It was hard to gauge his mood. He was frowning, but then it seemed all the Kellys loved to frown.
His eyes flickered, and again he looked down at her belly.
She drained the glass and set it aside before reaching for the bowl again. He made her uneasy, watching her as she sipped at the broth. They were all watching her like she was some bug under a microscope, some undiscovered species.
Spoonful by spoonful she concentrated on the warm liquid that coated her throat down to her empty stomach. When she was finished, Sam took the bowl, their hands touching for just an instant.
He paused and she stared down at those fingers, remembering how they felt on her body, how tender he’d been. How rough he’d been. And demanding.
She shook away those memories, determined that they not have sway in the here and now. Who was she kidding? She’d wish away the present in a heartbeat if she could just go back to those precious days she’d spent in his arms.
No, she wouldn’t go back. She’d give up a lot but not her freedom. Maybe she’d made a mistake to run to Sam. She’d thought she was out of options, but maybe she should have just kept on running.
She looked into his eyes, meeting that steady gaze with steel determination.
“What do we do now?”
CHAPTER 9
SAM pulled a small digital camera from his pocket and turned the LCD toward Sophie.
“Recognize him?”
She recoiled, and her stomach heaved. She jerked her head away as her breaths hiccupped from her mouth. The man was obviously dead, a gaping cut to the throat.
“Do you?”
She glanced back and folded both arms over her belly. Then she nodded.
“He’s the one who threatened to kill our baby,” she said in a low voice.
“You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
She lifted her gaze to meet Sam’s. There was anger reflected in the blue. But there was also coldness and she shivered against the violence of it.
“Did you kill him?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
Neither did she hesitate. “Good.”
“He was one of your father’s personal assassins,” Sam said. He pushed a button on the camera and then turned it again so she could see.
Yes, she knew her father required his men to have the symbol of their loyalty branded into their arm. It was barbaric and senseless, but then he’d never had a shortage of men willing to die for him.
“You need to start talking, Sophie. There’s a hell of a lot I need to know.”
If he was angry, she could deal with that. Anger would be justified. But his voice was cold. He could have been interrogating a prisoner.
I’m pregnant with your child. She wanted to scream it. Don’t you remember how we made her?
“I didn’t betray you, Sam,” she said fiercely.
His lips tightened. He glanced toward his brothers, who stood silently across the room, and dismissed them with a nod.
As soon as they were gone, Sam stood, as if he couldn’t bear to sit that close to her. For a while he kept his back turned, and heavy silence settled over the room. Then he turned, his eyes flat.
“Then tell me, Sophie. What exactly did you do?”
She flinched and it pissed her off. She felt pinned to the couch, helpless. She couldn’t stand the weight of his stare another moment.
Her hands curled over the edge of the couch, and she pushed herself up, ignoring the pain in her arm.
“Sit down, Sophie.”
He didn’t bark the order, but it was an order nonetheless. Her chin went up in her best go-to-hell impression.
It took courage to go to him. Courage to face him down when he could so easily turn away and crush her without thought.
It made her angry that she cared. Made her angry that it mattered. She’d done what she had to do to survive. She shouldn’t have to explain herself to anyone.
“I knew you had secrets, that you weren’t honest with me,” she said.
“Yes, I suppose you did.”
The words tripped out with a hint of sarcasm. She ignored it and went on, refusing to give him the fight he seemed to want.
“I knew and I understood. I didn’t care. I wanted that time with you even though I knew when it was over that you’d walk away and that I was never supposed to know who you were or ever expect more than what you gave me.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and he looked away as if he was uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had turned. Would it kill him so much to admit that she’d hurt him? Did anything hurt this man? She wasn’t trying to make him feel guilt. She accepted her role in deception as easily as she’d accepted his. Maybe she would have felt differently if she’d ever believed even for a moment that things were honest between them.
“I didn’t betray you,” she said again.
His gaze lifted, and those piercing blue eyes caught her again. This time there was a genuine question there instead of accusation and disbelief.
“Tell me.”
Sweet relief sang through her mind. The weight that hovered so unbearably on her shoulders lightened, and she forgot the pain in her arm—and in her heart.
With those two words he told her he’d listen.
“I’ve already explained that my father sent me to you. He wanted me to glean whatever information I could—in any manner it took.”
“And you went.”
She closed her eyes. She knew how bad it looked. She wouldn’t apologize though, and she wouldn’t allow Sam to make her feel shame for her choice.