her seem less in their eyes, that was their problem.
* * *
IT was hours later when Taylor caught up with Joss.
“Go back to the hotel.”
“Still got too much to do here,” he said, shaking his head. In all honesty, part of him didn’t want to leave because he wasn’t sure what to do about Dru. Part of him was also hoping for two things . . . her cowardly little friend Tucker would come back. Or maybe Whitmore would appear.
Neither was going to happen, though. And he had to have some kind of reason to keep up with Dru. He was terrified she’d disappear, like dust in the wind.
“Ms. Chapman isn’t going to disappear,” Taylor said. “She’s spent too much time on this.”
Slanting a look at a man he trusted more than just about anybody else, he studied Taylor’s face. “Won’t she?”
“Not until she sees this through. She stuck with it too long. She’s . . . you’ve figured out the fact that she’s been working this on her own, right?”
Rage, frustration, guilt twisted inside him as he looked away. “Yeah. I got that far on my own. Would have been nice if you could have gotten me that information a bit sooner.”
“We had a lot going on,” Taylor pointed out. “And if you’d . . . shit. Look, I don’t know what the deal is here, but this isn’t done for her. I know people. She’s not done.” Then he grimaced. “Although she’s pretty much done in for now. She needs some rest, and I doubt she wants to go back to the place Whitmore had her at, even if it was safe to do—which it’s not. Take her to the hotel. Have them put her in a room. I’ll cover it.”
Joss passed a hand over his mouth. Oh, he’d put her in a room all right.
His room.
They’d have this out.
“Ah, I don’t have a car.”
Taylor tossed his keys. “Take mine. Taige and I’ll be here for a while, and we’ll catch a ride back with somebody from the team when we’re done.”
Tossing the keys from one hand to the other, he hesitated a moment longer. “Vaughnne?”
“In the hospital, resting. Exhaustion, mostly. She overdid it this time, but she’ll be fine. Nalini is with her.” Somebody called his name, and he glanced back for a moment before looking at Joss. “Go. Now. Before I make it an order.”
“I think you just did.”
Weariness dragged at him as he and Taylor separated, the SAC heading back to the crime scene, Joss moving back to his woman. His woman.
This was killing him.
What in the hell was going on?
He’d just adjusted and reshaped his mind to what he thought was the reality, and now reality had just done a number on him and jump-kicked him right in the face.
Working it privately. On her own. Damn it, for how long? How could she have gotten so deep in a job like this? Did she have any idea how dangerous Whitmore was?
Those images flared to life, dancing through his mind.
So vivid and dark, twisted. Fear. Pain. Shame. They grabbed him by the throat, and for a moment, he was almost sick from them.
Up ahead, some thirty feet, she was sitting there, all but ready to fall asleep, and if he knew anything, it was nothing but will keeping her eyes open. Will, determination.
Rubbing the heel of his hand over his heart, he blew out a breath.
She knew, all right. All this time, she’d been doing this alone, and she knew how risky it was. But it hadn’t stopped her.
He wouldn’t let anything stop him, either.
They’d waited too long. Focusing on her, only her, he made himself move, closing the distance between them as he mentally rehearsed something, anything, to say to her.
Kingsley, the agent he’d put at her back, gave him a look. “You can go. I’m taking her to a hotel to get some rest.”
Dru tipped her head back, studying him through her lashes. “And if I’m not interested?” she asked, biting off each word.
“I don’t much care if you’re interested,” he replied. Okay, that wasn’t smooth, he thought. But she needed to get some rest. Standing there, arms crossed, he waited.
She didn’t move.
Bending over her, he whispered, “You’re either going to get your sweet little ass out of that chair, or I’ll just throw you over my shoulder. Trust me, duchess, nobody here will be surprised.”
He almost wished she’d push him. He felt like if he could just get his hands on her,