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“Or?”
She shifted within his arms. “Like I mentioned,” she shrugged. “Maybe I won’t testify after all. Maybe if I just…disappear, they’ll forget about me.”
“They?” he pressed.
“All of them. The prosecutors and the people I’m testifying against. The bad guy will go free, but so could I.” Her brows knitted as she searched his face. “If I do testify, how can I know there won’t be some kind of vendetta I’ll be running from for the rest of my life?
“Luca—that was my boyfriend’s name, Luca Santini—had somenot-so-nicefriends. I didn’t see much of them. Luca kept our relationship and his friendships very separate. He talked about them a little, but even the things he said scared me. And even though I only saw them a few times, they made me very uncomfortable. Always whispering and talking in secret like I was in the way. You know, kind of an outside circle and an inside circle? I was kept on the outside.”
Boyfriend.
Marcus forced a smile. “Ye are verra close? Ye and…Luca?” Marcus asked, afraid of the answer.
“I thought so in the beginning, but as things progressed, I realized we were worlds apart. I think I cared about the man Ithoughthe was. And I’m heartsick that he died in that awful way. But there wasn’t anything real between us. There hadn’t been in a very long time. Luca just had a hard time accepting that.
“In fact, I was intending to break up with him the night I walked into his apartment and saw Gregory Giannetti standing over him, mid-swing, with a bloody golf-club.”
Marcus’ breath caught in his chest. “The murder ye witnessedwas yer boyfriend?”
She nodded, her chin quivering.
“Aww, lass,” Marcus whispered, brushing his knuckles down her cheek. “What a terrible thing tae see.”
“I couldn’t think. I just…ran. I found a place to hide, called 911 and waited until the police came. But I didn’t find out Luca had died until they brought him out, covered, on a gurney.”
Releasing a long shuddering sigh, she looked up at Marcus. “The police wanted a statement, and when I identified the person I saw in Luca’s apartment, they took me in for a full interview. And after I told them what I knew, they wouldn’t let me leave. I went straight into Witness Protection.”
“So this Giannetti—he’s the man ye’re goin’ tae testify against?”
“Yes. And the man I assume the two chasing us are working for. Him, or his family. His ‘connections’ are the reason I was put into Witness Protection.”
’Twas a lot, Marcus considered. No wonder she wanted to run further and hide permanently.
“I’m sorry, lass. Sorry ye’ve this tragedy hangin’ over yer head. Would ye like tae run away tae Scotland wi’ me?” He gave her a teasing wink so she dinnae feel she had to find a gentle way to let him down. Though he wished she’d say yes. And mean it.
“I’d like nothing more,” she replied, with a teasing smile of her own.
So they were back to the beginning, he reasoned. Neither of them really knowing how the other felt.
She curled deeper into his arms. “Speaking of Scotland, you haven’t told me anything about yourself, other than the name of the place you’re from.”
“Aye, Achluachrach. ’Tis a wee village no’ far from Inverness.”
“What brought you all the way from there to America, and Yellowstone, of all places?”
“I’d been…unable tae travel for a verra long time and I had a yearnin’ tae see new things. New places. So I thought this would be as good a spot tae start as any. I wanted tae see some of the worlds wonders and I was told Old Faithful was one o’em.”
“That sounds like a wonderful adventure. And the kind of freedom I’d love to have. But it must have been difficult to leave everything and everyone behind.”
“Aye. I told Fenton he should come wi’ me. ’Twill be impossible tae describe such a place as this and do it justice.”
“Fenton?”
“Aye. A friend. One o’ The 79,” he smiled thinking of his long-time companion.
“You haveexactlyseventy-nine friends?” she asked incredulously. “And you count them?” she teased. “Are you afraid you’ll misplace one?”
’Twas joyful to hear her laugh. Marcus wasnae sure he’d heard it before and he wanted desperately to hear it again.
