“Okay, here’s what I don’t understand,” she challenged him as they walked through the grass. “If you’re Dutch, how come you care so much about Ambria? What is your tie to the place?”
He looked startled, then like a man trying to cover something up. “Who says I care so much about Ambria?”
“Oh, please! It resonates in everything you say.”
Hmm. That wasn’t good news. He was going to have to be a bit more guarded, wasn’t he? Still, it did seem churlish to keep such basic information from her. It would all be common knowledge soon enough. Once he got to Italy, all would very likely be revealed anyway. He decided she deserved to be among the first to know. Just not quite yet.
“We can talk about this later,” he said evasively.
“Wait a minute,” she said, stopping in front of him and putting her hands on her hips. “I’m staging a small rebellion here.”
Her dark eyes were flashing and her pretty face was set firmly. He knew better than to laugh at her, but it was tempting. She did look damn cute.
“What are you talking about?” he asked instead.
She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t get it. What the heck are we running from?”
“Danger.”
“What danger? From whom?” She threw her hands up. “I don’t see what I’ve done to put myself in danger. All I did was hop on a plane and come to England looking for Cici’s father. How did that put me in danger?”
He raked fingers through his hair and looked uncomfortable. “It hasn’t exactly. It’s put me in danger.” He took in a deep breath and let it out again, slowly. “And because you’re currently attached to me, it’s put you in danger, too.”
Her chin rose and she watched him with a hint of defiance in her gaze. “Then maybe I should unattach myself.”
She was just throwing that out there, waiting to see what his reaction would be. When you came right down to it, the thought of “unattaching” from him filled her with dread. At this point, she didn’t have a clue what she would do without him. And she really didn’t want to find out.
“Maybe you should,” he said calmly, as though it didn’t mean a thing to him. “It’s a good idea, really. Why don’t you do that? We can find you a nice hotel and get you a room…”
She observed the way he was holding the baby, so casual, so adept, and she looked at his handsome face, so attractive, so appealing. Did she really want to trade this in, danger and all, for the sterile walls of a hotel room on her own? Wouldn’t she just end up trudging from place to place, trying to find someone who could help her?
Hmm. Good luck with that.
Maybe she ought to reconsider before this went too far. She wasn’t going to detach herself from him until she had to. Who was she kidding, anyway? She was going to stick around and see what happened. She knew it. He probably knew it, too.
“On the other hand,” she said in a more conciliatory tone, as they began to walk again, “if you would just let me know what’s going on so I could understand and be prepared, it would be nice. I’d like to be able to make plans for myself once in a while.” She searched his face hopefully. “It would be a big help.”
His jaw tightened. “You want to know what’s going on.”
“Yes, I do.”
He nodded. She was really a good sport. She deserved more information than he’d been giving her. He couldn’t tell her everything. But he could do a better job than he’d been doing so far. He shifted the baby from one arm to the other, stood in one spot with his legs evenly spaced, like a fighter, and looked into her eyes. He was taking a risk in telling her. But what the hell—life was a risk. And despite everything, his gut feeling was that he could trust her.
“Okay Ayme, here’s the deal. I am Ambrian. You guessed right from the beginning.”
“I knew it!” Her eyes flared with happy sparks and she wanted to grab him around the neck and give him a triumphant kiss, but she restrained herself admirably.
“There’s more.”
He glanced at her, his intensity burning a hole in her skin and as she realized how seriously he was taking this, her victorious satisfaction faded.
“I’ve been working with other Ambrians determined to overthrow the usurpers and get our country back.”
She gaped at him, suddenly feeling as though her bearings had been yanked away.
“No kidding,” she said softly, feeling shaky. “No wonder there are people after you.”
No wonder. That was a choice he’d made. But she hadn’t made that choice, so what the heck was she doing putting herself and the baby in this sort of jeopardy? Maybe she was going to have to tell him thanks, but no thanks, after all. Time to say goodbye?
His face was hard and serious and his tone was low and intense as he went on.
“The people who run Ambria right now have spies everywhere. They are very much interested in trying to destroy any opposition they see beginning to crop up. That’s why I have to be careful and why I’m afraid of being tracked.”
“Okay.” She folded her arms across her chest and hugged herself worriedly. “Now I get it. Thank you for telling me that.” She blinked up at him, her eyes wide, a picture of pure innocence. “Believe me, I won’t betray your confidence.”
He wanted to kiss her. Looking down, the urge swept over him. Her face was so fresh and honest, her lips full and slightly parted, her cheeks red from the outdoor air and he didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone look prettier. The urge passed. He didn’t act on it.
But it left behind another feeling—guilt.
She trusted him.
Ah, hell, he thought.
Guilt filled his throat. He was still lying to her, still leaving things out. She didn’t know he was actually the man she was seeking. Well, that wasn’t exactly the case, but close. If she knew who he really was, she would be able to focus better on finding the real father. On the other hand, maybe she would just believe he had fathered the child himself. Then what?
There would be no time for DNA tests. He had to be in Italy in less than a week. And he couldn’t tell her about that—not yet. Probably not ever. After all, she wasn’t going with him, so why did she have to know?
They went back to the car and packed everything away, including the now-sleeping baby, then climbed in themselves and started off. But all the while, he was thinking about their conversation.
There was still so much he couldn’t tell her, but he could tell her a bit more than he had.
“Here’s some more truth, Ayme,” he told her after a few miles. “The truth is, I’m just like you.”
“Like me?”
“Yes. I’m an Ambrian orphan, too. I was adopted by a Dutch family right after the rebellion. Just like you.”
She thought about that for a moment. It seemed to fit the scheme of things nicely and it gave her a warm feeling of bonding with the man. Though when she glanced at his face, she didn’t see any reciprocating on the bonding thing. He appeared as much as ever as though his profile had been hewn in stone.
So now she had some important information and she could use it to fill in the blanks. She knew why David was afraid someone was after him. And she knew why he felt such deep feelings for Ambria. And she knew why he might have connections in the Ambrian community that would help her find Cici’s father. But she didn’t know…
Turning to face him again, she confronted him with a steady gaze.
“Okay,