“Who sings this?” she asked when one especially catchy song caught her attention.
“Queen,” Killean replied without looking at her.
“That’s funny.”
“What is?”
“It sounds like a guy singing.”
Killean surprised himself by almost laughing. He couldn’t remember the last time something had amused him enough to make him want to laugh, but then there were many things he couldn’t remember doing before Simone walked into his life. “Itisa male band.”
“Then why would they name themselves after a position a woman holds?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps they thought the name would be memorable.”
“And are they memorable?”
“Most know who they are. Didn’t the hunters let you listen to music?”
“Oh, yes; I am well versed in classical music, and though it was never my best instrument, I can play Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 rather well on the piano.”
Killean had been alive when Chopin was, but he had no idea what song she was referring to. “Impressive.”
Simone shrugged. “Not really. It’s what I was bred and raised to do. I can also play the violin better than the piano. I can design and sew a shirt and pants for my husband in mere hours, and I am well read in classic literature. I play chess, cribbage, and would learn any other game that interested my husband. I was also the best cook in my class.”
Certain he detected a hint of bitterness in her tone, he glanced at her and noted the slump of her shoulders. “And none of those things please you?”
“What good does any of it do me anymore? No hunter would take me as a bride given what I am now.”
Killean nearly ripped the wheel from the truck at the possibility of her marrying another, sharing a bed with another, and bearing their children. “And would you take them as your husband?” he grated through his teeth.
“Just last week the answer would have been yes.”
“And now?”
“It’s not what I want from my life anymore.”
The rigid set of his shoulders eased as he focused on the lonely stretch of road once more. They could have taken the highway, but he’d decided to stay on routes where they were less likely to be spotted. He had no idea how vast or strong Joseph’s resources were, and he couldn’t risk showing up on some camera at a toll booth, gas station, or highway that Joseph might be able to monitor. These back roads were less likely to have that kind of technology.
“And what do you want from your life, Simone?” Killean didn’t know why he asked the question. The less he knew about her, the better, but he couldn’t deny his curiosity.
“I havenoidea,” she admitted. “At first, going from knowing exactly how my life would unfold to not having a clue was terrifying and freeing; I don’t find it so scary anymore. What about you, Killean, what do you want from your life?”
Blood, death, you.But if he said any of those things to her, she’d probably jump out of the vehicle and run screaming into the woods. “To return home.”
“Can you go home with what you’ve done?”
“I don’t know.”
Simone studied the severe edge of his profile. When he wasn’t an angry, intimidating buffoon, he was rather handsome. The scar added to his menacing air, but something about the mark was so entirely Killean that she couldn’t picture him without it. And whereas others might have found the scar detracted from his looks, she believed it added to them.
How did he get it?She almost asked the question, but she bit her tongue to keep herself from doing so. It really wasn’t any of her business how he received it, and despite what transpired between them in the hotel, she suspected it might be something he didn’t want to share with her.
Besides, there was something else she wished to learn the answer to more.
“Why did you come for me?” she asked again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
