“Wait,” she said. “Do you think I’m clear?”
Reluctantly, he made a half turn back but didn’t meet her gaze. “I didn’t find any sign of anything, so I guess you are.”
“Good. I’m glad. So now you don’t suspect me any longer?”
He turned all the way and looked right into her dark eyes. “I suspect everyone, Ayme. Don’t take it personally.”
She made a small movement meant to be a shrug but almost more of a twitch. “I’m trying not to. But it’s not easy.”
His gaze was caught in hers and he couldn’t seem to pull it away. There had been a quiver in her voice, a thread of emotion he couldn’t quite identify, and it had touched him somehow. Looking at her, he felt suddenly confused, not sure how to respond to her.
“Go ahead and get dressed,” he said gruffly as soon as he managed to turn away from her. Not looking her way again, he went through the doorway. “We’ll get going in just a minute.”
She didn’t answer and he went into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of cold water and gulped it down, then took in a deep breath and tried to rationalize away what he’d just done.
It wasn’t what it seemed, of course. How could it be? He didn’t do things like that. His over-the-top reaction to her body was just a symptom of everything else going on around them—the muted fear, the preparations for running, the memories of his own tragic past. Just natural heightened apprehension. Hardly unusual. Nothing to be alarmed about.
She was just a girl.
Relieved and resolute, he went back into his more normal confident action state and returned to the bedroom with a spring in his step. Luckily, she appeared dressed and ready to go and when he looked into her face, there was nothing special there—no regrets, no resentment, no special emotions making him uncomfortable.
“Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.” He slung his overnight bag over his shoulder and reached for the baby. “I’ll get Cici. You bring your bags, okay?”
He led the way to the back steps, avoiding the elevator. It was a long, long climb down, but eventually they hit the ground floor, made their way to the parking garage and found his little racy sports car. He made Ayme and the baby wait against a far wall while he prepared for departure.
He’d done everything right. He’d switched out the license plates on the car. He’d checked under the hood and along the undercarriage for explosives. But even so, he winced as he started the engine with the remote, relieved when nothing went “boom.”
Another day, another risky move, he thought to himself as he helped Ayme into the car and began packing baby supplies away in all the nooks and crannies. One of these times the click from the starter just might be the last thing he ever heard.
Now the next dilemma—should he head for a big city where they could get lost in the crowd, or for the countryside where no one would ever think to look? For once he chose the country.
But that was still a long way away. First, he headed into a direction directly opposed to where he actually wanted to go. After an hour of driving, he pulled into a protected area and hustled Ayme and Cici out of the car with all their belongings. Then he hailed a cab and they went in a totally different direction, stopping at a garage where he had arranged for another of his cars to be stored. This car was a complete contrast to his usual transportation, small and boxy and not eye-catching at all.
Ayme carefully maintained a pleasant expression. She didn’t want to be a whiner. But she couldn’t resist, as they squeezed into the small, cramped car, saying “I like the sports car better.”
“So do I, believe me,” he told her. “This is my incognito car.”
“I can see why. You could probably join the Rose Parade unnoticed in this thing.”
Glancing sideways, he threw her a quick smile that had actual warmth and humor in it, and she tingled a bit in response. It was nice to know he could do that. She’d been worried that he might be all scowls and furled brows with very little room for fun. But it looked like there was hope. It might not be all sex appeal with him.
She smiled to herself, enjoying her own little joke. She would love to tease him but she didn’t quite dare, not yet. If he was right, they were running from danger here. Not a time for light-hearted humor.
Danger. She frowned out the window at the passing buildings. She wished she knew a little more about this “danger” element. Who was this dangerous person and why was he after David?
For just a moment, her mind went back to what had happened in the bedroom just before they left David’s apartment. The way her pulse had surged in response to a few hot looks from the man was all the danger she could deal with right now. Clear and present danger. That’s what he represented to a girl like she was.
Woman, she corrected herself silently. You’re a woman, darn it. So act like one!
“You might as well relax,” he said, glancing her way again. “It’ll be a few hours before we get to our destination.”
“I’m relaxed,” she claimed. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Why don’t you try to get some sleep while Cici is taking her nap?”
It was a sensible suggestion, but she wasn’t in a sensible mood. Despite her bone-aching weariness, she was too full of adrenaline to sleep now.
“But I’ll miss the sightseeing,” she told him. “I want to see the countryside.”
He glanced out at the gaunt, charred-looking buildings they were passing. “We’re not going through a lot of countryside right now. More like an industrial wasteland.”
She nodded, her eyes big as she peered out at everything, trying to take it all in. “I noticed that.”
“Our route is circuitous and it’s not going to take us through many of the nicest parts of England I’m afraid. I’m trying to keep it low key and stay away from places where I might see someone I know.”
“It’s smokestack city so far,” she noted wistfully. “Oh, well. Maybe I will try to sleep a little.”
“The views will be better in an hour or so,” he promised.
“Okay.” She snuggled down into the seat, closed her eyes and went out like a light.
He noted that with a sense of relief. As long as she slept, she couldn’t ask questions.
He really had mixed feelings about Ayme. Why had he brought her along, anyway? He’d almost left her behind and it probably would have been the reasonable thing to do. But he felt a strange sense of responsibility toward her and of course he wanted to make sure that she was protected.
On the other hand, she probably wasn’t going to thank him in the end for dragging her along on this wild-goose chase. She would be better off in a nice hotel in a touristy part of town where she could while away her time shopping or sightseeing or whatever. At the same time, he would have been free to slip in and out of various cities and countries without having to adjust for a baby. After a day hauling a child all over the landscape, she might be ready to accept a solution such as that.
It was a tempting proposition, but there was a major flaw in his thinking and it came to him pretty quickly. Someone out there in the world was fathering babies under his name. This was not helpful to the world situation or even to his own peace of mind. He had to find out who it was and he had to get it stopped. Until he’d managed that, it might be best to keep tabs on the young woman who’d dumped this particular problem in his lap.
Well, that was hardly fair. The problem had been there all the time. He just hadn’t been aware of it until she’d arrived on his doorstep carrying the evidence.
But