THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

went dry. It was almost enough to make her reconsider her stance. Almost.
    “I’m part of this now, whether you like it or not. Hell, whether I like it or not. And I’m not going anywhere. The sooner you get that through your head, the sooner we can start making a plan—”
    “Eli, would you leave us for a moment?”
    Eli shot Ainsley a look.
    “Now, Eli. This is not a democracy.”
    Delano’s tone made her gut tighten, but she smiled for Eli. “It’s okay.”
    Eli searched her face briefly, as though to gauge whether her reassurance was genuine. “Of course. I have some calls to make anyway, to get the Mexico team off.”
    The door barely closed behind him before Delano pounced.
    “You can’t stay here, Ainsley. When Eli comes back, he’s going to take you to the new location.”
    She squared her chin. “I don’t think so.”
    “For pity’s sake, I’m only trying to preserve your safety.” His face darkened. “Why do you persist in resisting my efforts?”
    “I’ve already told you. I’m just one piece of the solution. I accept that my blood is key to your vaccine, but if anything happened to you… Without you, without your knowledge, my blood is … well, just blood.”
    “Devil take it, Ainsley, I can’t leave my lab. I’m so close.” He thrust a hand savagely through his hair. “I can’t leave.”
    “And I won’t leave.”
    “But I don’t know if I can keep you safe!”
    Anguish , she realized with a start. Not anger. Not fury at her defiance.
    “Del, do you really think I’ll be safe if he destroys you while I’m tucked away in a safe house? Don’t you think he’ll eventually hunt me down and kill me, too? Think about it — you and Eli obviously believe he can find Lucy, even after all the care we took to cover her tracks. If he can do that, then I haven’t a hope in hell of eluding him on my own.”
    “You won’t be alone,” he countered. “I’ll send Eli with you. With his help, you can stay two steps ahead of Janecek.”
    “You need Eli here.”
    He swung away from her, cursing. “Why are you being so bloody stubborn about this?”
    She chewed her lip. “You really want to know the truth?”
    “Yes.” He strode back to stand before her, not stopping until he was well within her personal space, his gaze locked with hers. “Yes, by God, I want the truth.”
    A moment ago, she might have stepped back from all that leashed violence, but not now. She felt the heat pouring off his body, and it was all she could do not to touch him.
    “I don’t think I can leave.”

 
    Chapter 18
     
    “OF COURSE you can leave.”
    She wet her lips. “Not unless you knock me out with mega-doses of sedative. When you mentioned the idea earlier, I thought I would vomit. I mean, I was literally, physically nauseous.”
    “What?”
    “I know, it sounds stupid. I can’t believe it myself, but I just have to think about leaving, and suddenly there’s this big wall of … I don’t know … panic in my mind that won’t let me even consider it. Truly, I’m not phobic. You know that, right?” She bit the inside of her lip. “Of course you do. You investigated me. But I swear to you, I just can’t stand to think about it.”
    “You needn’t be afraid, Ainsley. I’m sure Eli has a plan for your safe transport. No doubt he’ll send out a decoy or two first. And all our cars are armored. There’s no way—”
    Argh! “You’re not getting it! I’m not afraid of leaving here . I’m afraid of leaving you . If you’d come with me, I’d leave this place right now. “
    He took a step back. “No.”
    She laughed. “Told you it would sound idiotic. I’m still pissed with you, for one thing, over that Eli-as-escort thing, not to mention—”
    “Give me your hand.”
    “What?” She’d heard him, but his words didn’t instantly compute, perhaps because he’d closed the distance between them again and was now towering over her.
    “Your hand, dammit.” Without waiting for her compliance, he seized her hand and pushed the sleeve of her shirt roughly up her arm until it bunched above her elbow.
    “Del, what are you doing?”
    He rotated her arm to expose the delicate white skin at the crook of her elbow. With a hiss of indrawn breath, he released her and stepped back. “Impossible.”
    She held her arm up to inspect it herself, seeing nothing but three raised reddish dots, aligned in a perfect equilateral triangle. They could be heat rash bumps, but for the fact there