Back when I was a copper, the brass had always been on our backs about response times. Well, they'd have been proud tonight. Only three minutes and twenty seconds between me calling 999 and the first police car screaming into the car park. Chris Turner took another half hour to arrive, and when he did make an appearance, I made a point of looking at his non-regulation slippers before meeting his eyes.

"Get dressed in a hurry, did we?"

He glanced down and went scarlet. "Why are you here, Lawson?"

"Picking up my girlfriend."

It took him three seconds to put that together. "The cleaner? I knew you were screwing her."

No, Lawson. Punching a police officer is a one-way ticket to jail. Especially if that officer was a prick like Turner.

"At least I'm not sleeping alone. How's the hand? Got RSI yet?"

For one delightful second, I thought Turner would take a swing at me instead, but then he caught himself and backed off.

"If I do, it'll be from writing the report that gets your woman locked up. Heard she killed a man tonight. Let's see how much trouble she's in, shall we?"

"Don't you dare take your problems with me out on her."

"Oh, I'll do things by the book. Always do. It's you who's got the problem with sticking to the rules."

The worst of it was, I could only watch as Rania got bundled into the back of a police car, still covered in Lloyd Weston's blood. I was a witness, to be questioned separately while she got interrogated. Same with Aiden. He sidled up next to me followed by a female constable. Young. Perhaps she hadn't heard about my reputation yet?

"They want us to go in for questioning," Aiden said.

"Give me a moment."

The WPC gave it a try. "Sir? I need you to come with us now."

"Am I under arrest?"

"No."

"Then you can wait for ten minutes."

I knew a lady in the legal aid office—no, not like that, Deborah was old enough to be my mother—and I wanted to find out who the duty solicitor was. Before the police arrived, I'd told Rania not to say anything until she'd got legal advice, but the quality of that advice varied hugely depending on the rota. A quick chat with Deb would tell me whether a big problem was about to get even bigger.

"Please, sir," the constable said. "Detective Turner wants me to bring you straight away."

"You do everything Turner says?"

"Not if I can help it," she muttered.

I flashed her a grin. "It won't hurt him to wait. In fact, he'll be grateful since he'll have more time to fill all his forms in."

She returned my smile. "You know him well, then?"

"Too well."

"I'll tell him we got stuck in traffic."

She'd go far, that one. Constable Joanne O'Dowd, according to her badge. I filed the name away for future reference and pulled out my phone, but RJ got in first and it buzzed in my hand.

"Where are you? Shannon's worried that Rania's not back yet. I tried to tell her you'd only have stopped off for a quickie, but she insisted I call."

"Tell me I'm not on speaker."

"No—hold on." A door slammed. "Okay, what's up?"

Deep breaths. "Rania just killed her boss. Self-defence, but she's been arrested and I need to get to the police station."

RJ sucked in a breath. "Fuck."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums this evening up. Don't tell Shannon, whatever you do."

"She's gonna ask questions. What am I supposed to say?"

"Use your imagination. Just distract her, okay? I need to call in a favour and get Rania a decent solicitor from legal aid."

"Forget that. I'll call mine."

"RJ, we can't afford—"

"Look, if I leave Rania with some schmuck from legal aid and Shannon finds out, she'll cut my knackers off."

I had to laugh. "You really like Shannon, huh?"

"She spends most of her time bitching, and she drives me crazy, but all I want to do is tear her clothes off. Reckon I need counselling."

The policewoman huffed from behind me, and with RJ adding his high-priced lawyer into the mix, there was nothing keeping me from going with her.

"Gotta go. I'll update you when I can. And thanks, mate."

"You owe me a beer."

***

The sky had turned from pitch black to a dusky grey by the time we got Rania out of the police station. Several cops with actual brains turned up, and despite Chris Turner's mutterings about forms and procedures, they'd soon realised that Rania was the victim in all this and let her out on bail. The assholes hadn't even allowed her to take a shower, just confiscated her clothes and given her the same baggy outfit they dished out to prisoners who deserved to be there. She still had bloodstains on her face, for fuck's sake.

"What happens now?" she asked, paler than I'd ever seen her.

"Now I take you home."

While Rania spent hours being questioned, Aiden and I had given our statements then been sent to wait in reception. Despite him being involved with Helene, I couldn't dislike the guy. He'd been caught up in a difficult situation too, even if he did have dubious taste in women. In the end, I'd dropped him back at his car in the town centre so at least one of us could get some sleep, then I'd spent another hour snoozing at the police station while the desk sergeant gave me dirty looks.

"I'm sorry," Rania whispered. She'd barely said a word after our initial conversation at Daylesford Hall, and I was in two minds whether to take her to the hospital instead because I feared she might be in shock. But the idea of a stranger poking and prodding her made me start the engine and turn the car towards RJ's place instead.

"Never apologise for something that wasn't your fault."

"I didn't want to kill him. Just stop him from hurting me."

"He came at you with a knife, beautiful, and he was too arrogant to realise you might fight back. Lloyd Weston deserved everything he got."

"What about Helene?"

"What about Helene?"

"She was so upset."

"Nia, she's dead. There's not much you can do to help her."

I reached out and squeezed Rania's hand, keeping hold of it so it rested on my thigh. I'd have kissed her palm if not for the pink tinge that still lingered on her skin. Nausea churned in my guts just thinking about how close she'd come to being hurt tonight at the hands of a madman. Or worse.

I drove, and she fell silent, looking out the window as the BMW took us farther away from the horrors of the evening. Yes, we'd have to talk more about this, but tonight—or rather, this morning—wasn't the time. We needed a shower then bed, and tomorrow, I'd do everything I could to help Rania start healing.

The light was on in the living room as I carried Rania up the garden path, and I wondered how late RJ had stayed awake. Fingers crossed he'd managed to keep Shannon calm. When Rania got upset, she went quiet, but I had a feeling Shannon would be the opposite.

I kept my arm around Rania as I lowered her to her feet so I could get the door open. Part of me wanted to carry her over the threshold, but that could wait for our wedding night.

Our what?

Lawson, have you lost your damn mind?

Probably, but if I had to lose it for anybody, Rania was the one.

"Let's get you upstairs," I whispered, happy when I got a nod of agreement.

First, I pushed the living room door open to turn off the light, which with hindsight was a mistake.

"What the...?"

Clothes lay strewn across the floor, some RJ's, some Shannon's. The two of them were on the sofa, Shannon's fiery hair draped across RJ's naked chest as they both slept. At least he'd covered most of her with a blanket.

Rania's eyes went wide as I put a finger to my lips and backed out of the room.

"Forget we saw that," I muttered.

Would this little stunt result in a happily ever after or RJ losing his wedding tackle? Only time would tell, but I had other priorities at the moment. I picked Rania up again, only letting her go when we got to the shower. Now what? She could barely keep her eyes open, let alone undress herself, but I wasn't letting her go to sleep covered in Weston's blood. She'd hate herself when she woke up.

"Nia, I need to undress you, okay? I promise I won't try anything. I just want to get you clean."

Another nod, and she stood quietly while I threw her clothes into a pile in the corner of the bathroom. Those could go in the bin tomorrow. When the water was hot, I lifted her underneath and climbed in with her, still wearing my boxers. It felt weird washing her, touching her without any ulterior motive, but there was nothing sexy about this shower. The water ran pink, then bubbly, then finally clear as I rinsed the filth of yesterday evening off us.

"Time for bed, beautiful."

I dressed her in one of my old T-shirts and tucked her under the duvet with me. My last thought as I fell asleep?

Fuck, I love this woman.