thigh.
Tires screeched again, and she peered out to see the sole figure in the gray sedan shake his head and regain his composure before ramming the car into gear and speeding away as fast as possible with the damage done to the driver’s side of the car.
The truck’s driver stumbled out, obviously shaken by the crash but heading unsteadily toward her. Elise braced herself for a confrontation and rummaged beneath fallen lights and garland for a piece of metal matching the one in her leg. Could this man be trusted? He had just saved her life, hadn’t he? Had he not rammed his truck into the sedan, she would be roadkill. Still, she hesitated, her instinct melting into her fear. She felt naked without her gun, and the blinding pain in both her leg and her head could be hampering her judgment.
Before she could decide if he were friend or foe, he was beside her. “Are you injured?” He glanced at the weapon in her hand then where her other hand cradled the piece in her leg. “You are hurt.” He knelt and examined her wound. “Can you speak?”
She had to be delirious. Perhaps she was already unconscious because the man before her was someone who couldn’t possibly be there. She recognized the strong, triangular jaw from the image on her faded newspaper cutout and even more vividly from the night that had changed her life ten years earlier. She remembered those intense blue eyes gazing at her from beneath dark, brooding eyebrows that matched his black hair, sideburns and the hint of a stubbled beard—the face of her own personal hero.
But it couldn’t be.
Max Adams had died ten years earlier...the night he’d saved her life.
The piece of metal slipped through her fingers as her mind swirled. “Max?”
His head jerked as she said the name, and his eyes grew dark and inquisitive. “Max was my brother. My name is Josh Adams.”
She cried out as a sharp pain pulsed through her, and Max...Josh...grabbed her hand.
“Hang on. Help is coming.”
She chuckled at the idea. What were the chances of being rescued by another of the Adams brothers?
“Stay with me,” he commanded, doing his best to keep her conscious. “Talk to me. Tell me how you knew my brother.”
She struggled with the memory of another man stepping between her and an armed assailant. “He saved me.” And died doing it. She didn’t need to verbalize that part. He knew his brother had died.
His eyes widened in surprise. “What’s your name?”
She struggled to fight off the darkness but finally gave in to it. “Elise Richardson,” she managed to mumble before the shadows overtook her.
* * *
Sitting in the ER waiting room, Josh gingerly touched the goose egg on his forehead from where the air bag had deployed. He’d rammed his truck quite hard into the car gunning for Elise, but he was no worse for the wear.
Elise Richardson?
It wasn’t possible, was it, that this woman was the same girl whom his brother had rescued from an attacker ten years ago? The woman he’d died protecting? He’d imagined her many times—the woman who’d caused his brother to step to his death—but he’d never imagined the thin, toned body, the dark hair and olive complexion or the beautiful hazel-green eyes with specks of golden brown glancing up at him. In his mind, she’d always been a caricature of a coed who’d selfishly placed herself in danger. But he’d remembered her name. He’d held on to it as a target for his anger through three tours of Afghanistan.
And now she was in danger again.
He folded his arms as he stared through the windows into the ER room where she lay unconscious on the bed. Why had someone been chasing her? He thought he knew most folks in Westhaven even if just in passing, but he didn’t recognize the dark-haired beauty who’d passed out in his arms, or the driver of the car that had tried to run her down, as locals.
Daniel Mills, the current police chief and his brother’s childhood friend, approached him and glanced into the room. “She had no ID on her and no cell phone.”
“She said her name was Elise Richardson, but I don’t think she’s local. She could be visiting someone in town for the holidays.” He hesitated, wondering if he should mention her connection to Max. His brother had worked on this police force and was well known and liked by guys still on the job. There might still be some hard feelings from them about this woman who’d cost him his life... At least for his part there was.
Daniel’s eyes widened. “Seems like you two had a nice conversation before she passed out. Did she happen to say who ran her down or why?”
“No. I didn’t recognize the car. It was a gray sedan with darkened windows. Mississippi plates but I couldn’t see the county or catch the tag number. But the car was like a hot rod, probably custom-rebuilt.”
“Did you get a look at the driver?”
“He was male but I mostly just saw his outline.”
The chief nodded. “Why don’t you come by the office later and give a full statement. I’m going back to the scene and see what’s left of your truck. I’ll have it towed to Carr’s Body Shop.” He pressed a set of keys into Josh’s hand. “Use my Jeep until you get your truck back. I’ll drive the squad car.”
“Thanks, Daniel.”
“You probably saved that woman’s life today.”
At least he could save someone.
Josh bit back that negative thought and nodded at Daniel as he walked off, but frustration tinged him. His niece, Candace, had been missing for nearly two weeks and he was at a loss to find her. It seemed she’d vanished from the face of the earth while walking home from school. The police, including Daniel, believed she’d run away, but Josh knew better. Something had happened to Candace and, despite his best efforts, he was frustrated he hadn’t yet brought her home.
He would never be the hero his brother had been.
Elise moved in the bed and her eyes fluttered. Josh stepped into the room as she opened them and examined her surroundings.
She glanced his way. “Max? No... Josh, right?”
“Right. And your name is Elise.” She struggled to sit up and he saw pain flit across her face as she moved her bandaged leg. “Maybe you should take it easy. You’ve been through a lot. I’ll get the doctor to come in and speak to you, and I know Chief Mills will want to take your statement, too. Do you remember what happened?”
Her full lips pressed into a line. “Absolutely. Some maniac tried to