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“You sure?”
Another nod. “I’m just, I don’t know, impatient, I guess.”
“We’ll get to someplace safe and quiet, where you can take it slow and easy for a couple of days. I bet that’ll help.”
She smiled. “Maybe.”
“So, the first step is to phone Zach.”
“Zach,” she said. He could see her pulling herself together. “One of your brothers.”
“Zach’s married to one of my sisters. Half-sisters. Jaimie.” Matteo opened his door and stepped out of the car. Ariel did the same. “I don’t know why I call the Wildes half-anythings. We’re really one family.”
“But with different fathers.”
“No.”
“But your last names are… Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You’re not prying. It’s a complicated story.” He put his arm around her as they walked across the snowy lot to the market. “The thing is, it’s not just complicated, it’s long. As soon as we have time, I’d like to tell it to you.”
She tilted her head and smiled up at him.
“And I’d like to hear it.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips as they stepped into the market.
The aisles were filled with all kinds of merchandise. Matteo asked her to scout out the deli area while he searched for a notepad, a pen, pre-paid phones…
And condoms.
They’d made love without protection. It had been an incredible feeling, being deep inside her, skin to skin. Just thinking about it made his jeans feel tight. He wasn’t worried about disease. He was clean. He was sure she was, too, but getting her pregnant…
The very idea was mind-numbing. A woman, carrying his child? Cristo. A bachelor’s nightmare.
And yet—and yet, the idea of his baby, growing in Ariel’s womb…
“Whoops.” He’d walked straight into another customer. “Sorry,” he said, and dragged his thoughts back where they belonged, to cell phones and survival.
He found the condoms, asked where the pre-paid cell phones were and headed for the display.
Amazing.
He’d known Ariel for, what, two days? Somehow, she’d managed to affect him more than any woman he’d ever known.
All he had to do was consider that thought—that crazy thought—about babies. Or about his family.
He’d made peace with knowing his father was a bigamist. Well, no. What he’d made peace with were his feelings toward the Wildes. Why blame Jacob, Caleb and Travis, or Emily, Jaimie and Lissa for what the man who’d sired them all had done?
Still, he’d avoided telling the tale to anyone. It was too complex, too personal, too revealing.
And yet, he wanted Ariel to hear it.
He wanted her to know him, the same as he wanted to know her. He wanted to know everything about her.
The big things, like when she’d become a dancer. The little things, like whether she liked watching football. He’d never given a damn about any of that before. You didn’t have to know what a woman thought about the state of the economy or what kind of music she liked to take her to dinner or to bed.
This was different.
Being with Ariel was like being on a journey of discovery.
He loved how she’d bitten into her hot dog as if it had been prepared by a world-class chef, loved the way she’d accepted that first awful motel without a word of complaint. He loved the courage she showed in dealing with a situation that, he was sure, would have left many people defeated. The so-called accident. Her injuries.
Her amnesia.
She had toughness, a resiliency that amazed him, coupled with a sweet innocence that enthralled him.
He’d never known a woman like her and as dangerous as their situation was, it had brought them together, brought her to him and, yes, changed his life.
So, yeah, he wanted her to know all about him, and he wanted to know all about her. When her memory came back…
“It’s going to be okay.”
“What?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Ariel leaned against him. “I said, lunch is going to be okay. Better than okay. The deli counter does sandwiches. Big, thick, beautiful sandwiches. And hot soup. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect,” he said. “Just like you.”
He brushed her lips with his. Her dark glasses hid her eyes, but the bloom of pink in her face, the touch of her hand as she slipped it into his, told him everything.
“Phones,” he said briskly, as he spotted the display.
And he thought how insane it was to be so incredibly happy when the world was coming apart around them.
* * *
He bought notepads, ballpoint pens, two phones, a charger, a bunch of condoms, and two coffees to go. No lunch, he decided, not until after he called Zach.
Outside again, Ariel took an antibiotic capsule but waved off the ibuprofen. Matteo drank half his coffee, turned on one of the phones and punched in Zach’s number.
Zach spoke briskly, and to the point.
For openers, he said, they needed to get rid of the car they were using.
“You want something with no paperwork leading back to you,” he said, “and it must have four wheel drive.”
Matteo nodded as if Zach could see him.
“Right. But there’s a problem. A couple of problems. I don’t know if there’s a car rental place here. Besides, that would just leave another paper trail. And—”
“You’re going to drive to a town called Iroquois Lake. Check your map. It’s not very far from where you are. When you get there, go to the crossroads in the center of town. Take the right, drive two point four miles.”
“I feel like I’m in a James Bond movie. Two point four miles?”
“Two point four, exactly. You’ll see a white farmhouse on the left, red barn out back. Drive around to the back of the barn, leave your car there and get into the black Jeep Cherokee that’ll be waiting for you. You writing all this down?”
“Yes. What kind of Cherokee?”
“A Jeep,” Zach said carefully. “Good vehicle for—”
“I know that. What I mean is, is it a 4x2 or a 4x4? Considering these mountains, I’d prefer a 4x4.”
Zach laughed. “You know cars.”
“I do,” Matteo said, figuring this wasn’t the time to explain that he loved getting his hands dirty under the hoods of his cars almost as much as he loved driving them.
“It’s a 4x4. All the bells and whistles. It’ll take you where you want to go. Good?”
“Fine.”
“Okay. One problem solved. Next problem. Cash, right? I take it you’re not using your credit cards.”
“No.”
“Good thinking, for a civilian.”
It was Matteo’s turn to laugh. “Is that your idea of a compliment?”
“It’s a fact,” Zach said, but he added what sounded like a very small chuckle. “Anyway, the money thing. You’ll find an envelope in the Cherokee. There’ll be enough cash inside to last you a few days. This, ah, this situation lasts longer than that, I’ll get more money to you.”
“This is great, Zach. Thank you.”
“Haven’t you forgotten something?”
“I just said, thank—”
“You need a place to hole up.”
Dammit. “Yes. Of course. Any suggestions?”
“Luckily for you, we have a safe house in that area.”
“We?”
“Shadow Inc. My security firm.”
“Your security firm has a safe house? Your security firm needs a safe house?”
“You want the info or not?”
Matteo sighed. “Go ahead.”
“What kind of shape are you both in? My info is that you’ve been doing a lot of driving.”
Matteo decided not to bother asking how Zach had come by that ‘info.’
“And Caleb tells me your lady has some injuries. Have I got things right?”
“Yes.”
“Well
, the house is equipped with pretty much every kind of first aid stuff you could need. Food’s no problem. The refrigerator will be stocked by the time you arrive, and the freezer is always full. The pantry, too. If you can think of anything specific you’d like, tell me now.”
“We could do with a change of clothes.”
“Check the bedroom closets. There’s an assortment of things in various sizes. What else?”
“A bottle of Vietti Villero Barola Riserva would be nice,” Matteo said, tongue-in-cheek.
Zach chuckled. “Good taste.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Well maybe not the Vietti Villero, but there’s sure to be some good California reds.”
“Jeez. I was joking, man. Everything sounds fine. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until this is all over.”
Good advice, Matteo thought grimly.
“Luca phoned Caleb. He wanted to know what’s going on.”
