He needed to reach her tender heart and her inordinate sense of responsibility today. She was his last hope, his only hope. Besides, she owed him.

Slowly he pulled his hand away, keeping a wary eye on her.

“How dare you scare me like that! What were you thinking? You deserve a face full of pepper spray for that stunt! Of all the—”

She swung at him.

But twenty-four months in prison had sharpened his reflexes, taught him to be quick on his feet and have eyes in the back of his head. He easily blocked her fist and pinned her wrist to the car. “Whoa! Settle down. What stunt are you talking about?”

She rolled her eyes then turned an icy glare on him. “On the stairs? The ‘I’m gonna get you, bitch’ crack? Following me, hiding from me, purposely freaking me out?”

The stairs? He thought about the terror that had filled her face when she’d burst through the garage door and run for her car. Unease jerked a knot in his gut. He cut a sharp glance to the stairs then back to Libby. “Someone followed you on the stairs? Did they hurt you?”

What had she said about a comment using the term bitch? His disquiet ratcheted up a notch.

She yanked her arm from his grip and righted her silk blouse. The soft fabric clung to her curves and made no secret of the feminine body beneath. “You’re not funny. What were you trying to prove?”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Yeah, right.” As she moved to climb into her Camry, he grabbed her arm and brought her dark eyes back to his. She pressed her lips in a thin line of irritation.

“I’ve been over there in my truck waiting for you for over an hour.” With a hitch of his head, he directed her gaze to his dilapidated Chevy.

Suspicion narrowed her eyes but soon gave way to the pale, shaken look she’d worn when he’d first approached her. “You weren’t just on the stairs? You swear?”

He snorted. “Not that my word has ever carried any weight with you, but…yeah, I swear.” He felt the shudder that raced through her, and his chest tightened. Releasing her arm, he cast another look toward the stairwell door. “Want me to go check it out? See if anybody’s in there?”

Stiffly she shook her head and sank onto the front seat. “I’m sure whoever was there is long gone now.”

Her cheeks had regained most of their color. She pulled her lips into a pinched frown and raised her chin. “If I find out you’re lying, I won’t hesitate to have you hauled in for harassing an officer of the court.”

Clenching his teeth, he fought down the rise of bile that rose in his throat. The last thing he needed was to give his parole officer an excuse to send him back to prison. “I thought you’d already done that. Isn’t that what the last two years of my life have been about? Your revenge for my leaving you to marry Renee?”

Her eyes flickered with shock, and her lips parted in protest. “I didn’t—”

“Trust me, marriage to Renee was a punishment in itself. Ally’s the only good thing to come from that mistake.”

Libby’s expression softened a degree at the mention of Ally. Maybe his mission wasn’t a lost cause.

As quickly as the tenderness appeared, it dissipated, replaced with hard-edged anger. “Your prison time had nothing to do with us and everything to do with the fact that you attacked a man!”

“My actions were justified! Was I supposed to stand back and let him beat the hell out of that woman?”

Libby threw her hands up and shook her head.

She jabbed a well-manicured finger in his chest and drilled him with a stony glare. He remembered that stare from the courtroom two years ago. Cold. Flat. Void of emotion. “Save it. It’s over, and I won’t debate this with you.”

She tried to close her door, and he blocked it. “Hang on. There’s something else we need to discuss.”

With a trace of suspicion still coloring her expression, she tipped her head. “What?”

Cal straightened and met her eyes. This was it. Everything he cared about rode on convincing Libby to go along with his plan. Drawing a deep breath, he plunged in. “I need your help.”

She scoffed. “My help? Why?”

He crouched down to her eye level. When he braced a hand on the headrest by her cheek and leaned toward her, she stiffened. He moved close enough to smell the subtle musk scent of her perfume, close enough to feel her breath on his face, close enough to hear the sexy catch in her breath. His own pulse scrambled from the proximity.

Damn! She still affected him. Mesmerized him. Tortured him.

“Because the way I see it, you owe me.”

She frowned and rolled her shoulders, clearly struggling to keep her cool. “I don’t owe you squat, Walters.”

He tensed as if she’d kicked him in the teeth. He’d expected this reaction from her, but that didn’t make it easier to take. Curling his fingers into fists, he plowed on, struggling to rein in his temper. It wouldn’t serve his cause to blow up at her now, put her on the defensive.

“Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t have anything to do with your office’s hardball negotiation on my plea agreement. Tell me that during my sentencing you didn’t once think about how I hurt you when I married Renee.”

Surprise flitted across her sculpted, heaven-sent face.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I know I hurt you. And I’m sorry.”

She knitted her brow and turned away, but not before he glimpsed the pain in her eyes. Taking her chin in his hand, he angled her face toward him, felt her tremble.

The wall of her defenses came up in her eyes. The cold, blank prosecutor look returned. “What do you want, Cal?”

“I want my daughter. I want custody of Ally, but my prison record and my being a single father work against me.”

“You want me to take your case? Is that it? Sorry, I don’t do custody cases, but I’ll be happy to recommend someone—”

“I have a lawyer.”

She huffed. “Then why do you need me?”

“Respectability. Stability. Image.”

Her face darkened. “I don’t follow.”

But the wary glint in her gaze said she did understand. The fluttering pulse at her throat gave away her panic.

“Hear me out, Libby.” He ran his thumb along the line of her jaw, and heat flared in her eyes.

Good. He still affected her, too. He tugged his mouth sideways in a satisfied grin.

“You see, Renee’s got a bum for a boyfriend and a new drug habit. She’s neglecting Ally. I want to make a home for my daughter, a better one than the hellhole she lives in now. You can help give me that edge.”

She was already shaking her head. But he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Libby was his last chance.

“I want you to marry me, Lib. I need a wife.”

“This is insane! You can’t be serious.” Libby paced across the black-and-white-tile floor of her kitchen and sent Cal a dubious look.

“I’m dead serious.” The penetrating blue of his returned gaze echoed his resolve. He’d sprawled casually in one of her antique ladder-back chairs, making himself at home. As if he thought he belonged in her kitchen. As if five years and so much painful history hadn’t come between them.

While they waited for the pot of coffee she’d started, he propped a booted foot on another chair and watched her pace. Jewel, her gray cat, rubbed against Cal’s leg, and he reached down to scratch her head while clucking his tongue. His calm repose stood in sharp contrast to the jitters dancing along Libby’s nerves.

If Cal’s crazy proposal weren’t enough, she still heard the hiss of her stalker’s voice echoing in her head. She shivered. Had Cal not been in the garage, would the creep have caught her? Killed her?

The sooner she dealt with Cal, the sooner she could get rid of him and report her stalker’s latest stunt to the police.

“I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t serious.”

When Cal spoke, she snapped her gaze to his.

Cal. In her kitchen again after all these years. And back in her life, if he had his way.