as she sped down the alley, beth knew she was gambling with her life. there was a serious chance she was being played. by a killer.

except how did he know all those things she was feeling?

before she turned the corner, she looked back at butch. he was reaching out to her, one hand extended. she couldn't see his face for the shadows, but his desperate yearning crossed the distance between them. she hesitated, losing the rhythm of her steps.

wrath took her arm. "beth. come on."

heaven help her, she started running again.

the minute they got out to trade, she hailed a passing cab. thank god, it stopped on a dime. they jumped in, and wrath gave out an address a couple blocks over from the one he'd told her on wallace avenue. obviously as an evasion technique.

he must have a lot of those, she thought.

as the cab took off, she felt him look across the seat at her.

"that cop," he said. "does he mean something to you?"

she grabbed her cell phone from her purse and dialed the front desk down at the station.

"i asked you a question." wrath's tone was sharp.

"go to hell." when ricky's voice came through, she took a deep breath. "is jos¨| there?"

it didn't take more than a minute for the other detective to be found, and he was already out the door to find butch as she ended the call. jos¨| hadn't asked many questions, but she knew they were going to come later. and just how was she going to explain to him why she'd run off with a suspect?

that made her an accomplice for aiding and abetting, didn't it?

beth put her phone back in her purse. her hands were shaking, and she felt light-headed. she just couldn't catch her breath either, even though the cab was air-conditioned and blissfully cool. she cracked the window. the breeze was hot and damp as it blew through her hair.

what had she done? to her body last night. to her life right now.

what was next? setting her apartment on fire?

she hated that wrath had dangled the one carrot she couldn't resist in front of her. that he was obviously a criminal. that he terrified her, but she still got hot thinking about how he'd kissed her.

and she despised the fact that he knew those were her first orgasms.

"drop us off here," wrath told the driver ten minutes later.

beth paid with a twenty-dollar bill, thinking they were lucky she had the cash on her. wrath's money, that big bank roll of the stuff, was on the ground in her backyard. so it wasn't like he could cover the fare.

was she really going home with this man?

the taxi left, and they walked down a perfectly kept sidewalk in a well-maintained, ritzy neighborhood. it was an absurd switch in scenery. from the violence in that back alley, to rolling lawns and flower beds.

she was willing to bet the people who lived in these houses had never run from the police.

she glanced back at wrath, who was slightly behind her. he was scanning around them as if he were looking to get jumped, although how he could see anything with those black glasses on, she had no idea. she just didn't get why he wore them. aside from compromising his vision, those flashy lenses were a serious identifying feature. if anyone clapped their eyes on him, they'd be able to describe him accurately in a heartbeat.

not that the long black hair and the sheer size of him wouldn't have done the job well enough.

she turned her head awav. the sound of his boots hitting the concrete behind her was like fists thudding on a solid door.

"so the cop." wrath's voice was close, deep. "is he your lover?"

beth almost laughed. god, he sounded jealous.

"i'm not going to answer that."

"why?"

"because i don't have to. i don't know you, i don't owe you."

"you got to know me pretty damn well last night," he said in a low growl. "and i got to know you very well."

let's not go there, she thought, getting instantly wet between her legs. god, the things that man could do with his tongue.

she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at a well-kept colonial. lights glowed in various windows, making it look inviting and somehow familiar. probably because homey-looking places were universal. and universally appealing.

she could use a week in one right about now.

"last night was a mistake," she said.

"didn't feel that way to me."

"then you felt wrong. you felt all wrong."

he reached for her before she even sensed he'd moved. she was walking along and then she was in his arms. one of his hands clamped onto the base of her neck. the other pulled her hips tight against him. his erection was a thick rope on her belly.

she closed her eyes. every inch of her skin came alive, her temperature soaring. she hated the reaction to him, but like the man, she had no control over it.

she waited for his mouth to come down on hers, except he didn't kiss her. he bent his lips to her ear instead.

"don't trust me. don't like me. i could give a shit. but don't you ever lie to me." he took a deep breath, as if he were drawing her into him. "i can smell the sex coming off you right now. i could take you down on this sidewalk and be up that skirt of yours in a heartbeat. and you wouldn't fight me, would you?"

no, she probably wouldn't.

because she was an idiot. who evidently had a death wish.

his lips brushed the side of her neck. and then his tongue licked her skin lightly. "now, we can be civilized and wait until we get home. or we can get down to it right here. either way, i'm dying to come inside of you again, and you're not going to say no."

beth gripped his shoulders through his leather jacket. she was supposed to push him away, but she didn't. she brought him closer, arching her breasts to his chest.

a sound of male desperation broke free of him, halfway between a groan of satisfaction and a dark plea.

ha, she thought, regaining some power.

she broke their contact with grim satisfaction. "the only thing that makes this god-awful situation remotely bearable is the fact that you want me more."

she kicked her chin up and started walking. she could actually feel his eyes on her body as he followed, as if he were touching her with his hands.

"you're right," he said. "i would kill to have you."

beth wheeled around, pointing a finger at him. "so that was it. you saw butch and me kissing in the car. didn't you?"

wrath cocked an eyebrow at her. smiled tightly. didn't answer.

"is that why you attacked him?"

"i was merely resisting arrest."

"yeah, that's what it looked like," she muttered. "so did you? did you see him kiss me?"

wrath closed the space between their bodies, menace flowing out of him. "yeah, i saw. and i hated that he was touching you. does knowing that get you off? do you want to nail me a good one and tell me he's a better lover than i am? it would be a lie, but it would still hurt like hell."

"why do you care so much?" she demanded. "you and i spent one night together. not even! it was a couple of hours."

he clamped his jaw shut. she knew his teeth were grinding by the way the hollows under his cheekbones moved. and she was glad he was wearing the sunglasses. she had a feeling his eyes would have scared the hell out of her.

when a car passed by on the street, she remembered he was a fugitive from the police, and technically so was she.

what the hell were they doing, arguing on the sidewalk... like lovers?

"look, wrath, i don't want to be arrested tonight." like she'd ever thought those words would come out of her mouth? "let's just keep going. before someone finds us."

she turned, but he took her arm in a sure grip.

"you don't know this yet," he said grimly. "but you are mine."

for a split second, she swayed toward him.

but then she shook her head. she put her hands up to her face, trying to shut him out.

she felt marked, and the crazy thing was, she didn't really mind. because she wanted him, too.

which was not going to win her any prizes in the mental health department.

god, she needed to take another shot at the last couple of days. if she could only go back forty-eight hours, back to when she was sitting at her desk with dick doing his leering-boss routine.

she'd do two things differently. she'd order a cab instead of walking home, so she never met up with billy riddle. and the instant she went into her apartment, she'd pack some clothes and go to a motel. so when this leather-clad, drug-lord lothario came looking for her she wouldn't have been found.

she just wanted her pathetic, boring life back. and how ridiculous was that? considering she'd thought that getting out of it was the only way to save herself only a little while ago.

"beth." his voice had lost most of its edge. "look at me."

she shook her head, only to have her hands peeled back from her eyes.

"you're going to be okay."

"yeah, right. there's probably a warrant being issued for my arrest at this very moment. i'm running around in the dark with the likes of you. and this is all happening because i'm so desperate to know my dead parents, i'm willing to put my life in danger on the remote chance i could learn something about them. i'm telling you, it's one hell of trip from where i am to 'okay.'"

his fingertip stroked down her cheek. "i'm not going to hurt you. i'm not going to let anything hurt you."

she rubbed her forehead, wondering whether she was ever going to feel normal again. "god, i wish you'd never shown-up at my back door. i wish i'd never seen your face."

he dropped his hand.

"we're almost there," he said tersely.

butch gave up trying to stand and sank to the ground.

he sat there for a while, just breathing in and out. he couldn't seem to move.

it wasn't because his head hurt, although it did. and it wasn't because his legs felt weak, although they did.

he was ashamed.

getting beaten by a bigger man wasn't the problem, although his ego had certainly taken one on the chin.

no, it was the knowledge that he'd screwed up and endangered a young woman's life. when he'd called about the weapons pickup, he should have had two officers waiting for him at the door to the station. he'd known that suspect was especially dangerous, but he'd been sure he could handle it himself.

yeah, well, he'd handled jack shit. he'd had his ass kicked. and now beth was in the company of a killer.

god only knew what would become of her.

butch closed his eyes and put his chin down on his knee. his throat was killing him, but it was his head that he was really worried about. the damn thing wasn't working right. his thoughts were incoherent, his cognitive processes shot to hell. maybe he'd gone without oxygen long enough to get brain-fry.

he tried to pull it together, but only managed to sink deeper into the fog.

and then, because his masochistic side had terrific timing, the past reared its thorny skull.

out of the messy jumble of images clanging around his mind, one popped forward that brought tears to his eyes. a young girl, no more than fifteen. getting into an unfamiliar car. waving at him from the window as she disappeared down their street.

his older sister. janie.

her body had been found in the woods behind the local baseball field the following morning. she'd been raped, beaten, and strangled. not in that order.

after she'd been abducted, butch had stopped sleeping through the night. two decades later, he still hadn't picked up the habit again.

he thought of beth, looking over her shoulder as she'd run away with the suspect. the fact she'd disappeared with that killer was the only thing that got butch to plant his feet on the ground and drag his body toward the station.

"yo! o'neal!" jos¨| came pounding down the alley. "what happened to you?"

"we need to get out an apb." was that his voice? it sounded hoarse, like he'd been to a football game and screamed for two hours. "white male, six-six, two seventy. dressed in black leather, wearing sunglasses, shoulder-length dark hair." butch threw out a hand, steadying himself against the building. "suspect not armed. only because i stripped him. he'll be restocked within the hour, no doubt."

when he stepped forward, he swayed.

"jesus." jos¨| grabbed his arm, holding him up.

butch tried not to lean on the guy, but he needed the help. he couldn't make his legs move right.

"and a white female." his voice cracked. "five-nine, long black hair. wearing a blue skirt and a white button-down." he paused. "beth."

"i know. she called." jose's face tightened. "i didn't ask for details. from the sound of her voice, she wasn't about to give me any."

butch's knees wobbled.

"whoa, detective." jos¨| hoisted him up. "we're going to take this slow."

the instant they came through the station's back door, butch weaved. "i need to go look for her."

"let's just chill on this bench."

"no..."

jos¨| loosened his hold, and butch went down like a piano.

just as half the freaking precinct came up in a rush. the fleet of concerned guys in dark blue and badges made him feel pathetic.

"i'm fine," he snapped. then he had to put his head between his knees.

how could he have let this happen?

if beth turned up dead in the morning...

"detective?" jos¨| got down on his haunches, putting his face in butch's line of sight. "we've called an ambulance."

"don't need one. is the apb out?"

"yeah, ricky's doing it right now."

butch brought his head up. slowly.

"man, what happened to your neck?" jos¨| breathed.

"it was used to hold my body off the ground." he swallowed a couple of times. "did the weapons get picked up from the address i called in?"

"yeah. we got 'em and the cash. who the hell is this guy?"

"i have no fucking clue."