Page 71 of Winter’s Fire

“I want to come with you!”

“No. Lucy, we have no choice. And even if we did, I wouldn’t want you there.” He cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking her skin as if he were memorising its texture. “It won’t be pretty, and I don’t want you to see that.”

A chasm of pain opened up inside her. With the injuries he already had, she couldn’t bear to think of the punishment he might take on top and what it might do to him. If her obedience would lessen his burden, he’d have it. She gave a jerky nod of acquiescence.

“That’s my girl.”

He had no idea how much she wished that would continue to be the case.

Time passed with a slowness that stretched Lucy’s nerves to breaking point, making the big what-if prowling the periphery of her mind like a ravenous tiger even more difficult to avoid.

In the end, the tiger won, and the question she didn’t want to ask clawed at her mind. What if it all went horribly wrong, and she and Logan didn’t survive this? Haunting images sprang from her imagination of Sir Guy breaking the news of her demise to her family.

Yet even as she contemplated the impact of her career choice on her nearest and dearest, Lucy knew she wouldn’t change her plans. Not now. The mission might be all kinds of fucked-up, but this wasn’t a regular, predictable nine-to-five job, where every day was a walk in the park.

Logan was sitting with his back against the wall. His eyes were closed, and his breathing seemed normal, with no sign of a fever. Her gaze travelled over his body, from his poor, bruised face—now showing a very visible scruff of beard—down over his broad chest, muscular arms, and long legs, returning to linger at the apex of his thighs and the prominent bulge in his jeans. She licked her lips.

“Like what you see?”

Her gaze flew back to his face, where his eyes had opened a crack and his relaxed expression had transformed into a knowing smile. Lucy flushed with embarrassment at having been caught ogling the man she loved. She didn’t have to be psychic to know where his mind was at that precise moment.

“Really, Logan?” She could bluff just as well as he could. “At a time like this, you’re thinking about—”

The sounds of a scuffle outside the door had them both scrambling to their feet, Lucy wedging herself under Logan’s arm to offer him some support. The door swung open on its usual drawn-out screech and Hugo appeared, wearing the smile Lucy had come to loathe.

“Dr. von Brandt thought you might like some company.”

He gestured towards the corridor, then pulled a young woman into the room and pushed her forward. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing and turned to see Hugo off with a few choice words before pivoting back in their direction.

Although she was even more grubby and untidy than they were, Lucy recognised her immediately—Diana Carstairs, alive, well and verbally kicking. She took a step forward, intending to offer comfort to the other woman, but stopped dead at the look of recognition that lit up Diana’s face. She bypassed Lucy completely, and zeroed in on—

“Logan? You came for me! I knew it wasn’t over between us! Oh, thank God!”

Chapter 19

Lucy watched the other woman run from the door, straight into Logan’s arms. Without hesitation, those arms closed around her, and pulled her to him.

The sensation of falling through infinite space was nauseating. For several seconds, Lucy couldn’t think—her brain refused to work, to process what her eyes were telling her.

The explosion of memories and questions stole her breath. Dizzy from trying to make sense of it all, she reached for the pillar for support, and as that initial devastation abated what took its place was a sense of betrayal so fierce a silent, primal howl blasted her ability to think into a million impenetrable fragments.

Fragments that were whipped into a frenzy of white noise by the endless, breathless sobs of Diana Carstairs talking to Logan as if she, Lucy, didn’t exist.

The truth, unpalatable though it was, slammed into her, robbing her of her ability to breathe, never mind think. Everything had been a lie. Every kiss, every caress now a brutal, crushing humiliation. How he must have laughed when she’d suggested making their relationship real. No different from any other man, he’d taken what was offered to him without the slightest qualm or pang of conscience.

She’d been nothing more than a convenient way to pass the time until he could resume his relationship with Diana.

“Lucy?”

Resolved to remain cool and calm, and not betray her rage at an unjust universe, she levelled her gaze in Logan’s direction, armed with all the cool she could muster. “Yes?”

“This is Diana. Lucy’s been my partner on the mission to find you.”

His partner on the mission—that spelled it out perfectly, her role in his life. He was a better actor than she’d given him credit for. She’d been such a fool, falling for his lies like some starry-eyed virgin who shouldn’t be allowed out alone. Falling for him as if he were something special.

Lucy dug deep into her emotional reserves. If he could act, so could she. She pinned on the brightest smile anyone in captivity was likely to be able to pull off and forced herself to close the distance between herself and Logan and Diana. “Lucy Winter, Miss Carstairs. I wish the circumstances were better.”

Maybe she was being oversensitive, but Lucy could have sworn Diana’s ice-blue eyes took on an even more glacial chill, even as she pressed more closely to Logan, as if she were staking her claim on him.