behind his glasses but didn’t let go. When he raised his other arm and tried to put it around her waist Tyler’s most basic instincts kicked in. Nudging her to the side to make room, he grasped fistfuls of sweatshirt and shoved the guy away from her.
‘What are you doing?’ he heard her say a split second before one the Hollywood stars appeared.
Suddenly the crowd was screaming and surging forwards. The guy he was holding stumbled backwards—was torn from his grasp—and Tyler was surrounded. Whirling around, he searched frantically for Miranda while his muscles clenched with the adrenaline-fuelled need to protect her. When he got a glimpse of her hair a second before her head dropped out of sight the thought of her being crushed almost made him lose his mind.
‘Get out of the way!’ he roared, shoving bodies aside until he could see her on the ground trying to get to her feet. Dropping down onto his haunches, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. ‘You okay?’
She looked up at him and nodded, her eyes glittering with fear. ‘I’m fine,’ she lied.
Tyler pressed his forehead against hers for a moment, relief surging through his body. ‘Let’s go.’
Helping her upright, he took one of her hands in a firm grasp, his pace not slowing until he’d dragged her across Times Square and into the underground parking of the Hyatt. When they got close to the Escalade he turned around and hauled her into his arms. But instead of holding on to him, she struggled free and took a step back.
‘Have you lost your mind?’
Tyler frowned. ‘He wouldn’t let go of you.’
‘I was handling it.’
‘It didn’t look like you were.’
‘You’re putting me more on edge than those stupid letters,’ she said with exasperation. ‘How am I supposed to act normally if every time we go somewhere you freak out like I’m about to be kidnapped?’
‘I suppose I should just stand there and let you get sucked into the crowd or crushed.’
She frowned back at him. ‘What you should do is what everyone else who has surrounded me for the last eight years never learned to do—ask me if I’m okay.’
For the first time since he’d realized who she was talking to in the crowd Tyler stopped to think. Telling her it was the same guy he’d seen outside the school wouldn’t help. He couldn’t confess how uncharacteristically scared he’d been when he thought she might be hurt or how relieved he was when she wasn’t, either.
So where did that leave him?
‘You’re right,’ he admitted flatly, partly because she was but mostly because he couldn’t think of anything else to say.
The admission took the wind out of her sails. ‘Thank you.’ She searched his eyes. ‘Now do you want to tell me what happened back there?’ When he didn’t reply she took a short breath. ‘Tyler, I’m trying to make an effort to communicate with you but you’re gonna have to help me out here. I can’t do it alone.’
He popped his jaw and tried to meet her halfway. ‘Maybe I’m having a problem with the crowds.’
‘Why?’
‘Too many people.’
‘We live in New York—it comes with the territory.’ Her expression softened, the warmth of understanding in her eyes making him feel about two feet tall. ‘It’s because everywhere you look you’re seeing potential dangers, isn’t it?’ She smiled. ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve survived this long, haven’t I?’
Tyler ground his teeth together. He’d liked it better when they were arguing.
‘When I’m not appearing at public engagements I barely merit a second look.’
He very much doubted that. The night they met he would have picked her out of the crowd without any difficulty.
Stepping forwards, she took his hands and tangled their fingers together. ‘I’ll prove it to you.’
‘How exactly are you gonna do that?’
‘You have to trust me.’ She lifted their arms out to the sides and briefly rolled her gaze towards the concrete ceiling. ‘And possibly veer off the schedule a little bit...’
He didn’t like where the conversation was headed any better than he liked the sensation he was being managed. ‘Where are we going?’
‘For a walk,’ she replied with the same impossibly soft smile he’d seen her use on a small child.
‘Not in Times Square, we’re not.’
‘I was thinking more along the lines of Carl Schurz Park.’ Rocking forwards, she lifted her chin, her voice taking on the liquid cadence he’d been able to resist not so long ago. ‘Seems to me we could both use the