The last time he had seen Zoey look that torn was the moment she had told him she was pregnant. He could feel her confusion like it was a fog that had rolled in off the sea and settled over them. It had been stupid of him to befriend the prime minister’s daughter, but it was the only thing he could think of in a pinch.
He wanted to run after Zoey, to make sure that she wasn’t walking out of his life again, but he stopped himself. Desperate was never a good look on anyone. She had to know that he never wanted to do anything that would compromise their burgeoning friendship. If anything, he had been the one to lay himself out there and tell her that he wanted her, and she had said...nothing.
If anyone should have been walking off, hurt by the other, it was him. He was here for her. He was always there for her. He would give everything that he owned to be with her. And she was always breaking his heart.
All he wanted, and had ever wanted, was to be hers.
He rubbed his neck as he walked back toward Shaye. He wasn’t sure how, but now he was even more at a loss than when he had chatted her up. At that moment, at least he had his best friend at his back. Now, he was alone. And he was the one who had sent Zoey away.
He was screwing it up all over again.
He sat down and forced his face to smile. “Sorry about that. I saw someone I knew from college.”
“Oh, yeah,” Shaye said, twisting her pearl earring. “Where did you go to school?”
“Notre Dame. In the States,” he lied. He had never gone to college, not with a father like his; instead, he had been forced to go into the military or get a job.
How little he had known about the world then.
It was a stark contrast to his reality now. The only perspective that hadn’t changed from his formative years was that the world was a deadly and evil place, and the scavengers were always waiting in the shadows to pick his bones clean.
“Eli?” Shaye asked, sounding as though she had asked him a question he had failed to hear.
“Sorry, what?” He forced himself to concentrate on the woman sitting across the table from him.
“Who’s the woman?”
He could feel the blood rushing from his face. “Huh? What woman?” he said, trying to play dumb, but looking in the direction that Zoey had disappeared.
“You know, the woman you are thinking about?”
He sat dumbfounded, saying nothing as he stared at Shaye.
“It’s okay.” Her English was accented with the slightest trill, and the effect made her sound like something out of a fairy tale, nothing like the big bad wolf that they had made her out to be. “I know the look of love in a man’s eyes. I have seen it many times in my life.”
“It sounds like you’ve been incredibly lucky in love.”
As she took a sip of her espresso, her hand shook, making a dribble twist down from the corner of her mouth. Her cup clanked against the plate as she put it back down and wiped the offending drop from her chin. “I suppose my success would depend on who you asked,” she said daintily placing her linen napkin back in her lap.
“I must admit, when I first spotted you at the market, I thought you were incredibly beautiful and vaguely familiar.”
She looked at him for a long moment like she was trying to decide whether or not he knew who she was. Like Icarus, he had flown too close.
“You belong on a runway rather than sitting here with me,” he added, hoping he could keep her from shutting down on him before he got the information that he needed from her or worse, leaving and going back to the apartment and compromising Zoey’s position.
He had to keep Shaye here as long as he could in order to keep the woman he loved safe. It felt strange being on a pseudo date with a bureaucrat’s daughter, but thinking only about Zoey. Oh, the things he did for her.
“Actually, I’m here in Spain with a man.” She picked at a piece of bread the waiter had left at the table, rolling the dough between her fingers until the bits became shaped like little grenades that she could use to destroy him.
If he had been on a real date with her and hadn’t known the story behind her appearance in this marketplace, he would’ve been hurt that she was shooting him down.
“And who is the man?” Eli asked. “You love him?”
She tore off another piece of bread as she dropped the first doughy grenade on the table. She must have wanted to create a full arsenal.
“It doesn’t matter who I love.” The waiter strode over and placed a bowl of olives beside the bread.
They each gave him their order, for him paella and her a caprese salad. As the waiter strode from the table, Eli turned back to her. “If you’re here with another man, why did you agree to have lunch with me?” he asked, hoping that the question would sound like a man who wanted to date her.
She looked torn, but he didn’t know why. Perhaps it had something to do with Chad, and knowing that she was holding him hostage somewhere. The thought reminded Eli that regardless of how amiable the woman seemed, or how pretty her face, he was dealing with a potential killer. It was often the ones like her, women with an abundance of physical assets, who flew well above anyone’s radar.
But he couldn’t forget.
“I agreed to come along with you because you looked interesting.” She moved slightly in her seat, turning her knees away from him as though she were closing a part of herself off.
He’d seen people use this subtle body language many times when he had been tasked with interrogating. It was the body’s equivalent of saying there wasn’t a chance in hell of his getting whatever information he wanted—the interrogation was over.
He had to get her to open up to him again.
“I looked interesting, huh?” He tried to give her his sexiest grin. “I’ll take it.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Has anyone ever told you that you are not a humble man?”
“I hear there are worse things to be.” He popped an olive into his mouth and chomped on it like it was a grain of truth.
Shaye laughed. “I’m glad I’m not in danger of falling for your charms.”
“If I were a lesser man, I would be deeply hurt. However, I believe I do love a woman. You are safe from whatever charms you think I have.” Eli looked down at Shaye’s hands, half expecting to see something that would give away all the evil things she had done. Instead, she had the long, manicured nails of a woman who wasn’t accustomed to manual labor.
These were not the hands of a woman who had cut off Chad’s finger. However, just because she hadn’t wielded the knife, didn’t mean she wasn’t the one responsible for the amputation.
“What do you think of corporal punishment?” Once again, he could feel his wings starting to melt as he neared the sun.
“Well—” She sat in stunned silence for a moment. “It appears you are far more interesting than I had initially assumed. Now, I cannot help wondering if I should have stayed far away from you. I fear you are a dangerous man.” She stood up, picking up her scarf from the table and swiftly wrapping it over her hair, like a symbolic white flag.
He fell back down to earth. He stood up and threw a bit of money on the table as he moved after her. “Stop, please,” he called.
She didn’t even look back at him as she strode away in the direction of the apartment. Eli wasn’t sure if he should go after her and grab her, as in the initial plan, or if he should simply let her go. For all he knew, Zoey was in her apartment with Chad right now. If Shaye found her there, and if Chad wasn’t already dead, she would likely kill them both.
The only thing Eli could do was what he had planned in the first place.
The prime minister’s daughter was about a half block from him as he started to jog after her. As she approached the end of the street, he spotted Zoey as she came out and jabbed the woman with the tip of a pen.
Clever girl.
Though they had often talked about the best methods to drug an enemy, they had never used the old Russian Cold War trick in practice—until now.
He slowed to a walk as Shaye said something to Zoey, no doubt chastising her. Undoubtedly, no one on the street had noticed what Zoey had done, except him. Zoey looked back at him as the woman crossed the street ahead of them. They likely had only minutes before the prime minister’s daughter would feel any ill effects from the drug. After that, they would have to swiftly remove her from prying eyes.
As he caught up to Zoey, he couldn’t help but wonder why the bureaucrat’s daughter in a foreign land had not only agreed to have lunch with him, but also been devoid of any security personnel. Either she was impetuous and stupid, or her father had wanted her to disappear. Was it possible that this young girl had a contract out on her head, as well?
One thing was certain, in coming to Spain and allowing them access, the woman had made a mistake—a mistake that was to their advantage.