Burning Up

curled up from her stomach, spread through her limbs, threatened to color her face. “Then don’t patronize me.” Steeling her spine against the impact, she met those gorgeous eyes of his. “My decision was a solid one. There were a lot of people around, heading out to restaurants or coming home from work. That excuse for a human being took me during a split-second respite in the foot traffic.”
    “Means he had to have been following you, just waiting for an opportunity.” Emmett stared into the dark maw of the alley, his eyes narrowed.
    She wondered if he’d even heard her first two sentences. “That’s what I thought. I’m always careful when I get off the skytrain, but it’s hard to pick up that sort of thing when so many people disembark at the stations.” Last night, the mass of humanity had spread out as soon as they hit the ground, but there’d been enough of a crowd going her way that she hadn’t really paid attention to anyone in particular.
    “Until we neutralize the Crew,” Emmett murmured, still staring into the alley, “you don’t go anywhere alone.”
    Her mouth fell open. “What?”
    “To Death,” he said, turning to face her, “that’s their motto. They follow their quarry to death. They’ll come after you again and again. It’s a matter of ‘honor.’ ” He all but spat on the street. “What the fuck kind of honor is it to hurt a woman?”
    The unflinching conviction of his words reached straight through to the warm feminine core of her. But—“I can’t sit at home. I have to start interviewing for jobs for one.” Work was her ticket to freedom, a freedom she’d worked hard to gain. “And I take my grandmother to her appointments—”
    “Who said you have to sit at home?” An intent stare.
    Ria didn’t react well to any kind of intimidation. “Well, if I can’t go anywhere alone—and I’m not going to put my grandmother in danger—then what else am I supposed to do, hire a bodyguard?” The minute, the second , her father found out about this, he’d use it as an excuse to stop her from finding a job.
    Simon and Alex Wembley loved their only daughter. They loved her so much, they couldn’t bear to have the world put a single bruise on her soul. As a result, Ria had grown up being protected and cosseted. If it hadn’t been for her grandmother, she might have turned into a spoiled brat. Instead, she’d grown up cherishing her parents’ love . . . while understanding the sadness that lay behind its protective fervor. That’s why she hadn’t gone away to college like Ken—she hadn’t been able to put that much worry in their hearts. But she couldn’t live in a cocoon forever, not even for her mom and dad. It would never suit her—it would, in fact, destroy her.
    However, her parents hadn’t yet figured that out. In Simon’s and Alex’s minds, marriage to Tom would provide the ultimate protection—as a Clark wife, she’d be expected to do nothing more strenuous than look pretty and maybe arrange a few flowers. “Emmett?” she prompted when he remained silent.
    “I’ll protect you.”
    Her heart thudded. “How long?”
    “As long as it takes.”
    She almost took a step back at the sheer untamed power of him. “You can’t be with me twenty-four/seven. I won’t say no to an escort from the skytrain at night, though.” She was independent, not stupid.
    “The Crew’s been known to kidnap people off the street in broad daylight.” His skin pulled taut over his cheekbones. “They intimidate any witnesses into silence, so their victims seem to disappear into thin air.”
    The need for freedom came up against the logic of what he was saying. “What about my family?”
    “We’ve already posted pack soldiers at your mother’s store and around your home. The Crew’s M.O. is to hit the women in the family, so your mother, sister-in-law, and grandmother are most at risk.”
    “Amber’s over eight months pregnant,” Ria began.
    “Really?” A teasing smile. “I thought she looked a bit different.”
    She felt a flush stain her cheekbones. “She hasn’t been going out much anyway—if we tell her about the Crew’s tactics, she’ll probably be okay with staying inside for a bit.”
    “It would definitely make our job easier. Your mother?”
    “No way. She’ll go to work—she refuses to surrender to intimidation.”
    “I can’t say that’s exactly a surprise.” He shook his head. “I’m not even going to ask about your