“No. I just spotted her a couple of blocks from here and followed her back. Want me to escort her up?”
“No. Stay around until she gets into the elevator, then head back to your place for some rest. Send everyone else home, as well. Have the guard back at the usual time in the morning. She won’t be going out again tonight.”
“Right. I’ll talk to you later, then. And, uh, boss—”
“Yeah?”
“Keep that temper of yours under control, okay? You don’t want to end up behind bars for disturbing the peace.”
“I won’t yell,” Bryan replied stiffly. He was fully capable of expressing his displeasure without raising his voice.
He heard Grace’s key in the lock less than five minutes later. He waited in the center of the room, his feet spread, his arms crossed over his chest, a scowl on his face. Grace had taken only a couple of steps into her apartment, swinging the door closed behind her, when she spotted him.
She gasped loudly and dropped her purse and keys, both of which landed noisily on the hardwood floor at her feet. “Jeez, Bryan, you nearly gave me a heart attack. What the hell are you doing in my apartment?”
And then her eyes widened and the color drained from her cheeks. “Has something happened to Chloe?”
“Chloe’s fine,” he reassured her automatically, even as he took in her appearance. She looked…different. Her hair was tousled, her eyes were emphasized with smoky shadow and liner, and her abbreviated T-shirt clung a bit too faithfully to her breasts. Its hem ended a couple inches above the top of her hip-riding jeans, revealing a well-toned midriff.
She looked great. Which only made his frown deepen. “Chloe is fine,” he repeated. “Where the hell have you been?”
Her relief was palpable. “You just took ten years off my life. When I saw you standing there, I thought something must have—”
“You haven’t answered my question,” he cut in flatly. “Where have you been?”
Her chin rose as her eyes narrowed. “I’ve been out. And you didn’t answer my question. What are you doing in my apartment? How did you get in?”
“We can stand here the rest of the night—what little there is left of it, anyway—hurling the same questions at each other, but you might as well know that you aren’t getting rid of me until I get some answers. I want to know if you intentionally threw off the security detail I assigned to you—and if so, why.”
“I had plans for the evening. If your bodyguard missed seeing me leave, that’s not really my problem, is it?”
“It is most definitely your problem if you deliberately slipped away from him. And considering that you must have left the building in a roundabout way that let you get away unnoticed, my bet is that you knew exactly what you were doing.”
She bent to pick up her purse and keys, a movement that also allowed her to avoid his eyes. “How long have you been here?”
“Too long.” He opened his phone and began to punch in Chloe’s number. “I have to call your sister. She’s worried sick about you.”
Grace looked at him skeptically. “I told Chloe I had plans. The only reason she would be worried is if you got her all upset.”
He back teeth ground so tightly together that he could hear his jaw pop. “Chloe understands the reason I’ve provided security for you, whether you like it or not.”
Donovan answered the call. “Did you find her?”
“Yeah. She just walked in.” Bryan watched as Grace tossed her things on a table, then moved into the kitchen to fill a glass with water.
“She’s okay?”
“For the moment.”
Donovan chuckled. “Take it easy on her, Bryan. Chloe told you she was probably fine. But I’ll let Chloe know she’s home.”
“Do that.” Bryan disconnected the call, then followed Grace into the kitchen. “Do you know it’s 2:00 a.m.?”
She set her empty glass in the sink. “I’m perfectly capable of reading a clock. I hope you didn’t wake Chloe and Donovan.”
“They weren’t asleep. They were pacing the floor with worry about you!” Damn it, now he was shouting. But she frustrated him to no end with her refusal to answer his questions and her lack of reaction to his temper—or the genuine concern that lay behind the anger.
Once again the look Grace gave him was disbelieving. “They were pacing the floor?”