“I don’t know.” And I don’t. But I have an idea who sent him. If anyone is sniffing around me, it’s my brother. I know he’s out of the country, and anyway, I wouldn’t expect him to dirty his own hands on a task like this. No doubt he sent one of his men. But why? To kill her? He could have. Instead, he bound and beat her and attempted to drag her from the house.Why?
“You look tortured.”
I start at the words, studying her. Her face is full of clarity, soberness. She looks alert and awake in a way she hasn’t been. In a terrible way, it pleases me. She seems more like the vital young woman I once knew and loved.
“I…am,” I finally manage, doing all I can to be vulnerable. She deserves that much, after all of this. Doesn’t she? “I’m sorry this happened, Emma. It was never my intention.”
“I know,” she replies, surprising me. A fleeting smile touches her lips, then vanishes. She looks to the window. “You work a lot.”
“Yes.”
“Does it ever trouble you?”
“The work?”
She faces me again, her lovely eyes sharp. “Yes. Killing. For money.”
“It’s the life I know,” I say softly. “It’s the life I’ve always known.”
She nods faintly, biting her bottom lip. It’s a delicate image that manages to soften me, even as instinctive defenses begin to take over. “You were doing it then too, weren’t you. Killing when we were together.”
Shame tightens around my neck like a noose. But there’s no use lying. In the end, no matter what she thinks of me, I want Emma to know the truth of who and what I am. “Yes. I was.”
She laughs softly, a sound that makes my breath catch. “I can’t express how much I loved you. My friends said it was a whirlwind romance. Sudden and dangerous and unpredictable. But God…you were all I could think of. Such a mystery. Such a romantic. And the way you…”
She trails off, a blush coloring her cheeks.
Want, sudden and violent as a knife plunges into me. I’ve done everything in my power to flee from any remaining feelings I might have for her. But all my control corrodes right there, with the power of this woman’s face, her words, her vulnerable body laid before me.
I can’t want her, I remind myself sharply.I can’t care for her. I can’t fall in love with her again.
“When is your next job?” She smiles bitterly at me, her gaze piercing.
“Tomorrow.” I hate that I have to leave again. I don’t exactly need the cash, though of course it will go toward providing for and protecting Emma and our future family. It’s more that I can’t afford to let my unflappable, dangerous, one man army image slip. If anyone in Scotland catches word I can’t handle my workload or am going soft, I’ll lose loyalty. Sampson’s men already doubt me. Clarence has more experience. He knows more of the mafia personally. I have to keep my reputation made of steel. Mine and Emma’s lives depend on it. “I’ve hired more security.”
“Afraid someone will get in?” she asks, eyes glittering. “Or that I’ll get out?”
I move to the bed, sitting down slowly to assuage the expression of fear that crosses her face. “I told you I’d protect you. I failed.”
Her eyes dart to my lips. My stomach clenches, want wound tight deep within me. I force myself to ignore it.
“I will,” I say, “protect you, Emma.”
“You’ve put me in danger by bringing me into this world.”
I look away, admonished. “And I’ll regret it always.”
Her hand alights on mine on the duvet, her skin warm and smooth. I meet her eyes, surprised to find them full of steel. “Don’t let it happen again, Malcom,” she says, and though it’s a command, her voice is tremulous with fear. “Please.”
Emboldened, I reach for her, pressing my palm to her warm cheek. Her eyes flutter shut. “You were in the garden,” I say. “When I was gone. You were in the library.”
Her eyes open. “Yes.”
“And?”
“Beautiful,” she admits, her voice low and velvet soft. “Both of them.”
I smile. “So you’ve found a comfort, at least.”
