Read The Edge of Heaven for Free Online

fast. It was getting cold, and he was tired. Tired of looking for a man he sometimes thought he'd never find. What did he even think he had to gain by finding him? What could he ever say to Sam McRae?
    Still, he kept going, finding himself in front of the diner Emma had mentioned. The food was indeed plain home cooking and very good. He sat at the counter, striking up a conversation with the waitress and two men who eventually came to sit on either side of him.
    The story was always the same. Sam McRae came here as a teenager after his parents died. Which meant this couldn't be the Sam McRae he was looking for. He could cross one more name off his list.
    It also meant there was no reason to stay here, except for Emma.
    He sat in his room fighting the urge to call her. He had the number. He'd had it for months and never used it.
    Finally, he convinced himself he was being ridiculous. If the woman needed help, she had plenty of people to call. If she needed him, she knew where he was. But she hadn't called him, so she must not need him.
    He finally went to bed but slept badly. He got up the next morning and planned to leave, but decided to talk to her one more time. He needed to hear her say she was okay.
    He called and called and called and never got an answer. No way he could leave like that. So he drove back to the house, managed to knock in a quite civilized way at first, and then, when she didn't answer, gave in to the urge to pound on the door and call out her name.
    * * *
    The phone finally stopped ringing shortly before ten the next morning.
    She'd turned off her cell phone and hadn't answered the house phone, no matter how many times it rang. Not after the second time he'd called. At some point that morning, she'd been too rattled to even look at the Caller ID display and see his number once again.
    And then sometime after the phone stopped ringing, someone started pounding on the front door.
    She started shaking something fierce. Honestly, it was the most horrible thing. She felt absolutely powerless, in a way she hadn't felt in so very long. Almost enough to make her sick to her stomach.
    Was that how her mother felt? This scared? This paralyzed?
    Emma picked up the phone, which she'd kept by her side all night and all morning, even though she wasn't answering it, and walked slowly to the door. Just in case, she hit the power button on the phone, carefully dialed nine-one and kept her finger on the one. If anything happened, all she'd have to do was press that button one more time.
    As she stood by the door, willing her breathing to slow, she realized that over the pounding of her heart she could hear someone calling her name.
    But it wasn't Mark.
    Oh, thank God.
    She flung open the door, and there was Rye.
    Emma couldn't say who moved first. If she threw herself into his arms, or if he pulled her to him. Not that it mattered. Within seconds, she was there, held firmly against him, her face buried in the soft cotton of his shirt.
    He was six feet or so of solid muscle, something she found thoroughly reassuring at the moment. His arms tightened around her. She sank against him, worried her legs might not hold her up much longer. But then, they didn't have to. Because he had her. He wouldn't let her fall.
    She must have scared him as much as he'd scared her, because he kept asking if she was okay.
    "Yes." The word was muffled against his shirt. She wasn't ready to relinquish an inch between them.
    "He's not here?" Rye asked.
    "No." Some of the tension in his body eased. His hold became one that was more about comfort than protection.
    "You're shaking like you're scared to death, Emma."
    "I was afraid you were him."
    "That's it? That's all that happened?"
    "No. He called again," she admitted, her face still buried in his shirt.
    "Bastard. What did he say?"
    "He's mad that I'm not back in Chicago. He thought I'd just go running back to him. Can you imagine that? He's mad because I'm not there asking him to forgive me for