If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

Her mouth drew him and before he realized it, he was kissing her, bringing his hand up and holding the back of her head, in case she tried to pull away.
    Not that she did.
    Hell.
    He could get used to this. Way too used to this.
    Easing back, he made himself pull away, forced himself to stand, put some distance between them. Although he didn’t feel the levity at all, he said, “I don’t know about you, but I could stand a shower.”
    Her lashes low over her eyes, she stretched. Then shestood and smiled at him, closing the distance between them and stroking a finger down the front of his chest.
    “Is that an invitation, Reilly?”
    “Sounded that way to me.” His heart stuttered as she pressed against him and the flicker of interest became a slow, inexorable rise, one he couldn’t have fought for anything. “You’re going to be trouble, Nia Hollister,” he muttered. “All sorts of it, I can tell.”
    “I’ve always been trouble.”
    He came through the woods.
    Before he made plans, before he considered what plans he might need to make, he needed to know
why
she was here.
    After all, Nia Hollister’s visit to town could be mundane.
    He didn’t believe that, though. Visits to the sheriff, nosing around through public records. No. It wasn’t mundane. But he couldn’t decide how to handle it until he
knew
.
    There was a reason, and he needed to know what it was, needed to know more about her. He already knew a disturbing amount—enough to know that if she just disappeared, it would be noticed.
    She wasn’t just a photojournalist—fancy name for a photographer, he figured. She was actually fairly famous in her field. Had enough of a name that she’d be missed. People would notice. He couldn’t risk that.
    If this was a bigger city, he could think she was here to take pictures. If she was a reporter, he could almost imagine she was here to do some sort of story about her cousin’s death. And still, that wasn’t an idea he could discard. Definitely not. A story about that wouldn’t be good. Too much focus on it would be … unpleasant. For him to allow it would be unwise.
    And that was why he was proceeding with caution, because he wasn’t going to do anything that would draw attention back to things
now
.
    Photojournalists weren’t exactly the biggest names out there from what he could tell, but she
was
a name—a known one.
    She couldn’t just disappear. Should she die and the circumstances were even remotely suspicious … no. That would be bad. Very bad. He had to be careful here, had to decide if he needed to do anything at all—and unless something
had
to be done, he’d do nothing. He’d screwed up, and now he had to wait until things settled, had to be cautious. And no more mistakes.
    From the woods, he watched Law Reilly’s house, waited. He didn’t like approaching in the daylight, even from this angle, although he knew nobody would see him, unless they were watching from somewhere in the back of the house.
    Which Reilly could very well be doing.
    Except Nia’s bike was out front. He’d seen her turn in. Had been following her, watching her.
    Finally, he made a decision. He couldn’t keep waiting where he was, in the shade and safety of the trees. He’d come here to evaluate. He needed to do that, or leave.
    Slipping out of the woods, he started for the house, keeping to the corner where he wasn’t as likely to be seen. He also kept at a slow, casual pace, hands tucked in his pockets. Harmless … he was just harmless, and wasn’t out there to cause trouble …

CHAPTER
TEN
     
    I T WAS NEARLY AN HOUR BEFORE THEY MADE IT OUT of the shower and downstairs to the kitchen, where Law put Nia at the island. When she would have climbed off the stool, he pointed and said, “Damn it, stay there. I need food.”
    “You’re cranky.” She smirked at him and slid off anyway. “I was just thinking about getting my clothes. I need a cigarette.”
    He frowned. “Those aren’t good for you.”
    “Gee, really?” She made a face at him. “I know. I just … hell, I stopped years ago. Going to stop again, sooner or later. It’s just this mess with Joely …”
    Law paused and closed the distance between them. He pushed his fingers through her hair. “If you stopped once, you can do it again, then. But do you really think she’d want you poisoning yourself? Not just with the worry, but with the cigarettes, too?”
    “Stop.” She sighed and rubbed her neck. “We’ve had