Rescued By The Billionaire Ceo

“But you fought them. Three weeks ago and today.” Admiration colored his words.

“But—”

He stopped her before she could continue. “No buts. You fought, Alana. That woman today is safe because of your quick thinking.”

She shook her head slightly, unwilling to leave the comforting shelter of Jason’s embrace. “No. She’s safe because of you. I couldn’t stop them. I just—”

“Delayed them long enough for me to intervene.” Something brushed against her forehead, and Alana realized it was Jason’s lips. His first kiss, her brain recognized, and she hugged that knowledge to herself like the precious memory it would always be.

“She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?” she asked.

“I don’t see why not. Chloroform doesn’t leave any lasting effects—you know that. She was taken to hospital, but I doubt they’ll keep her once she regains consciousness.” His voice roughened. “I’m sorry.”

She raised her head to look at him. “For what?”

“For putting you through that experience again.” The corner of his mouth twitched against strong emotions held firmly in check. “I brought you there on purpose today, but I would never have done that if I had any idea...” When she just stared at him in incomprehension, he explained, “I didn’t want one bad experience to color your perspective of Hong Kong.”

She blinked. “Why?”

He didn’t respond at first. Then, his dark eyes full of meaning, said, “Because this city is my home.”

He didn’t say anything more. It took her a minute, but eventually her eyes widened in dawning comprehension.

She almost blurted it out, but stopped herself in time, instead saying, “I’m glad you brought me there...whatever the reason. Yes, it triggered all those bad memories, but I’m so glad we were able to save another woman from being abducted. Remembering my own similar experience is a small price to pay.”

Their gazes locked and held, and another nonverbal message was exchanged...this one momentous. Then a brisk knock sounded on the interrogation room door, breaking the spell, and the door opened to reveal Detective Inspector Lam.

Alana straightened and made as if to pull away from Jason, but he refused to let her go. She knew from the deliberately impassive expression on Detective Inspector Lam’s face that he’d put two and two together, but had no intention of raising the issue since it wasn’t germane to the situation.

“Miss Richardson, Mr. Moore,” he acknowledged smoothly. “Sorry to meet you again under these difficult circumstances.”

* * *

Two hours later Alana and Jason were free to go. Detective Inspector Lam ordered a squad car to take them back to where Jason’s rented car was parked. “Home?” he asked her when they were standing on the sidewalk.

She shook her head emphatically. “Not unless you want to. I’m not ready for this day with you to end.”

Pride in her surged through him. The same pride he’d felt during the attack today. The same pride he’d experienced listening to her steady answers to Detective Inspector Lam’s questions, despite the latent fear he’d known still held her in its sway.

Pride? he asked himself suddenly. Why pride?

The answer, when it came, jolted through him like an electric shock. Alana wasn’t his, but he wanted her to be. And that blew him away. You’ve only known her three weeks, the rational side of his brain protested. You haven’t even slept with her, for God’s sake!

But none of that seemed to matter. It was as if he recognized in her the mate he’d been searching for these past ten years. A woman who cared as passionately as he did about right and wrong, about protecting the innocent, no matter the cost. A woman who would sacrifice everything, even her own life. Not just for someone she loved, but for a stranger.

Just as he would.

* * *

Jason’s smartphone sounded as he and Alana were sitting down in McDonald’s with their somewhat-delayed taro pies, and he answered it with, “Wei?” He listened for a moment, then replied in staccato Cantonese too quick for Alana to decipher. She’d been taking lessons since she’d first arrived less than two months ago, but so far she’d only really mastered the basics that any tourist needed to know, like “bathroom,” “train station,” and “Star Ferry”—the most common way to cross from Hong Kong Island to the mainland if you were on foot. When Jason disconnected she raised her eyebrows in a question.

“The license plate on the van was stolen,” he admitted.

“Detective Inspector Lam told you?”

“No.”

Just the one word, but Alana wasn’t stupid. “RMM.” She nodded to herself. “That’s who you were talking to on your cell phone earlier today, right after it happened. I should have realized, but I...I wasn’t quite myself at that moment.”

Jason didn’t confirm or deny, but there was something in his eyes that made her feel she’d earned his approval again.

She opened the end of the cardboard container holding her taro pie and stared at it for a moment. Then she raised her gaze to Jason’s. “Would you tell me something?”

He hesitated. “If I can.”

“How did you become involved with RMM?”

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