Ben set the loaf of bread aside, all thoughts of food taking second place to what Ava said. “You have to trust me on this one, Ava. Your life and the life of our child depend on it.”
“My child, Ben. I’m not the one who disappeared. I’m not the one wanted for murder. I’m the one carrying this baby. Alone. My baby. I’m the one who will be raising it alone if you decide to disappear again.” She looped her bag over her shoulder. “I can’t do it. I can’t be your yo-yo, springing back every time you decide to take off.”
Anger and frustration swelled in Ben. “I didn’t take off. I was captured. I’m not running out on you or the child. I’m here to help keep you two alive. Nicky Wayne is coming for you.”
“Why? Why would Nicky Wayne want me? I’ve done nothing to threaten him.”
“You have something he wants.”
“What?” Ava’s eyes widened, both hands going to her protruding belly, her head swaying side to side. “Not my baby.”
Ben frowned. He hadn’t wanted to scare her, but, damn it, she had to cooperate. “No, he doesn’t want your baby. He wants that necklace I gave you with the medal of St. Joan of Arc on it.”
“Well, he can’t have it.”
“Why? What’s happened to the medal?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have it.”
“What?” He grabbed her shoulders. “Where is it?”
She looked away, her gaze darting to the corner of the room. “I don’t remember.”
She did, but she wasn’t telling him.
“Look at me, Ava.” He held her, his fingers digging into her arms, the soft scent of spring flowers twisting around his starved senses, making him dizzy. Forcing himself to focus on the seriousness of the situation, Ben stared into Ava’s eyes, willing her to understand. “This is not the secret to keep, Ava.”
“For the second time, let go of me.” Her jaw tightened and she matched him stare for stare until he dropped his hold. Immediately, she stepped out of reach, pulling her purse in front of her like a shield. “I’m not a puppet you can string along for your own purposes, to pick up when you feel like it and drop when you’re bored.”
God, he was losing her. Ben’s knees shook. What did he expect? After so many weeks gone and his previous connection to Del Gardo’s organization, did he think she’d trust him, fall into his arms and be the loving wife he’d left?
Hell, yes! He’d been through enough under Wayne’s treatment, he certainly didn’t want more abuse by his own wife. Anger made his muscles stiffen. “You’re coming with me.”
“Like hell.” She stomped toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Out.” She blew through the door, practically running in her own pregnant waddle.
“Where are Emily and the boys?” Ben asked.
“Emily’s at work. The boys are at their grandparents.” Ava didn’t slow until she reached the car.
“Don’t you care that they could be in danger as well?”
“I would if I believed you.”
If he wasn’t so intent on saving her sorry butt, he’d laugh at the comical picture she made. Pregnant and angry, she was still the most beautiful, sexy, frustrating woman he’d ever met. Ben had his job cut out for him. He ran after her, and tried to grab the keys from her fingers. “You’re not driving.”
“Oh, yes I am.” As if to prove him wrong, she eased behind the wheel of her Honda Civic and plunged the key into the ignition.
Ben hit the unlock button on her door before she could close it and jerked the back door open.
Ava had the car in gear and was rolling backward out of the driveway when Ben flung himself into the backseat.
She slammed on the brakes, dumping Ben onto the floorboard, his legs hanging out of the compact car.
“Get out,” she said, her voice tight and angry.
Why did she have to be so stubborn? “I’m going with you. You need protection.”
“The only person I need protection from is you, Ben Parrish.”
Still seething, Ava hit the accelerator and shot down the quiet residential street. She didn’t know where she was going. Originally, all she’d wanted was to get away from Ben. With him in the backseat, that wasn’t likely to happen.
She could abandon the car, but then she’d be on foot. After having walked two miles earlier that day, she wasn’t sure she was up to another hike. The muscles across her abdomen tightened, reminding her that she needed to be calm. Under no circumstances was she to stress herself or her baby. The fetus needed another good month of gestation to ensure a healthy delivery.
Calm? Who was she kidding? Her disappearing-act husband, who’d rather lie than tell her the truth, was picking himself up off the back floorboard. Combine that with the fact that she might be the target of a deranged mobster and the minor detail that she really didn’t know where the hell she was going, pretty much summed up the stink-hole her life had become. Which reminded her—next step, she’d call Emily and give her a heads-up, just in case Ben was telling the truth and they really were in danger. Calm? Ava stopped short of laughing out loud. She took a corner too fast just as Ben sat up. Centrifugal force did what Ava had hoped, throwing the man across the backseat.
Served him right. After all this time, who did he think he was, waltzing in demanding she just get up and leave with him? How many times had she asked him to trust her and tell her the truth? How many lies had he shoved down her throat? Why should she trust him now? She’d become much more independent and had been without him for this long, she could go the rest of her life without Ben Parrish.
In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help the small niggle of joy chinking away at her resolve. Ben was alive. She squelched that joy before it took root and made her forget all the times he’d looked her in the eyes and chosen not to confide in her or tell her the truth about what he was doing. She didn’t even know this man who’d been her husband. All the weeks she’d stood up for him while he’d been gone, she’d wondered if she was just one big fool. All the nights she’d cried herself to sleep, worrying about his sorry carcass.
“Where are we going?” Ben pushed himself upright on the backseat and strapped on his seat belt.
“Since you weren’t invited, we aren’t going anywhere. I on the other hand, am going wherever the hell I please.” To prove it, she stomped on the accelerator, shooting through a yellow light.
Ben leaned forward, his breath stirring the hairs on the back of Ava’s neck. “Do you think it wise to drive like a maniac in your condition?”
“Do you think it wise to disappear for weeks and then show up unannounced, demanding that I leave with you immediately?” Ava skidded around another corner, just to get Ben and his warm breath off the back of her neck. It was doing crazy things to her libido, something she thought impossible at this late stage of pregnancy. Oh, but that heat she felt had nothing to do with outside temps. Damn the man! He’d always had that effect on her. One look, one breath and he had her body tied in exquisite knots.
Ben gripped the back of her seat with both hands. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, but I was in kind of a rush. What with gunmen chasing me and escaping from the prison from hell, I must