Valenti had taken the report on her activities, seen no major red flags, and satisfied himself that she was fine. He’d retreated, stunned by his illicit feelings after her visit to Cartana three years ago, and insulated himself from everything else but her physical safety. And even that had proved lacking…
The horror of failure washed a tsunami of ice through his veins.
‘Valenti…’
‘I failed you,’ he rasped through a throat lined with sharp rocks.
‘What? No!’
He released her, jerking back and away as she stumbled to her feet. Touching her, revelling in her achievements, that smile, felt wrong. Undeserved. This too was another emotion he knew well. He’d been stifling the hard truth of it since that first stolen touch, the illicit kiss. That first thrust into her delightful body—
No.
He felt her draw near and clenched his gut, knowing there was no excuse this time. It was time to draw a line under this madness.
He faced her, to find her arms crossed, the beautifully sleep-tousled female who’d seemed sexily confused moments ago, gone.
‘Fine. If you believe that you’ve failed me, then do something about it.’
He raised his eyebrows, unwilling to admit he was perhaps a little apprehensive of the determination on her face. Which should’ve been laughable for someone with his experience and the types of operations he’d undertaken in the army. And yet… ‘What?’ he bit out, half relishing the challenge.
‘Take me with you when you leave.’
He stiffened, then shook his head.
Clean break. You opened yourself up to friendship, to dreams, and look how it ended. Never again. And especially not with Helga’s sister!
Anything else was asking for tormenting temptation and trouble. ‘You need more than I can give beyond security and protection, Lotte.’ Why the hell did that drive a knife through his ribs?
‘Excuse me?’ she snapped.
‘I’m not well-equipped to provide emotional support. Nor do I wish to.’
Her nostrils fluttered. Her eyes shadowed. But,santo cielo, watching her chin rise, to stare him down was something.
‘I’m not asking to come hang around you at the palace like some emotional groupie or uber-royalty simp. I’ve been thinking of what I want to do with my degree. Pick any country, and I’ll find people who need help. I already have a long list of charities I want to visit. And I’m assuming you don’t plan to stay inthis cabin forever? That you hoped the stalker would’ve been apprehended by now and we would’ve left already?’
‘Correct,’ he agreed, his tone deadly.
‘Then let’s leave anyway. You can make things up to me while going about your own business and assuring yourself I’m fine. Win win win.’
‘Or I could grant your other wish, seclude you on my island in the Caribbean or aboard my yacht in South Africa? You can get all the sun you want?’
Where it’s one thousand per cent safe.
She waved a dismissive hand, and his insides churned with a peculiar mix of aggravation and anticipation. ‘Your window of opportunity has passed on that one I’m afraid. This is my one and only proposal.’ She looked around her, taking in the armchair, the bookshelves Ada had apparently stocked with the kind of books Lotte liked without his knowledge. Because deep down, he’d hoped to one day show her this place? To completely go insane and reveal secrets he’d kept buried deep, like he had at the hot springs yesterday?
He shook himself, to dispel the deeply unsettling emotions roiling through him. ‘Taking you with me is out of the question,’ he delivered with as much as ice as he could summon. Which wasn’t very much when recalling what they’d done, how generously she’d given herself to him, threatened to melt his every resolve.
Every nerve ending tightened when she slowly approached, her eyes brazen on his. ‘Then consider yourself warned. I’m not going to stay meek and mild and wait for you to grace me with your presence. You forced me to come here, but I no longer hold it against you, because you’ve also helped liberate me. Helped me find closure. But if you insist on standing in my way, I will fight you. With everything I’ve got.’
He felt her raw power wash over him, weakening his knees while charging him in ways he would’ve denied were emotional if his life depended on it. He opened his mouth, to say what, he wasn’t exactly sure.
The distinct buzzing behind him froze them both.
Lotte watched his head jerk up, a frown marring his forehead before he was rounding the desk to snatch up the satellite phone.
It took moments to recognise the emotion flowering within her. To realise she wasn’t ready for whatever was coming before she stumbled closer, her feet barely making a sound as she approached his desk.
