There was a warning laced through his words that had both Kate and Tom turning. A muscle in Ryan’s jaw twitched. His eyes hinted of vengeance.

Tom nodded and glanced back at his wife. “I know how you feel. If there’s anything we can do, let us know. We want to help.”

Sweat trickled down Kate’s back under Ryan’s intense gaze. She could see he was serious, that he’d take on anyone who came after her.

And for reasons she couldn’t explain, that knowledge scared her more than what the truth held.

* * *

“We’ve been driving around for an hour, sweetheart,” Mitch complained from the passenger seat of Simone’s rented SUV. He flipped the map in his lap, studied street signs, then glanced back down. “Your sense of direction’s crap.”

Simone shot him a less-than-amused look. She was still having trouble dealing with the fact he’d changed his work plans and pushed his way onto this trip with her. Not only was he now seated beside her as they searched for Walter Alexander’s home in the suburbs of Vancouver, he’d waited patiently while she’d finished her business in Seattle. Hadn’t even complained once. She knew he was supposed to be at the Queen Charlotte Sound site doing whatever work an engineering geologist does, but every time she’d brought it up, he’d brushed her off and told her he was right where he was supposed to be.

What kind of man did that?

One who’s crazy about you.

Her pulse picked up speed, and her hands grew sweaty against the wheel.

A minivan? He was clearly certifiable. Problem was, the idea didn’t sound as insane to her as it had before. Which meant he’d sucked her into his alternate reality and that she was certifiable now too.

“Tell you what?” she said, trying not to think about the future and what she was going to do about Mitch Mathews yet. If she did, it’d just make her scream. “If I find it in the next ten minutes, you let me do some shopping on Robson Street before we head home.”

“Fine with me. I’ll hang out in the hotel.”

“We aren’t staying in a hotel, sweetheart.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m already bitter about that fact. My plans to seduce the hell out of you keep getting shot down.”

Seduce the hell out of her? Oh, shit. She was in serious trouble with this one.

“So you’ll come shopping with me,” she said, trying to change the subject.

“I’d rather die a slow and agonizing death at the hands of a sadistic dominatrix.” A grin quirked his lips. “Now there’s a thought.”

She couldn’t help it. She laughed. He was one great big walking hormone. And God help her, she loved it.

“Now, Mitch.” She turned down a side street. “We’ll get to your fantasies later. Right now, we’re talking shopping—just an hour or so of male torture. Trust me, you’ll love it. There are some adorable boutiques on Robson Street.”

“Kill me now. Wait. Do they have a lingerie store?”

Her stomach fluttered. “Probably.”

“Think you can find a little black, lacy number?”

She pulled to a stop in front of a rambling cedar-sided house on a quiet street. “They might not have your size, honey.”

“Very funny.”

“And since I found the house, that hour’s mine.”

He grasped her arm before she could climb from the car and pulled her close. “Take me to that lingerie store, and I’ll make it worth your while.”

The heat from his eyes all but seared her veins. But when he kissed her, she forgot everything. Why they were here, what they were looking for, why the hell falling into a relationship with him was such a bad idea.

When he eased back, his eyes were dancing with a mixture of heat and humor. “Forget black lace. I think I want you in red leather.”

Red leather? Oh, man.

Her nerves were a jangled mess by the time they walked up the front steps and rang the doorbell. She flipped her hair back from her face, straightened her jacket. “Let me do the talking. We don’t need to scare Walter Alexander off first thing.”

“If you use that cool, professional tone on me while wearing red leather lingerie and holding a whip, I’ll definitely listen.”

Her elbow connected with his sternum and he sucked in a breath. But his laughter vibrated through the porch and into her feet, then slithered up to her chest, reminding her just what it was about Mitch Mathews that did it for her. What was likely going to be her undoing if she wasn’t careful.

“God, what is that smell?” Mitch brushed a hand over his nose.

“I don’t know.” Simone leaned her hand against the glass, peeked in a side window. Newspapers littered an antique table. A lime-green crocheted, afghan lay over the side of a chair. A piece of pizza sat atop a paper plate on an end table. Dust littered the surface of most items in the living room. An unopened suitcase was pushed up against the far wall. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s home.”

“I can smell why.”

Foreboding washed over Simone. She jogged down the front steps. A flagstone path graced the side of the house.

“Where are you going?” Mitch asked, following.

She ducked under a low bush and pushed the gate open, giving them access to the backyard. “Reynolds was found in his pool.”

“Whoa. Back up. I suddenly have a bad feeling about this.”

Simone rounded the corner of the house before he could stop her. The stench was stronger in the backyard. A cat darted from behind a tree and disappeared around the side of the house. Her eyes widened when she saw the body, feet sticking out of rhododendron bushes near the back stoop.

She swallowed, hard. “So do I.”

“Oh, hell.” Mitch stepped in front of her, blocking her view.

* * *

Ryan’s mother, Angela, tucked her auburn hair over her shoulder and laughed, flashing a wide smile. Candlelight from the dinner table flickered across her face. “So, Mitch is belaying at the top of the cliff, and Ryan slips.”

Ryan watched Kate’s brow shoot up across the table. Her apprehension at having to meet his parents had slowly diminished as the evening wore on. They were all seated around his dining room table, empty dishes in front of them, his mother telling embarrassing stories from his youth. In any other situation, he’d have put an end to it, but Kate looked thoroughly interested, and after her afternoon with Kari Adams, he figured she needed a few minutes of peace.

Even if it was at his expense.

Shifting Julia on his lap, Ryan shook his head. “Dumbo didn’t close the system.”

“What does that mean?” Kate asked with genuine curiosity.

Kathy Mathews rounded the table with a pot of coffee, refilling cups. “It means Mitch didn’t tie a keeper knot in the figure-eight knot, and the end of the rope passed right through the belay device.”

“You see,” Angela went on, “Ryan had never climbed outdoors before. He’d only ever climbed indoors with Mitch, so when this happened—”

“Scared the crap right out of me,” he said with all seriousness.

Everyone laughed but Kate.

“What did you do?” Her eyes locked on his, and he read the concern in those green depths. His heart bumped.

“There was a huge crack about shoulder level, so I jammed my arm in, elbow first, and dug the toes of my boots into the rock to brace myself. Found I could rest almost all my weight on that arm, though it hurt like hell. Then I shouted every profanity I’d ever learned up at Mitch.”

“So that’s where my boy learned those words,” Kathy said, laughing.

“You could have been killed.” Kate stared at him with wide eyes.

Whenever she looked at him with those soft, emotion-filled eyes, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and lose himself in her sweetness. Since both their parents—and their kids—were sitting around the table, he decided it probably wasn’t the best time to do that. He’d have to save it for later, when they were alone. When he could drag her into his bedroom, lock the door, and show her just how much having her in his house meant to him.

“Yeah, tell that to Mitch,” he said, trying to dampen the fantasy. “He about bust a gut when I finally got to the top. Thought it was the funniest thing ever.”

Roger Mathews leaned an elbow on the table and sipped his coffee. “If you listen to Mitch tell it, the cliff wasn’t all that high. Ryan would only have broken a leg, maybe two in the fall.”

“Thanks a lot,” Ryan shot at him.

Laughter resonated around the table. The phone rang, and Julia scrambled off Ryan’s lap to answer it.

“I think,” Ryan’s father, Michael, said, running a hand down Reed’s little back as he slept against his chest, “that was the last time you went rock climbing with Mitch.”

“What do you mean, ‘with Mitch’?” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. “It was the last time I went period.”

Angela leaned over and kissed her son’s cheek. “I prefer both your feet on the ground anyway, sweetie.”

“Dad?” Julia walked back into the dining room with the cordless phone. “It’s Uncle Mitch.”

“Speak of the devil,” Ryan muttered, tossing his napkin on the table and rising.

Conversation continued behind him. “Hey,” Ryan said into the phone. “Where are you?”

“Simone and I are in Vancouver.”

Ryan clenched his jaw, looked over at Kate, then turned back toward the kitchen. He rounded the corner toward his office and shut the door. “I thought I told her not to go up there.”

“Ryan, she barely listens to anything I tell her. What makes you think she’ll listen to you?”

As he sank into the chair behind his desk, he heard Simone’s voice in the background and Mitch’s sharp intake of breath. “Tell her to quit hitting on you so you can explain why you’re there.”