Page 35 (1/2)

She met his eyes and held them "Then why did you pick this particular alibi?"

He bent forward and kissed her Really kissed her The shock of his war on hersfor half a second before her muscles melted in to warm jelly of their own accord She didn’t intend to kiss him back, but she couldn’t help herself He ar, and the intense sensation of his ue …

He let her go and stood up, very quickly He took a giant step back fro the buttons on his shirt

"Pretending that didn’t just happen won’t help," she said Her heart was pounding, and she was vibrating all over with the intensity of what had just happened He was, too She could see it in the abrupt, jerkyhappened," he said His voice was tight and angry "And nothing will ever happen again I apologize"

"I don’t want your apology; I want you to tellfor a while now You know it I know it"

"I told you Nothing Instinct" He lips twisted, and he turned away to do up his tie "Hey, you’re the one who called ot off the bed and touched his shoulder "I didn‘t And … thank you"

"For what?"

"For … stepping off" Even if, at this moment, she didn’t want hi alive, but she kneas probably a terrible o take my shower"

She closed and locked the bathrooainst it for a moment, and then stripped off her clothes The tub wasn’t particularly clean, but the water was hot and plentiful, and the rough, cheap soap felt good Not as good as she ih

She washed away the blood, and the desire, and by the time she came back into the cramped, cheap bedroom (and, God, she hadn’t fully appreciated just how cheap and worn it was until that moment) she found McCallister stripped down to a white T-shirt and Joe Boxers, scrubbinghis socks and dress shoes, which for some reason she found hilarious

He looked up, frowned at her, and went back to what he was doing Mr French was sitting at his feet and watching with his head cocked, evidently fascinated, but he broke off and padded to Bryn She leaned against the doorfra to help That suit’s pretty e on the way"

"Maybe you can tell Ms Harte that I like it rough"

"Not funny," he said He put the washcloth aside--a different one, she noticed; it didn’t have bloodstains--and put the pants on His shirt rinkled, but clean, and he buttoned up quickly Even his jacket looked passable now, except for the torn seae, I’ll tell her we had some proble, sohtness around his eyes and mouth He aluess and said, "The appoint, is it? You and Harte …?"

He passed the loose circle of his tie over his head, popped his collar, and snugged the tie tight before he snapped down the points again "We’ve got a long drive Do you need o?"

"No, he’s fine And you didn’t answeropen the door to the setting sun, head down "After you"

On the way back to her apartot a phone call, said a few terse words, and then said, "Problem at your apartment Joe is sure it’s been coht at the house"

It was funny that McCallister referred to the huge pile of a ine feeling that comfortable about it "Why?"

"Because I don’t have time to find you anywhere else Liam will look after you"

"Then why exactly did we spend the afternoon in a cheap motel, when you have a swanky love nest all your own?"

He barked out a laugh at that term, then said, "Do you want to know the actual truth of it?"