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throttled sound escape his lips when she felt him withdraw. She had to steady herself as she watched him take a slight step away from her.
    They looked at one another, both wary, both surprised, taken aback and at a loss for words. Neither wanted an entanglement, but both had felt something pulse with exuberant life between them.
    Shawna was on edge. Never mind that she had not been kissed in a long time; his kiss had taken her breath away and awakened her desires. Her body had relaxed against him in spite of the fact that her brain was telling her to slap his handsome face. His kiss had aroused her in a way she had never known before, and then suddenly he was standing apart from her and she felt off balance and confused.
    He reached out and steadied her, which was a good thing as she had felt her knees about to cave.
    He whispered something incoherent to her, and all she heard was the enticing huskiness of his voice. What was he saying? He was still whispering, and she was desperately trying to focus on his words, and then all at once they got through to her brain and shocked the hell out of her.
    He repeated, “You do need me, Shawna, and one day you will realize that. Don’t wait too long—don’t wait till it is too late.” He turned and walked towards the steel door, punched in the code, and was gone without looking back.
    Shawna stood in stunned silence. She didn’t know if she was still breathing. She rather thought she was holding her breath. She let it go with a gasp. What the hell just happened?
    He said his name was Chadwick MacFare. He had managed to get past her very efficient doorman. He knew her door code. He knew things about her. Who was he—and even more importantly, what was he?
    More to the point , she told herself , he wants to use me as bait!
    She gathered her wits and hurriedly changed the code at her steel door. There was no question of her staying in New York now. Tomorrow was the day she would start over once again.
    Was he right? She was running—but one day she would make a mistake, slow down, and forget to look over her shoulder, and then what?
    She would have to leave the rest of her possessions behind. She no longer had the time to pack and have the rest of her things forwarded. She had another six months on her lease. She would see the manager in the morning and give him a check.
    She couldn’t leave any hint of where she was going. Her airline ticket would be purchased in her new name and on the spot.
    How had this Chad MacFare found her? Did it mean that Pentim would find her as well? It meant that Pentim might be closer to finding her, and the thought terrified her. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—let that happen. She didn’t want to be one of them…
    No slip-ups! She just couldn’t take chances—or make a mistake. What were the odds that she wouldn’t? Everyone slipped up sometime.
    However, she couldn’t think of that. She breathed a sigh of relief that she had already leased a cottage in the Highlands of Scotland months ago. That caused a momentary pause. Was it a coincidence that Chad MacFare was Scottish? Should that worry her? She chewed her bottom lip as she contemplated this and then shoved it aside. Scotland was a great span of glens and lochs, mountains and ravines, villages and towns. New York was a melting pot. Perhaps, even though he still had the accent, he was a New Yorker?
    At any rate, she had to make a list in her mind of what she had to do, like calling a car dealership immediately to lease a car and have it delivered to the airport. Something not too conspicuous—something that would work in the Highlands, perhaps a Jeep. Yes, a Jeep—good, she was good, she told herself.
    She moved over to her fire escape. Each of the four floors had a small balcony that opened up onto stairs to a dark and narrow alley below. She had decorated her balcony with potted plants and a tight sitting area. Night had already descended and the mist had turned into a drizzling rain,