Burn by Maya Banks

for it, holding his breath without realizing at first that he was doing so. It could be Josie. He’d waited a damn week for something, anything from her.
    But when he looked at the incoming name, he frowned. It wasn’t Josie. It was the man assigned to Josie.
    “Excuse me, I have to take this,” Ash said as he rose, already pushing the button to accept the call.
    He walked away from the table to a quieter area near the restrooms.
    “Ash,” he said shortly.
    “Mr. McIntyre, I know my reports have been much the same all week. Miss Carlysle hasn’t left her apartment until now and I knew you’d want to know what I saw.”
    “What?” Ash demanded.
    “She’s sporting one hell of a black eye. Split lip. Looks like someone took a shot at her. I could be wrong. It could have been an accident, but I doubt it. And it could be why she hasn’t left her apartment.”
    Ash swore. “Where is she headed now? Are you on her?”
    “Yeah, I’m following her now. Looks like she’s headed to the gallery. She had several canvases when she got into a cab. I’ll keep you posted.”
    “Do that,” Ash murmured as he hung up.
    He stood for a moment, his mind filled with rage at the idea that someone had abused Josie in some way. And then he cursed the fact that he hadn’t asked his man if Josie had been anywhere or if she’d had visitors. Surely he would have reported it if she had. But then he hadn’t had her shadow back on the job until two days after their dinner. He’d thought she would have contacted him by then and when she hadn’t, he’d put his man back on her to monitor her activities.
    Obsessed? Yeah, that was one word for it. Demented was another. He was acting like a crazed stalker, the kind most women would do well to steer clear of. Only he wasn’t going to harm Josie. But he was kicking himself for not keeping his man on her, because someone had hurt her, or at the very least she’d been injured in some way.
    Why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she come to him for help? She had to know after their conversation that he would take care of her.
    With a muttered curse he returned to the table where Brittany, Jace and Bethany all looked up at him. Concern immediately flashed in their eyes. His expression must have been grim for them to have picked up on his mood so quickly.
    “I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have to go. Brittany, I’ll make it up to you soon. Promise. Jace and Bethany, thank you both for coming, and please, all of you finish your dinner. I’ll see you all later.”
    As he turned to walk away, Jace called out to him.
    “Ash? Everything okay?”
    Ash sent him a look he knew Jace would pick up on. He’d know it had to do with Josie, and he’d understand. Jace nodded once and then turned back to the women, smiling and engaging them both in conversation.
    Breathing a sigh of relief and knowing he owed Jace for taking over, he picked up the phone to call for his driver. If Josie was going to the gallery, she’d probably go right back home since she hadn’t been anywhere else in the last several days. He’d take care of buying the art she’d taken in later, but right now he was going to be at her apartment waiting for her to return and then they were going to have a serious come-to-Jesus moment.

chapter ten
    Josie breathed a sigh of relief as the cab pulled to a stop at the corner of the cross street her apartment was on. She hadn’t wanted to venture out at all, but she’d wanted to get more of her artwork to Mr. Downing. While the money from the sale of her previous works would tide her over for the next few months, she’d wanted to get more to him so the buyer wouldn’t lose interest or think she didn’t have anything else to offer.
    As she paid her fare and stepped out of the cab, she self-consciously put a hand to her bruised cheek and winced when her fingers brushed over the corner of her mouth where her lip had been split. Head down, she hurried down the sidewalk toward