Catch Me If You Can (Love's Command) by Billi Jean Page B

does not,” she whispered.
    He wasn’t going there. He wasn’t telling her she’d once saved his life in the desert. If she didn’t remember, he’d hold that card to his chest for now. For some damn reason he wanted her to see him now, to want him now, and not come to him with some odd gratitude or some other twisted since of obligation.
    “I have my own mind, Kylie. Don’t think because Tazz and I work together, I can’t think on my own. Tazz and I are on a mission, though, and that mission is to stop you from handing over any secrets—drugs, formulas—anything they want,” he told her. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t aid you. You’re safer with us. You have to realize that, if you don’t, just remember that gun at the back of your head.”
    She tossed her hair over her shoulders. “I was fine. That man wanted something, and it wasn’t me dead. I lost him, if you remember?”
    “Oh, yeah? And who were they? The men that have your dad wouldn’t need to force your hand, so just how many different groups know about this work of your dad’s? Worse, you should wonder, just how many are after you, Kylie? And how many more times will you have to run, barely escaping them?” he demanded. “You forgot the ferry that quickly?”
    She shot him a frown but didn’t say what she was thinking. Instead she stalked to the other side of the room, tugging the blankets up when they threatened to fall to the floor. She looked so damn innocent, frustrated and trapped, he almost grinned. How could he have ever believed she was a spy? Selling secrets to people her father had worked hard to keep away from the very knowledge she was selling? It hadn’t fit when he’d first read the file and it didn’t fit now.
    What did fit was her to him. For the first time in his life, he’d found a person he could be around, someone he knew he’d never get bored of, or want a break from or, hell, want to fuck and forget.
    She barely knew him, but when he tried to think of what it would be like not to have her in his life, he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He’d had a taste of missing her after she’d drugged him and left. He’d decided then he wanted more from her. Now? Now he knew it. Somehow those damn yahoos Ace, Eagle and Mac had it right. When he experienced it , he’d know.
    He damn well knew.
    Now to secure what mattered, and move them out of this trouble into something else.
    What that was, he wasn’t sure, but watching her brush her long hair off her shoulder with a nervous glance at him, he knew it would be one hell of a lot of fun.
    She blew out a frustrated breath at him, for being quiet he realized with a grin, and threw one of her hands up dramatically. “I haven’t forgotten the ferry. I haven’t forgotten any of it. I wish I could, but what I want doesn’t matter, does it?” She walked back to him, eyes narrowed, and looked at him like she wanted to argue with him when all he wanted to do was kiss her.
    The next instant a sting sizzled along his arm where she brushed against him. Almost immediately the room began to fuzz along the edges. The already low ceiling swayed as if it was falling down on top of him and she blurred around the edges. He reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulder as the world began to tip and spin.
    Damn woman had drugged him again ? They needed some rules here, he realized. Like, no knocking him out.
    “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you stop me. My father is alive. I will give them anything they want to get him back. I can’t chance letting you help me. Alone I have a better chance of saving my father,” she whispered. She maneuvered under his arm, tight to his side and took part of his weight.
    “But you should get your friend help and soon. I will try to do what I can, but not until after I get my father out of this mess.”
    Her voice grew distant and he wasn’t going to be conscious much longer. The thought floated up from the blackness, trying to suck him down. He