Shiver

wrong?” Sitting up suddenly so that the covers puddled around his hips—he was wearing boxers, and, God, the guy looked good bare-chested!—he reached for the crutches propped beside the bed.
    “Oh, yeah.” Sam frowned right back at him. No, scowled was a better word. Then, mindful of Tyler and not wanting to wake him up, and remembering that Abramowitz was downstairs and might even be able to overhear, she closed the door. And locked it, because what she had to say was absolutely private. By the time she strode to the side of his bed, Marco had apparently divined that whatever she wanted did not require him to be up and on crutches, because he’d quit reaching for them and was leaning back against the headboard with his brawny arms folded over his hunky chest, watching her. Planting her fists on her hips, she gave him a ferocious glare and said, “Tomorrow morning, before we leave, you’re going to get up and say goodbye to Tyler. You’ve gone out of your way to make him like you and he’s going to be upset at the idea that we’re leaving you. You’re going to lie to him, do you hear? You’re going to lie and tell him that you’ll be in touch just as soon as all this is over.”
    For a moment Marco just looked at her without saying anything. Divining what he was thinking was impossible. She could not read a thing in his face.
    “You really think lying to him is a good idea?” he asked mildly.
    “Under the circumstances, yes.” By that time Sam was the opposite of mild. She was tense, angry, practically vibrating with hostility. “He has no idea that he’s probably never going tosee you again. If he knew that, it would break his heart.” To her horror, her voice wobbled a little on the last word.
    “Sam.” He reached out, caught her hand. “I’m doing my best for you and Tyler here, believe me.”
    She jerked her hand away like the warmth of his skin burned her. “You know what? I don’t care. I just don’t want you to hurt Tyler any more than can be helped.” She gave him another of those fierce looks. “So you’re going to lie to him, and later on when he asks about you I’m going to keep on coming up with excuses about why you haven’t been in touch until eventually he forgets all about you. Which he absolutely will do, although it’s going to be a little rough on him until then.”
    “I wasn’t going to let you guys go without saying good-bye, you know. And I will be in touch, just as soon as I can.” He was still being mild, and that mildness killed her. Caused her actual, physical pain in the region of her heart. Because, she realized, it meant that he didn’t care that he wouldn’t see them anymore. Not nearly as much as Tyler would. And not anywhere in the same universe as much as she did.
    “What are we talking about, letters from prison? Or, that’s right, Groves said you’d made a sweetheart deal with the government that’ll probably put you in witness protection for the rest of your life. So are you saying the plan is to give us a shout-out from your new secret life? Get real: you won’t.” Afraid she might be revealing too much about the pain that she was so unexpectedly experiencing, Sam broke off and turned away, throwing the rest at him over her shoulder. “All you have to do is lie to Tyler tomorrow. I’ll take care of the rest.”
    “Sam, wait. Come back here. Damn it.” Lunging after her as she stalked toward the door, he grabbed the trailing skirt of her robe and yanked. Caught by surprise, Sam stumbled backward and sat down hard on the edge of the bed. Immediately his arm snaked around her waist, capturing her, hauling her back against him, holding her in place with her back against his chest. She was all too conscious of how nearly naked he was, and the knowledge made her pulse quicken. He felt warm and solid, muscular and overwhelmingly masculine. The scent of him—the faintest whiff of soap and toothpaste and man—was so familiar that it scared her. Her hands found his forearm, curled around it as if she would sink her nails into the firm, hair-roughened flesh in an effort to make him let go, but she didn’t. Pride kept her stiffly resistant in his hold, but she made no attempt to get away.
    “What?” She turned her head to glare at him, and found that his face was just inches from hers. His dark eyes were so close that she could see herself reflected in them. His broad shoulders curved around her, solid as a wall and breathtakingly sexy.