Though it troubled her that her assailant had killed himself (and if that didn’t demonstrate how crazy he’d been, she didn’t know what would), she knew he’d intended to injure her severely, if not kill her. Pragmatism tempered her emotion. The simple fact was: She was grateful she’d survived. Sorry the man had been so crazy that he’d attacked her, then taken a leap off the terrace, but glad to be alive all the same. It was startling how having one’s life placed in jeopardy reduced one to the basics.

Had Dageus not returned—that thought made her shudder—she would have fought to the death. She was discovering all kinds of parts of her personality she’d not known existed. She’d always worried that if someone attacked her, she might just crumple, or freeze helplessly. Had always wondered if she was a coward at heart.

Thank God she wasn’t. And thank God Dageus had forgotten the key.

She’d been so gullible. Giles “Jones,” indeed. What a tip-off that should have been. But she’d not given it a second thought because the man had looked and acted so darned normal, at first. Then again, she’d read somewhere that most serial killers looked like the guy next door.

When Dageus had walked in, the man had gotten the strangest look on his face. She couldn’t quite pin it down. . . .

Mentally shrugging, she pushed the grim thoughts away. It had been awful; she’d never been so frightened in her life, but it was over, and she would look forward, not behind. Dwelling on it would make her feel terrified all over again. A freaky, awful thing had happened right before she’d left New York, but she would not let it characterize her time there, nor cast a pall over her future. He was dead; she would not grant the man the success of making her feel terrorized. In twenty-four years, she’d been the victim of an attack once. She could live with those odds. Would live with them, would not let it make her frightened in the future. More cautious? Absolutely. Afraid? Not a chance.

She was on her way to Scotland, with a man that made her feel more alive than anyone she’d ever known.

And she was determined to enjoy every last minute of it.

She wondered what Grandda would have made of Dageus.

Chloe Zanders. Chloe . . . MacKeltar.