“Why not?” Gabe worried that his insistent demands bordered on the frantic, but he could feel her slipping away from him. In the space of a breath, she’d altered again, from lighthearted angel to stubbornly earthbound. Damnably, he was fascinated by both.

He was a man who appreciated women, in face and form. He enjoyed the challenge of their minds, the intricacies of their emotions. Yet in thirty-four years, he’d never felt such a powerful, immediate connection to one woman. He was lured like Odysseus by her throaty laughter; the compulsion had begun in a heartbeat. Gabriel couldn’t imagine it ending without a full and sated exploration. “My car is in the lot. I’ll pack up your bike, then we can grab a late lunch.”

“I need to go to the museum where Juan Johnson was attacked.” And I can’t be alone with you.

“Then we’ll go together. I’ve already missed Singleton and Bailey.”

Immediately her hackles rose and her eyes narrowed. “I don’t have to report my movements to you. I am free to do as I please.”

“Yes, you are,” he replied evenly. “But I thought we were partners on this.”

“I never agreed to that.” Erin toyed with the handlebars. “How did you know where to find me?”

Gabriel noted that she hadn’t said no to partnership. That was a huge step with someone as prickly as Erin. He’d worm an affirmative out of her later. “I’m an investigative reporter, Erin. I tracked you. When you wouldn’t answer your phone, I went to the bank. The distraught Ms. Weems told me you stopped by. I checked his house and you weren’t there. This was the next logical place.”

She hated to admit it, but they’d made a good team before. Without knowing what she was looking for, she might miss an important clue. But it wouldn’t do to give in so easily. “I told you I didn’t want to help with your story.”

“I’m the only one who’ll listen. Why don’t we see what we find, then we’ll argue?”

Erin’s shoulders drooped. She was in no mood to wrestle with Gabriel and the unwilling sensations he inevitably evoked. “I assume you’ll follow me to the African Heritage Museum whether I want you to or not.”

When he took her hand, Gabriel whispered conspiratorially, “It’s like you’re reading my mind.”

Chapter 10

Erin and Gabriel entered the African Heritage Museum together, and Erin wondered how he did it. How he had so deftly inserted himself in her life that she couldn’t dislodge him. This morning, she had been bound and determined to finish this without him. It was only midafternoon, and he stood next to her in the lobby, chatting with the new docent.

How does he do it?