In Enemy Hands (31 page)

Her father gave her a wan smile. “What about the police? Those two fishermen near the bank saw the whole thing. One of the boats was operating without running lights. It was a head-on collision.”

Nadia knew without saying that they wouldn’t be able to trace the explosives. Nick Branson was a careful man.

“But the knife—”

“Nadia, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to. It was self-defense. No one will be able to prove Vandergriff’s death wasn’t an unfortunate accident.”

“What about him?” Dante jerked his head toward Peterson. “I don’t understand … I heard him talking to Vandergriff about setting you up.”

Nadia cleared her throat. “You mean old double agent Peterson here? He’s been spying for us since they picked you up in the desert, feeding Vandergriff false information. He found your phone on the plane and he and Daddy came up with a plan. They let Vandergriff find the phone next, and Peterson spoon fed him the plan. This whole time, Vandergriff thought Peterson was working against us, but it was the other way around. Peterson managed to divert two thirds of Vandergriff’s goons tonight.”

“The name is Bond, James Bond,” Peterson joked.

Nadia rolled her eyes and clutched Dante’s hand. “Can you guys give me and Dante a minute alone?”

Her father nodded and they left the cabin. As soon as they shut the door, Dante took her into his arms. Nadia held onto him a little tighter than necessary, a whirlwind of emotions swirling inside her. The boat lurched as they picked up speed and slipped down the river.

“Are you really okay, princess?” Dante asked, brushing his fingers against her cheek.

Nadia squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.

He sat on the narrow bunk beside her and Nadia traced her fingers over his jaw.

“Your poor face,” she said miserably. “And your wrists …”

They were raw and bleeding and the sight made tears well in her eyes. She lifted his shirt to inspect the ugly black bruises.

“Damn him,” she said.

Dante grabbed her wrists and forced her to look up at him. “I’m okay. Really. Thanks to you.”

His reassuring smile gave way to a frown and he folded her into his arms. “Baby, you’re shaking.”

In the safety of his arms, Nadia’s composure finally cracked. She clutched his shirt, sobbing. “I was afraid I was going to lose you. So afraid that I’d find you dead and that I’d never get to tell you I love you.” She pulled back and stared into his face as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I do. I do love you. And I’m not sure what your plans are from here, or if I’m even a part of them, but I swore that if I ever saw you again, I wasn’t going to hold anything back—”

“Nadia-”

She was babbling again. All the things she’d wanted to say to him burst from her mouth. “And you don’t have to say anything. I know we haven’t known each other long, and I’m not expecting anything—”

“Nadia.” He gently placed his finger against her mouth to silence her.

She looked up at him, suddenly more afraid than she’d been in the heat of battle. Her heart wasn’t something she shared easily.

“I love you too.”

Nadia closed her eyes, his words echoing in her ears as his hand stroked her hair.

“When you went under that water and we couldn’t find you …” He paused, swiping at his eyes. “I was so scared. I knew
—I knew
from the first day I met you that you were the one I wanted. The first time I saw you, I wanted you. Then you kissed me, and I knew I had to have you. Now I know I don’t ever want to let you go.”

She finally dared to look at him and was surprised by his vulnerable expression. Nadia saw her own fears reflected on his face and thought about what he’d said, about them being kindred spirits.

He’d been right.

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, either. I only know I want you with me, wherever it is,” Dante said, then he kissed her.

A long, slow kiss that melted away her fears and assured her that her heart was safe with him.

Nadia laughed and brushed the tears from her face, a little embarrassed at them. “I’m sorry for acting like such a …
girl.”

Dante grinned. “I like girls. And don’t worry about proving to me how tough you are. Honey, I’d rather know you had my back than the whole United States Marine Corp.”

A rap on the door interrupted them.

“All ashore that’s going ashore,” Peterson called.

His head felt like it was made of stone. Dante groaned and rubbed his eyes with one hand. Nadia lay across his other arm.

How long had he been asleep?

A glance at the bedside clock told him it was fifteen after six. He’d fallen asleep after Nick’s doctor had left around midnight.

Sometime during the night, Nadia had showered and changed. She was wearing the silver nightgown she’d worn that night in the garden. Dante smiled and pressed his face into her still damp hair, breathing deeply of the sweet lilac scent of her shampoo. He slid his hand down one silk clad hip, but she was sleeping so soundly he didn’t have the heart to wake her.

A shower. He needed one too. Dante hated to lie here with her like this when he felt so grungy.

Carefully easing his arm from underneath her, he limped down the hall to the bathroom.

Fresh towels and a change of clothes awaited him on the hamper lid. Turning the hot water on full blast, Dante stripped and climbed into the shower. His muscles screamed in protest. He’d never been so sore in his life. The water stung his many cuts, but it felt wonderful on his aching body. Dante stood there for a long time, scrubbing and letting the hot water beat against his back. By the time he climbed out, he almost felt human again.

He dressed slowly and padded back to the bedroom in his bare feet. Since Nadia was still asleep, he headed downstairs hoping to find something to make a sandwich with. The white, button-down shirt they’d furnished him with was a little too tight across the chest, but he buttoned it anyway as he walked into the kitchen.

Maria Branson sat at the kitchen table, staring out the window with a cup of coffee in her hand.

“Good morning, Mrs. B,” Dante said.

She glanced at him, and her lips quirked in a smile. “Hi, there. I think you mean good evening.”

Dante looked out the patio doors in shock. He’d mistaken the faint sunlight streaming into the bedroom window for sunrise, when in reality the sun was beginning to sink in the west.

“I’ve never slept that long in my life.” He ran a hand down his face and shook his head. “Do I look as rough as I feel?”

Maria laughed. “I don’t think you want me to answer that. Let’s just say that you make
me
look pretty.”

“Aw, you’re like Nadia.” He smiled and sat at the table across from her. “It’d take more than a scar to hide your beauty.”

“Ooh, I see that you’re a sweet talker,” Maria said, rising. “No wonder my daughter is so taken with you.”

She walked to the refrigerator and peered inside. “Since you thought it was morning, I suppose you want breakfast. Do you like omelets?”

“I love them, but you don’t have to go through the trouble—”

She waved off his protest and started pulling things out of the refrigerator. “I’m surprised you could sleep at all with Nadia hovering over you like a worried mother hen. Where is she, anyway?”

“She’s upstairs, still asleep. After the doctor left, I crashed. I wouldn’t have noticed if she’d brought in a tambourine band.”

Soon the kitchen was filled with the mouthwatering aroma of sautéed onions and eggs. Dante was practically salivating by the time Nadia’s mother laid a heaping plateful in front of him. He dug into it with relish.

“Oh, um, that’s wonderful,” he said, closing his eyes and savoring the first bite of food he’d had since the MRE in the desert.

“I’d like to think it’s my cooking, but I know you’re starving,” she said with a smile.

“Ah, no. This is great.”

Maria bounced something on the table underneath her palm. A coin, maybe. Dante felt her eyes on him while he ate, hearing the clack-clack-clack as it struck the gleaming oak surface.

She cleared her throat and wrinkled her nose. “I suppose this is the part where I ask you what your intentions are for my daughter.”

Dante stopped eating and looked at her. “I love Nadia, Mrs. Branson. I want it all with her, a house, kids. Everything.”

Clack-clack-clack.

With a sad smile, she asked, “Will you take her away from here?”

“I’ll live wherever Nadia wants to live. I don’t care, as long as I’m with her.”

The object came to a rest beneath her palm.

“I think you should know that you’re not the man I would pick for her,” she said softly. “The two of you are too much alike, and that scares me. But maybe that’s what Nadia needs. Regardless, I do realize that it wasn’t my choice to make. It was hers, and she chose you.”

She stood and slid her palm along the table, stopping in front of his plate. Her eyes shone as she lifted her palm. Surprised, Dante stared down at the table, then back up at her.

“Take care of her,” Maria said. She leaned to brush a kiss on top of his head as she walked past.

“I will,” Dante said, but she was already gone.

After he ate, he wandered out into the garden and sat on the marble bench, staring up at the sky. It was there Nadia found him.

“Hey, handsome, what are you doing out here?” She hiked up the hem of her gown and crawled into his lap, facing him.

Dante smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “I like this place,” he said. “I come here to think.”

Nadia returned his smile, recalling their previous conversation here. “Oh, yeah? What are you thinking about?”

“Getting married.”

His words shocked her so badly she nearly fell off his lap.

Dante laughed. “Easy there!” He grabbed her hips and pulled her closer.

Nadia’s mouth went dry. She licked her lips and rubbed her palms on her thighs. Trying to sound casual, even though she felt dizzy, she asked, “Anybody I know?”

“Some crazy chick I met a few days ago. Do you think I can talk her into it?”

He held up his hand. Nadia gasped when she saw her mother’s engagement ring resting on the first knuckle of his little finger.

With all the things she wanted to say to him, the only thing that came out was, “I can’t cook.”

Dante laughed. “I can cook a little. I don’t think we’ll starve.”

“Are you sure?” she asked anxiously.

“Yeah, and there’s always takeout.”

Nadia punched his shoulder. “You know what I mean. I’m not sure I know how to be a good wife. What if you regret this later? There are so many things you don’t know about me.”

“I know all I need to know.” He slid the ring on her finger. “I know that you’ll be there for me, for better and for worse. I know I love you. I know you love me. That’s all that matters.”

Dante cupped her face in his hands. The look in those brown eyes stole her breath. “How about it, Nadia? Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She held her hand up and blinked at her mother’s ring. This was crazy, but it felt so right.

She kissed him.

They stayed in the garden until the waning sunlight disappeared, talking and planning their future together.