MARCUS (Dragon Security Book 4) by Glenna Sinclair Page A

watching the way his body flexed when he bent over. He scared me. I could still see his face with that gun pointed at me, could still see him racing out of the parking lot. I felt sick to my stomach, the memory of it burned in my thigh. The ache wasn’t about to let me forget.
    But there was another ache deep in my belly that wouldn’t let me forget his touch.
    “What would have happened if I turned the wrong way? What would have happened if you hadn’t just grazed my thigh?”
    Tension filled his shoulders, but he didn’t turn, didn’t respond.
    “What made you do something like that? Why would you take such a risk? Why do you hate Blake that much?”
    “I don’t hate him.”
    “Then why?”
    He shook his head. “It’s a long story.”
    “I’m not going anywhere.”
    He stood and turned to face me, his eyes hooded. But then he just brushed past me, snatching his jacket off the back of the chair on his way out the door. The snow had stopped, but the wind was whipping around the loose snow, creating a whiteout sort of thing. I could hardly see him through the kitchen window, just a hunched over shadow digging through the snow where I fell last night.
    He was looking for his gun.
    My heart jumped into my throat. I felt as if I should stop him somehow, run out there and demand that he leave the gun where it was. But then my thoughts moved to the threat he and Blake both seemed to think was after me. Maybe it’d be better to have a gun. But what if Marcus suddenly decided he wanted to try to scare me off again?
    I was so confused. Did Marcus want to hurt me or keep me safe? First he shoots at me, and then he saves me from freezing to death. It didn’t make sense.
    I felt frozen to the floor, unable to move, unable to make a decision. Marcus’ shadow disappeared. For a moment, I considered what would happen if he just vanished. I’d be alone, like I was supposed to be. Would that be better? Just the thought made my heart start to pound a little faster, made me want to reach for that knife hidden under my pillow. I was afraid with Marcus here. I was more afraid of the thought of being alone.
    I can’t even begin to describe the relief that rushed through me when he suddenly burst through the front door.
    He was shivering, his arms wrapped around his body. I ran around him, grabbing a blanket off the bed, and threw it over him.
    “You should go take a shower. It’ll warm you up.”
    He nodded. “It’s actually warmer out there, I think.”
    I smiled. “Looks like it.”
    He shivered again, smiling at me as he brushed past. He took his gun out of his waistband and slid it into the holster, then tossed something onto the nightstand as he went by, shedding the blanket as he stepped into the bathroom. I grabbed a hand towel from the kitchen and wiped up the melted snow that was puddling on the floor. I heard the shower come on and found myself wondering about the man undressing behind that thin bathroom door.
    What’d happened between him and Blake? Why would he want to hurt Blake enough to make him do what he did in that restaurant parking lot?
    I found myself suddenly a beehive of activity, moving around the cabin, washing up our coffee mugs, making the bed, draining the bathtub. I heard the water stop in the shower about the same moment I realized what it was he’d thrown onto the nightstand.
    Condoms. He’d found condoms somewhere.
    Was that why he went outside? Did he know they were there? Why was he carrying around a whole stack of condoms? What was he expecting to happen up here?
    Did he come here with the intention of getting locked in this cabin with me?
    I was confused, yet there was this smile that refused to leave my lips.
    Marcus stepped out of the bathroom, nothing but a towel around his waist.
    “Why are you here?”
    He studied my face a moment. “Why are you?”
    “I came here to get away from whatever or whoever was trying to hurt me.”
    “I was following you.”
    “Why?”
    He took my