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you’re feeling stronger.”
    “I can’t clear her to go home,” Bob protested. “Abbey, you know I can’t do that. You need to be checked out by a doctor. You have serious wounds.”
    “Libby is a doctor,” Jonas said. “Bob, you know she has to go home.”
    “I’ll take her,” Aleksandr said decisively. “If her sister is a doctor and she isn’t in danger of bleeding to death, I’ll take her to her house.”
    “No, you won’t,” Jonas said firmly. “You’re going to stay here and tell me what the hell you’re involved in that I have one dead body, another nearly dead, and Abigail Drake injured.”
    “And in danger,” Aleksandr said.
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Chapter 2

     
    ALEKSANDR ignored Jonas and carried Abigail off the pier. “I’m already wet. There’s no need for the both of us to be soaked. In any case I have to ask her a few questions when she’s feeling better.” He kept walking, not giving Jonas a chance to protest as he carried her to the sheriff’s vehicle and slid into the backseat with her in his arms. He needed answers and getting into the inner sanctum of the Drake home was the only way he was going to get them. He refused to notice Jonas’s glare and simply tightened his arms around Abigail.
    Aleksandr rarely showed emotion on the outside. He was a master at hiding his feelings from others, but Abigail knew him. She knew he was enraged over his partner’s death, although he seemed to take it quite calmly. She also knew Jonas was suspicious because Aleksandr hadn’t given his partner’s body more than a cursory inspection. But Jonas hadn’t been there a few minutes earlier when Aleksandr had shoved the muzzle of his gun against her forehead and she had stared into death. He was hanging on to his control by his sheer discipline, but she felt his rage roiling just below the surface. She remained very still as he cradled her close to his chest.
    “I notice you didn’t ask any questions about Abbey and why she can barely move,” Jonas said, slamming his door closed. “How much have you heard about the Drake sisters?”
    Abigail winced. Aleksandr had firsthand knowledge of the strange gifts and talents she possessed. More than once he’d seen her use them and become drained of all energy. He knew her capabilities and weaknesses all too well. Tears burned and a small sound of despair slipped out.
    Aleksandr nuzzled the top of Abigail’s head. It seemed a miracle to be holding her in his arms again. He wasn’t a man to believe in miracles, until he’d met her. Even with his partner lying dead on the pier, and rage and the need for vengeance consuming him, the moment he’d had a clear enough head to recognize her, some small measure of hope had entered his heart.
    He was used to concealing his feelings. In Russia, everything was political and the wrong expression, the whisper of scandal, anything at all could be the end of his career, and now, with the stakes so high, he was grateful for that training. He and Danilov had stumbled onto something bigger than they had anticipated and it had gotten Danilov killed. The last thing he needed was the distraction of Abigail Drake, but if Jonas thought to be rid of Aleksandr, either in the investigation or with Abigail, he was wrong. Jonas might be dating Abbey now—he certainly acted proprietary around her—but Aleksandr had the prior claim. He wasn’t going to hand her over without a fight any more than he would back off of his investigation.
    “Abigail is engaged to me.” He announced it without hesitation, staring down into her face, at the twin crescents of red-gold lashes, willing her to look at him.
    Her eyes snapped open and she blinked up at him. Aleksandr could see the flames building in her eyes. Abigail had always reminded him of the sea, calm and peaceful and soothing, or turbulent and wild. She walked away from most arguments and simply disappeared rather than fight, but she had red hair for a reason. She was quite capable of rising