How did you rent the house?
In using Italian, I hoped to avoid the driver catching any additional details.
Her eyes opened wide. “In linea.”
Online.
Nodding, I glanced toward the driver again. He still wasn’t paying any attention.
“Staremo bene.”
We’ll be okay.
Although I had my doubts.
“Mi dispiace. Non avrei mai voluto che succedesse.”
I’m sorry. I never intended for this to happen.
The air was warm, yet she was shivering in the seat next to me. In all the years of swearing my allegiance and my loyalty to the family, and with the friendships I’d developed with various members of the family, I’d never felt so close to anyone as I did with Emmeline.
While she’d held her own in the horrific fight, becoming a trained warrior as necessary, she’d never appeared as vulnerable as she did right now. Just watching her cleaning off the blood angered me. Why should she be forced to deal with monsters while trying to free herself of the chains she wore given her family?
There were no comforting words, no magical thing to say to ease the anxiety. I gripped her chin with my thumb and forefinger, mesmerized for a few seconds by the sight of her eyes in the flashing commercial lights of the city. “Non hai fatto nulla di male, dolce principessa. Meriti di goderti la vita.”
You did nothing wrong, sweet princess. You deserve to enjoy your life.
With her eyelids half closed, her long lashes skimming across her cheeks, she appeared comforted by my touch. A few seconds later, she tugged on my hand, pulling my knuckles to her mouth. While everything about the woman was sensual, this moment was far more intimate than the embroiled passion we’d shared.
“I want you to know how much I appreciate you being here.” Switching back to English, she kept her voice low, even darting her eyes toward the front seat. “You’ve always been my hero.”
“No, I haven’t.”
She pressed her lips against my fingers before pulling my hand under her neck. I noticed that her lower lip was trembling and I wanted to rip the men who’d dared hurt her apart limb from limb. If only I’d taken more time to kill the motherfuckers.
Her laugh was nothing like I’d heard over the last two days, the inflection full of sadness. The last thing I wanted was for her to abandon either her resolve or her zest for life. “Yes, you have. I’ve seen you watching me. Following me.”
“You called it stalking.”
“Yes, I did. Don’t you know that every woman has the desire to have a handsome stalker? That’s one of her greatest fantasies.”
Even during the shit storm we were in, I was able to laugh. “Is that so? Now you have me curious what other fantasies there might be.”
She offered a salacious look before sliding her hand around my neck, pulling my head down so she could whisper in my ear. “Having a masked man break into her home, tie her up, and have his way with her.”
I hadn’t been certain what to expect. That wasn’t it.
Emmeline certainly had a way of breaking the ice with anyone at any time. Or putting men in their place. Just something else to adore about her.
When the driver made a turn I hadn’t expected, I immediately bristled. We were close to the airport, but he’d turned in the opposite direction of the private field.
I pulled the weapon into my hand, leaning forward in the backseat. “Caminho errado.”
Wrong way.
Thank fucking God I’d learned Portuguese.
While I tried to keep my tone even and devoid of anger, I had a feeling the man in the driver’s seat knew I was on edge about something.