Nope, he thought, he was stuck with her.
Call in to your diner, he said. Tell them you wont be in. Im going to take a shower.
No.
Hed already turned away from her. Now he looked back. She was holding the milk carton in front of her in both hands, as though it were a smoking gun.
We talked about this last night, she said, drawing herself up again. I have responsibilities. I intend to meet them.
Raphael felt his blood pressure creeping upward again and it wasnt even yet six-thirty in the morning. Then he realized that there was always more than one way to skin a cat.
He thought of her labeled food containers. Of her scheduling diary with the times of calls noted down. Yeah? Counting the one to your commonwealth?
Kate frowned. What are you talking about?
Youre one of two prime witnesses in a murder investigation. Seems to me you have a certain responsibility to the good people of Pennsylvania, too. Unless he badly missed his guess, this was one woman who had never missed a chance to vote. Hell, she probably wrote her comments in the margins of the ballot.
I fail to see
Youre bait.
Im what?
Bait.
Youre alive. You might have seen something. In all likelihood, someone is going to come after you in an effort to remedy that problem. When it happens, Im going to nail his
Spare me the profanity, she said quickly.
Backside to the wall.
I take it self-confidence is not a problem for you.
No. Not when it comes to my work.
That quelled her. A new flatness had come to his tone. It was unapologetic and brooked no argument. Kate felt like she was somehow losing this discussion. What does that have to do with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania?
The long and short of it is that by cooperating with me, youll be helping to take a criminal off the streets.
She cocked her brows. It irritated the hell out of him. But Raphael was winning here, and he knew it.
Let me get this straight, she said. A killer comes after me, and youre there beside me so you can nail his
backside.
to the wall.
Right.
And no other officer could do this quite so well.
Im not an officer. Im a detective. Big difference.
I beg your pardon.
Raphael smiled graciously. Bottom line, honey, youre stuck with me if you want to see justice served.
Kate nodded thoughtfully.
She should have been fighting it a bit more, he thought. This victory was feeling a little too easy.
Okay, she said finally. Go take your shower. Ill make us some breakfast. Then Ill let you come to the diner with me so you can play watchdog.
Damn it
Stop swearing.
Get used to it.
I will not.
Youre not getting it here! I need to look for this guy! I cant do that from a diner!
You just said he was going to come to me.
He will. Hell try. I want to nail him first! I cant do that if Im baby-sitting you!
Thats your job!
Its my assignment. I can do it my own damned way. And my way is to keep an eye on you while I try to unravel this mess.
Not without my consent.
He was going to kill her, Raphael thought. End of problem.
Hes going to kill me, Kate thought. She saw his hands clench at his sides, and he did have that gun tucked behind him somewhere. She took a judicious step backward until her spine came in contact with the refrigerator.
She did not want to die. She most definitely did want someone good watching her back until this was over. But that only made it doubly important that they set some ground rules here.
Look, they said simultaneously.
Kate waved a hand. Go ahead. You first. You will anyway.
We need a plan here, Raphael replied.
This time her brows positively arched. A plan? You want to make a plan?
Right.
Such as?
If I had one, we wouldnt need one.
Unless, of course, it was diametrically opposed to my own. His eyes went to slits. Kate held a hand up, palm out. Okay, okay. Go ahead. You were saying?
Call in to the diner for one morning until we can figure out how were going to do this.
She hated, positively hated to admit it, but it made sense.
Theyll understand! he argued at her silence. A man dropped dead into your dinner plate last night!
Actually, it was a salad plate.
What the hell difference does it make? he shouted.
Kate flinched. One morning?
And then well take it from there.
Kate knew, somehow, that it was the best she was going to get. Besides, she saw an advantage to letting him win this one. It was a matter of give and take, she reasoned. Dinner For Two had an engagement this evening. Talking him into letting her do both seemed like something of a long shot. Shed give in on the less important of the two issues. The dinner engagement was something they could get into later.
Okay. She put the milk down and reached for the phone. But she didnt punch in the number right away. She watched him turn away and head for the hall, still shirtless. She took in those broad, bare shoulders. They moved nicely with his stride, with that grace that was all male. She contemplated the movement of muscle beneath skin that looked like pale bronze. Kate put the phone down again quickly and rubbed her palms on her khakis to dry them.