Page 57 of Close Pursuit

He snorted mentally. A person had to have a conscience—or a soul—to be blackmailed. Last time he checked, he had neither.

Katie was perplexed as to why she and Alex had been separated, and furthermore, why the nice lady attaché seemed prepared to keep them apart while they were in the embassy.

As the woman showed her into a bedroom and murmured something about seeing if there was a crib that could be sent up for Dawn, Katie finally blurted, “Are we in some kind of trouble?”

The woman, middle-aged, bland, and smoothly diplomatic answered, “Of course not, Miss McCloud. Your uncle was clear in his instructions. We’re to give you all the help you need and show you every courtesy.”

“Where’s Alex?”

“He’s filling in a few details for us on how you came to be here.”

Katie had lived around men with secrets and who avoided giving direct answers for too long to be fooled by the woman’s soothing tone of voice.They were interrogating Alex.She was confident he could handle himself perfectly well if they were, however.

“Alex and I need to get back to the States. We need to report in to our employer, and I’m ready to sleep in my own bed.”

The woman attaché laughed. “I hear you. If there’s anything you need that’s not in your room, just pick up the phone and let the receptionist know. Tashkent isn’t exactly the hub of civilization, but we’ll do our best to accommodate you.”

She was being sweet-talked. Coddled. Her brothers did it all the time, and it pissed her off. In this situation, it made her suspicious, too.

But it wasn’t like she could rock the boat too hard. They had Alex, and she dared not say or do anything to jeopardize his fragile status with the American authorities.

She settled Dawn in the playpen someone brought up and crawled into bed, not at all sleepy. They’d slept last night and most of today.

Cuddling with Alex had been nice once he got over being awkward and uncomfortable with it. She missed him. Missed his steady strength beside her. Missed his lightning-fast intelligence. His dry humor. His alert awareness of everything and everyone around him. She felt safe when she was with him.

Hopefully, he was okay. She considered asking where he was and when she could see him but wasn’t sure if Alex was portraying them as a couple or not. Heck, did he even think of her in that way? He was so hard to read that she couldn’t be sure. Her impression was that he was currently in a state of relationship-curious regarding her.

Actual romantic relationships were very obviously not his thing. But inheriting an instant, if temporary family, obviously had him thinking about things he’d never considered before. She just hoped she and Dawn also had him feeling a few things he’d never felt before. Like affection and stability…

…Go ahead. Admit it to yourself. You love him a little.

Which she gave better than even odds of being a huge mistake.

Oh, Lord. He was rubbing off on her. Now she was thinking in terms of odds. She really was infatuated with him, wasn’t she?

In desperate need of distraction, she turned on the TV and was startled to receive an array of American networks. She channel surfed absently, unable to get her mind off Alex and if he was okay.

Who was in that black car that had chased them across Tashkent? Why had Alex seemed so much more concerned after a bunch of foot soldiers had morphed into that upscale car?

She knew Alex would be a controversial figure in American intelligence circles. His father was a convicted spy for the enemy, for Heaven’s sake. But why was he be questioned so closely, now? What was going on with him that he hadn’t told her?

He’d been secretive from the start, but he’d been opening up with her more in the past few days, sharing glimpses into his past and into how he felt about all of it. The person she saw was lonely and in desperate need of love.

She was a sucker for abandoned creatures in need, and Alex had been completely on his own for most of his life.

Oh, he’d technically had a mother. Who’d abandoned him and his brothers. And although he didn’t talk much about his older brothers, she gathered they were much like hers—condescendingly affectionate but involved in their own lives and not particularly interested in him. As for Alex’s father…but she got the distinct impression that Roman Koronov had been more of a drill sergeant and taskmaster than a parent.

She highly doubted Alex even knew what it was to be loved.

Such a contrast to her big, rowdy, obnoxious family, where love and laughter were part of everything they said or did. Her heart broke for the cold, isolated childhood Alex must have experienced.

And then to be humiliated by his father’s crimes…judged for the sins of the father…to bear Koronov’s name and shame…no wonder Alex had changed his name.

Did she dare try to show Alex what love was? Or was she just opening herself up for disappointment and heartache? It would kill her if he up and walked away from her down the road, after she’d given him her heart.

And he’d been clear in his intent to walk away. Just an hour ago, he’d promised to get out of her life as soon as she was safe. Apparently, he perceived himself as an obstacle to her dream of growing old and embarrassing her great-grandkids.

Was he right? Would being with him cost her that future she dreamed of?

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