And then that voice, in an entirely different tone, was yelling her name as Adam ran toward her.

He dropped to his knees beside her. “Were you hit? He was firing wild, and I heard you—”

He stopped, swore harshly and reached for her arm. She bit back a cry as he touched it, but he was incredibly gentle as he lifted her sleeve.

He didn’t chastise her for not staying inside, which worried her for a moment. Was she dying, was that why he was being so kind and tender when she’d ignored his order? Was that why—

“Thank God,” he muttered. “It’s not bad, it’ll be fine.”

Not bad? It felt as if her arm was on fire. A sudden understanding hit her, hard and deep, of just how much worse Adam’s injury had been. A hundred times worse. And the idea of withstanding a hundred times this pain and still being able to function enough to even think about getting to his weapon with his other hand...

Dear God, no apology could ever be enough. She was a stupid, stupid fool and—

A sudden bark from Cutter made him look that way. The dog was standing just inches away from the downed man—she still couldn’t see him in the shadows outside the circle of light—who was cowering away from the dog’s clearly bared fangs.

“Right,” Adam said, set down the weapon he’d apparently never fired and pulled the Foxworth phone out of his pocket. But before he could hit the red button Liam materialized out of the darkness. Belatedly, she realized that was the cause for the bark.

The cavalry had arrived.

Adam was more than happy to leave the detritus to the Foxworth man. He wanted nothing more than to focus on Mandy. He knew as soon as the police arrived he was going to be tangled in statements and paperwork for who knows how long. Even with the Foxworth name and the weight it seemed to carry, he was still the primary witness and they’d need a blow-by-blow from him.

On that thought he felt another twinge from his ribs, where the guy had landed a couple of fairly solid blows. But then Cutter had latched onto his wrist and the man had freaked. There was something about a dog with his jaws clamped on you that reduced most people to terrified lumps. He’d seen it often with police K-9s, and while Cutter might be fluffier, his snarl was just as scary and his teeth were just as impressive.

In fact, the dog had reacted exactly as a trained one would. For which Adam was beyond grateful, because if he hadn’t the guy might have been able to actually aim those shots at Mandy, instead of having them go wild.

Mandy, who shouldn’t have been out there at all.