by Alexia Adams
“Sounds exciting.”
“At first. Then we switched from reporting famines and natural disasters to conflicts and political unrest. And the constant worry about being kidnapped or killed … Stress eats away at the excitement until all that’s left is fear.”
“Why did you stay? Surely there are less dangerous places in the world to take photos.”
“Of course. Jean-Claude thrived on the danger, though. He lived for the adrenaline rush.”
“Even though you were scared? Surely he could find some other way to get his thrills. Wasn’t your safety and peace of mind his first concern?”
“No, it was always the job. The world needed to know what was going on, and we were the ones to tell them. It was my photos and his evocative words that made people give to charities for the starving and maimed children. It was my photos of dead babies and his brutal assessment of a situation that got the UN involved and prevented further bloodshed.”
“Is that the line he fed you?” His voice vibrated with anger, but his touch was gentle. He twirled his engagement ring, which now sat on her finger. Was Erik regretting giving it to her? Had Jean-Claude begun to regret their engagement, like she had? They’d grown apart, wanted different things from life. He’d wanted adventure, she’d wanted stability. Yet, despite the arguing, they’d stayed together. He’d hung on because he was stubborn like that. And she’d been afraid to be alone. Now she knew there were worse things than being alone.
“It was true. We did good work. And I learned to control my fear. It made me cautious and probably kept me alive.”
“And Jean-Claude?”
“He had no fear. The few times we were between assignments, he’d go base jumping or whitewater kayaking or climb frozen waterfalls. I was sure that was going to be the way he died.”
“How did he die?”
Analise swallowed and rubbed her upper thigh. The pain was almost gone, but the memory was still fresh. “We were in Syria, in Aleppo. Jean-Claude had a rendezvous arranged with someone. The coalition forces were shelling the neighborhood where they were to meet. Snipers were outside the building where we’d taken shelter, and we could hear intermittent gunfire as soldiers shot anyone they found.”
Erik’s fists were clenched, his muscles bunched against her back. Did he want to hear the rest? Now that she’d started, she wanted to get it off her chest. “He went to the meeting?”
“I begged him not to go, to wait until morning. But he insisted it was vital that the meeting take place. He left, and I hid myself under some broken furniture. The soldiers did come in, but by then it was dark and they didn’t see me. The next morning, when it seemed calm, I went to the meeting place. His informant was dead, shot in the head. Jean-Claude lay in a pool of blood, phasing in and out of consciousness. He had a bullet in the spine and was paralyzed from the waist down. I tried to move him … and he bled out as I held him in my arms.”
“Oh God, Analise. I never imagined.”
“You know what the worst thing was?”
“There was one worst thing? The whole situation seems a nightmare.”
“I had imagined such a thing happening for so long that when it did, I didn’t feel anything.”
“And now?”
“Now, I feel it all.”
Chapter 6
Erik rubbed his chest as his cousin at the bank gave him an update over the phone. Analise’s revelation two days ago about her fiancé’s death had left him unnerved. Faced with such trauma, his present course of action seemed childish. I’m doing this for Karen. But the tragedy of his sister’s passing no longer had the same motivating force it once had.
“Erik?” His cousin’s voice brought him back to the present.
“Yes, thanks, Grace. You’ve been really helpful.”
“You know I can get into a lot of trouble for this, don’t you? Bank records are supposed to be confidential.”
“I know a good lawyer,” he replied.
“Just keep me out of it.”
He snapped his notebook shut. “Understood.”
“See you at the party.”
“Yeah.” He disconnected the call and lay back on his bed. He should’ve been elated. His plan was so close to success. Instead, he felt oddly hollow. Picking up the photo of Analise that he’d taken from his sister’s bedroom, he stared at her beautiful face. The picture was ten years old, yet Analise’s incredible eyes were still the same. Eyes that had seen the worst of the world. He wanted to show her the best.
Still, what he’d come to Manitoba to do was almost complete. The man who had seduced his sister and then so publicly denounced her, pushing her to suicide, was on the verge of bankruptcy. Erik had carefully engineered Ian MacEwan’s downfall. Ian was about to get his just desserts.
It had taken him two years and countless rounds of beer to eventually loosen tongues and uncover the truth about Karen’s last days. It seemed the high school jocks had a pact to see how many girls they could bed before graduation. Analise had been their ultimate target. When she hadn’t shown up for the final year-end party, Ian had decided that her best friend, Karen, would do.
The next day, when Karen, thinking they were now a couple, sat next to Ian in the cafeteria, he had told the truth. In fact, Ian had said, if he hadn’t been so drunk, he would never have been able to stomach banging her. Humiliated and heartbroken, Karen had raced home after school, refusing to talk to anyone. Then Analise had found her best friend’s body in the barn. And all their lives had been broken.
Grabbing his phone and wallet from the dresser, Erik left the room. His mother called out as he opened the screen door.
“Where are you going, Erik?”
“To see Analise. Don’t wait up.” After yesterday, he didn’t have the patience to deal with his mother. He found her constant clinging almost unbearable. No wonder Analise steered clear of her as much as possible.
“It’s only ten in the morning. Are you planning on staying away all day?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll call you if I won’t be home tonight.” Before he could close the driver’s door, his mother was there.
“I thought we could spend the day together,” she said. He could already smell alcohol on her breath. He’d tried to hide it all, but obviously she had a secret stash.
If only she would recognize she had a problem and seek treatment. Until then, there wasn’t a lot he could do to help her. He forced his voice to remain gentle. “We spent the whole day together yesterday. You kept me so busy cleaning up after the party, I didn’t get to see my fiancée.” And missing Analise had become a physical pain. Which didn’t bode well for when they parted. If they parted, his heart amended. Damn optimistic heart.
“I haven’t seen my son in a year and a half. I think the least you can do is spend some time with me.” His mother’s whining grated on his already taut nerves. He’d done his best to be patient, slipping her glasses of water between drinks. He needed a break.
“I love Analise. I want to be with her. I’ll try to convince her to come over here.” Although he doubted Analise would want to spend much time at the farm. There were too many memories of Karen tied up here. After her revelations about her fiancé’s death, Erik wanted to remind her of life’s joys, not its sorrows.
“If that’s the best you can offer, I guess that will have to do.”
Was there some way he could make his mother focus less on the past and try to find some joy in the future? A grandchild would probably do the trick. That was a scary thought.
His foul mood lifted as he parked in front of the Thordarsons’ house. A day with Analise held endless opportunities to touch and kiss her, something he was finding more and more addictive. As he stepped from the BMW, Analise and her grandfather appeared on the porch. She wore a light blue skirt and white top, her handbag slung over her shoulder as though they were going out.
“Oh, Erik.” She seemed surprised to see him, recovering quickly as her grandfather shot her a questioning glance.
“Afi and I are leaving for Winnipeg. I should have called you—sorry you’ve had a wasted trip.”
“Seeing you is never a wasted trip. And I’ve got nothing on today. Why don’t I go with you to the city?”
“If Erik goes with you, then you don’t need me,” Gunnar said.
“But Afi, I want to spend more time with you.” Analise put a hand on her grandfather’s arm.
Erik winced at the contrast between Analise wanting to be with her family and him trying to avoid his.
“We were together all day yesterday. Go with Erik. I’m not feeling up to a long drive anyway.”
Analise looked ready to argue. She put her bag down on the porch as her grandfather sat on the nearest rocking chair. Mounting the stairs in one bound, Erik caught hold of her hand. Raising it to his lips, he kissed each of her knuckles, holding her gaze as he lingered on the ring finger adorned with his diamond.
“We don’t have to go today. We can stay home,” she said. Her voice was breathless.
“I don’t mind. I’m just happy to be with you,” he said. The porch had been swept clean, the windows washed, and the tall grass around the house had been cut back. Two cans of paint sat by the door. They had been busy yesterday. Analise looked tired. He could help Gunnar paint while she supervised. Or both Thordarsons could sit on the porch and tell him what to do. “Is there something around here I could help with? I’m pretty handy with fences.” Did she remember how he’d come over and help her grandfather when she was a teenager? Then, he’d made a big show of taking his shirt off and flexing his muscles, such as they were. It had worked to get her interest then, maybe it would help now.
For the first time, Gunnar looked at him with something like approval. “Go, sweet. Spend the day with Erik. You don’t need an old man tagging along.”
“Afi, you’re not an old man,” she protested.
“And I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be here when you get back,” her granddad encouraged.
With a defeated sigh, she kissed her grandfather’s cheek, picked up her handbag, and followed Erik off the steps.
“Your vehicle or mine?” She jangled her keys.
“We can take yours. Why don’t you drive into town, and I’ll drive back?”
“Really?” Unlocking the doors, she slipped behind the steering wheel. “Jean-Claude never let me drive. He always had to be in control,” she added as she pulled onto the main road.
“I’m not Jean-Claude.” He cared less about control than the opportunity to spend the next hour and a half looking at the beautiful woman next to him.
“So I’m beginning to realize.”
As they approached the city, Erik noticed she fiddled with her sunglasses and her left leg bounced up and down to a rapid, silent rhythm. The drive in had been pleasant enough. They’d discussed her favorite places in the world and where she’d avoid in the future. She’d also quizzed him on the merger he’d been working on, seeming to be interested in the process most people found boring in the extreme.
“What did you want to do in Winnipeg?”
“I need to pick up a few things. I didn’t pack for such a long stay. Plus, with all the events surrounding your grandparents’ anniversary, I need a dress or two. How fancy is the big celebration?” Her smile was tight.
“It’ll be pretty formal. The women in my family will take any opportunity to break out their party dresses.” He salivated at the thought of previewing Analise in a dozen formal dresses. He envisaged low cleavage and lots of gorgeous leg. Shopping had never held such appeal.
Taking the ring road, she drove to Polo Park mall, pulling into a stall near The Bay store. She handed Erik the keys.
“Clothes shopping will probably bore you to tears. Why don’t you take the car, and I’ll meet you back here in a couple of hours?” she suggested as she exited the vehicle.
“No, I’m good. I’ll come with you. I’m looking forward to selecting dresses for you to try on.”
Analise put her hand on her hip. “I’m not a doll to be dressed for your pleasure. I shop alone.”
He was about to argue, then remembered her former fiancé’s control issues. “All right. But we haven’t celebrated our engagement. Will you let me take you for dinner after you’re done?”
“You want to celebrate a fake engagement?”
He caressed the back of her neck before he lowered his mouth to hers. “If it were a real engagement, we’d have partied naked with a bottle of champagne, a bowl of strawberries, and some whipped cream,” he whispered against her lips.
She stepped back, breaking the contact. “Dinner it is, then. I’ll text you when I’m done, and you can tell me where to meet you.”
Wandering around the city alone was not the way he wanted to spend the day. But he was playing the long game. A strategic retreat now could mean a proper celebration later. “I’ll book a table at the Palm Room Lounge at Hotel Fort Garry. And I’ll get a room if you want to take a nap or change before dinner.”
“Hotel Fort Garry? You don’t do things cheap, Prairie Boy.”
“Not for my best fiancée.”
“You got a second-class one stashed somewhere?”
“Nope. You’re all the woman I need.”
“We’ll see.” She turned on her heel and walked away without a backward glance.
He locked his knees to stop from following her. He sensed there was something more than the deaths of her fiancé and grandmother bothering her. Was she preparing to run away again? Because he sure as hell wasn’t ready to say good-bye.
• • •
Analise dragged her weary body into the iconic Winnipeg hotel. She dropped her shopping bags in front of the reception desk.
“My, uh … Erik Sigurdson said he booked a room here.”
“You must be Miss Thordarson. Mr. Sigurdson has a room for you, and he’s left a note,” the receptionist said.
Analise signed the registration document and then picked up the envelope.
My darling Analise,
I hope your shopping trip was successful. If you make it to the hotel in time, please feel free to pamper yourself in the spa. Nothing will be able to make you more beautiful, but perhaps you might enjoy a massage or facial. I’ll meet you at the restaurant at 7 p.m. But if you need more time, just call my cell.
Your loving fiancé,
Prairie Boy
Maybe a little pampering was what she needed, to let go of the stress and worry for a few hours and recapture her peace. Which would evaporate the second she saw Erik and her body clamored for what it couldn’t have. She passed her bags to the concierge and headed to the spa.
Analise fell asleep during her massage and facial. When she woke, her makeup had also been done. A coat of mascara was all that was needed to complete the transformation. She felt a million times better. More like the real Analise, not the tired-out, injured shell of a woman who’d slumped into town a few days ago. She was ready to take on the world. Or at least the Erik-inhabited portion of it.
Didn’t they say the way to get over one man was to get under another? Although, that had the potential to end in even greater disaster. And there were few places left for her to run. Anywhere in Africa or the Middle East was out of the question; the French government was still investigating whether she was involved in her former fiancé’s activities, so her passport was undoubtedly flagged.
At least having pawned Jean-Claude’s engagement ring, she now was semi-solvent. But the pawn shop had only been able to give her a fraction of its worth, so she was nowhere near being able to pay off Erik. Which meant she’d have to stick around, at least until her name was cleared. She was still debating whether to tell Erik the full story and ask for his help or not.
She pushed open the door to the room Erik had booked and smiled. Prairie Boy didn’t do things by half. It was more than a room—she stepped into a luxury suite. She kicked off her shoes and let her toes sink into the soft carpet. She had less than half an hour, though, to dress fo
r dinner, so she went in search of her shopping bags. Hopefully, one of the dresses she’d bought would be suitable for the fancy restaurant.
Spread out on the bed was a beautiful designer dress, together with some wispy underwear and the most gorgeous pair of black Louboutin shoes she’d seen. Having lived in combat boots for the past four years, she’d never had much of a shoe fetish, but these babies were enough to make her start one.
Despite telling herself a hundred times that she wasn’t going to fall in with whatever nefarious scheme Erik had planned, she put on the dress and slipped on the shoes. She did a twirl and then glanced in the mirror. Not bad. The heels gave her some height, and the dress showed off her curves to the best advantage. She felt like a woman again.
Except her stomach was as full of butterflies as if she were going on her first date. Did he expect that after celebrating their fake engagement with dinner they’d move on to the champagne, strawberries, and whipped cream festivities?
Would she object if he did?
She still hadn’t decided when she approached the entrance to the Palm Room Lounge. Wearing a whisper of red silk and chiffon, teetering on a pair of stilettos, she was overdressed and underdressed at the same time.
Before she could spy Erik in the darkened interior, he appeared at her side. He’d changed into a dark suit, a crisp white shirt, and a bright red tie that matched her dress. She hadn’t thought he could look better than in fitted jeans and a t-shirt. She’d been wrong.
“You are stunning,” he whispered into her ear as he led her to a quiet table tucked against the far wall. He brushed a kiss against her temple as he pushed in her chair. Damn, the man smelled good, too.
“I thought I told you I wasn’t a doll, Prairie Boy,” she said as he sat opposite her. Unfortunately, the breathiness of her voice turned the rebuke into more of a sexy come-on, making it sound like she wasn’t to be dressed but rather undressed.
“And yet you put it on?” He ignored her glare and ran his index finger over the knuckles of her clenched fist.