The FBI man nodded. “Morris, you’ve got kids, right?”
Agent Morris grinned. “Yes, sir. Five. I’m fully checked out on diapers.”
“Perfect,” Laura announced. “We’ll leave in an hour.”
Ms. I-can-handle-anything, I’m-totally-in-control vapor locked when it came time to choose a dress to wear to dinner. It was the darnedest thing. Laura stood in front of the hotel closet, staring at the dresses Marta had packed for her, mostly conservative business wear appropriate for a mother who was deeply concerned about her child’s safety. And for the life of her, she couldn’t choose one. It was as if her brain just shut down.
Nick stepped out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower, wearing dress slacks and no shirt, toweling his hair dry. He looked at her in concern from under his towel. “Everything okay?”
The man really was observant. “No,” she wailed. “I can’t decide what to wear.”
He moved swiftly to her and gathered her into his arms. Smart man. He knew something was seriously wrong if such a little decision was hanging her up. His body was warm and humid against hers and smelled of his expensive soap.
He murmured into her hair, “You’re doing great. I have no idea how you’re holding it together the way you are. Just a little while longer, and we’ll get him back. Courage, darling.”
“I think I’m all out of courage,” she whispered.
“Then borrow some of mine. Remember that Adam’s happy and safe and the kidnapper has promised not to hurt him. We’ll find a way to meet the kidnapper’s demands. And Werner Kloffman’s going to help us do that. He’ll give us his files, and we’ll be one step closer to getting our son back. But the first step is to pick out a dress and put it on.”
Wise advice. Just take this one moment at a time, one simple task at a time.
He turned with her still in his arms to face the closet. “I’ve always liked you in blue. How about this one?” He pointed at an elegant, navy-blue suit dress.
“It’s not very sexy,” she said in a small voice.
He laughed. “Sweetheart, you could wear a burlap sack and a paper bag over your head, and I’d still find you sexy.”
She sighed. “You do have a golden tongue. I don’t know if you mean a word you say, but you say all the right things.”
He kissed her forehead lightly. “I don’t say them to anyone but you, so I must mean them.”
She let him help her slip on the dress. He zipped it for her, and the perfectly tailored garment hugged her body with its slim lines. Nick left to finish dressing, and she pulled her hair back into a quick French twist. She added stockings and conservative high heels to the ensemble but stopped short of adding a pearl necklace to the outfit. She didn’t want to look like her grandmother, after all. She tugged the dress’s V-neck wider open and tightened her bra straps to increase the undergarment’s lift. There. Definitely non-granny cleavage.
She smiled at Ellie who was playing in the middle of the big bed. “Sweetie, you do wonders for Mommy’s assets.”
The baby burbled back. Verbal early, Ellie was. Must be a girl-baby thing. She scooped up the infant and inhaled deeply of her fresh baby scent. “Mommy’s going to go torture Daddy with this naughty dress for a few hours. It’s going to be loads of fun. Be good for the nice FBI agent, okay?” She blew a raspberry against her daughter’s tummy and laughed when Ellie squirmed and gave her a sweet, gum-filled smile.
Agent Morris poked his head through the open door. “Mr. Cass is ready whenever you are.”
She nodded at the man. “Ellie just ate. She should be good for at least four hours. There’s a bottle in the fridge just in case, and she should go down around 10:00 p.m. Order whatever you want from room service and watch whatever you want on TV.” She added dryly, “And no boys in the house, please.”
The agent grinned. “You forgot to ask me if I have a current CPR license and a babysitting certificate from an accredited after-school program.”
Laura laughed. “I’m not paying you that much.”
Morris looked around the plush suite. “Hey, this is the best babysitting gig I’ve ever landed. You and Mr. Cass have a nice evening. Ellie and me, we’ll get along just fine.” He patted the bulge on his right hip and added grimly, “Mr. Glock and I will see to it that nothing happens to your little princess on my watch.”
Laura nodded, abruptly serious. “Thank you.”
She stepped out into the living room and Nick made an appreciative sound. “You’re stunning, Super Mommy.”
She made a face. “I’m not feeling very super at the moment. I feel like I’m hanging on by my fingernails.”
“Well, you’re doing it with style. You look fabulous.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been over this before. I’m the thirty-year-old mother of two.”
“That’s correct. You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more.”
Her heart melted a little. It would be so easy to ignore his trespasses from the past. To fall into his beautiful blue gaze and forget everything else. Exactly the way she had for the past year.
Like it or not, she had to face up to the fact that their current predicament wasn’t entirely Nick’s fault. She’d been as guilty as he of ignoring the past and pretending that nothing bad could be lurking in that giant memory gap of his.
If she lost herself in him and his damnably magnetic charm again, she’d regret it as sure as she was standing here. Someday reality would rear its ugly head again, just like it had this time, and bite her. Who would get hurt the next time? Her? The kids? All of them?
It was time. She and Nick had to confront the past head-on and make peace with it once and for all. They had to do it for their children … no matter what the cost to the two of them.
The place Kloffman had picked for their meeting was dark and quiet. The booths had tall dividers separating them and plenty of privacy. Laura sighed beside Nick as they stepped inside.
“What’s wrong?” he murmured.
“Too easy a place to do surveillance. Not a good spot for a clandestine exchange.”
“Really?”
“Loud, rowdy, and crowded is a better venue. It’s impossible to eavesdrop more than a few feet away, there’s lots of noise pollution to foul up directional microphones, and people are hard to keep track of in a big crowd.”
It made sense. And she was the former spy, after all.
She continued, “Our best bet is to get in and get out of here, fast.”
“We’ll just order drinks, then. We’ll get what we came for and leave immediately,” he replied.
She nodded beside him and pasted on a pleasant smile as the maître d’ approached. They were led to a booth near the back of the place, and Kloffman was already there, looking impatient. Nick smiled to himself. Typical German. If the guy wasn’t five minutes early, he considered himself late.
Kloffman stood as they approached. Laura took his hands and greeted the German warmly. Quick on the uptake, Werner kissed her cheek and ushered them to the table like they were old friends. A waitress took their drink orders and left. Finally. They were alone.
Laura leaned forward and murmured past a warm smile that kept