Eve Langlais by The Hunter Page A

living room. “Who’s ready to play ‘I Spy’?” she said with false cheer.

    * * * *
    Hunter simmered, his anger a pot ready to boil over. He wanted to kill the bastard who’d put such a scare into Suzie, but he was even more pissed with himself. This was supposed to have been a nice day.
    Should have been a nice day. And even though he’d been there, something bad had happened, and he’d been unable to prevent it. He’d failed them. It didn’t matter that no one could have predicted this. There was no excuse. He should have been more watchful, had his guard up. But how could he have known they’d need protecting?
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    No excuse! And just where had this protective, guard dog attitude he had toward Suzie and her children come from? When had he decided to become their champion? Hell, he couldn’t even blame this on sex. The comforting hug and kiss on the forehead he’d given her was the closest they’d gotten yet.
    But, right now, he wanted to squeeze the neck of not only the perv from the park that had so frightened her, but also the jerk of an ex-boyfriend who had her so terrified. The look of absolute terror on her face was not something he ever wanted to see again. Not on hers or anybody else’s face. He needed to fix this. He wanted her to smile again. Damn it, I am turning into a pansy.
    No , his sly inner voice said, you finally found someone to care about . Several someones.
    He stormed into the agency office with only the barest grip on his rage.
    “Owen!” he bellowed.
    “What?” said Owen, startled from his computer screen.
    “I need a favor. I need you to look up the ownership of a dark blue, four door sedan, partial plate ending in O8M.”
    “Sure. What’s this about?”
    “Neighbor of mine’s child got accosted in the park by some man. She’s afraid it’s her ex coming to take the children. I told her I’d look into it.”
    “That’s not good. No problem, I’ll get right on it,” said Owen, his fingers already skipping over his keyboard. “So, tell me, is this neighbor hot? I don’t mind if she’s got a couple of kids, so long as she’s hot.”
    “She’s not available!” Hunter growled. Why he lied, he didn’t know. But he knew the thought of her with another man made him want to punch something. Hard.
    “Sorry, Hunter. Just asking. Anyways, I think I found the car.”
    “Who’s it belong to?”
    “Not your suspect. The car was stolen last night. Sounds like your neighborhood has itself a problem. I’ll check the sex offender registry to see if there’s anybody on their list in your area. But my advice is, keep the children close till the cops catch the stranger or he moves on.”
    “Damn! Well thanks, Owen. I owe you one. Oh, and any word yet on the Dragon?”
    “Still working on it. We managed to get somewhere with his past. Apparently he set up house with some girl back when he was teaching. Even got her pregnant. We’re still trying to find out her name so we can locate her and see if he’s contacted her.”
    “Let me know when you hear anything. I’m going to do some poking around of my own before heading out.”
    Hunter called in some favors—the cops had appreciated his help on a couple of “bizarre”
    incidents— but no one had anything to add to Owen’s report. The stolen car had been recovered. No prints. The thief had wiped the car down before ditching it. They promised to step up the neighborhood patrols, though.
    With nothing left to do, and concerned about Suzie and the twins, he headed back home on his bike.
    His mind was full of the dark things he’d do to the man who’d made Suzie and Jared look so scared.

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Chapter Eight

    Suzie heard Hunter’s bike pull in next door around supper time and stupidly felt relieved. For some reason, having Hunter nearby made her feel safer, which made her kind of mad. What was she now, some weeping damsel in distress needing a man to save her? No, I’m a scared mother who’s got no one else to turn to