Allison Brennan - Killing Fear

Blade was behind a table he’d flipped on the right; Will was in the narrow hall off the foyer that led to his upstairs. He could see the couch Glenn hid behind, but he couldn’t see the kitchen.

Could Glenn see Robin?

“Come out with your hands up!” Will shouted.

The low voice of laughter made Will’s blood run cold.

“Not exactly how I planned it,” Glenn said, “but she’s still dead.”

Will’s ears buzzed.

“Will!”

He heard Robin from the kitchen. She sounded strained, but she was alive. Alive, not dead. Glenn had wanted him to react, to do something rash.

“You’re not going to leave alive unless you throw your weapons out and stand up, hands behind your head.”

“She is dying, Will. I sliced her from her navel to her breast. She’s bleeding to death. I can sit behind here all night long. By the time you have the courage to come for me, precious Juliet will be dead in a pool of blood on your kitchen floor.”

“Don’t, Will,” Robin called from the kitchen. “Don’t listen to him. He’ll kill you.”

She didn’t sound herself, but that could be from fear.

Will stared at the bloody handprints. So much blood. Too much.

Robin was alive now, but for how long?

He glanced at Blade. Held up his fingers. On three, cover me.

Blade nodded.

One.

Will glanced around the corner. A small spatter of blood was next to the couch where his bullet had hit Glenn in the arm.

Two.

He pictured the layout of his kitchen, the likely place Robin would hide-behind the center island. It was a solid block of wood.

Three.

Blade fired rapidly over the table while Will rounded the corner and skirted along the wall toward the kitchen.

A hand with a knife came over the top of the couch aimed right toward him.

From Will’s left, gunfire. He jumped, turned his gun toward the sound.

Robin, white as a ghost, leaned against the wall, firing directly behind the couch, emptying the.45 into Glenn who still cowered there.

The knife fell.

Robin slid slowly down the wall. Will quickly glanced at Glenn-he was dead, his eyes staring at the ceiling.

“Blade!” Will shouted and motioned toward Glenn’s body.

He holstered his own gun and knelt at Robin’s side, gently resting her body on the carpet.

She struggled to get the words out. “Is he-”

“He’s dead.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good.”

She closed her eyes.

“Robin, don’t go to sleep.”

“I’m okay.”

He almost laughed. “You’re not okay.” Glenn hadn’t been lying when he said he’d cut her chest. Blood seeped from the red wound, but it was her arm that he was worried about. Blood rapidly flowed from a two-inch cut on her arm.

He tore off his shirt and wrapped it tight around her forearm, then pulled his T-shirt over his head and applied pressure to her chest.

A siren sounded in the distance.

Blade came over. “He’s dead, Hooper.”

“Damn straight,” Robin muttered. “I didn’t practice at the range every week to miss.”

“This doesn’t look like your gun,” Will said.

“He left it on the table.” Robin’s voice was weak.

“Ambulance?” Will asked Blade.

“On the way.”

Robin’s face was cut and bruised, blood coming from her mouth and one ear. She was having a difficult time breathing.

“Hang in there, Robin.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said faintly.

“You’d better not.”

“You bought my picture.”

At first Will didn’t know what she meant. Her left hand vaguely pointed toward his living room wall. He looked, saw the beach scene he’d bought last year after hearing her work was available at the gallery.

“I thought it would look nice in my place.” That wasn’t the total truth. “I missed you, Robin. Looking at it every day reminded me of you.”

“I love you, Will.”

Two weeks later

Will watched Robin closely to make sure she didn’t overdo it. He hadn’t wanted to come to the wedding-Robin had only been out of the hospital for a couple days-but she’d insisted.

“Carina is your best friend. You can’t miss her wedding.”

By the look on Robin’s face, the formal Catholic ceremony had been lovely. Will didn’t pay much attention to it, watching Robin for signs of fatigue.

“Stop it,” she said as they walked into the reception at the Kincaid family house an hour later.

“You want to go home?”

“No. Stop treating me like I’m about to break. I’m okay, Will. I’ll let you know if I need to go home, I promise.”

He relaxed. Some. “If you promise.”

He’d almost lost her. Again. She’d lost so much blood after the showdown with Glenn.

But that was over.

Nick and Carina came up to them shortly after the newly married couple arrived in the backyard. “I’m so glad you came,” Carina beamed at Robin. “You haven’t met my husband, Nick Thomas.”

Robin smiled. “The wedding was beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Carina said.

Will hugged his partner. “You’ve never looked more gorgeous, Cara,” he said affectionately. He shook hands with Nick. “Congratulations.”

“It was perfect,” Carina said.

“Almost,” Nick said, his face clouding a bit. “If only Patrick could have been here.”

Carina nodded. “I prayed every day that he’d be back up and around in time for my wedding. We even considered postponing it, but what would that do? Put Nick and me on hold on the slim chance that Patrick recovers? When? This month? This year? Five years from now?” She glanced at Will, her dark eyes glistening. “Don’t wait, Will. Love, and life, needs to be your priority.”

She took both Will and Robin’s hands into hers and squeezed, then walked off with Nick to talk to the rest of the guests.

“Robin-”

“You don’t have to-”

“Shh.” He looked around the crowded backyard. All the Kincaids were here. Even Dillon Kincaid’s elusive twin brother hovered around the periphery. All Will wanted was a quiet place to talk to Robin.

“Come with me,” he said, finally spotting a place to escape.

In the side yard, wisteria climbed a trellis, giving privacy to a bench. Will sat Robin down, then knelt in front of her.

She grinned. “Don’t do that, Will.”

“What?”

“You’ll get your pants all dirty.”

He shook his head. “I love you, Robin.”

“I know. I love you, too. We’re missing the-”

“Shh.” He cleared his throat, glanced up, saw the scar on her throat.

Theodore Glenn almost killed her. You almost lost her, Will. Why are you wasting time now?

“Marry me.”

Damn, that came out pathetic.

“Is that a proposal?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Yes.”

When she didn’t say anything right away, his heart skipped a beat. “We can wait-” he began.

“I don’t want to wait. Of course I’ll marry you, Will.”

He sighed in relief, pulled a small box from his pocket. “I’ve been carrying this around with me for the last two weeks. I was going to ask you to marry me when you were in the hospital, but that wasn’t really romantic. This isn’t all that romantic, either, but-”

“It’s the perfect time,” she said, grinning like a kid, as she took the box from his hand.

Her face lit up when she opened it. The solitary deep blue sapphire sparkled in the sunlight. “Oh, Will.”

“I remember once you told me you thought sapphires were prettier than diamonds. But if you want a diamond, I can trade-”

“Stop right there. I love sapphires. And I love that you remembered.”