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did.”
    “You let him take our prisoner.”
    “I know.”
    “You allowed him to take you hostage.”
    “I know.”
    Will"s quiet response seemed to confuse Taylor. He peered at Will through the rain-swept gloom. “I don"t get it. Help me understand. How could you do that?”
    Will shook his head.
    Taylor"s voice rose again. “Goddamn it. It"s not only against agency policy and training, it"s against common sense.”
    “I don"t need to hear this from you. Not right now.”
    “Will…” Will could practically see the wheels turning. Taylor said, “He was not going to shoot me.”
    Despite Will"s determination not to defend his decision, he heard himself arguing, “You don"t know that. My instinct is he would have shot you. Maybe he wouldn"t have killed you, but he was ready to shoot you.”
    “Then you"d have shot him, right?”
    It took a second to work past the sweeping obliviousness of that. “Right. You"d still be dead.”
    “Your way, we both could have been dead. And the girl too. It"s totally against policy, and you damn well know it.”
    “Don"t you throw policy at me.”

    32
    Josh Lanyon

    “Anyway, there"s no way he"d have shot a federal officer.”
    “Of course not. That never happens.”
    “For Christ sake, Will. The fact that I got shot once—”
    “ Twice .” Will said fiercely, “I"ve seen you take a bullet twice .”
    “You didn"t even see it the first time!”
    “What the…? Like that makes a difference? I saw the result , Taylor. I saw you lying there in what looked like a lake of your own blood. I saw you choking, trying to breathe with a hole in your lung.”
    The anger drained out of Taylor. “Will,” he said helplessly. “You"ve got to let it go. We"ve talked about this. You can"t make decisions in the field based on my safety.”
    He was right. About all of it. Which was one reason Will had never wanted their relationship to move from friends to lovers. But that was ancient history. They were lovers, and there was no going back from it. Not for Will. Not now.
    “Like you wouldn"t have done the same goddamned thing?”
    Taylor"s expression—what Will could see of it—was decidedly weird. “No. I wouldn"t have.”
    He could hear the rain pattering off the stiff material of their vests. “You don"t—” Will stopped. “Look. This isn’t the time.”
    The rumble of a car"s engine drifted across the distance.
    “Come on.” Will started to move in the direction Taylor had thrown the car keys. “I hope you took time to pick a landmark.”
    Taylor didn"t budge, and the steel tether yanked Will back. He whipped around, his temper suddenly soaring. Maybe it was true that there was nothing he feared as much as losing Taylor, but for one blazing instant, he was ready to kill his partner himself.
    If Taylor saw his anger, he gave no sign. He said mildly, “I didn"t throw the car keys.”

    Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat

    33

    “What? I saw you.”
    “I threw my own keys, not the rental car keys.”
    Will stared at him and then, surprising himself, started to laugh. “You"re kidding.”
    Taylor shook his head. He reached into his pocket, dragging Will"s hand along as he wiggled his fingers, feeling for the rental keys. The denim was stiff and already wet through from the rain, making the body beneath seem warmer than ever. Warm. Alive. No, Will could not regret any decision that kept Taylor living and breathing. Even if that decision ultimately cost him Taylor.
    “Got "em.” Taylor held the plastic fob up triumphantly.
    “Nice going.” Will meant it.
    “Thanks. You can pay for the rekey of my house.”
    Will ignored that. “Now we just need to get rid of the bracelets. I"ve got an extra set of handcuff keys in my luggage.”
    “Back at the hotel? How"s that"s going to help?”
    “Hey, I"m open to suggestion. Unless the suggestion is you want to shoot the cuffs off.”
    “It works in the movies.” Taylor was moving along the road, searching for his pistol. Will was