"Yeah, right. Like your shoulders will fit. Not to mention you have not been cleared by your doctor."
His brows slammed down. "Then we'll find another way."
"Your way, you mean," she snapped.
A whistle sounded from the back. "Time out, you two."
Tanner and Kathleen turned to look at Crusty.
Their old pal shook his head. "Just like old times."
No kidding. There went any hopes that Tanner might change. She didn't expect him to roll over in a complete surrender. Just a compromise. Some sign that he would share control with her.
Kathleen forced herself to think, reminding herself to work with Tanner and Crusty, her team. No lone-ranger strategies. "Do either of you have a better idea? Otherwise we're stuck spending the rest of Christmas in this parking lot."
Tanner's chest expanded, stretching his shirt just before a weary sigh rumbled free, filling the car. "We can get the rope back at base. Then I'll spot you."
That concession, albeit a begrudging one, stirred a hope she hadn't allowed herself to feel in years.
Damn. Who would have thought hope would be more frightening than the prospect of a lifetime alone?
Tanner paced under the window. Checked his watch. Scanned the deserted gravel parking lot. Paced again.
The hazy cover of night could engender a false sense of security, but Tanner refused to let it lull him. Lot lights combined with stars to cast a dim halo over the building, enough for Tanner to scout for the guard and watch for Kathleen. Pray she wasn't pulling some stunt while he wasn't looking.
Ten minutes had passed since she'd glided up the side of the building with catlike grace. That woman wreaked hell on his heart rate. He told himself she wouldn't fall and the worst they were facing was a possible confrontation with the guard.
Not that it helped.
They had to wrap this up. If the Randy inspector hadn't been logging in his hours, how many other projects fell into question? As long as Quinn was on the up-and-up, the fallout could be minimal. If Quinn had been taking advantage of Randall's slackness to cut corners, the ramifications could be mind-blowing, involving multimillion-dollar test programs.
Stakes high enough someone might be willing to kill for them.
Damn it, what was taking her so long? What if Crusty hadn't been able to keep the guard occupied?
Tanner traced and retraced his well-worn path under the window. Why had he ever agreed to this in the first place? His damned impatience had lead him to charge ahead rather than wait until the morning when they could have waltzed straight in with the security police.
If she didn't come out of that window in thirty seconds, he would…
He didn't have to answer his own sure-to-backfire question since Kathleen's white-tennis-shoe-clad foot eased over the ledge, followed by the other as she lowered herself into the night.
Relief kicked through him so intense it almost drove him to his knees. He watched her rappel down the building. The woman was so incredible she sucked the air right out of his lungs. With the fluid grace of a natural athlete, she closed the distance to the ground. Each glide sent her hair rippling, sent his pulse pounding through him with memories of having that body move against him with the same grace.
Her white shirt fluttered with each gust of wind, whipped like a glaring flag of surrender. She was too vulnerable. He wanted to urge her to hurry. Wanted her to take her time. Wanted her off that building.
He braced his feet in case he had to catch her if she fell. Which she wouldn't. Even knowing she wouldn't need him, Tanner waited below. Ready.
She flung away from the building, thudded, pushed away, thudded again—a foot slipping, then steadying.
"Kathleen," he growled low.
"Shhh. Almost there."
Two more and she would land. Except she skipped the last leg and launched herself into the air, landing like a surefooted cat.
He forced himself not to yank her into his arms. Too much emotion. Too raw. He needed time to find his own footing and get them the hell out of there.
Her eyes glimmered with ill-suppressed excitement. "Tanner, you'll never believe—"