His reassuring smile gave way to a frown and he folded her into his arms. “Baby, you’re shaking.”
In the safety of his arms, Nadia’s composure finally cracked. She clutched his shirt, sobbing. “I was afraid I was going to lose you. So afraid that I’d find you dead and that I’d never get to tell you I love you.” She pulled back and stared into his face as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I do. I do love you. And I’m not sure what your plans are from here, or if I’m even a part of them, but I swore that if I ever saw you again, I wasn’t going to hold anything back—”
“Nadia-”
She was babbling again. All the things she’d wanted to say to him burst from her mouth. “And you don’t have to say anything. I know we haven’t known each other long, and I’m not expecting anything—”
“Nadia.” He gently placed his finger against her mouth to silence her.
She looked up at him, suddenly more afraid than she’d been in the heat of battle. Her heart wasn’t something she shared easily.
“I love you too.”
Nadia closed her eyes, his words echoing in her ears as his hand stroked her hair.
“When you went under that water and we couldn’t find you …” He paused, swiping at his eyes. “I was so scared. I knew—I knew from the first day I met you that you were the one I wanted. The first time I saw you, I wanted you. Then you kissed me, and I knew I had to have you. Now I know I don’t ever want to let you go.”
She finally dared to look at him and was surprised by his vulnerable expression. Nadia saw her own fears reflected on his face and thought about what he’d said, about them being kindred spirits.
He’d been right.
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, either. I only know I want you with me, wherever it is,” Dante said, then he kissed her.
A long, slow kiss that melted away her fears and assured her that her heart was safe with him.
Nadia laughed and brushed the tears from her face, a little embarrassed at them. “I’m sorry for acting like such a … girl.”
Dante grinned. “I like girls. And don’t worry about proving to me how tough you are. Honey, I’d rather know you had my back than the whole United States Marine Corp.”
A rap on the door interrupted them.
“All ashore that’s going ashore,” Peterson called.
His head felt like it was made of stone. Dante groaned and rubbed his eyes with one hand. Nadia lay across his other arm.
How long had he been asleep?
A glance at the bedside clock told him it was fifteen after six. He’d fallen asleep after Nick’s doctor had left around midnight.
Sometime during the night, Nadia had showered and changed. She was wearing the silver nightgown she’d worn that night in the garden. Dante smiled and pressed his face into her still damp hair, breathing deeply of the sweet lilac scent of her shampoo. He slid his hand down one silk clad hip, but she was sleeping so soundly he didn’t have the heart to wake her.
A shower. He needed one too. Dante hated to lie here with her like this when he felt so grungy.
Carefully easing his arm from underneath her, he limped down the hall to the bathroom.
Fresh towels and a change of clothes awaited him on the hamper lid. Turning the hot water on full blast, Dante stripped and climbed into the shower. His muscles screamed in protest. He’d never been so sore in his life. The water stung his many cuts, but it felt wonderful on his aching body. Dante stood there for a long time, scrubbing and letting the hot water beat against his back. By the time he climbed out, he almost felt human again.
He dressed slowly and padded back to the bedroom in his bare feet. Since Nadia was still asleep, he headed downstairs hoping to find something to make a sandwich with. The white, button-down shirt they’d furnished him with was a little too tight across the chest, but he buttoned it anyway as he walked into the kitchen.
Maria Branson sat at the kitchen table, staring out the window with a cup of coffee in her hand.
“Good morning, Mrs. B,” Dante said.
She glanced at him, and her lips quirked in a smile. “Hi, there. I think you mean good evening.”
Dante looked out the patio doors in shock. He’d mistaken the faint sunlight streaming into the bedroom window for sunrise, when in reality the sun was beginning to sink in the west.
“I’ve never slept that long in my life.” He ran a hand down his face and shook his head. “Do I look as rough as I feel?”
Maria laughed. “I don’t think you want me to answer that. Let’s just say that you make me look pretty.”
“Aw, you’re like Nadia.” He smiled and sat at the table across from her. “It’d take more than a scar to hide your beauty.”
“Ooh, I see that you’re a sweet talker,” Maria said, rising. “No wonder my daughter is so taken with you.”
She walked to the refrigerator and peered inside. “Since you thought it was morning, I suppose you want breakfast. Do you like omelets?”
“I love them, but you don’t have to go through the trouble—”
She waved off his protest and started pulling things out of the refrigerator. “I’m surprised you could sleep at all with Nadia hovering over you like a worried mother hen. Where is she, anyway?”
“She’s upstairs, still asleep. After the doctor left, I crashed. I wouldn’t have noticed if she’d brought in a tambourine band.”
Soon the kitchen was filled with the mouthwatering aroma of sautéed onions and eggs. Dante was practically salivating by the time Nadia’s mother laid a heaping plateful in front of him. He dug into it with relish.
“Oh, um, that’s wonderful,” he said, closing his eyes and savoring the first bite of food he’d had since the MRE in the desert.
“I’d like to think it’s my cooking, but I know you’re starving,” she said with a smile.
“Ah, no. This is great.”
Maria bounced something on the table underneath her palm. A coin, maybe. Dante felt her eyes on him while he ate, hearing the clack-clack-clack as it struck the gleaming oak surface.
She cleared her throat and wrinkled her nose. “I suppose this is the part where I ask you what your intentions are for my daughter.”
Dante stopped eating and looked at her. “I love Nadia, Mrs. Branson. I want it all with her, a house, kids. Everything.”
Clack-clack-clack.
With a sad smile, she asked, “Will you take her away from here?”
“I’ll live wherever Nadia wants to live. I don’t care, as long as I’m with her.”
The object came to a rest beneath her palm.
“I think you should know that you’re not the man I would pick for her,” she said softly. “The two of you are too much alike, and that scares me. But maybe that’s what Nadia needs. Regardless, I do realize that it wasn’t my choice to make. It was hers, and she chose you.”
She stood and slid her palm along the table, stopping in front of his plate. Her eyes shone as she lifted her palm. Surprised, Dante stared down at the table, then back up at her.
“Take care of her,” Maria said. She leaned to brush a kiss on top of his head as she walked past.
“I will,” Dante said, but she was already gone.
After he ate, he wandered out into the garden and sat on the marble bench, staring up at the sky. It was there Nadia found him.
“Hey, handsome, what are you doing out here?” She hiked up the hem of her gown and crawled into his lap, facing him.
Dante smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “I like this place,” he said. “I come here to think.”
Nadia returned his smile, recalling their previous conversation here. “Oh, yeah? What are you thinking about?”
“Getting married.”
His words shocked her so badly she nearly fell off his lap.
Dante laughed. “Easy there!” He grabbed her hips and pulled her closer.
Nadia’s mouth went dry. She licked her lips and rubbed her palms on
her thighs. Trying to sound casual, even though she felt dizzy, she asked, “Anybody I know?”
“Some crazy chick I met a few days ago. Do you think I can talk her into it?”
He held up his hand. Nadia gasped when she saw her mother’s engagement ring resting on the first knuckle of his little finger.
With all the things she wanted to say to him, the only thing that came out was, “I can’t cook.”
Dante laughed. “I can cook a little. I don’t think we’ll starve.”
“Are you sure?” she asked anxiously.
“Yeah, and there’s always takeout.”
Nadia punched his shoulder. “You know what I mean. I’m not sure I know how to be a good wife. What if you regret this later? There are so many things you don’t know about me.”
“I know all I need to know.” He slid the ring on her finger. “I know that you’ll be there for me, for better and for worse. I know I love you. I know you love me. That’s all that matters.”
Dante cupped her face in his hands. The look in those brown eyes stole her breath. “How about it, Nadia? Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” She held her hand up and blinked at her mother’s ring. This was crazy, but it felt so right.
She kissed him.
They stayed in the garden until the waning sunlight disappeared, talking and planning their future together.
Dante laughed when Nadia’s stomach rumbled.
“What, you’re not hungry?” she asked defensively. “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since you tried to poison me with that stuff in the desert.”
Dante kissed her palm. “Your mother cooked an omlet for me. That’s when she gave me the ring.”
“Does my father know?”
Dante’s smile faded. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since I’ve been up.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to tell him!” Nadia started to climb from his lap, but Dante caught her hips.
“Stay for just one more minute,” he said, and nuzzled her neck.
“Umm.” She leaned toward him. “Who needs food anyway? “
“You do. I know how irritable and mean you get, and I’m too beat up to defend myself right now.”
“Speaking of defending yourself, just wait until you see what I have planned for you tonight. A real bed …” She undid the first two buttons of his shirt and slipped her hand inside. “Maybe a nice, hot bath together.”
Dante smiled. “Are you sure your father won’t shoot me?”
“Nah, we’ll just gang up on him again.” Nadia leaned down to kiss him, but Dante pulled back.
“Again?” he asked.
Nadia hesitated. She took his hand in hers and rubbed his fingers. “Nick and I had this huge fight after he found me in the desert. He didn’t want to us to come after you at first.”
Even though Dante had expected as much, had even hoped for that reaction from Branson while he was being held captive, it still stung.
You’re disposable to him, Vandergriff had said.
It looked like he’d been right.
Nadia started talking faster, a sign of her discomfort that Dante had learned to recognize. “It was nothing to do with you personally. He was afraid we would all get killed. Ronnie tried to take up for me, but Nick had me trapped in my room.” She gave him a nervous laugh. “I escaped through the laundry chute.”
When Dante didn’t say anything, she sighed. “Of course, they caught me trying to get out the gate. Ronnie took up for me, my mother took up for me, even Waynie threw in his two cents … but I think the clincher was that Nick finally realized how much you meant to me. I told him I loved you, and that I would never forgive him if he didn’t let me try to get you back.”
Dante shifted. “So, you blackmailed him into helping.”
An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Dante’s stomach. He had the feeling that Branson wouldn’t be too thrilled about their engagement.
Nadia shrugged. “Well, yeah. But none of that matters now, does it?” Nadia touched his chin, forcing him to look at her. “He did help, and now we’re here together, safe and basically sound, right?”
He gave her a grudging nod, and she smiled. Leaning to brush a kiss by his ear, she whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
She kissed him again. “I’m going to find Nick and get something to eat. Want to come with me?”
“Maybe in a minute. You go ahead.”
Nadia wandered up the path in her bare feet, her silver gown shining in the moonlight. She blew him a kiss, then disappeared behind the rosebushes.
Dante closed his eyes, suddenly feeling cold despite the warm night air.
It wasn’t the same.
Nadia wasn’t Sharon, and he wasn’t some scared kid anymore.
Things would be different this time. They would have to be, because he couldn’t stand to lose Nadia.
Taking a deep breath, Dante stood, wincing when his sore muscles protested. Reluctantly, he limped to the house to see what kind of scene awaited him.
He slid open the doors and walked into an empty living room. Muffled voices came from the dining room, and Dante slowly made his way toward them.
When he reached the doorway, he heard Nick Branson’s voice. “You’re what? Getting married?”
He laughed and Dante froze.
“Do you seriously expect me to let my daughter marry some damn bounty hunter?”
Nick’s words seared him. Dante turned away and hobbled up the stairs.
He was hurt, and angry that he’d let a man like Nick have the power to hurt him in the first place.
It wasn’t fair. No matter what he did, or how much he loved her, he would never be good enough.
Frustrated, he crawled into Nadia’s bed and pulled her pillow to his face. Whatever happened next would depend on her.
She opened the door nearly twenty minutes later and slipped inside. She looked like she’d been crying. The sight of her red-rimmed eyes filled him with dread.
“What’s wrong?” he asked tersely, and sat up in the bed.
“Nothing.” She turned away from him and picked up her brush. Pulling it through her hair, she said, “I thought you were going to join us.”
“I didn’t think your father would want to eat with the hired help.”
Her hand stilled in mid-stroke and she turned to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What did Nick say when you told him we were getting married? Did he tell you that princesses don’t marry losers like me?”
Temper flashed in her green eyes, but Dante had managed to work up a pretty volatile mood himself. “What’s the matter, Nadia? Did you come up here to tell me you’ve changed your mind?”
Nadia set her hairbrush back on the dresser and rubbed her forehead. “I’m trying real hard not to be pissed by that comment, but you know what … it’s not working. I am not your ex-wife, Dante.”
“So, what did Daddy say, after the ‘I’m not going to let my daughter marry some damn bounty hunter’ part?”
Nadia drew back like she’d been slapped. A strange look passed over her face, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You want to know what he said? Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”
Dante stared at her, but she simply lifted her chin in that stubborn way of hers.
“Fine.” He stalked out of the bedroom with Nadia on his heels.
His overnight bag awaited him at the foot of the stairs.
Nick sat in the living room, sipping a glass of tea. He glanced up at Dante, and said, “There you are. I’d like to have a word with you.”
Dante grimaced. “Yeah, I can guess what that word is.”
“So, Nadia told you what we discussed?”
“She didn’t tell me anything, but I want to tell you something … I love her. We’re meant to be together, and I’m not walking away.”
Nick lifted his eyebrows, and shot Nadia a puzzled look over Dante’s shoulder. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I
gathered that from the engagement.”
“I may not be some rich lawyer or doctor, but I can make her happy.”
“I’m sure you can.” Nick’s frown deepened and he steepled his hands in front of his face. “I have a feeling … am I missing something here?”
Nadia laughed.
Confused, Dante turned to look at her. She walked up beside him and slipped her arm through his. Laying her head against his shoulder, she said, “He heard what you said, about not letting your daughter marry some damn bounty hunter, but apparently that’s all he heard.”
“Oh!” Nick’s face turned red, then he laughed. “I see.”
He motioned for Dante to sit on the couch beside him. Reluctantly, Dante did. Branson set his glass on a coaster and said, “Sorry about that. I was teasing Nadia. She’s so excitable these days.”
“You mean …” Dante glanced at Nadia. She winked at him.”
… you aren’t going to stop the wedding?”
“Stop the wedding!” Nick laughed so hard he had to wipe his eyes. “Son, I’m not even sure you could stop the wedding, now that Nadia has her mind set on it.”
“Damn straight,” she said, and perched on the couch arm beside him. “So, don’t get any ideas.”
“But my clothes—” Dante gestured toward duffle bag at the foot of the stairs.
“If you’ll remember, Waynie took them out to the barracks after you accepted my offer of employment. Now that you’re family, I thought we should move you back into the main house. I’d hate for Nadia to have to slip out of the house again. It’s a wonder she didn’t get wedged in that laundry chute. We’d still be looking for her.”
Now that you’re family …
Dante’s face flushed hot, and he shot Nadia an embarrassed grin. “You just had to let me flounder around here and make an ass out of myself, didn’t you?”
She shrugged. “Well, you needed to hear it from him, not me.”
Nick patted his shoulder. “That’s women for you, son. Her mother does me the same way.”
Nadia snorted and shook her head. “I can’t believe you thought I wasn’t going to marry you because Daddy said so.”
Nick sighed. “She’s never listened to me before, and I’m not expecting her to start anytime soon. Besides, I’m not complaining. I think you two are a perfect match if I can keep you out of trouble, which brings me to my next point. I’d like to offer the both of you jobs at Branson Industries—well, Andreakos Industries now. Perhaps I can keep the two you so busy you won’t have time to get into mischief. And it’s only right that you assume some of the duties at the firm. After all, you and your children will own it one day. What do you say?”
In Enemy Hands Page 23