Page 116 of Back in Black

Brett eased up from covering Audrey. He looked at Drew, saw the blood, and cursed. He was on his phone in a heartbeat, still keeping Audrey tucked behind him, just in case.

Drew went back to his call. “Cops are on the way, Marcus. Don’t take your eyes off her. I mean it. Sit on her if you have to.”

“Her head’s bleeding real bad,” the investigator said with a sort of disinterested observation. “I might’ve hit her harder than I meant to. It’s dark as hell up here and I was trying to be quiet, when suddenly she started shooting. I had to lunge to reach her.”

But thank God he had. “Don’t worry about it, Marcus. You did what you had to do.” Hopefully Millie would recover, because Drew wanted to see her sorry ass behind bars.

The only saving grace to any of this was that his ploy had worked: he’d been the target. Not Brett or Audrey and, thank God, not Gillian.

With an effort, Drew sat up more and, thinking of what could have happened, he tucked Gillian into his side with his uninjured arm. She fought him and got free enough to take off her wrap. Big tears swam in her eyes, but they didn’t fall. Her face had gone pale, and when he’d tackled her to the ground, he’d knocked the careful chignon from her hair.

“Dear God, Drew,” she mumbled in a shaky voice that still sounded pissed.

He held her off when she would have started messing with his arm. It hurt enough without her help.

“Where are you, anyway?” he asked Marcus.

“Half a block down, on the roof of a convenience store. I saw Christian climb up, and I figured she’d be spying on you or calling in another bomb threat or something, so I followed.” He sounded almost admiring when he said, “She’s a crack shot with a rifle.”

Drew looked at his arm, now steadily oozing blood and throbbing like a son of a bitch. “Thank God she’s not quite perfect, or I’d be dead.” That sentiment brought the tears in Gillian’s eyes spilling over. “Stay put, Marcus, you got that? I’ll send the cops to you.”

“We’re not going anywhere.”

Drew hung up, saw Gillian shaking like a leaf, and decided he’d better man up before she fell apart. “Calm down, Gillian. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine, you areshot! What were you thinking to use yourself as a shield?”

“I didn’t want you hurt,” he told her simply. And he smoothed a long, silky tendril of hair away from her face.

Her mouth worked twice before words came out, all wrapped up in tears and hysteria. “You stupid, stupid man, you were almost killed!”

He knew it was the residual fear making her sound like a nag. Nodding toward Brett, Drew said, “He did the same thing as me. Why aren’t you bitching at him?”

“Because he . . . you . . .”

Drew didn’t quite plan it, but seeing her like this, knowing she damn well cared or she wouldn’t be so upset, he said, “I love you, too.”

She gasped so hard she landed back on her ass. When Drew just grinned at her, she held her breath a second, then started breathing hard and fast. Finally she said, “Damn you, Drew Black.”

“I love you, Gillian.”

She sobbed once, hiccuped, and then used a sleeve to dry her eyes. “What are you doing to me?”

Very slowly, trying to pretend that fire wasn’t burning through his arm, Drew leaned in and kissed her. “I don’t know, but I want to do it for the rest of our lives.”

She covered her face, nodded.

Drew waited, but when he heard the sirens approaching, he said, “Woman, I really wish you’d tell me that you love me, too.”

Nodding hard, she dropped her hands. “I do.” She touched his face with trembling hands. “I love you.”

Feeling light-headed, Drew stretched out on his back on the ground. “Huh. That was almost worth getting shot, just to hear you say it.”

OFFICER Sparks was on the scene, directing everyone with efficient authority. Brett slumped down on the ground next to Audrey. It had been one hell of a day. Not only had his past caught up to him, but everything he owned was now gone.

Except for his cat.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against a brick wall. When he thought of Audrey going into that old house . . . His hands curled into fists and his jaw tightened. The building had probably gone up like dry leaves, it was so old and so badly maintained.

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