Page 234 of Sins of the Heart

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and raised her perfectly arched brows. Her full lips

tightened. “I saved your ass.”

“You spoiled my plans.” He mirrored her movements, crossing his arms over his own chest. “I told you

to run.”

“And leave you outgunned and outnumbered?” Her

brow furrowed as she studied the position of his arms,

then she dropped her own to her sides. “Besides, I

don’t take orders from you.”

“Outgunned and out—” he echoed. Her response

drew him up short. He’d thought she had her own

agenda. But she’d thought she washelpinghim?Pro-

tectinghim?

From behind him came a sound suspiciously like a

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snicker. Roxy shot a narrow-eyed look over his shoulder, appearing no more pleased than he felt.

“Perhaps empirically I was outnumbered, but I was

definitely not outgunned. I played with them long

enough to buy you time to get the fuck out of there,” he

explained, forcing himself to go against his inclination

not to. He wasn’t used to justifying his actions, except

occasionally to the old man, but she needed to understand that her behavior had been ridiculous and unnecessary. And he needed to know she wouldn’t repeat it. He

couldn’t have her in danger every time he turned around.

He found that…unsettling. “Once you were out of the

hot zone, I intended to question Naamah, find out what

exactly they were after. You destroyed all hope of that.”

“Idestroyed it?” Her tone was low, despite her

blatant incredulity. Her hands fisted. Her chin came up.

She glared at him with her tiger eyes. “What, you think

I’m a mind reader? A single sentence or two up front

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