Page 48 of Engaging his Enemy
“It’s a rental.”
“Yeah, but wasn’t the sports car a rental, too? I mean, didn’t they have anything else?”
“This had more room for all of us. The sports car wasn’t very practical. Get in.”
He backed out of the driveway, and she had the fleeting thought that this wasn’t Zach at all but an alien sent in his place, like the guy impersonating Nick Fury in that Marvel movie. Damn, she’d been watching too much TV. “So, what brings you to town?”
“I told you, I want to show you something.”
“What, you came all the way to Texas to show me something?”
He grinned. “That’s right.”
“This better be good. Is it pirate booty?”
“No.”
“Other forms of hidden treasure?”
“No.”
“A haunted mansion?”
He shot her an amused look. “No.”
“A mythical animal?”
“No.”
“I give up.” He drove along a country road, past farms and fields of cattle. “How far are we going?”
“Not too far.”
She settled into the rhythm of the drive, her anxiety about the trip fading away. She was a grown woman. She could go for a ride with the father of her child without it being a big deal. Maybe he was involved in a business venture or wanted her opinion on something. Maybe he was taking her to a nudist colony for the day. Maybe she had a very overactive imagination.
He pulled off the main road and onto a dirt one. “It’s right up here.”
“If you leave my body in the woods, I will never forgive you.”
He burst out laughing. “I’d never leave you, Davina.” He squeezed her hand on the seat between them, and she all but stopped breathing. He turned down a smaller road that led to a forested area, her hand still resting in his.
She saw the river first, a wide, majestic view with rolling hills in the distance. Then she saw the house, the framing nearly finished but none of the walls yet hung. “Is this your place?” she asked, getting out. Wyatt had been here, she knew, but she’d turned down every invitation to do the same, and for good reason. From that very first moment, she loved it with all her heart.
“It is. It’s not finished yet, of course. Contractor says another couple of months.”
She walked through what was clearly the front door. “It’s lovely.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He crossed in front of her and leaned on a post. “Do you know what I did yesterday? I saved a little girl who’d been kidnapped halfway around the world. And the whole time I was doing it, the only things I could think of were Wyatt and you.”
He pushed off the post and closed the distance between them. “That day I left here… the day with the wine, I didn’t understand what you were trying to tell me. You wanted me to leave and I didn’t know why. Do you remember?”
She nodded, her body paralyzed by his words, afraid of what he might say next.
“I think I get it now. You were upset because I was getting ready to leave, and you would never have left me like that. Would you?”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.
“Because you already knew what it took me three months to figure out. That we had something you don’t ever walk away from.” He took her hand and got down on one knee.
