Free The Marshal's Witness by Lena Diaz Page B

at him, so trusting, waiting for his answer.
    He ruthlessly reined in his desires, tightening his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her and crushing her against him. She shouldn’t look at him that way, as if maybe she wanted him to kiss her just as badly as he wanted to kiss her. He needed her to want him to keep his distance. He needed her to hate him. It would make everything much simpler that way.
    “Ryan?” she prodded,placing her hand on his chest and frowning up at him. “Why are you helping me?”
    He took a step back, forcing her to drop her hand. “I told you at the hospital that I’m honor bound to keep you safe,” he said, reminding both of them why he was with her in the first place. “Now that I know that the marshals who died protecting you were double-crossed by someone inside WitSec, I’ve got even morereasons to keep my vow to protect you. I’m not going to let whoever leaked your identity win. I want justice.”
    Jessica’s gaze dropped from his and he immediately regretted his harsh answer.
    “I want justice, too, for the marshals, for my friend, Natalie,” she said, her voice a bitter whisper in the stillness of the cabin. “And if DeGaullo wants to kill me, I’m not going to make it easyfor him. I’m staying with you.”
    The first tiny stirrings of respect welled up inside Ryan at Jessica’s brave echo of the same words he’d told her the first time he’d seen her.
    Don’t make it easy for him.
    He unzipped his jacket and pulled his Glock out of the inside pocket.
    She made no attempt to take the gun when he offered it to her. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at him.“Why are you trying to give me your gun?”
    “I’m going to backtrack, disguise our trail, and see if anyone is following us. This place is isolated. It’s unlikely anyone would stumble across it. But if the worst happens, you’ll have to protect yourself.” He held out the gun again. “There’s no safety. All you do is aim and squeeze.”
    Jessica eyed the gun with obvious distaste. “Perhaps youdidn’t hear me. I said I was staying with you. You’re not leaving me behind.”
    Irritation flashed through Ryan when he noted the stubborn set of her jaw. He’d make much faster progress without her clinging to him, and him worrying about her falling off the bike. The woman had obviously never been on a motorcycle before. She didn’t even know to lean into the curves.
    “I’m not leaving youbehind,” he tried to reassure her. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours, three tops.”
    “Why do you have to backtrack at all? Why can’t we just keep going deeper into the mountains?”
    Ryan lowered the gun, his frustration level rising as he glanced at his watch. If the gunmen were following them, how close were they now? What if others had been positioned in the mountains before the fire,ready to cut off any avenues of escape? They could be closing in right now.
    “Heading into the mountains on a motorcycle wasn’t the smartest thing to do,” he said. “But we didn’t have much of a choice last night. Even an average tracker will be able to follow our tire tracks. Plus, the bike is loud. We’re okay using it a little while longer, if our pursuers aren’t far enough into the mountainsto hear it yet. But without knowing how many people are following us, and what directions they’re coming from, I don’t know what strategy to take to elude them. I need to do some scouting. If you’re with me, you’ll just slow me down.”
    “It doesn’t make sense for you to have to ride all the way back here to get me once you do whatever you need to do,” she countered, her words rushing togetheras she took a step forward. “I promise I won’t interfere. Just take me with you. I’ll have your back, keep an eye out so no one sneaks up on you while you do whatever you need to do.”
    The fear stamped on her taut face, and the way her gaze had darted toward the door and window, told him far more than the words