From the Heart

demanded.
    Briefly, emotionlessly, Slade reported while his knuckles turned white on the receiver. “She won’t leave voluntarily,” he finished. “I want her out, today. Now. I need you to officially give me the right to put her in protective custody. I can have her in New York in less than two hours.”
    “I take it you’ve already checked in with this.”
    “Your friends in the Bureau want her to stay.” This time he didn’t attempt to disguise the bitterness in his voice. “They don’t want anything to interfere with the investigation at this delicate state,” he quoted, jamming a cigarette between his lips. “As long as she’s willing to cooperate, they won’t move her.”
    “And Jessica’s willing to cooperate.”
    “She’s a stubborn, thick-headed fool who’s too busy thinking about Adams and Ryce and that precious shop of hers.”
    “You’ve gotten to know her, I see,” the commissioner commented. “Does she trust you?”
    Slade expelled a stream of smoke. “She trusts me.”
    “Keep her in the house, Slade. In her room if you think it’s necessary. The servants can think she’s ill.”
    “I want—”
    “What you want isn’t the issue,” Dodson cut him off curtly. “Or what I want,” he added more calmly. “If it’s gone far enough that a pro was hired, she’ll be safer there, with you,than anyplace else. We’ve got to nail this down fast, with luck, before it’s known that the contract on her is no longer operable.”
    “She’s nothing more than bait,” Slade said bitterly.
    “Just make sure she isn’t swallowed,” Dodson retorted. “You’ve got your orders.”
    “Yeah. I’ve got them.” Disgusted, Slade slammed down the receiver. Looking down at his hands, he realized, frustrated, that they were as good as tied. He was up against a solid wall of refusal from Jessica right on down. The investigation, the justice of it, didn’t matter to him any longer. She was all that mattered. That in itself destroyed his objectivity, and by doing so, made her vulnerable. He cared too much to think logically.
    His hands curled into fists. No, cared wasn’t the right word, he admitted slowly. He was in love with her. When or how, he didn’t have the faintest idea. Maybe it had started that first day she had come tearing down the steps toward him. And it was stupid.
    He scraped his hands roughly over his face. Even without the mess they were in, it was stupid. They’d been born on opposite sides of the fence, had lived their entire lives on opposite sides of the fence. He didn’t have any right to love her, even less to want her to love him. She needed him now, professionally as well as emotionally. That would change when it was over.
    Right now he couldn’t afford to think of how he would deal with his feelings once Jessica was safe again. First he had to make certain she would be. With slow, deliberate force he crushed out his cigarette, then went upstairs to her.
    They came into the bedroom together, Jessica from the bath, Slade from the hall. She was wrapped in one of the ivory towels with the pale green border. Her hair fell wet around her shoulders while the clean, sharp scent of soap surrounded her. Her skin was flushed and glowing from the heat of her bath.
    For a moment they stood still, watching each other. She could feel the frustration, the anger in him, as he turned to close the door behind him.
    “Are you all right?”
    “Yes.” She sighed a little because it was nearly the truth. “I’m better. Don’t be angry with me, Slade.”
    “Don’t ask for the impossible.”
    “All right.” Needing something to do, she went to the dresser and picked up her brush. “What do we do now?”
    “We wait.” Straining against impotence, he jammed his fists in his pockets. “You’re to stay in the house, let the servants think you’re ill or tired or just plain lazy. You’re not to answer the door, or the phone, or see anyone unless I’m with you.”
    She slammed the brush back down, her eyes meeting his in the mirror. “I won’t be jailed in my own home.”
    “Either that or a cell,” he improvised, adding a shrug. “Either way you want it.”
    “You can’t put me in a cell.”
    “Don’t bet on it.” Leaning back against the door, he ordered his muscles to relax. “You’re going to play this my way, Jess. Starting now.”
    Her automatic rebellion was instantly quelled as she remembered those agonizing minutes on the beach. She wasn’t only