Yeah, he was so goddamn funny.
“I presume this is down to Kaitlin,” Ethan said. “I heard she’s still planning the trip to London. Without you.”
“So?”
“So, she’s doing the right thing. We need any information we can get at this point.”
He noticed that Ethan didn’t sayhewas doing the right thing. “She’ll get herself killed.”
“I doubt it. She’s pretty good at taking care of herself. She’s tough.”
“Maybe not tough enough.”
“Maybe. But don’t underestimate her.” He studied Kane some more. Why the hell didn’t he just get out of the way? “You know your problem?”
“No. Are you going to tell me?”Or get the fuck out of my way?
“I am. Despite your feelings for her, you still think of her as a child...in some ways. Someone in need of protection.”
“She’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.”
“Yeah, but she’s a grown-up catastrophe. And if you’re so certain she needs your protection, then why are you going to Uganda?”
“Because it’s what I have to do. What I’ve been waiting for all my life. I can’t walk away now.” Just because...
“No one is suggesting you walk away. Do what you think is right.” And with that, he turned and disappeared through the doorway to the library.
Kane shook his head. He didn’t think of Kaitlin as a child. It would be easier if he did. He headed up the stairs and paused for a moment outside her door, then took a few deep breaths.
Stay calm.
He didn’t knock, didn’t even think about it, just pushed open the door to her bedroom and stopped short.
She was in the process of pulling her sweater over her head. As she sensed his presence, she went still, then proceeded to take off her top in front of him. Well, Ethan had been right about one thing if nothing else.
Kaitlin was no child.
She stood glaring back at him in jeans and a black lace bra. Her breasts were full, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the expanse of creamy flesh. She was perfect. A slender waist curving gently above and below. Long legs.
Heat shot to his groin and pooled in his belly, and he shifted, then forced his gaze upward to her face. She was watching him, eyebrows raised.
“Like what you see?” she asked, her own gaze dropped to where he was pretty sure it was obvious that he did like it. A lot.
Then she sniffed and turned her back on him. She grabbed a different top from the bed and pulled it on over her head. Smoothed it down. Then she peered at him over her shoulder.
“Still here? Is there something I can help you with?”
He wasn’t sure he could speak. He cleared his throat, thrust his hands into his pockets.
“I think you should come to Uganda with me. Then once we’ve checked out the situation there, we can both travel to London.”
“And I thinkIshould go to London and work out a way to stop the world imploding.” She was shoving things into her backpack. She was a crap packer, just picking up clothes strewn across the bed, screwing them up and ramming them in. Or maybe she wasn’t as cool as she appeared. “Andyoushould go to Uganda and play with your little time machine.”
His eyes narrowed at that. She was purposefully trying to wind him up. That didn’t stop him being wound. “You know what the mission means to me.”
She dropped the bag on the floor and whirled around to face him, hands on her hips. “Yeah, I’ve got some idea, consideringyou had my friends killed to protect your stupid mission. So go. I’m not stopping you. I’m not even sure why you’re here. Whyareyou here?”
Suddenly he was fed up with the subterfuge. With them tiptoeing around the attraction, pretending it didn’t exist. It did, and she felt it as much as he did. She was just fighting harder. And he understood why. He’d hurt her, let her down. If she couldn’t forgive herself for what had happened, how could he expect her to forgive him?
