The dog kept watch for another ten minutes, then she yawned, stretched, and trotted across the room to curl up in her dog bed.

“At least one of us can sleep.”

Several hours remained until dawn. Too keyed up to go back to bed, Hannah returned to the door and stared out into the darkness. The lights had gone out. Whatever had been moving around in the backyard was gone. She went to the couch and sat down, setting her gun and holster on the coffee table. If the kids were home, she’d have secured her weapon. But this morning, she was very much alone.

The motion lights went out, leaving the yard dark again. The big farmhouse blotted out a chunk of night sky. From the cover of the woods, Mick raised the binoculars to his face and focused on the back door.

Hannah Barrett. Long and lean, with her fresh face and just-out-of-bed hair, standing in her designer-perfect kitchen, symbolized every woman who would never be his. She was staring at the spot where he’d been standing just minutes ago. It felt as if she could see him. As if their eyes were meeting. As if she knew what was coming. Despite the cold night, excitement warmed his blood.

Mick backed farther into the woods. A branch swiped his head. Cursing, he swatted at it. He’d forgotten how much he hated the outdoors.

She moved away from the window. He needed to go. Couldn’t be caught out here in the daylight. He skirted the property, staying just inside the trees, until he reached the road. He’d parked the car behind a clump of evergreens on the other side of the road. But watching from a distance hadn’t been enough.

He’d gotten too close, close enough for the dog to sense him and wake her. The motion lights had been a surprise. A security system was a possibility. He needed to case the place in daylight, but this wasn’t a neighborhood. People did not walk past houses in the middle of nowhere. Getting Hannah Barrett wouldn’t be easy like all the other women he’d grabbed. She was no dumb runaway.

Sunday had been a wasted day. He and Sam had dumped the body before dawn, then gone back to the house. The dogs in the kennel had been barking nonstop, so he’d tossed them some food and then crashed. He hadn’t woken up until night. But then, being up all night was normal for him, and the time difference between here and Vegas had screwed up his hours further. At home, it was one in the morning, and he wouldn’t be going to sleep for hours yet. It had all worked out for the best, though. He’d gotten here in time to see the family leave an hour earlier, everyone except the blond.

She was in there, and she was alone.