Evangeline shook her head. “I can’t do this.”

Alonzo didn’t respond. He merely turned her car around and drove back to her house. She sat very still while he parked. It was impossible to judge his mood. She watched him catch her bag up with one hand and move around the hood of the car to come to the passenger side and open her door. She was fairly certain she was about to have a heart attack. The pounding hurt.

Alonzo reached into the car, shackled her wrist and pulled her out. It wasn’t difficult for him to do. He was far stronger and when he wanted her to go with him, it didn’t take much for him to get his way. She concentrated on her feet, walking beside him, admiring the fact that he moved in absolute silence.

“You didn’t lock your door, Evangeline. You always have to remember to lock the door.”

“I wasn’t certain I’d be back.” She didn’t look at him as she admitted it. She hadn’t known. She’d just run in a panic.

He closed and locked the door, stepped in front of her and took her hand. He was so gentle. His fingers closed around hers, but he didn’t yank her or exert pressure of any kind. He walked and took her with him, but he was gentle about it. He went straight for the bedroom.

Her heart pounded harder than ever. She stopped when he did, right next to the bed. She could see her tank and boy shorts where she’d flung them. Neither turned on lights, but it wasn’t necessary, not with both cats so close. He faced her, still retaining possession of her hand. Looking up at him was difficult. He looked invincible. An aura of danger surrounded him. Mystery. He was leopard, and there was a raw, erotic appeal to the roped muscles and sheer power he exuded.

His eyes, frozen ice, moved over her face. Seeing too much. Seeing everything there in the dark. He studied her face and she knew he saw the dark circles, the way her eyes looked like two dark bruises.

“You’re wiped and you don’t have the sense to know it.”

She detested that he saw that in her. “I couldn’t sleep,” she defended. “The things you told me . . .” She trailed off, shaking her head, images of that little six-year-old boy so stark in her mind.

He sighed. “I should have taken into account how sensitive you are. Never should have told you.”