Page 74 of Back in Black

His joke went unappreciated as she followed him back to his house by rote. Drew didn’t like seeing her like this, all withdrawn and . . . lost.

And then, out of the blue, she pulled herself together.

She stood taller, stronger. Her trembles subsided. “Drew?”

“Yeah?” They walked through his house to his bedroom.

“Someone ran that man over. On purpose.”

So she’d come to the same conclusion. “You noticed that, huh?” He was hoping she’d come around the corner too late to see the actual act.

“He was killed.” She looked up at Drew, her face filled with worry.“Murdered.”

“Sure looked that way to me.” Drew could tell by her concentrated expression that she was still piecing things together.

“He has photos of me, here with you, on that camera. That last photo . . . I’m in your shirt, Drew. In myunderwear.” Distraught and affronted, she stared up at him. “He was . . . spying on you.On me.”

There’d be no point trying to sugarcoat it. Gillian wasn’t a dummy. “Yeah, afraid so.”

Hands in her hair, she strode away from him. “This is just too awful.”

Drew watched her with growing cynicism.

She hadn’t turned to him for comfort. Instead, she’d set herself apart from him.

He wouldn’t kid himself: a ton of significance came with her telling reaction. From jump, Gillian had seen him primarily as trouble, and now she felt she’d been contaminated by her association with him.

Who had the cursed photographer worked for?

“You’ll get through it.” Drew picked up her jeans and held them out to her. Though he hated it, all he could do at this point was protect her from the danger, and the fallout, as much as possible. “Get dressed, and then stay here in the house. I’ll handle Sparks.”

“Oh, no.” She inhaled deeply and seemed to collect herself before stepping into her jeans. “Forewarned is fore-armed. I need to know what’s going on so that I’ll be better able to control things.”

Unbelievable. How the hell did she think to control things now? And how could he keep her safe if she wouldn’t stay out of it? “I thought we settled this in the kitchen.”

In the process of snapping her jeans, she froze and then slowly brought her gaze up to his. Her blue eyes burned like the center of a flame.

Fascinated, Drew watched her expression tighten into cold fury. Oddly enough, it kind of turned him on. Gillian Noode was a bundle of passion.

“That’s right!” As if only then recalling it, she stated, “I’mlividwith you.”

“Really? Why?”

Her back went ramrod straight and in a near screech, she said, “Why?What do you mean,why?”

Drew almost smiled. Of course he knew. He’d deliberately antagonized her, almost as a self-preservation mechanism to keep her from getting too close.

But now . . . now everything had changed. Now he damn well intended to keep her under his very close radar.

For her sake.

“Come on, Gillian. Be reasonable.” Drew held up a hand to preempt the attack she looked ready to launch. “Whatever has you prickly now, let’s agree that it has to wait. I need to get back outside with Dickey.”

Trembling with fury, she resisted, and then finally snapped,“Fine.”

She slipped her pampered, painted toes into high-heel sandals and, still wearing his shirt with her jeans, headed for the door. “Let’s go.”

Yet again Drew noticed how she filled out his shirt. How could he not? With every step, she bounced and jiggled and just plain looked sexy as hell. He didn’t want Dickey seeing her like this, and he sure as hell didn’t want Sparks to see her this way again.

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