They leaped into her mind, but Lee found she couldn’t ask them. She didn’t want to know. If she was to put him out of her life immediately and completely, she couldn’t ask. “You said her name once, and when I asked, you avoided answering.”

“Who asked?” he countered. “You or the reporter?”

She paled, and her step away from him said more than a dozen words.

“If that was an unfair question,” he said, feeling his way carefully, “I’m sorry.”

Lee stifled a bitter answer. He’d just said it all. “I want to go back to Sedona. Will you drive me, or do I have to arrange for a car?”

“Stop this.” He gripped her shoulders before she could back farther away. “You’ve been a part of my life for a few days. Sarah’s been my life for ten years. I take no risks with her.” She saw the fury come and go in his eyes as he fought against it. “She’s off the record, do you understand? She stays off the record. I won’t have her childhood disturbed by photographers dogging her at soccer games or hanging from trees at school picnics. Sarah’s not an item for the glossy pages of any magazine.”

“Is that what you think of me?” she whispered. “We’ve come no further than that?” She swallowed a mixture of pain and betrayal. “Your daughter won’t be mentioned in any article I write. You have my word. Now let me go.”

She wasn’t speaking only of the hands that held her there, and they both knew it. He felt a bubble of panic he’d never expected, a twist of guilt that left him baffled. Frustrated, he stared down at her. He’d never realized she could be a complication. “I can’t.” It was said with such simplicity her skin iced. “I want you to understand, and I need time for that.”

“You’ve had nearly two weeks to make me understand, Hunter.”

“Damn it, you came here as a reporter.” He paused, as if waiting for her to confirm or deny, but she said nothing. “What happened between us wasn’t planned or expected by either one of us. I want you to come back with me to my home.”

Somehow she met his eyes levelly. “I’m still a reporter.”

“We have two days left in our agreement.” His voice softened, his hands gentled. “Lenore, spend those two days with me at home, with my daughter.”

“You have no problem asking for everything, do you?”

“No.” She was still holding herself away from him. No matter how badly he wanted to, Hunter knew better than to try to draw her closer. Not yet. “It’s important to me that you understand. Give me two days.”