Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

movement. He nuzzled the top of her head, feeling the tremors inside his body that never showed on the outside. Joley was far more to him than sex. There was no getting around his emotional ties to her. He might not like them, but they were there, and he was man enough to realize he was no longer the same and never would be. His comfortable world of detachment was gone for all time.
    Joley had managed to creep inside him and twist herself around his heart so tightly, there was no shaking her loose.
    'You look like you've been in a war as well, Joley,' he murmured. 'Let's just get to a safe house and we'll sort it all out.'
    She needed the sound of his voice desperately. The ringing in her ears was so loud, and fear clawed and raked at her stomach - fear for her - for him.
    'You have a home? Here?' She thought of him as a loner, a lone warrior who moved restlessly through the world. No friends. No family. Never in one place long. She couldn't imagine him with a home - or a family. Shifting in his arms, she glanced at the front to try to glimpse the driver, but the tinted window had already slid smoothly into place, preventing her from being able to see, and later identify, his face.
    She shifted again, her legs moving restlessly. She reached for the door handle, but Ilya caught her wrist and brought her hand to his chest.
    She should have been afraid, but she felt safe -protected even. Her head throbbed terribly, the cuts and scrapes burning, and she was having trouble reining in her scattered thoughts. The urge to get out of the car was strong, as if she had to run, but Ilya lessened the need by his comforting presence.
    Her world was upside down. She couldn't begin to sort through everything - the accidents, the threats, the missing teenager. Her bus had been blown up, and the paparazzi followed her through the streets to catch a photograph of her with blood running down her face. It wasn't like her condition mattered at all to them, just getting a photograph to show the world that she was injured. She moved restlessly again, the urge to run strong.
    'Not exactly a home,' Ilya said, soothing her with his voice, 'but it will do for now and you'll be safe enough there.
    No reporters are going to get within miles of it.'
    'They always do, Ilya.' She didn't want him to leave her, but she had to be honest. 'If you have anything at all to hide -
    if you don't want to be photographed with me - you should take me to a hotel and just let me out of the car.'
    His ice-blue eyes flickered, and just for a moment she caught her breath at what she saw there - raw desire, smoky need - and something else. Affection? Love even? That couldn't be, but there was enough concern in his eyes to melt her heart and give her hope when she shouldn't dare to hope.
    'Are you trying to look out for me?'
    His voice nearly curled her toes. For one moment all the pain was gone and she felt safe and loved and wrapped up in velvet. She sighed and made herself be strong.
    'You value your privacy, and…' It had to be said. She rarely asked him about his lifestyle, or the things he did, other than when she was censuring him, but a man in his kind of work couldn't afford to be splashed all over the tabloids.
    'Your life might depend on it. If they photograph you even once with me, the reporters will be relentless. They'll uncover every secret you've ever had. It would be better to drop me off at the hospital and disappear. You got me out of there and I'm grateful to you.'
    And she was. She would have hated for the tabloids to get pictures of her so vulnerable, but more than that, she didn't want to make Ilya's life any harder or more complicated than she already knew it was. 'There's no reason to risk everything, Ilya.'
    'They won't find us. The driver will have a diversion.'
    'He can do that?' She glanced at the tinted partition. 'I'll have to lure him away to work for me. And I've got to call my sisters and let them know I'm all right and where I'll be.'
    She was chattering too much, something she did when she was nervous, and right now she was very nervous. Her beloved bus was gone. Dean Walters had been murdered. She had cuts and bruises everywhere, and her head hurt so bad she could barely think. But she knew one thing for certain - she was with the only person in the world who could make her feel that he could keep her absolutely safe.
    'Better wait,' Ilya said, and took her cell phone out of her hand. 'We can't take any chances until we're safe