Closing her eyes, she quickly went over all the possibilities. She could foresee what his next move would be. A normal man might have begun by charming her and trying to convince her that he deserved to know the truth, and that once he knew the truth, he would act reasonably and fairly and wouldn’t do anything rash.
But Dane couldn’t promise all those things, because Dane wasn’t reasonable and fair. He wasn’t going to ask her to sign papers or make agreements. He was going to try to force her to tell him what he wanted to know, and if she didn’t comply right away, he would do something to convince her she had no choice. And then he would find a way to take her baby.
Panic shot through her and she held herself tightly, rocking back and forth. What was she going to do? How was she going to protect herself from that?
It didn’t matter how many obstacles she put up or how many security guards she had around her, Dane would find a way to break through all that. There was only one answer. She had to make a move before he did.
What was she still doing here? She knew she had to leave before Dane got here in the morning. She might as well get the show on the road. There was nothing important keeping them here.
The only problem was she didn’t want to take many of them with her. Grace, the nanny, of course. And Henri and Kavon, her personal guards. The rest could go back to Paris.
Yes, she told herself as she rose and began to dress. She had to leave. She had to get out before Dane arrived. Just before going to bed, she’d had word that her brothers, Marque and Ivan, were on their way to Darnam as well, and she didn’t want to risk seeing them before she went into hiding. She knew they were probably coming to try to enlist her in their latest wild scheme to get back at Dane and his family. One of these days they just might gather enough of a force together to do the Montenevadas real harm, but she didn’t want to be involved. It was time to declare the war over.
Should she pack? There was no time. Now that she’d thought over all the ramifications, she wanted to hurry, to run, to dash out the door, her baby in her arms, straight to a hiding place.
She called Henri on her phone. He was her ever-alert, ever-faithful one and she knew the older man would be awake in the next room.
“I’m up,” he said. “I’m ready to go. I was hoping you would see the wisdom in it.”
Quickly, she went over plans with him and he agreed to take care that the others left for Paris right away.
“One thing,” he said. “I’ve heard your brothers are heading here to join you. Should I let them know…?”
“No,” she said quickly. “I don’t want them to know what we’re doing. I’ll call them later, once we get there.”
“The usual place?” he asked carefully.
“Of course.”
It was settled. She felt energized, now that she saw a clear path in front of her. She woke the nanny and went in to change Robbie’s diapers and prepare him for the trip. As always, she found herself forgetting her worries and smiling as she tended to him. He gurgled and cooed. What a love he was.
“Hurry, Grace,” she urged. “We’ve got to get on the road.”
Her brothers. What if they did come here? She wanted to avoid them almost as much as she’d wanted to avoid Dane, whom they hated with a passion. They might even kill him if they found him here. At the very least, they would harm him, and despite everything, she couldn’t stand the thought of it. Should she warn him somehow? Leave a note? Make a call?
Closing her eyes, she laughed softly. See how crazy she was getting? Even as she was running from the man, she was thinking of his welfare.
“Are you ready?” she called in to Grace.
“Just a moment more,” the girl called back. “I’ll be there.”
Alex sighed, rocking her baby in her arms. Soon they would be safe. Very soon.
The sun hadn’t made an appearance yet as Dane knocked, then waited patiently for the young man to come and open the outer door to the Lion’s Mane service entrance for him. The employee handed him a small ring of keys and he handed back a folded bill. Nodding, he took the back stairs and climbed quickly to the fifth floor, then used the keys to unlock the service door and let himself onto the floor.
He paused, listening at the double doors. She would have a full party of servants and escorts in her entourage, but they wouldn’t all be staying here on this floor with her. He figured two or three guards at the most. He was hoping to avoid them, but if the muffled sounds he heard were any indication, they were already up and probably getting ready to head out of town. Good thing he’d come early.
Another twist of a key and he was inside the suite of rooms being used by the Acredonna party, standing in the wide entryway that had three rooms leading from it. His heart was pounding but he wasn’t sure if that was because of the danger involved or the prospect of seeing her again. He chose one of the rooms on instinct, walking softly to the doorway. And there she was.
She didn’t see him at first. She was dressed in jeans and a bright, tucked-in shirt that was full in the sleeves. Her hair was loose in a glorious riot of red curls. She was bending over a pile of CDs, reading labels and pulling two out of the stack.
“It’s getting late,” she said without turning as she sensed the presence of another person in the room. “Did you bring the car around?”
“No,” he responded softly. “And I forgot to bring the brioche as well.”
Dropping the CDs, she whirled, hand to her mouth as though to stop a scream. “Oh!” she gasped, her eyes huge.
He smiled, soaking in the sight of her. “You’re even beautiful at four in the morning,” he noted. “But then, I knew that.”
The tension between them was electric.
“What are you doing here?”
He shrugged casually, but his eyes were alert, following every nuance of her reactions.
“Keeping track of you is like trying to catch a rainbow in your hand. I thought I’d better get here early.” His smile faded and he regarded her narrowly. “It looks like that was a wise decision on my part.”
She glanced back at the doorway nervously. “I have guards with me, you know.”
He looked at the doorway, too, sure that was where any attacker would be coming from and planning accordingly. It was automatic, second nature. The only thing that might get in the way of his natural protective radar was this woman who seemed to be able to cloud his senses as though she wore a magic perfume.
“Of course,” he said to her. “Are you going to order them to throw me out?”
She hesitated and he could see that she would love to do just that, if she thought she could get away with it.
“Not if you behave,” she said at last.
He made a short bow. “You have my word. I promise not to ravish you right here on the Persian carpet. Is that enough?”
“Be serious.” She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “I’m afraid we aren’t going to have time to have that talk,” she said, making an attempt to sound lighthearted and failing utterly. “We’ve decided we must leave right away. So…”
One quick step closed the gap between them. He moved before she had time to react and took her hand in his, looking down into her startled eyes.
“Alexandra, you’re not going anywhere until we have our talk. We’ve got things we need to clarify between us. You know that.”
She tried to pull