Gabriel only had eyes for Erin as he crossed Royal. Her slender body vibrated in his arms like a wire plucked too harshly. He thought only to shield. Mewling sounds issued from her throat. He couldn’t decipher much, simply a name. “Nathan.” Shaded with sorrow, the word tripped over itself in a curse or a prayer.

He pressed her head into his shoulder. Her breathing was warm on his throat. Emotion moved through him, a tenderness he could not turn away.

“Gabe? What’s wrong with her? Does she need help?” Calvin, the desk officer, had just come off his shift. He’d been with the NOPD for nearly six months. He still hadn’t logged any field time, but his detective intuition prickled at the sight of Gabriel cradling the beautiful woman who’d followed him into the station a few nights before. No doubt, her shivering form had something to do with the flashing lights down the street. “Wanna come inside, Gabe?” he asked, trailing behind as Gabriel wound between the police vehicles to his car.

“I just need to get her home, Calvin.” Gabriel fished in his pocket for his key and shifted Erin to fit it into the lock. Eager to help, Calvin grabbed the key, unlocked the passenger door, and held it wide. Gabriel softly set Erin inside, his heart twisting at her hushed whimper.

Calvin stared over his shoulder. “Man, she looks like she’s seen a ghost,” he offered helpfully. “Hope she doesn’t get sick.”

Wanting him gone, Gabriel shut the door and moved to the driver’s side. He climbed into the cab. “Look, Calvin, there’s a corpse on St. Inverness. I don’t think any cops are on the scene.” When the rookie scampered down the street, ready to play hero, Gabriel gunned the engine. He peeled out of the parking lot. Aiming his car south, he headed for a place where he and Erin could be alone. Soon enough, he realized, Calvin would piece together his presence at the scene, and the police would come looking for them.

Before that happened, he would know what demons tormented the nearly catatonic woman trembling in his car. And what in the devil a dead man named Nathan had to do with it.

Chapter 20

Weeping willows lined the winding dirt road, their delicate green leaves brushing close to the earth. Trunks grew heavy with Spanish moss, and crickets serenaded with the lazy undulation of Lake Pontchartrain in concerto. Stars dappled the inky sky in glorious bursts of light. Gabriel usually enjoyed the dazzling scenery rushing past his windows. He relished the way the sounds of the city dropped away, as though nature had drawn a shade over the festivities. Out here, the scent of magnolia and musk defeated the smoke and oil of civilization.