He sounded so sincere, but the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. She hated the thought of his smarmy technique fooling another woman like the young girl who’d killed herself after tangling with him. There was something coldly evil that surrounded him in spite of his urbane façade.

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean for you to be worried, but he insists you faked the pictures.”

“What do you think?”

She was using her peripheral vision to scan her surroundings, trying to listen for the sound of anyone he might have brought with him. “I don’t know what to think. He asked lots of questions about the pictures. None of them showed his naked body…he said that was proof that they were faked.”

“Did they look faked to you?”

“No, but I love him. I have to believe him.”

“That’s an admirable sentiment, my dear, but why would I do such a thing?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip, striving for a confused look. “Ethan says you want me.”

“I do, but I don’t have to stoop to lying to get women I want.” He was moving closer and she backed up.

He stopped and frowned at her, contriving to look hurt. “Are you afraid of me, Beth?”

“If you faked those photos, I have good reason to be. But I can handle you.” She said that for the agent monitoring her comm unit back at the cabin.

They were so close to nailing Prescott, she didn’t want to risk their cover having the Calvary come riding to the rescue.

Something sparked in Prescott’s eyes at her assertion-something like twisted anticipation. “And if I didn’t? If you quit your job and let me down…all on the word of a cheating swine, what then?”

“That’s not true.”

“Where is Ethan, Beth?”

“He’s working.”

Prescott gave her a disbelieving look. “After what you learned today, he’s dismissed you to work on another of his second-rate books?”

“His writing isn’t second rate.”

“Then why has he published with a small press in the Midwest rather than New York?”

“New York publishers require authors to be available for publicity and Ethan is a very private person.”

Prescott shook his head pityingly. “You’ll make excuses for him no matter what the circumstance, won’t you?”

“They aren’t excuses.”

He was moving again, trying to get closer and she was parrying his moves with defensive postures from her tae kwon do that were second nature to her now. But when he reached out and grabbed her arm, she let him, wanting to know what he planned to do. And not wanting to tip off how easily she could get away from him.

He pulled her closer. “I can’t stand to see you waste your life on him, Beth. This is for your best interests.”

“What?”

One of his security men came out of the forest to their left. Beth’s eyes widened, though deep inside, she was not surprised. As inconceivable as it might be in the world of the sane, she thought Prescott planned to kidnap her. And believed he could get away with it.

“I think you should come back to my house with me, Beth.”

“No.” She windmilled her arm, breaking his hold and hooked her foot behind his ankle, jerking with practiced ease while she shoved against his chest with all her might.

He went down hard and she ran.

“Get her!” Prescott yelled.

Another security man came out of the forest and the two converged on her. She’d had to spar multiple partners to earn her black belt and she let instincts she’d taken years to hone take over. The one on her left lunged for her and she used his forward momentum and a spinning axe kick to send him flying in the opposite direction.

The other guard didn’t mess with trying to grab her, but brought a gun up. She threw herself into a forward somersault landing near enough to kick upward and dislodge the gun before executing an openhanded punch to his groin. He grunted and fell forward, his face losing all color.

She flipped to her feet and sprinted toward the house, using the trees as cover in case the other guard had a gun as well. There were no shots fired behind her, but she heard Prescott curse. She felt the vibration of a pursuer in the ground and leapt to grab a leafless branch above her head.

She swung herself in an upward arc as her pursuer would have crashed into her. He passed her and skidded to a halt in the wet leaves, almost falling. Meanwhile, she had swung back and was coming forward again as he spun to face her. She let go of the tree branch and hit him with both feet solid in his chest. They both went down, but she tucked into a roll, using his body as a cushion for her fall.

She came up on her feet, turned and kicked him in the head, knocking him back to the ground and most likely unconscious. This time, when she ran for the house, there was no one behind her. She rushed in through the back door, slamming it behind her and locking it for good measure.

Ethan looked up from the computer when she came into the main living area from the mud room. His eyes narrowed and he yanked the headset for the phone from his head, pressing the disconnect button as he jumped to his feet. “What happened to you?”

She looked down at herself. She was covered in leaves and dirt. Her hands were scratched and stained green from moss where she’d gripped the tree limb. They stung. “I went to the clearing and-”

“The clearing is not in sight of the house,” he interrupted before she could finish what she was saying.

“It sort of is.”

“In just the right spot.”

“More like lots of spots. There are actually only a few areas completely out of sight of the house.”

“Regardless,” Ethan said from between clenched teeth. “Why do you look like you’ve been wrestling bear cubs?”

“Prescott was there.”

Ethan’s eyes filled with a deadly intent. “He attacked you?”

“No, but he tried to take me back to his house…or rather two of his security men tried.”

“Damn it, you promised you would wear a comm unit.”

“I did wear one.”

“Was it turned on?”

“Yes, of course. I’m not an idiot.”

“Then why wasn’t I notified you were in danger?” He looked ready to kill someone and she had the horrible feeling friendlies would do if the enemy wasn’t available.

“Probably because I did not give the distress signal.”

Ethan spun away from her and stormed to the second bedroom, slamming the door open.

A younger agent named Vinnie was listening to the audibles from Prescott’s estate as well as the output from Beth’s comm unit. He eyed Ethan warily, obviously having overheard this latest conversation as well.

“Why didn’t you inform me of Beth’s danger?”

“She indicated she could handle it, sir.”

“Is she a fully trained agent?”

“Uh, no sir.”

“Then how in the hell did you take her word in a dangerous situation that she could handle it?”

Looking highly uncomfortable, Vinnie offered no answer.

“You knew she was facing three assailants and you chose not to inform me of this fact?” Ethan asked, sounding even more dangerous.

Vinnie swallowed nervously. “I only heard one other person through the comm unit.”

“The battle was mostly silent,” Beth added.

“Battle.” Ethan drawled the word out like he was tasting it for flavor and turned to face her. “You chose to attempt to fight off three men rather than calling in reinforcements?”

“I did fight them off and if I had felt in serious danger at any point, I would have given the distress signal.”

“Did any of them have guns?”

She didn’t want to answer this question. She really didn’t. “One, but it might have been a tranquilizer gun. It looked like it could be anyway.”

“Yet you still didn’t give the distress signal?”

“I wasn’t thinking at that point…just reacting.”

“Damn it, Beth.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair like he wanted to say more, but didn’t trust himself to do so. Vinnie wasn’t so lucky. Ethan turned back to face him. “She’s not trained for fieldwork. Even if Prescott wasn’t speaking threateningly, the second you became aware she wasn’t alone, you should have alerted me.”