"You've got to be kidding." He followed her into the house. "Logan told me no more than he had to, just that you were safe, he had two men guarding you, and that I should go jump in the lake."

"Then how did you find me?"

"Mark told me you were heading for Phoenix and that he thought you had an ace in the hole. I immediately thought of Logan. I started looking for him and learned that he'd left Monterey and was staying at the Camelback Inn. I'd also discovered that he owned this house, and I thought it logical that he'd provide you and Jane with a place to stay."

"How astute of you."

"I wouldn't be sarcastic if I were you." His tone was thick. "I've gone through hell trying to find you and not knowing if I'd get here before Dom did. I don't know how much control I have left."

"Not very much judging by that display you put on outside."

"Did it upset you? Too bad. But then, I've always known that violence upset you. You've had too much of it in your life. So I kept that part of me turned low. I'm tired of it, Eve. Accept me as I am." He looked around the foyer. "Very nice. Very cozy. Logan did you proud."

"He's been a great help."

His eyes narrowed. "Oh? How great a help? Lots of sympathy and intimate little chats?"

"Of course I talk to him. I call him whenever I get a chance, to tell him how things are going. Was I supposed to just drop him after he helped me get Sarah and all the other-- Why am I defending myself? It's none of your--"

"There's only one thing I want to know. Has Dom contacted you since you've been here?"

"Yes."

He muttered a curse. "How does the bastard do it? He must be sticking as close as molasses to you."

"Why are you surprised? He's had decades of experience in stalking, and he must know every trick in the book. It wouldn't be any fun for him if he couldn't check my pulse." She walked into the living room and turned to face him. "I'm tired, Joe. Say what you've got to say to me and let me go to bed. We've got to get up at dawn and start searching again."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." She lost patience with him. "Dammit, Joe, do you expect me to apologize to you for trying to save your job? I'd do it again. This is my concern, not yours."

"Your concerns have been mine since the day I first met you. They'll be mine until the day I--" He shook his head. "You're backing off, closing me out. I can feel it, dammit. How long do you think I can--" He took two steps forward and grasped her shoulders. "Look at me. For God's sake, look at me and see me as I am, not what you want me to be."

His eyes . . .

Her chest was so tight, she couldn't breathe.

"Yes." His voice vibrated with intensity.

"Let me go." Her voice sounded faint even to her ears.

His grasp tightened and then he slowly released her. "I'm not stupid. After all these years, I'm not going to rush it. But you've kept me chained too long by pity. I can't take it anymore."

"Pity? I've never wanted your pity."

"How could I not feel pity? I ached with it. I ate and slept with it. It was dry as dust, but it was all I had. And every time I thought I couldn't take one more minute of it, you made me bleed again and I was caught." He held her gaze. "No more pity, Eve."

"I'm going to bed." She backed away from him. "We'll talk in the morning."

He shook his head. "No, we don't have to. I can wait now." He glanced at the couch. "I'll bunk down here."

"There's another spare bedroom."

"You can show me tomorrow. Go escape now."

She needed to escape. She was confused and panicky and there was a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. And Joe, damn him, knew her so well, he was probably aware of exactly what she was feeling. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"It will be okay, Eve." he said quietly. For the first time, a faint smile lit his face. "Don't think about it. Ride with it, live with it for a while. I'm the same man you've known for the past ten years."

But he'd been almost a stranger during those moments when he was looking down at her.

When he was touching her . . .

How many times had he held her in the last ten years? In friendship, in sympathy, quieting the pain, helping her through nights of torment and loneliness.

Never like this.

"Good night," she murmured, then fled the room.

It was crazy, she thought as she took off her clothes and slipped into bed. It shouldn't be happening. Damn you, Joe. You shouldn't be feeling like this.

She shouldn't be feeling like this.

Her breasts were taut, aching against the coolness of the sheet, and there was an unmistakable tingling between her thighs.

Oh, shit.

Not for Joe. She didn't want to feel this animalistic lust for Joe. It didn't have any place in the compartment she'd given him in her life.

Compartment. Where had that thought come from? Because she couldn't bear to let him go, had she kept Joe in the one area of her mind and heart where she could accept closeness? How incredibly selfish.

It couldn't be true. She wouldn't let it be true. Yet that night at the motel in Ellijay, hadn't she known there was something else between them, something she wouldn't permit to come to the surface?

Perhaps tonight was only a temporary aberration on Joe's part. Maybe tomorrow he'd be back to normal.