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looked at Miguel. Nor could she stop keeping tally. And whether her
uppity conscience liked it or not, right now he had more marks in his
plus column than his minus column. Okay, yes, the minuses were
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biggies.
Quit kidding yourself, you fool. They re gigantic.
I know, she mumbled.
She felt Miguel behind her before she heard or saw him. His long
fingers curled around her upper arm, and she turned to face him.
He, too, was now dressed, complete with the ever-present gun
against his back. His expressive eyes were shadowed. His jaw clenched
and released as, she was learning, it did when he was upset.
Just say it, she told him, her heart suddenly choking her.
I know you don t want to be here. When it s safe, I ll get you back
to civilization.
When it s safe? Miguel, you carry a gun for a living. People shoot
at your men and for all I know, you, too. When exactly is anything
about you or what you do or what you re involved in safe ? I mean,
are we talking days? Weeks? Months? Am I just supposed to take it on
faith that everything will eventually work out okay? She shook her
head in frustration.
And not only that, but do you honestly think my dad s not going to
have every cop and federal investigator out looking for me the moment
he realizes I ve disappeared? Then, on top of whatever shit you re
involved in, you re going to be wanted for kidnapping and you re going
to have agents breathing down your neck.
His jaw tightened again. Unfortunately, there are events already in
motion that are a hell of a lot more dangerous. I know you don t like
hearing this, but Galista sent men after you, Elizabeth.
Not this again! I gave you every little detail of my life the past two
days. Please tell me how me meeting the caterer or going shopping
ticked off some bad guy? Miguel&
She huffed out a breath and held up her hands. Look at me. I run a
bookstore in Boston. The most adventurous thing I do in my life is
decide whether to wear my hair down or in a ponytail when I stand in
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front of the mirror each morning. What you see is what you get. I have
no deep dark secrets or hidden lives. I m just me. A regular, boring girl
from Massachusetts, who leads what most people probably think is a
terribly boring life.
She stopped as the sobs she d been fighting off for two days
threatened again, except this time she was afraid she wouldn t be able
to hold them back. She turned away, not wanting Miguel to see her give
in to weakness.
But he didn t give her that privacy. He tugged her into his arms.
There is nothing even remotely boring about you. You re a hell of a
woman, Elizabeth Sandringham.
At that, the dam broke. She buried her face in his chest and burst
into tears.
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CHAPTER 6
Miguel held her and let her cry. She d been a trooper up to this
point as far as he was concerned. Considering everything she d been
through, it was a wonder she hadn t dissolved into a quivering wreck
hours ago. But he was learning that for all her soft looks and soft-
spoken words, Elizabeth had an amazing internal strength that a lot of
men he knew could learn something from.
She was
Don t go there.
He couldn t help but go there, damn it. She was everything a man
could ever want in the woman he decided to settle down and spend
forever with. She was breathtaking her natural beauty with no need
for cosmetics, her real-woman curves, her open yet surprisingly
guileless eroticism. He still felt dizzy every time he thought about the
sight of her in the barn, her eyes half-closed with pleasure, and her
breasts glistening with his freshly spent seed. Christ. But she also
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reached him on a very different level. She was smart, he suspected
from little hints he d seen that she had a good sense of humor, she was
genuine, honest, and then there was that amazing strength.
He d sworn off women, love, and relationships years ago and had
never been tempted since. But in one day, Elizabeth was making him
wonder if there might be hope for him yet.
As it had a bad habit of doing, however, reality pressed in again.
She thought he was a criminal, and, for now, it was best if she kept
thinking it. With her honest nature, if he told her the truth, should the
need arise for her to be around his men or, God forbid, Galista s men
again, she d never be able to pull it off. She d do something to give the
truth away& a look at him, a word, something. And then they d both be
dead. No, it was best if her responses were genuine, if, in spite of her
attraction to him, she kept thinking he was scum. Damn, it ate at his
craw to let her continue to believe that, but at the moment, he didn t see
a better option.
Right now, no matter how good she felt in his arms, he knew his
only focus had to be on getting her out of here alive and finishing his
job.
It s going to be all right, he murmured, stroking her hair as her
sobs turned to sniffles.
Is it? Her voice was hoarse from crying.
Before you know it you ll be back in your bookstore, ringing up
sales, and making your customers happy. Of course you ll never make
the grouchy ones happy. The ones who always want something you
don t have and can t possibly get because it s not made anymore, and
somehow they decide it s your fault. Bitch, bitch, bitch, nag, nag, nag.
A quiet, teary laugh came from the vicinity of his chest, which was
exactly the reaction he d been hoping for.
I have one of those who s a regular. I can t figure out why he
keeps coming back because we never have what he wants weird stuff
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like Severin s Eclectic Guide to Sheepherding, or The Manual of
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Blankets or something. He always leaves
pissy. But two days later, there he is again, coming through the door
with some other bizarre request.
She swiped the back of her hand across her face and finally looked
up at him. The sight of her red-rimmed eyes tore at Miguel s heart.
How do you know so much about pissy customers? she asked, a
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