Page 28 of When He Protects

Yes, but the gunhe’dstood in front of had actually been loaded. The one she’d stood in front of hadn’t been. Something she wondered if he knew. Surely his FBI buddies had told him that fact already? “You’re the hero. Not me.” A warning for him.

“You told me you weren’t a villainess.”

Yes, but not being a villain didn’t necessarily make you into the good girl, either. “Shades of gray.” She bobbed her head. “I’ve got to ditch these heels. They are killing my feet.See you soon.” She opened the door. Crept into the small bathroom. And her first order of business? She did ditch the heels. Then she bent and twisted the bottom of the right shoe. The heel opened because it had been hollow. A perfect hiding space. The small USB drive fell into her palm. “Hello, gorgeous,” she whispered.

As if she’d waste her time stealing something as boring as diamonds. Please. She could get diamonds any day of the week. But the USB drive? Oh, it was special. Worth killing for, in fact.

Her fingers closed around the drive. Now the big question…had Jorlan realized what she’d done? And just how long did she have before he started to hunt her? Probably not long at all.

And that’s why it is such a good thing that I have my own personal U.S. Marshal for protection.

Such a very, very good thing…because recently, Esme may have done a few very, very wicked things.

“So where exactly are we headed?”The plane had touched down an hour ago on a deserted air-strip. She’d been whisked out of the plane and into a dark SUV in record time. Esme had barely had a chance to wave goodbye to the pilots before Tyler had been hitting the road. Hard.

The darkness of night surrounded her, and he hadn’t taken anything close to a main road, so there had been no road signs for her to see. In fact, when she squinted hard enough, all she could see in the dark were the twisting outlines of trees. Lots and lots of trees.

He took me to the middle of nowhere, check.

“Where are we headed?” she repeated her question. “And do tell me our delicious cover story.” Because he had not shared it on the plane. When she’d gone back to the seat, Tyler had been dead silent. “Did we meet in Paris? Beneath the Eiffel Tower? Did you take one look at me and fall hopelessly in love?”

“I fell into something, all right.”

Her gaze whipped away from the trees and onto him. They narrowed suspiciously. “Are you making a joke? Because I had no clue you were the joking kind.”

“There’s going to be no talk of France, Esme. Not when we share our, uh, backstory with people. And since you are so good at not having any accent at all, go with that,” he ordered her. “Don’t slip up and speak any French.”

“I’m sure I can manage to avoid slipups.” Not like the man was talking to some kind of amateur. She yawned. The plane flight had actually been pretty short, and though she’d slept, she could use a good five or six hours more of rest time. Before they’d boarded the plane, Tyler had whisked her through Miami and in and out of several different locations in what she suspected had been an attempt to throw any other tracking hitmen off their trail. Hours had drifted by. He’d fed her some takeout, they’d waited for the plane to be ready, and now—nightfall. Nightfall plus her new home. “I’ve got our last names. How about we flesh out more of our story since you’re not telling me where we’re headed?” How many times did a woman have to ask for details?

“No need to flesh it out. I’ve got a full file for you in my bag. After we get to the house, you can read over it all tonight, or you can check it out first thing in the morning.”

“A whole file, huh? Someone works fast.” Her fingers tapped against her leg. “Why don’t you give me a fewhighlights?”

“You just don’t want to ride in silence, do you?”

Actually, she didn’t. Besides, she’d already had plenty of silence on the plane, thank you very much. “I may look all bold on the outside, but I’m quite shaken, if you want the truth. It’s not every day that a man bursts into an interrogation room and tries to kill you.” She swallowed and could have sworn she tasted the bitterness of fear on her tongue. Fear was bitter. Lust was spicy. Love? She had to guess on that one, but Esme thought it would taste sweet. Maybe one day she’d find out. But, back to business. “There is the matter of the five million dollars on my head. That amount of money tells me that more bad guys will be coming after me. The life I knew before is over.” Dead and buried. A good thing.

“They aren’t going to get you.” Grim. “They’d have to go through me first.”

Oh, wow, but he was sweet.

“I’m not easy to get through,” Tyler added. “I’ll rip them apart before they ever so much as touch you.”

So, sweet was probably not the right word for him.Bloodthirsty. That fit much better. “Where have you been all my life?”

A shake of his head. “You’re not going to manipulate me, Esme.”

He kept saying that, but, alas, Tyler was wrong. She already was manipulating him. “I really like the way you say my name, FYI. It’s all hot and dark and rumbling. Pretty much how I’d imagine you’d say it if we were in bed together.”

He sucked in a breath, then rasped, “Not going to manipulate me.”

“Who’s manipulating? I’m stating a fact.” She went back to peering through the windshield. “I swear, I haven’tseen a single sign ofanyone.Are you taking me deep into the woods? Are we going to be all isolated and have to share one bed because that’s the only thing available and you just can’t keep those wicked hands of yours off my body when we are thrust together into such close, intimate confines?”

More silence. Hadn’t she told him that she didn’t enjoy silence?

Silence made her think too much. She didn’t want to think right then. If she thought too much, she’d realize just how screwed she was.Tyler is the only thing standing between me and some extreme danger.Good thing he was so bloodthirsty.

“There’s gonna be more than one bed,” he finally said.

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