"Questioning about what?"

Logan stepped in front of Reese.

Teeth locked, he gritted out, "I will explain to you later."

She leaned around him to see Reese.

The blond sighed and shook his head as if exasperated with her.

She didn't care what they thought. She couldn't care. "Where are you taking him?"

Reese gave her the name of the police station-in the same area where Morton Andrews ran his damned club. Was that even legal? She didn't know. And what did it matter when she couldn't involve lawyers?

"When can I see him?"

Logan again blocked her view. "You want to talk to him, Pepper, you'll go through me. Now if you'll just-"

"You're wasting that arrogance on me, Detective. I'm not impressed, I'm not intimidated, and I'm no longer trusting."

His gaze sympathetic, Logan held silent.

She could take just about anything- except his pity. "You think you played me for a fool, don't you?" She wrought a credible laugh. "You're the fool. I only wish I could be around when you realize it."

"You aren't going anywhere."

After everything that had just happened, did he honestly think he could stop her? "I'm going away from you."

She stepped around him and headed for her apartment. "For now, that's more than enough."

Logan said nothing, but she felt his gaze burning into her back as she retreated to her apartment.

She had a lot to do, a lot to accomplish tonight. She wouldn't waste another single second on lost causes.

And whatever his real name might be, Detective Logan was most definitely a lost cause.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

"GUESS YOU'RE IN THE doghouse,"

Reese said to Logan. They rode in a car behind the sedan carrying Rowdy. Logan wasn't ready yet to deal with him. He needed to tamp down his rage-and his conscience.

The look on Pepper's face... God, it ate at him. "She'll come around."

Somehow, he'd make it so.

"You think so, do you?" Reese followed the sedan closely. "She looked more pissed than hurt."

Reese only thought that because he didn't know her well. "She's sweet and tenderhearted. She doesn't belong in this mess."

"She's in it all the same."

Thanks to him. "Quit needling me with the obvious, damn it."

"Just saying." Reese glanced at him.

"You know, I can handle this shit with Yates, if you want to be with her."

"No." Difficult as it might be, he'd remember his priorities.

"The more time you give her, the less she's going to want to hear you. Women have a way of working themselves into a lather over stuff, especially when embarrassed. I'd say using her to get her brother would qualify as an embarrassing situation."

"Until I talk to Rowdy, until I get what I need, she's not going to want to listen to anything I have to say." She'd only want to follow Rowdy's order-to be quiet, to shut him out.

Logan thought again of how the brother had shouted at her, his lack of gentleness with her. It infuriated him.

"Once I have the info, I can reason with her, make her understand how important it is."

Reese let that go to ask, "How long do you think you can hold him?"

"After catching him in my place? Long enough." He hoped. "What did the lieutenant say?"

Reese squeezed the steering wheel. "I didn't tell her yet."

After giving Reese a long look, Logan put his head back. Shit. It needed only this. "She's going to be pissed."

"We'll hit the station in another ten minutes. Even if you don't call her, she'll find out soon enough."

It actually worked to his advantage that Reese hadn't gotten around to calling her. "I'll talk to her after I question Rowdy. In the meantime, I want him in holding, and I want him watched 24/7."

"I'll do it." Reese glanced at Logan again. "Better not to trust anyone else at this point."

Because Logan felt the same, he nodded. He wouldn't take a single chance that Rowdy Yates would walk before he had the opportunity to get the details needed.

Once he had the right info, he'd find a way to protect Rowdy-and he'd start building the case to get Morton Andrews, once and for all.

And after that, after all the details were in place, he'd go back to Pepper.

He'd reassure her, he'd apologize to her, and he'd explain.

But he kept seeing that look on her face, and deep down, he just didn't know if any of that would matter to her.

THE TWO OFFICERS that Logan left behind

crowded into her doorway. Pepper gave them direct stares. "You can leave now.

I'm not going anywhere."

"Ma'am." The lankier of the two gave her a look of apology. "We're just here to see to your safety. It'll be easier if we're inside."

"I need to shower." Yeah, not her most immediate concern, but it was as good an excuse as any. "I need to change clothes and go to my brother-"

"Detective Riske was clear, ma'am.

He'd prefer that you wait here."

"I don't care about his preferences."

They looked at each other. The shorter guy stepped in farther. "You won't be able to see your brother until he's processed anyway. If you try going there, it might just slow things down."

Processed. She wanted to groan.

Thanks to Morton, she knew far more about how the criminal element worked than the procedure for law enforcement.

"How long will that take?"

"Depends. They'll take him to the station to be interviewed-"

"You mean interrogated."

He said nothing to that. "It takes time to do the booking paperwork, photo, fingerprints and all that. I don't know if he'll be transported to the county detention center for holding until bail or trial."

The lanky one said, "He could go straight to county. We won't know until Detective Riske returns."

So they weren't informed of the whole procedure that'd be taken? Was that a security thing, or were they just grunts who didn't deserve the details?

It really had nothing to do with anything, but Pepper heard herself ask, "Is his name really Logan?"

"Ma'am?"

She waved a hand in impatience.

"Detective Riske. Is his first name Logan?"

"Yes, ma'am. Logan Riske."

Probably he'd used his first name to keep from tripping himself up while...

seducing her.

Humiliation rolled over her in suffocating waves.

He thought her shy and introverted.

He'd smiled at her while she'd shared her wretched background. He'd been gently accepting when she insisted on sex in the dark.

He'd been inside her.

It felt as if an elephant sat on her chest, crushing her heart, all but crippling her. Wrapping her arms around herself, she struggled to hold it all together.

Numb, sick, Pepper whispered, "Thank you." To keep their suspicions at bay, she gestured to her couch. "Make yourselves at home. I'm going to get ready just in case Logan calls or returns more quickly than expected."

They gave her pitying looks, thinking her naive, thinking she didn't grasp the nuances involved.

That could be, but she understood the most important fact: people outside the law and in it wanted her brother. He could die if she didn't react quickly.

"I won't be long." And with that, Pepper turned away. Time to get things under way.

She went to her bedroom first. Buried inside the bedsprings, she found her stash of cash, her knife and .38 revolver, and the keys she'd need. She put it all inside her purse, then wrapped it up in a change of clothes, bundling everything together. As she left the bedroom for the bathroom, she glanced shyly at the officers.

Neither had sat down. They both stood at the ready, watchful, wary.

Maybe they were good cops. After all, they hadn't yet tried to murder her. They hadn't called in the goons. They hadn't even threatened her.

But they did stand by her front door, trying to block her escape.

Knowing the flimsy lock offered little real protection, she locked the bathroom door behind her, turned on the shower, and wasted no time changing into jeans and a T-shirt. Putting the strap of the purse over her shoulder and across her body, she opened the window and climbed out. It had been a while, but she scurried down the tree limbs with ease, then dropped the last several feet to the ground, landing in a crouch. Anxiety making her breathless, she waited, but no one seemed to notice her. No alarms sounded.

No one gave chase.

To help disguise her, she pulled the band from her ponytail and let her long hair hang free. She didn't head for the road but instead darted to the back of the building and went down alleyways until she'd crossed a mile or more. The bright moon and security lights for other buildings made it tough to stay in the shadows.

She found Rowdy's car in the agreed- upon location. Holding back, she watched it, worried that it might be a trap, that others could have it under surveillance. But with little time to spare, she swallowed her misgivings and fear and ran to the car to quickly unlock it.

Once she had the engine started, she breathed a sigh of relief.

For too many years she hadn't been behind the wheel. She'd missed it. Even as she drove out of the lot, she watched for anyone shadowing her. She stayed alert as she stopped at a convenience store for a quick shopping spree of necessary items. She constantly scanned the surroundings as she went next to the motel room where Rowdy had last been staying.

It took her a few precious seconds to pick the lock, and when she got the door open, she found a woman there in his bed. Un-freaking-believable.

Rowdy was such a hypocrite.

Furious, Pepper swept into the room, stormed over to the bed and jerked away the covers. The drowsy-naked- brunette stirred, looked at her, and sat up to object. "Who are you?"