“You don’t have to do this, Desmond.”

He pushed down on the cap and twisted it off. “When did you get so chatty?” He sat the bottle on the table and stared at her. “I really hate the short hair. Did you know that most women commit suicide with pills? I looked that up.” Because he was a smart man. He handed her two pills.

She didn’t take them from him.

“Open your mouth.”

“What is it?”

He smiled now, shoved the bottle in front of her eyes to see. Not that she could in the moonlight. “One of the many you left behind. Look. It even has your name on it. Now open your mouth and stick out your tongue.”

She did and he dropped two pills. No use getting bit twice.

He pushed the wineglass toward her. “C’mon.”

Without argument, she brought the wine to her lips and swallowed.

He reached for her cell phone and turned on the flashlight. “Let me see.”

Maci opened her mouth and lifted her tongue.

“Good girl. Now . . . two more.” He watched her closely as she swallowed.

On the third go her eyes shifted to the gun in his lap and he dropped one hand on it. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”

“How are you going to get rid of me?” she asked.

He blinked a few times until her question registered. “You’re just going to die.”

“But you hit me. And my neck. There are bruises on my neck.”

He lifted the phone and pointed the flashlight at her face.

Well, damn.

“Take two more.”

With one hand, he poured the pills onto the table, then picked up two and placed them in her mouth. Slim fingers wrapped around the wineglass, and with only the light of the cell phone he noticed her fingerprints on the glass.

Desmond looked at his hands, then back to her neck.

Well, damn.

Several seconds ticked by.

“How are you going to do it? Is it too much to ask to know what you’re going to do with my body?”

“Shut up and take the pills.”

She reached for the wine and her hand slipped.

That’s when he noticed her eyes losing focus. “Speed this up, Maci. I don’t need you passing out before they’re all in.”

“You should have one of these. They feel pretty good,” her voice slurred.

“Maybe next time.” Right now he needed to figure out how to get rid of her body and wipe any fingerprints away.

Outside the wind howled. The same wind that kept her lover busy.

Of course.

Fire.

He wouldn’t have to clean anything. A fire would destroy it all.

Erin lost count of how many pills she had actually swallowed. Most of them were tucked under her leg. Even the wine she was spitting back in the glass. Desmond had stopped checking her mouth with the flashlight. She could see his mind racing around for solutions, and he became more distracted. All of which made it easier to hide the fact that the pills were leaving the bottle but not going in her system.

Still, many had gone down. From the size and aftertaste of the pill, she assumed it was a painkiller. Narcotic. The kind that made her sick to her stomach. Already she could feel her body protesting and her head spinning.

Passing out was not an option. Matt was at work, and no one in the main house knew what was happening. Her only hope was that Renee had gotten the message and called someone.

Banking on that wasn’t an option either.

Matt skidded to a stop behind three black-and-white squad cars that were parked outside the gates of The Sinclair Ranch. He jumped out of his truck.

“What the hell are we doing out here?”

Ty turned to him and lifted a phone in the air. “We just got confirmation that someone is in the house with her.”

“How? Colin isn’t picking up.”

“Your dad called one of the kids.”

Kids? “Austin?”

“Colin can see a flashlight and two people sitting at a table. We told him to back off. SWAT is on its way.”

Matt pulled his hair with both hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Calm down, Matt. Your brother’s close and watching, and we have four uniforms inside the property now. Soon as he knows we’re here, we have a hostage situation.”

“How long is that?”

“Soon as we’re in position, we’ll let him know we’re here.”

Matt looked at his watch. “I’ve been gone just over an hour. The damage he could do in an hour . . .”

“Phone line and power was cut thirty minutes ago, and we’ve been here for ten. Colin’s eyes have been on them almost the whole time we’ve been out here.”

None of that made Matt feel any better.

Ty’s radio went off. Someone on the line spouted codes that Matt couldn’t follow.

Another car pulled up behind them. An officer Matt didn’t know walked up. “The adjacent neighbors have been evacuated.”

“Roll in and take position.”

“Air support?” Ty asked into his radio.

“Negative. Weather is not giving us clearance.”

Matt cussed.

“You stay here.” Ty pointed at Matt.

“Really?” That was not going to happen.

Ty narrowed his eyes. “Stay where I can see you.”

Another car joined the party, this one wasn’t marked, and one of the detectives Matt and Erin had talked to got out. “Let’s do this. SWAT is behind me.”

Matt walked slowly behind Ty’s squad car, crouched low with the officers flanking the side. With their lights off, they rolled in as quietly as they could. Matt found himself thankful the winds gusted every so often, deafening their sound.

They cleared the wash and stopped their car several yards away from the guesthouse and on the lawn. Another squad car crushed gravel under its tires as it went into the field to keep anyone from fleeing out the back. Not that there was a back door, but Erin did have windows.

His entire body was a tightly wrapped bow with an arrow ready to burst. C’mon, baby . . . stay strong.

How he wished Erin could hear him.

Something shiny outside the window caught Erin’s eye. She rubbed her head and tried to see what it was.

Something ran by . . .

Someone.

Desmond caught her smile. “What the hell are you happy about?”

She forced herself to look away from the window. “I’m higher than a kite, Desmond. What do you expect?”

He picked up the empty bottle of pills and stared at her. “You are, aren’t you? Finish the wine. I have to go.”

A noise outside turned his attention away from her.

“Is there more?” she said a little too loudly. Erin picked up the half-empty glass and waved it in the air.

Desmond looked at her.

“No use in it going to waste. I know how much you hate wasting good things.”

He actually took the bait.

With his back turned, she opened the blinds a little more so whoever was outside could see in.

With the bottle in one hand and the gun in the other, he poured the remainder of the wine in her glass and slapped the empty bottle on the table.

She reached for it, and he yelled, “Guzzle it.”

Erin flinched, and the pills she’d shoved under her leg dropped to the floor.