Chasing Joshua by Cara North Read Free Book Online Page A

had. For all the training his partner said she had, she didn't seem to have much fight when it came to him. He had arrested women but never had to use much force. His size alone humbled most men, and Evelyn was ready to fight him. He felt dirty, like he committed a crime. He scared her, shit .
    "Okay, let's start over.” Joshua took a deep breath. She was in his care, and she didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of his anger. Stevens was concerned, that freaked him out for a moment. Another breath and he walked back to the stove and turned the burners back on. Calmly he started again. “You're a bounty hunter."
    Evelyn sat back but didn't relax. Her nerves were frayed like split electric wires. “Who was that on the phone, Joshua?"
    "A friend.” Joshua wasn't hungry anymore. “Do you want this?"
    "I lost my appetite.” Evelyn took another breath. “What did your friend say about me?"
    "That you were a killer.” Joshua calmly walked over and took the tray, fork and all, from her lap. Standing there he watched her face. She frowned, and for a moment he thought she might cry.
    "I'm no killer,” Evelyn clarified the truth. “I have killed in defense, yes. Defense of others, never myself."
    She needed to make that clear. “Three, three lives lay on my conscious by my hand. My mother and my sister, those are on my conscious, but I didn't kill them. I couldn't stop the bastard who did."
    Evelyn straightened the chair and pushed to her feet. Fuck it, she could recover in the car on the road. She had money for a hotel. Without wincing, without tears, without struggle, at least on the outside, Evelyn Blade walked past Joshua through the kitchen and up the stairs.
    "Shit!” Joshua set the tray on the counter and went after her. He didn't have to go far. She was only three steps up and sitting with her head in her hands, sobbing in silence. Joshua replayed the conversation in his head. Her father killed her mother, when she was eleven. He had abused her, probably her sister. Maybe they were split up in foster care, maybe her father. No, this was a horror movie. And she lived it.
    "Come here, baby.” Joshua pulled the lethal woman into his arms and carried her up the stairs.
    "I'm not a baby.” Evelyn sobbed and pushed a weak defiant hand at his chest.
    "I didn't mean it that way. Has no man ever called you baby?” Joshua pressed his lips to her forehead, and his rough whiskers scratched her face.
    "Not without a kick to the nose, no.” Evelyn had never been referred to with many terms of endearment. Stella called her sugar. Sanahasan called her ga-ka, an artist. Her mother was the last person to call her baby, and that was the night she died.
    The childhood memory flooded in, and there was no stopping it. Maya Blade worked like most mothers did. She came home early to find her husband branding her little girl with a knife blade on her shoulder.
    The woman reacted like any mother would. She lurched onto her husband and fought; he stabbed her to death. Evelyn watched in horror. Her little sister Noel was in the closet, where she hid when her father came home. Evelyn curled into a tiny ball, waiting for Blade to turn on her as well. She curled into that same ball now in Joshua's arms.
    "Why is this happening to me?” Evelyn asked out loud.
    Twenty years next week, twenty years. She carried the truth of that night. She was asked by lawyers, police, priests, and psychiatrists. But she couldn't tell any of them the truth. He would kill her; he would kill Noel. She thought he had.
    "Talk to me.” Joshua sat her on his bed. It was more comfortable, and he knew that. Besides, the bathroom was right there. If she needed to go, it would be less painful than walking down the hall.
    "I can't. He will kill me and Noel. He will kill us both.” Evelyn still clung to her knees. Her ribs be damned she had bigger problems right now. She might just confess. Tell the secret.
    "No one will touch you ever again, Evelyn, I promise. Tell