Chapter One

Jaime was completely trapped, and she knew it. She'd been backed into a corner, and this time, there would be no escape, no charming her way out of it. It seemed there was nothing to do now but accept her fate. Still, she had to try; knowing it was futile, Jaime made a last-ditch effort to reason with her tormentor. "This isn't fair, you know," she shouted over the surrounding din.

Steve laughed. "All's fair in love...and bumper cars." The instant the ride had started, he'd rammed her car over and over, pushing her straight into the corner where she couldn't turn and couldn't bump him back. "Give up yet?" he teased.

"I don't think so!" Jaime yanked hard on the tiny steering wheel, floored the pedal and went...nowhere. "I am not having fun!" she said with a giggle.

"It was your challenge -"

"Steve, come on!"

"You know what you have to say."

"No way!" Jaime turned her head and stuck out her tongue before attempting to rock the car out of the corner. "Ok – you got me," she sighed.

"Say it," Steve prompted. Jaime mumbled the words under her breath. Steve chuckled. "Didn't quite hear you..."

She scowled, but the corners of her mouth were already twitching into a smile. "Steve is king," she grumbled.

"Now you're talking my language," he laughed, giving Jaime a wink as her newly-free car sailed past him.

- - - - - -

"I let you win," Jaime told Steve as they left the bumper cars.

"Is that a fact?"

"Well, I have to watch that delicate male ego of yours." She tilted her head up and kissed him.

"You are all this man's ego needs," he said softly. They stopped at the base of the park's brand-new roller coaster. Billed as the longest, highest and fastest in the world, the Behemoth was the main reason Steve and Jaime had come to the park. "Shall we?" Steve asked, extending a gallant arm.

Jaime grinned. "Let's rock!"

Halfway up the gigantic lift-hill, Jaime clutched Steve's arm as an icy-cold fear shot straight through her. It wasn't happy anticipation; it was an awful, sinking sense of foreboding, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone again. Jaime continued clinging to Steve simply because she liked how it felt.

- - - - - -

The cat, as always, was on the prowl while the mice dared to have fun. The first trap would be a subtle one – just a teaser for what was to come – and it was ready. The cat's eyes gleamed with the excitement of the hunt.

- - - - - -

Jaime turned her key in the lock and she and Steve stepped into the den. They'd just enjoyed a quiet candlelit dinner at their favorite restaurant and were so completely enthralled with each other that the slight change in their surroundings didn't register immediately. Most of Jaime's lost memories were likely to never return, but she'd fallen in love with her handsome Colonel all over again and their relationship had grown almost as serious as it had been just before her accident.

"Do you really have to go home tonight?" she asked softly, handing him a glass of their favorite wine.

"Oscar needs me in the office first thing in the morning." Steve kissed her, and as she sank into him and the kiss began to deepen, he found himself wanting – needing – to stay with Jaime, for the night...and forever. She felt so right in his arms; she always had. "Well, now that you put it that way -"

Together, they sank in one fluid motion onto the over-stuffed couch. He didn't have to come up with a reason to stay, but they still managed to find one – when they sat on it. Startled, Jaime and Steve jumped to their feet, with his arm protectively encircling her before they even saw...it. Steve frowned in confusion while Jaime's eyes grew wide. She stifled a small scream by burying her face in his chest, but the image was burned into her brain.

Two small dolls, one male and one female, were seated arm-in-arm in the middle of the couch. "Steve," Jaime whispered, "those...aren't mine. Someone was here – in my house – and left those...things!"

Steve drew her body as close as possible to his own, trying to somehow shield her from what she'd already seen: the dolls had no heads. "I'll check the rest of the house," he said grimly.

"I'm coming with you!" Jaime clung to him as they moved from room to room, searching but finding nothing unusual. The strange, cold feeling she'd felt earlier on the roller coaster returned to punch her in the gut as they came to the bedroom. "Steve...I never close the bedroom door!"

"I know." He stepped in front of her and turned the knob. As he took his first look inside, his stomach turned over and his eyes flashed with anger and worry. He tried to block Jaime's view, but it was too late. What they saw was almost too much to take in and definitely too much to bear.

Two dolls' heads – a Ken and a blond Barbie – swung from tiny nooses hung directly over the bed.

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