Risky Business

was broken. Of course, Jonas had been furious. Manchez had been watched, they had been watched, but the police had made their presence known only after Liz had been held at gunpoint.
    But he’d gotten what he’d come for, she thought. His brother’s killer was behind bars. He’d face a trial and justice. She hoped it was enough for Jonas.
    The morning was enough for her. The normality of it. Happy, she rolled over and pressed her body against Jonas’s. He only drew her closer.
    “Let’s stay right here until noon.”
    She laughed and nuzzled against his throat. “I have—”
    “A business to run,” he finished.
    “Exactly. And for the first time in weeks I can run it without having this urge to look over my shoulder. I’m happy.” She looked at him, then tossed her arms around his neck and squeezed. “I’m so happy.”
    “Happy enough to marry me?”
    She went still as a stone, then slowly, very slowly drew away. “What?”
    “Marry me. Come home with me. Start a life with me.”
    She wanted to say yes. It shocked her that her heart burned to say yes. Pulling away from him was the hardest thing she’d ever done. “I can’t.”
    He stopped her before she could scramble out of bed. It hurt, he realized, more than he could possibly have anticipated. “Why?”
    “Jonas, we’re two different people with two totally separate lives.”
    “We stopped having separate lives weeks ago.” He took her hands. “They’re not ever going to be separate again.”
    “But they will.” She drew her hands away. “After you’re back in Philadelphia for a few weeks, you’ll barely remember what I look like.”
    He had her wrists handcuffed in his hands. The fury that surfaced so seldom in him seemed always on simmer when he was around her. “Why do you do that?” he demanded. “Why can’t you ever take what you’re given?” He swung her around until she was beneath him on the bed. “I love you.”
    “Don’t.” She closed her eyes as the wish nearly eclipsed the reason. “Don’t say that to me.”
    Shut out. She was shutting him out. Jonas felt the panic come first, then the anger. Then the determination. “I will say it. If I say it enough, sooner or later you’ll start to believe it. Do you think all these nights have been a game? Haven’t you felt it? Don’t you feel anything?”
    “I thought I felt something once before.”
    “You were a child.” When she started to shake her head, he gripped her tighter. “Yes, you were. In some ways you still are, but I know what goes through you when you’re with me. I know. I’m not a ghost, I’m not a memory. I’m real and I want you.”
    “I’m afraid of you,” she whispered. “I’m afraid because you make me want what I can’t have. I won’t marry you, Jonas, because I’m through taking chances with my life and I won’t take chances with my child’s life. Please let me go.”
    He released her, but when she stood, his arms went around her. “It isn’t over for us.”
    She dropped her head against his chest, pressed her cheek close. “Let me have the few days we have left. Please let me have them.”
    He lifted her chin. Everything he needed to know was in her eyes. A man who knew and who planned to win could afford to wait. “You haven’t dealt with anyone as stubborn as you are before this. And you haven’t nearly finished dealing with me.” Then his hand gentled as he stroked her hair. “Get dressed. I’ll take you to work.”
    Because he acted as though nothing had been said, Liz relaxed. It was impossible, and she knew it. They’d known each other only weeks, and under circumstances that were bound to intensify any feelings. He cared. She believed that he cared, but love—the kind of love needed to build a marriage—was too much to risk.
    She loved. She loved so much that she pushed him away when she wanted to pull him closer. He needed to go back to his life, back to his world. After time had passed, if he thought of her he’d think with gratitude that she had closed a door he’d opened on impulse. She would think of him. Always.
    By the time Liz was walking toward the shop, she’d settled her mind. “What are you going to do today?”
    “Me?” Jonas, too, had settled his mind. “I’m going to sit in the sun and do nothing.”
    “Nothing?” Incredulous, Liz stared at him. “All day?”
    “It’s known as relaxing, or taking a day off. If you do it several days running, it’s called a vacation. I was