Dangerous Surrender by Katie Reus Page A

from the plane. Six men in total waited at the bottom. Three in black suits with black ties. All alert, all armed even if he couldn’t see their weapons. Two men were in police uniforms and one man was in slacks and a sports coat. He was the tallest. His hands were shoved in his pockets, pushing the bottom of his coat back and revealing his badge hooked on his belt. When he saw them, he straightened.
    Roman reached behind him with his free hand and was pleased when Taylor took his hand. Moments later as they reached the bottom of the rolling stairs, the tallest man approached. Oh yeah, definitely the detective on the case.
    The tall, lanky man with dark hair nodded at both of them, his focus narrowing on Taylor as he pushed his sunglasses back on his head. “Ms. Arenas?”
    “You can call me Taylor,” she said softly, clutching Roman’s hand tightly as she came to stand next to him. He liked that she was leaning on him, but told himself not to get used to this.
    “I’m Detective Durnin, but Byron is fine. You’ve been through quite an ordeal.”
    She nodded and Roman was getting to know her enough that he realized she didn’t trust herself to speak.
    “Yes, she has,” Roman answered for her.
    The detective looked at him, his expression guarded. “Are you her attorney?”
    “No, I’m Roman MacNeil. I work for Wyatt Christiansen. Taylor is coming in of her own accord because she’s done nothing wrong. But if at any time I deem necessary—if you try to steamroll her with bullshit—Mr. Christiansen’s attorneys are on-call for her.” There was a bite of warning to Roman’s words. He wanted everyone to understand how they could and couldn’t treat Taylor. He knew he was likely being an overprotective dick, but he didn’t care. If someone had an agenda or wanted to make a name for themselves, sometimes innocent people got caught in the crossfire. In this situation he didn’t think that would happen when the most viable suspect had disappeared, but he was covering all of Taylor’s bases for now. She was a strong woman, but she was also emotionally connected to this case.
    Next to him Taylor jerked slightly at his words. He hadn’t told her what Wyatt had said, but it was true. If at any time Roman thought Taylor needed legal representation, he was supposed to call Wyatt’s guy in case she didn’t have an attorney of her own. And Roman doubted she could call the law firm who represented Powers Group because of the conflict of interest.
    The detective’s jaw tightened, but he simply nodded. “I’m aware of the situation.” His expression softened a fraction as he turned back to Taylor. “We’ve reviewed the statement you made with the Vegas PD and we’re sorry for your ordeal. Do you need medical attention before we head to the station?”
    Taylor shook her head. “No, I’m okay. I just want to take care of all this now.”
    As soon as she’d spoken, one of the men in suits came forward, a broad-shouldered, stocky Hispanic man, his laser-like focus on Taylor.
    Roman instantly tensed, taking a small step forward out of instinct even though it was clear the police knew who these men were or they wouldn’t have been allowed on the tarmac.
    “As agreed, she’ll be riding there under our protection,” the Hispanic man spoke as he nodded at Taylor.
    Must be Benjamin Escobar. Wyatt had told Roman the man would be here.
    The detective nodded and Roman could tell he wasn’t a fan of the situation. But he guessed Durnin’s higher-ups wanted this situation handled with kid gloves. A young, innocent woman had been shot then forced to go on the run because she’d been terrified the man who’d killed her boss would come after her—after the police had missed key evidence in the elevator.
    “We’ll be right behind you,” the detective said before nodding at the two men in uniform and heading for the idling Explorer.
    “I’m sorry about Hugh, Taylor,” Escobar said as he motioned toward one of the