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for the past two days. She stared at him, at a loss. There was no denying the spark was still there.
    He pulled her into his arms again, cradling her head against his chest. He didn’t press her more on the subject, just steadied her, lending his quiet strength.
    “I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “For everything. But most of all for driving you away.”
    He didn’t say the three important words, but she heard them all the same. Her throat burned with unshed tears.
    A noise at the door caught their attention. She peeked over his shoulder to see Joaquin standing in the doorway, looking shell-shocked. Quickly recovering, he strode toward them. As Gray helped her to stand, Joaquin pulled her away from the agent and held on to her, burying his face in her hair.
    “I’m so glad you’re all right! Do you need to go to the emergency room, get checked out?” he asked anxiously, pulling back to study her from head to toe. “Your arms are scraped.”
    “No, I’m fine. I just want to get out of here.”
    “All right.” He turned to Gray. “Do you have keys for these cuffs?”
    “Not on me, but we’ll hunt down a master and get them off. Let’s go.”
    As they cleared the building, Gray walked ahead of them, Joaquin at her side. She was surprised by how much this disconcerted her. She didn’t like the feeling that things were now off-kilter, and she wasn’t sure what to do about the awkwardness.
    Outside, Gray called out to several agents, who tried their keys on the cuffs. None of them worked, so a phone call was made for someone to bring a master, and that required a bit of a wait. Forty-five minutes later, however, an older agent freed her wrists and she rubbed them, breathing a sigh of relief.
    “Are you hungry?” Joaquin asked.
    “Starving.”
    “I’ll phone ahead and have something prepared for all of us,” he said, graciously including Gray and Simon as they climbed into the limo. Though his manner was a little stiff and wary, she could tell he was sincere when he continued, addressing the agents. “I don’t know how to thank you both for helping to get my family’s name in the clear. I’ve been working for years to make that happen, and it’s truly like the albatross has been ripped from my neck.”
    “I was glad to be a part of it,” Gray said, nodding. “Especially when it meant arresting Santos.”
    “And thanks for coming to my rescue,” she said to Gray. Then she felt her face flush. “All of you, I mean.”
    There was a general round of agreement. Joaquin slid his arm around her shoulders, and she knew he was staking his claim in front of Gray. She couldn’t blame him, but at the same time the action didn’t provide the comfort it should have. Again, she didn’t want to examine why.
    She must have dozed against Joaquin’s shoulder, because the next thing she knew, someone was carefully shaking her awake. Opening her eyes, she saw that the limo had stopped and everyone had gotten out except her and Joaquin.
    “Hey, sleepyhead,” he said, kissing her on the lips. “Doing okay?”
    “Yeah. I just need food and sleep, in that order.”
    “You got it. I think dinner is waiting, and afterward we’ll tuck you in for the night.”
    “Sounds fantastic.”
    The weary group trooped into the house, into the dining room. Anna’s mouth watered as she saw the cook had prepared a simple but satisfying meal of roasted chicken and vegetables. They all dug in and ate without talking too much, except for Gray, Simon, and Joaquin filling in Rio on what had gone down and how they’d rescued Anna.
    Conversation all but halted after that, everyone tired as they finished up. As she pushed away her plate, Joaquin rose and addressed the agents.
    “I’m going to see that Anna gets her rest. Seeing as it’s getting late, you two are welcome to stay until the morning.”
    “That would be great, thanks,” Simon answered.
    Gray nodded, his gaze straying to Anna. “Yes, thank you. I’m pretty