A Man Like Him

by Rachel Brimble

  It was the lifting and dropping of the drapes at the far window that caught Angela’s eye first. Her heart picked up speed. The window had been closed, locked, bolted. Checked and rechecked before they left the house. Her gaze darted around the room as Eloise crumpled to the floor beside her. Leaving her there, Angela slowly walked forward. Everything was in violent chaos. Chaos branded with Robert’s hallmark.

  “Oh, my God.”

  “I’m sorry, Ange.”

  “What?” Angela whirled around. “Did you know? Did you know he was here?” The accusation whispered from between Angela’s lips. Eloise’s soft mewling crawled over Angela’s skin and into her blood. “Say something!”

  “He made me do it.”

  Angela stormed toward her. Gripping her by the arms, she hauled Eloise to her feet. “You did this? You brought him here?”

  “He made me. He came to see me at the college. Angie, I’m sorry. Please.”

  “Tell me. Tell me what he did to make you do this.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You can’t?” Nausea rose up inside her and Angela slipped her hands from Eloise.

  She turned and stumbled toward the sofa, slumping onto it and running her fingers over the slashed cushions spewing foam like the fuzzy innards of a slaughtered animal.

  “He’s here. He’s back in my life. In Chris’s life...” She halted. “Chris. We sent him home alone.” She leaped to her feet and ran for her bag. “I have to warn him.”

  “Angela, wait. Listen to me.”

  Angela faced her sister. “Listen to you? How can I listen to you when you betrayed me like this? You brought him here, Ellie. Whatever you have to say to me can never make this okay. Ever.”

  “He told me he’d hurt my children!”

  Her sister’s screech tore through Angela’s blood, sending her panic hurtling into her heart on a bolt of agony. “No. Not the twins.”

  Eloise nodded, tears running in a stream down her cheeks. “He told me things he could only have known if he’d seen them. Seen them at school, at clubs...he followed them.”

  Phone forgotten, Angela rushed to her sister and wrapped her arms tightly around her. “God, I’m so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted—”

  “I didn’t know what to do. Not when he said he’d take them, hurt them...”

  “Shh. It’s all right. Everything’s all right.” Angela rocked Eloise, her gaze running around the room. “Did he... How did he... Did come on the train with you?”

  Eloise pulled back from her embrace and nodded. “He knew exactly what he was doing. Had everything worked out. Because of how alike we look, and with your picture all over the paper these past few days, he relied on people thinking I was you. You being at the station would be enough of a distraction to the authorities and watching public that he could get off the train unnoticed. It worked. No one recognized him.” She opened her eyes. “No one. As the officers at the booths were listening to me explain I was your sister, Robert slipped through the normal ticket machines without anyone as much as glancing his way.” Eloise trembled and shook in Angela’s grasp, her breaths coming in great gulps. The noise was the harrowing desperation of a mother whose children were at risk. “I’m sorry. So sorry.”

  Angela pressed a lingering kiss to her sister’s temple. “Don’t be. Don’t let him do this to you, Ellie.”

  “But—”

  Angela gripped Eloise’s arms and gently shook her. “Listen to me. This is not your fault. You need to leave. Get out of here and go back to Standbridge. To Tim and the twins. Templeton is not where you should be right now.”

  Guilt that she’d brought Robert into her sister’s life and made him a real and viable threat to her precious niece and nephew twisted like a serrated knife inside her. Angela stared over Eloise’s head at the carnage Robert had wreaked in his fury. She’d seen this rage from him before. This was the introduction. The preview. This was Robert frustrated and gauging the best time to take the next step. He was biding his time but making his dominance known. This was Robert about to lose control.

  Determination rose like a raging fire in Angela’s heart. No more. The power struggle was over. She wanted a new life. A life where she wasn’t afraid to reach out, make love, laugh and live. She wanted a life. Tears burned behind her eyes. But the man who shared that life would not be Chris, whose touch she’d remember forever. Whose voice didn’t scorch but soothed. She blinked against the stinging in her eyes. Who possessed an unerring need to protect her. Their being together would never work.

  She didn’t need protecting ever again. Robert had told her that was all he ever lived for—to protect her. Chris’s intentions could be honorable but if he had the courage to look deep inside, he’d see he also wanted her as a possession rather than an equal. The reality that she had once again fallen headfirst in love with a man she didn’t really know at all brought a fresh slash to her heart. Robert always told her she’d never learn, never deserve better.

  Angela trembled. No. She wouldn’t think that. She couldn’t think that. She squeezed her eyes shut. He was wrong. She was neither stupid nor blind. She’d let Chris go and prove she was stronger than Robert would ever know. Chris deserved everything he wanted in a woman. Who wouldn’t enjoy a man like him looking after her? Making her happy?

  Unfortunately he couldn’t make her happy while the need to protect her resided in a heart she believed bigger than the world. She wanted to be with a man who understood her need to fight her own battles, stand alone and be strong. Chris wasn’t that man...through no fault but for the goodness in a body she longed for.

  She sucked in a breath as her heart broke knowing her sacrifice was the right one to endure. Even though her thoughts felt weak, Angela swore to keep repeating them until she believed them entirely. It was the only way to keep Chris safe. The only way to ensure another woman, one day, would know what it was like to be loved, cared for and protected by him.

  “We need to go. We need to leave Templeton. Tonight.”

  Eloise pulled back from her arms and clasped her hands. “Call Inspector Garrett, Ange. Call her now. He’s waiting for me.”

  “What? You know where Robert is?”

  Eloise nodded. “Yes. If we hurry. There isn’t much time. I kept you at the restaurant to delay us coming home, to delay the meeting time. I didn’t want to do this. None of it. Now I’m drunk and will be absolutely no use—”

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m going to make it okay.” With a final squeeze of her hands, Angela released Eloise and rushed to pick up her handbag. With shaking fingers, she dialed the inspector’s number.

  * * *

  THE SOUND OF the front door slamming made Chris sit bolt upright in bed. His mind whirling with thoughts of Angela and the look in Eloise’s eyes had kept sleep at bay since he lay down two hours before. The familiar roar of his sister’s car engine had him whipping back the bedcovers. It was the sound of the tires spewing up gravel as she raced away down the driveway that veered his senses to high alert.

  Angela.

  Heedless of being naked, he stormed to the bedroom door and ripped it back on his hinges. He moved to the landing banister and looked down. The subdued lamp light cast its glow over the downstairs open plan room. He strained his ears and when his brother-in-law coughed, Chris cupped a hand over his manhood and leaned over.

  “Jay?”

  Everything went silent.

  “Goddamn it, Jay. I’m butt naked up here. Don’t freaking ignore me.”

  A muffled curse and then Jay came into view, his eyes closed. “What?”

  “Where’s Cat? Why has she gone tearing out of here like her ass is on fire?”

  Jay opened one eye. “Leave it, Chris.”

  It was all he needed to hear. Slamming his palm against the oak banister, he swore. “W
here’s she going? Where’s Angela?”

  “She wouldn’t tell me anything. She told me to keep my mouth shut.” Jay tightened his jaw and opened his other eye. “Just get dressed and get out of here. Go. If that was Cat with some pissing bastard threatening her life, I’d shoot him dead. Get dressed. If Cat asks, I attempted to restrain you, we threw some punches and you got away, all right?”

  Chris nodded. “Deal.”

  With his heart pumping murderous blood through his veins, Chris charged back into the guest room. Not now. Not ever. Masters would not get to her. Cat must know where he was to shoot off the way she did. He whipped his discarded jeans from the back of a chair and slid them on, not giving a crap about underwear. Yanking open a drawer, he pulled on a shirt before rushing to the bed and pulling a pair of sneakers out from beneath.

  Blood pounded in his ears. What if he let Angela down? What if he didn’t get to her in time? Rare tears burned like red-hot pokers behind Chris’s eyes. He wouldn’t lose her. He couldn’t lose her.

  A lion’s roar burned behind his chest and he bit his teeth together. Their connection was instant, their lovemaking the singular and most meaningful night of his life. She was his girl. The woman he was supposed to love.

  He left the room and ran downstairs. Jay stood at the door and held out his car keys, his face somber.

  “Be careful.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Cat said she was heading for the train station. That’s all I know.”

  “Was she telling you the truth?”

  Jay nodded. “Of course she was. Why would you think—”

  “Who told her that was where she needed to go? Angela? Or Eloise?”

  “Who’s Eloise?”

  Frustration burned like acid at the back of Chris’s throat. “Her sister. Something wasn’t right with her tonight and now this. She knew something. Her damn sister knew something and I did nothing about it.”

  Jay gripped his shoulder. “Hey. Think. Don’t let your emotions override the sanity, man. Think. What would Angela do? Where would she go? If Masters is here, she’ll know what he’s likely to do next. What did she tell you about him? What do you know that Cat or Eloise don’t?”

  Chris darted his gaze over Jay’s face, his mind whirling with a million and one scenarios. Each one worse than the last. “I can’t think straight...I can’t think— Wait. I know. I know what she’d do.”

  Jay grinned. “Then go get her.”

  With adrenaline pumping through him at ninety miles an hour, Chris ripped open the front door and headed outside. Masters had found a way into the Cove, which meant Angela needed a way out. She wouldn’t stay if she knew for sure Masters was here.

  God, please, don’t let her stay here and face him. Have her run. Have her run as far away as possible.

  He opened the car door and slid into the seat, fumbling the keys into the ignition. He’d wager his life on it Eloise had become a pawn in Masters’s grand plan. Something had happened, dragging Eloise into the chaos, and now Angela was wide-open to risk. He gunned the engine and slammed his foot on the accelerator. They’d met Eloise at the train station. Masters had been there. That uncomfortable feeling that ran up his spine when Angela embraced her sister for the first time in months had been Masters laughing in his damn ear.

  Chris headed south toward the ferry port and prayed to God his instincts were right.

  * * *

  ANGELA’S NERVES LEAPED and bounded around her body as she walked through the ferry terminal, shooting glance after glance over her shoulder. Eloise had gone to the train station as Robert had instructed. But he wouldn’t be there. He’d want Angela to run in the opposite direction and be there waiting for her. She swallowed. He thought he knew her so well—as she knew him. This time, she wasn’t running away. She was heading straight for him. This ended now. No more control. No more torment.

  Kill or be killed.

  Angela swallowed. As long as Eloise was safe, could return to her children, nothing else mattered. Inspector Garrett and her team would be there by the time her sister arrived at the train station. Once they realized Angela wasn’t with her, they wouldn’t have time to be in two places at once and they’d have to make sure Eloise was safely on the train and on her way back home before they came looking for Angela.

  She was Robert’s target, not Eloise—and not Chris.

  Nerves prickled the hair at the back of her neck. Robert would be there. Asking Eloise to find a way to get Angela to the train station was little more than a ruse. He was stupid to think she didn’t know his games by now. Angela swallowed the lump in her throat. She was taking a risk, but the chances of Robert knocking her out and carrying her over his shoulder in public should pretty much be close to zero.

  Robert didn’t do violence in the open. It was behind closed doors he became a danger.

  So she’d see him and she’d watch him be arrested. Once Cat realized where Angela was, she’d call her and then Angela could tell them she stared right at her ex-husband—with a gun pointed at his heart. He would be there and it was worth putting her life at risk to know she was stronger now than ever before. She ran her hand over the gun tucked into her jacket. She was making the right choices now. Choices that meant she had a future, a chance of happiness.

  Chris stole into her mind. Turning away from him might be a choice she regretted for the rest of her life, but letting him go was the right thing to do. She couldn’t risk hurting him then or a year from then. He meant too much to her.

  Inspector Garrett would be as mad as hell when she found out Angela lied to her, but she’d soon see why she’d done it. Freedom. Everything was about choice and not having Robert dictate her life ever again.

  Angela tilted her chin and battled against the nausea. The terminal heaved with passengers waiting for a ferry that would take them from Templeton Cove to the mainland. Somewhere among them Robert waited. She sensed him. Felt him. Knew he watched her. She walked slowly forward, her body tense and her instincts on high alert. She curled her hands into fists at her sides.

  Facing him alone like this was the only way to ensure Eloise got on the train and back to her children alive and well. With her heart beating fast, Angela’s arms ached with the need to hug her niece and nephew. They didn’t need their auntie alive to live happy, healthy lives; they needed their mother alive for that.

  It had taken everything she had to convince Eloise this was the right thing to do. She glanced at her watch just as her phone vibrated in her jeans pocket. Her mouth was dry as she pulled it out and looked at the display.

  She pressed the talk button, her held breath leaving her lungs in a rush. “DI Garrett.”

  “Angela, thank God. Are you all right?”

  Angela turned a slow three hundred and sixty degrees, her eyes scanning the crowds. “Are you on your way?”

  “Yes. We’ll be ten minutes. I can’t believe you separated from your sister—”

  “It was the only way to ensure she didn’t get caught in the crossfire, Inspector. She’s a mother. I’m not. I don’t want Robert anywhere near her ever again.”

  “If Chris knew... It doesn’t matter. Look, where are you right now?”

  Angela looked to her left. “I’m near the coffee shop.”

  “Right, stay there. Stay public. We’ll be there before you know it.”

  The call ended and Angela put her cell back in her pocket. The cops were on their way and Eloise was on her way home. Now Robert would know it was over. He could no longer mess with her mind or her spirit. Their final showdown would be of her making, not his.

  So where the hell was he?

  Her determination hitched up a notch as Eloise’s tear-streaked face filled her mind. He’d threatened her sister’s children. Had threatened to rape and beat Eloise as he had her. Had told her every
detail of the abuse he inflicted on Angela until Eloise couldn’t eat or sleep.

  Bastard. Bastard. Bastard.

  A uniformed employee brushed past her and Angela gripped his arm. “Excuse me. Do you have any idea when the ferry will be here? The teller said it was running late, but—”

  “It’s going to be at least another half an hour. That’s all I can tell you. Now if you’ll excuse me...” He looked pointedly at her hand still gripping his arm.

  She released him. “Sorry.”

  With a curt nod, the orderly took off, leaving Angela standing alone amid a crowd of people. Robert would bide his time so he could get her on the ferry at the very last moment. He would want them on the exiting ferry and out of the Cove before the police could arrive. The delay must be making him angrier and more jumpy with each passing second.

  The blare of horns, chatter and shouts filled Angela’s ears as she darted her gaze left and right. She could feel his eyes on her, could almost hear his footsteps. Her nerve faltered. What if she was wrong? What if he had something else planned entirely? He could shoot her dead and then shoot himself.

  Her blood ran cold. She needed to find somewhere to hide. No. She tilted her chin. She wouldn’t hide. Never again. Tears threatened as she stared at the sign showing Exit to Templeton Cove ahead of her. Brightly painted in colors of the rainbow, Templeton had been her pot of gold and now the precious pieces had erupted and spewed in every direction.

  The biggest piece of all undoubtedly slept as she fled. She swallowed the lump lodged painfully in her throat. Chris had changed her in more ways than he’d ever know, and for that she’d always be grateful. Drawing in a shaky breath, she stepped forward. She couldn’t stand still like a stationary target.

  “What a good idea, sweetheart. Let’s go and grab a cup of coffee while we wait for our ride out of here, shall we?”

  Angela closed her eyes as Robert’s breath blew hot at her cheek. His lips so close, they brushed her skin.

  His fingers dug painfully into the flesh above her elbow as he steered her through the people around them. Something else, something metal dug into her waist. A gun. Angela swallowed. Ten minutes. Inspector Garrett had said ten minutes. Judging by the way Robert trembled, there was every possibility she could be dead in five.