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he just hates women. What a waste of a good man. If only he didn’t have that textbook police officer’s face. He hardly ever smiles, and everything is always business with him.” She shook her heard and turned away. “I wonder if he’s like that with a woman.”
    Thinking about how Dane was with a woman made Tess’s knees go weak. The things he’d whispered to her when he kissed her weren’t dry as dust, for a fact. He might be rough, but he was sensual, and she was just discovering-as he seemed to be, too-that he could be very tender….
    “Catch me up, will you?” Tess asked as she uncovered her computer. “I feel as if I’ve been away for a month.” “I don’t doubt it. Arm okay?”
    “A little stiff.” She grinned at Helen. “No need to worry. We tough, dedicated professionals can take the odd gunshot in our stride.”
    “Rub it in,” Helen groaned. “Now, everybody in the office has been shot except me. Even the secretary!” she added with a hot glare at Tess.
    Tess raised her hands. “Not my fault. I swear I didn’t invite those men to point a gun at me, not even to get one up on you.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Helen propped her hand on her hip. “How do I know that?”
    The office door opened and Dane glared at them. “On company time, you work. Get busy.” “Yes, sir,” Helen said demurely.
    Tess couldn’t quite meet his eyes. She sat down at her desk. “Helen was going to catch me up.” “Make sure it’s business, not play,” he said tersely. She glanced at him. “You look tired.”
     
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    “I didn’t sleep.” He ran a hand through his dark hair, letting his eyes dart off hers without lingering. “When Andrews calls, have him drop by the office about lunchtime. I’ve got an assignment for him. I’ll be in conference with the skip tracers. Hold my calls until I’m through.”
    “Will do.”
    His dark eyes slid over her face and down to the rounded neckline of the red blouse that went with her cream-colored suit. Her hair was in a chignon and she was wearing only a trace of makeup. “You look very elegant this morning,” he said unexpectedly. “Lunch date?”
    “No.” She fiddled with the keyboard. “I didn’t want to disappoint my shadow by dressing like a boring office girl. I thought he might be more impressed if I put on my Mata Hari outfit.”
    He cocked an eyebrow. “Wrong genre. We’re detectives, not spies.”
    “It wouldn’t be the same if I wore a trench coat and an Indiana Jones hat.”
    “Maybe not.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. There was something preoccupied in his manner. She hadn’t missed the black scowl. “What’s wrong?”
    He let out a hard sigh. “Your assailant jumped bail. He’s out on the streets and nobody knows where.”
    Her arms felt chilled. She didn’t have to ask why that worried him. It was disturbing and frightening to know that she was the only witness to a drug deal. What she’d seen could send two men to prison. If they were desperate enough to silence her, her life wouldn’t be worth a plug nickel. “Adams had me in sight constantly this morning,” she said.
    He nodded. “He’s one of the best. But having you in sight won’t be enough. He can’t sleep with you.” “You could teach me how to use a pistol.”
    “It takes years of experience to shoot one properly,” he reminded her. “And it isn’t the same when you’re in a desperate situation, as when you’re on the practice range.” He would know, she thought, watching him. He’d been in enough

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    Diana Palmer
     
    desperate situations over the years. “I could move in with Helen,” she suggested, as she had once before.
    He took his hands out of his pockets and sat on the edge of her desk, leaning forward so that none of the others in the office could hear him. He stared at her intently. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not making improper suggestions. But I want you to move into my apartment until we