why hadn’t she married sooner? Why wait until within days of forfeiting her inheritance? Despite having known Tanya for years, he really had no idea who she was. Of course, he had been gone for most of those years.
Now he had no idea where she was...
He grabbed her purse from his mom and opened it up. Her cell phone was inside—along with an inhaler, an EpiPen, a can of pepper spray and a shiny whistle. Given some of the danger social workers confronted, she should have carried a gun, too. He flipped open her wallet to read the address on her driver’s license. The picture distracted him for a minute. Even on the tiny snapshot, she was beautiful—her blond hair shining like gold and her green eyes sparkling as she smiled brightly.
That was what had been so different about her tonight. The fear. The anxiety. She wasn’t the Tanya he remembered because she was a woman now, not a carefree teenager.
“Look at that,” Logan said with a slight grin. “Not even married yet and already carrying her purse.” That was the way their family had always handled strife and loss—with wisecracking.
But Cooper didn’t have time for it now, not with Tanya missing. He was going to follow her route from the church to her apartment and find her—hopefully alive.
“Shut up,” he said. “And keep an eye on Mom.”
She shouldn’t be alone in a building where someone had already been abducted, just as Tanya should have never been left alone. Once he was her husband, Cooper would make damn sure that she stayed safe. But now he wondered if she would even make it to the altar.
* * *
THE CAR WITH the darkly tinted windows circled the block again like a cat stalking a bird. Was the driver waiting for Tanya to step off the sidewalk? She needed to cross the street if she intended to head home.
But if she headed home, wouldn’t she be leading the driver right to her door? But given the threats she’d received through the mail, her stalker already knew where she lived. So if the driver was her stalker, he already knew where she was going.
She needed to turn back to the church. But if the others had left...
Mrs. Payne would have locked up, locking Tanya’s purse and phone inside the bride’s room. But she hadn’t been gone that long, surely someone might have stayed behind.
Cooper?
She wasn’t certain she wanted to see him, knowing how he felt about the thought of becoming her husband for just a few days—until she inherited. Once the money was hers, she could divorce him. Maybe he didn’t know that; maybe she should have explained. But she hadn’t wanted to force him to do something he clearly did not want to do.
They had once been friends. Good friends. Along with Stephen, they had been like the Three Musketeers—studying and hanging out together. But now Cooper acted like a stranger. Had his deployments overseas changed him that much?
Or was she the one who had changed? She used to want to have nothing to do with her grandfather’s money, but then she had nearly married to inherit it. Had gone so far as to plan a wedding to a man she loved but wasn’t in love with...
Tanya shivered at the cold wind and the eerie sensation that someone was hiding in the darkness, watching her. Coming for her. But then it wasn’t just a sensation. It was a certainty.
She blew out a ragged breath as the car circled again, driving even more slowly along the street. As long as she stayed on the sidewalk, maybe she would stay safe. But then the car tires squealed as the driver jerked the steering wheel. Sparks flew from beneath the front bumper as it scraped over concrete as the car jumped the curb and headed right for her.
She screamed, her legs burning as she ran.
But it didn’t matter how fast she ran or how loud she yelled, she couldn’t outrun a motor vehicle. She hadn’t been able to save Stephen, and now she wouldn’t be able to save herself.
Chapter Four
For the second time that night, Tanya’s scream pierced the air and Cooper’s heart. The car’s lights illuminated her. Her eyes were wide and her face pale with terror. He hurried to catch up but she was ahead of him, the car between them.
“Run!” he yelled, urging her to move as the car barreled down on her where she ran across the front yards of a row of houses. As a kid she hadn’t been able to run very far or very fast because her asthma would act up. Hopefully, she’d outgrown that.
Cooper had already drawn his weapon. But if he shot at the driver, the bullet might pass through the windshield and hit Tanya before the front bumper of the car could. So he aimed at the tires and quickly squeezed the trigger.
One back tire popped, deflating fast so that it shredded and slapped against the rim. But despite the flat, the car continued forward—straight toward Tanya.
Still running, Tanya veered between two houses. But the houses weren’t so far apart that the car couldn’t follow her.
Cooper shot out the other back tire and the car swerved, careening across a lawn. It scraped against a tree and proceeded to the street, cutting off another vehicle that blared its horn. Sparks flew from the rims riding the asphalt, but the car didn’t stop. Yet. Eventually it would have to, though, so Cooper figured he might be able to catch up to it on foot.
But he had a greater concern. “Tanya!”
He ran across the yards, stumbling over the deep ruts that the car had torn in the muddy spring lawn. Then he veered between the two houses as she had. Lights flickered on inside those houses, brightening a couple of the dark windows. They must have heard either the car or his yelling. His throat burned from the force of his shouts. “Tanya!”
He nearly stumbled over her where she lay sprawled across the ground. The light from the houses cast only a faint glow into the backyards, so he could barely see her. He holstered his gun and then dropped to his knees beside her. His hands shook as he reached for her.
Despite his efforts to stop it, had the car struck her anyway? Had it run over her once it had knocked her down? He couldn’t tell if she was conscious or not, if she was alive or dead. Her hair had fallen across her face, the strands tangled. He brushed it back as he slid his hand down her throat, checking for a pulse. Thankfully, she started breathing, but laboriously, the breaths rattling in her chest.
Obviously she hadn’t outgrown her asthma and all the running had brought on an attack. She opened her eyes, the light glinting in them.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you need your inhaler?” He’d left it in her purse back at the church, though.
She sucked in a shuddery breath and then choked and gasped.
Cooper wanted to pick her up and cradle her in his arms, but he didn’t dare move her if she was hurt. “Did the car hit you?”
Bracing her palms on the ground, she began pushing herself up. But Cooper caught her shoulders, steadying her. “Don’t move. If you’re hurt—”
“I’m not hurt,” she said as she tried to control her breathing. “I just fell.”
Maybe she’d only been out of breath from running as fast as she’d had to so the car wouldn’t have run her over. “Are you sure?”
“I’m not hurt,” she repeated. “Because of you...” Then she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him as she had when he’d first arrived at the church. “Thank you!”
But Cooper couldn’t accept her gratitude—not with the guilt plaguing him. It wasn’t just guilt that had his heart racing, though. It was fear. And probably her closeness. With every breath he took, he breathed her in; she smelled like flowers and grass. And the grass reminded him that she could have been killed. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from him. “What were you thinking to leave the church on your own?”
She