Page 122 of Close Pursuit

Dawn slept deeply in her arms. Katie would have loved to do the same, but she was too terrified of what came next, too confused, to sleep. As the night wore on, boredom set in, and with it, mental clarity.

Was this what life with Alex would always be like? Would she always be the soft target, used to get at him? How could she put herself in a situation like this long term, let alone put Dawn in this kind of danger? Assuming she survived this fiasco, how could she possibly stay with him?

She had no right to be so selfish. No right to endanger an infant whose safety depended on her. The longer she sat there, the more her heart broke. And the more her heart broke, the more she realized just how much she cared for Alex.

As the first lightening of the blackness beyond the high windows began to bleed into the big warehouse, she finally admitted the truth that had been staring her in the face for a while, now. She loved Alex. Like it not, wise or not, somewhere in all the fear and fleeing and flirting, she’d fallen in love with him.

Admitting it to herself felt like a huge weight lifted off her chest. She must’ve been in denial longer than she realized. Yet another bout of paralyzing terror for his safety roared through her, and for the dozenth time, she fought it off. She had to stay tough.

There’d been no shots fired when they burst out of the casino, yet Ian and Alex had gone down immediately, which meant somebody had probably struck them both. Back of the head karate chop, or something. Hard enough to knock them out and drop them. Such a blow delivered by a pro would disable them for a few minutes but not kill them.

Good Lord willing, both men had raging headaches but were already tracking her and planning a rescue. All she had to do was be patient and not do anything stupid to get herself killed before Alex and Ian charged in here on their white horses.

She must have dozed off because the slamming of a door made her jerk upright sometime later. It was morning, although the rosy quality of the light made Katie think it was still very early. Natasha was storming toward her looking spitting mad. At least the woman wasn’t overtly wielding a weapon.

“Who in hell are you?” the Russian demanded while she was still a dozen feet from Katie.

She replied cautiously, “To borrow a line from Alex, I need a context for that question to be able to answer it for you.”

Unwilling humor flashed in Natasha’s eyes. “You really know him, don’t you?”

Katie nodded. “Yes. I do.”

“Who are you to him?”

“Why do you ask?”

The Russian flared up. “I am asking questions, here! Answer me!”

“He and I were co-workers overseas delivering babies and giving medical care to locals.”

“So that baby really is not his?”

“No, she really isn’t. Alex delivered her, but her mother died.” Memory of all that blood and his desperate fight to save the girl flashed through her mind’s eye in all its gory detail. She shuddered at the memory. She looked up and caught the Russian woman watching her closely.

“You are lovers, you and Alex, yes?”

Katie shrugged. “You would have to ask him. Love is not a word I associate readily with him. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Natasha shrugged. “A cold man, Alexei. Hard like his father.”

Katie’s eyebrows shot up. “You knew his father?”

“Of course. How else do you think I met his son? Roman introduced us.”

The father took the son to a hooker? Wow. No wonder Alex had weird ideas about sex. He hadn’t even been allowed to discover girls for himself or fall in love and explore sex sweetly with his first serious girlfriend. Hatred for Roman Koronov coursed through Katie. The bastard had screwed up his son in every way he possibly could.

“Why does Alexei protect this baby?”

Katie frowned not entirely understanding the question. “Because it’s the right thing to do? Because Dawn is an innocent, helpless infant?”

“Why does he try to adopt her?”

“Because he wants a family of his own?” Katie tried.

Natasha laughed at that, but more in derision than actual humor. “You forget. I know your Alexei. He will have family of his own when Hell freezes over.”

Something hopeful inside Katie deflated. Sadly, she suspected Natasha was right. She was an idiot to hold out hope for Alex and her and Dawn being together.

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