"Just a little nauseous. Watch your shoes."

"Terrific," he grumbled. "I've a mind to call the doctor in here and tell him to keep you."

"He said to expect nausea," she pointed out. "I just got up too fast. Give me a break, Chief, will you?"

Nick's heart was still beating too fast, and an odd mix of sexual awareness and self-recrimination sat in his gut like a hot stone. He'd been without sex too long, he told himself. That's all there was to it. He was going to have to do something about it before long. Stephanie's third-grade teacher, Lindsey Burns, was nice enough. Pretty, too, with blond hair and smiling blue eyes. So why hadn't he called her back after their one and only date?

"Think you can walk out of here without passing out on me?" he asked.

Erin shot him a cocky smile. "Try to keep me here."

Nick almost smiled, but he didn't give in to the urge. He didn't want to get too close to this woman. She had trouble written all over her in big red letters. He'd had his fill of trouble. "Let's go," he said, and tried not to think about what he was setting himself up for.

Erin slipped on the sleeveless nightgown and reached for her robe, trying in vain not to jar her aching head. So much for heroism, she thought grimly. If she wasn't in so much pain, she might be embarrassed, having Nick baby-sit her like this. As it was, her head hurt too much to care about anything except downing a handful of aspirin and falling into a soft bed in a dark room.

Pausing at her bedroom door, she took a deep, calming breath, then swung it open. Nick stood in the foyer, looking like a nervous date, his expression relaying the fact that he'd rather be anywhere else than in her apartment. His eyes flicked down the front of her, and Erin felt an uncomfortable tug of self-consciousness.

"You don't have to do this," she said, pulling the lapels of her robe more tightly together.

"I told the doc I would. You know as well as I do you don't ignore a concussion, McNeal."

She wanted to let him off the hook and get him out of there-he was obviously as uncomfortable with the situation as she was. But Erin figured his sense of responsibility-and his need to protect-was too strong for him to leave her alone.

"How's the head?" Shoving his hands into his pockets, he approached her.

"Feels kind of like the drum set my brother got for Christmas when we were kids. He was a Led Zeppelin fan." She walked to the sofa, trying not to notice the moving boxes or the clutter, telling herself she wasn't embarrassed that her apartment was a mess. It had been a mess the last time Nick was there. She told herself it didn't matter. She was a cop. Nick was a cop. All cops had messy apartments, didn't they?

"You're limping," he said.

"That's because I'm too proud to crawl."

One side of his mouth biked into a half smile. "Where's your aspirin?"

She risked a look at him, and almost wished she hadn't. His penetrating stare invariably unnerved her. What was it about those dark eyes of his that left her feeling stripped bare? Like he could look right through her and see all the things she spent so much time and energy trying to conceal.

"There's a bottle in the bathroom medicine cabinet," she replied.

He started toward the bathroom.

Erin breathed a sigh of relief at his departure-even if it was only for a minute. She felt unsettled. Jittery. She tried to blame it on the fact that she was still shaken up from the incident at the school, but she knew that wasn't the only reason. She didn't want to admit the possibility that Nick was the source of her uneasiness. If she acknowledged the problem, it would become real, and she would have to deal with it.

Being attracted to her boss was a mistake she had no intention of making. Especially when he was the kind of man who couldn't handle the idea of a woman with a dangerous career-like police work.

Warren Prentice had taught her all she ever needed to know about the overprotective-male syndrome. After the way Nick had reacted to her taking down those two suspects, it appeared he had a terminal case. She refused to give up her career for the likes of a man or the fallacy of happily ever after. Erin McNeal simply knew better.

"Here you go."

She jumped at the sound of Nick's voice and turned to find him standing behind her with two aspirin in one hand, a glass of water in the other. She drew a breath, caught the scent of his aftershave and felt an instant of vertigo she knew had nothing to do with the bump on her head. Good heavens, standing next to this man was like riding a tidal wave.

Shaking off the sensation, she reached for the aspirin and tossed them back. His fingers brushed hers when she took the glass of water. "Thanks."

"Why don't you sit down?"

"Actually, I was thinking of taking a nap as soon as you take off."

Amusement played in his eyes. "Trying to get rid of me?"

"Letting you off the hook, actually."

One side of his mouth curved. "I appreciate that. But to be perfectly honest with you, I'd like to ask you a few more questions before I make my big escape. If you're feeling up to it, that is."

Something in the way he said it caught her cop's attention, reminding her that a serious crime had been committed, and she was right in the center of it. Common ground at last. No longer feeling quite as awkward, she sank down on the sofa. "Shoot."

Nick took the chair across from her. "Felony assault with a motor vehicle isn't the kind of crime typical to Logan Falls." Leaning forward, he put his elbows on his knees and gave her a canny look. "What's your take on this?"

"An impatient driver. Road rage." She shrugged. "Maybe he was drunk."

"He? The driver was male?"

"I think so. I only saw a silhouette, but it didn't look female."

"You mentioned a passenger earlier. Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure."

"We don't get much road rage here in Logan Falls." Nick grimaced. "I talked to several witnesses at the scene. Every one of them said it seemed deliberate. Do you agree?"

"Maybe. I don't know. It happened pretty fast."

"Is there any reason why someone might want to hurt you?"

The question made the hairs at her nape stand on end. "What are you getting at?"

Leaning back in the chair, he gazed steadily at her. "You were a cop for nine years. Cops make enemies. Some criminals have long memories."

Erin knew the possibility was there-she'd busted plenty of thugs over the years, and made plenty of enemies back in Chicago. She couldn't rule out the possibility, but she didn't believe it, either. "The thought of some thug bent on revenge following me all the way to Logan Falls just to run me down at a school crosswalk-and miss-seems unlikely, Nick."

"Probably. Still, it's something we have to consider. From now on I want you to be aware of what's going on around you at all times-"

"I'm always aware of my surroundings," she interrupted. "I'm a cop, remember?"

"You're not invincible. You know better than to not take this seriously."

"I'll take it seriously. But I still think you're overreacting."

"Just covering all my bases."

"Contrary to what you might think of me, I know how to take care of myself."

"That's why you've got a knot the size of Texas on your head."

Irritated that he was undermining her efforts to convince him that she could handle herself, Erin rose abruptly. A curse escaped her when the throbbing pain in her head sent her back down. "Ouch. This is annoying."

Nick was by her side instantly. His hand hovered over her shoulder, but he didn't touch her. "I should have told the doc to keep you," he growled, dropping his hands to his sides.

"Just a headache," she said. "As long as I don't start speaking in tongues or tell you I've been picked up by space aliens, I should be okay. Think you could fish another aspirin out of that bottle?"