“I don’t want to shoot you, James, but I do want to get away from you. You did betray me. You know I can’t trust you. Let me go, please.”
“Nope, not ever again. You know you can trust me. It pisses me off that you’re even questioning that. Listen up, Sally. You’re with me now until all this is over. Would you rather trust your mother or your grandparents? Oh, yeah, your sweet little granny is a piece of work.”
“No, I don’t trust any of them. Well, I do trust Noelle, but she’s all confused and doesn’t know what to believe—whether I’m a lunatic or not. I’d bet that all of them have called Beadermeyer, even Noelle. If she called him it wasn’t to turn me in, it was to get some answers. Oh, God, do you think Beadermeyer would hurt her?”
Quinlan didn’t think he would hurt her unless his own skin was in really deep trouble, which it would be shortly, but not just yet. But he said, “I don’t know. Beadermeyer could do anything if he felt threatened, which he probably does, since we busted you out of his sanitarium. Hey, did you know I even threw meat to those dogs to save you?”
She looked up at him in the darkness. “What dogs?”
Dillon said, “There were guard dogs at the sanitarium, Sally. James tossed meat to them so they wouldn’t tear our throats out. One of the dogs was leaping up trying to get James’s ankle when he was carrying you up that fence.”
She could see the shadows and blurred lines of his face. “Well,” she said at last, aware that she couldn’t hold that gun up for much longer because her shoulder hurt like the very devil, “shit.”
“That’s what we’ve been thinking for the past six hours,” Dillon said. “Come on, Sally, give it up. Quinlan’s determined to help you. He’s determined to protect you. Let him be possessive. I’ve never before seen him like this. It’s a real treat.
“Now, come on, you guys. Let’s get out of here before some motorists come by and stop or worse, someone calls the local cops.”
Quinlan didn’t even think about it, he just scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the Porsche.
“You’re no he-man,” she said in the bitterest voice he’d ever heard. “It was just a six-foot walk. A nerd could have carried me that far.”
“It’s my gun,” he said, leaning down and lightly kissing her ear. “It’s heavy.” When he settled her on his lap in the passenger side of the Porsche, he held out his hand for the gun.
She looked at him for a very long time. “You’re really feeling possessive about me?”
“You stole my money, my credit cards, my car, and the photos of my nieces and nephews. I had to catch you so I could get that stuff back.”
“Bastard.” She gave him the gun.
“Yeah, that’s me,” he said. “Thanks, Sally. No more trying to run away from me?” he asked as he tossed the gun into the back seat.
“I don’t know.”
“Tell you what, I won’t strain your options. I’ll handcuff you to me, how’s that?”
She didn’t answer, her head pressed against his shoulder. She hurt, he realized, and here he’d been teasing her. “Just rest,” he said. He looked at Dillon. “How about finding us a nice motel?”
“Contradiction in terms. Are you paying or is the FBI?”
“Hell, I’m rich now that I’ve got my credit cards back. It’s on me, all except your room, Dillon.”
“Tomorrow we’ll buy you some clothes that fit.”
She was standing there, staring at the large motel room. There was a sitting area and a TV and a king-size bed.
She turned to look at him. “It’s payback time?”
He cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean?”
She nodded toward the bed. “I gather I’m to sleep with you in that bed.”
“I was going to ask that you take the sofa. It’s too short for me.”
She gave him a baffled look, then walked to the bathroom, saying over her shoulder, “I don’t understand you. Why aren’t you furious with me? Why aren’t you yelling? I’m not used to reasonable people, particularly reasonable men. Just look at you, the very image of long-suffering Job.”
A bruise was coming up along her jaw. He wondered just how badly her shoulder was hurt. “I would be pissed at you if I hadn’t seen you go flying off that motorcycle. You gave me a gray hair with that stunt.”
“It was a slick spot. There was nothing I could do.”
“Take a nice long shower. It should help your aches and bruises.”