“Sweet mother of God,” Sam muttered. He pulled his hand away and then yanked her into his arms.
It hurt like hell, but she didn’t care. She didn’t protest and she didn’t try to pull away. She wanted to absorb him right into her soul. Finally she felt safe. Like maybe she wasn’t so alone.
For just a moment she stood there, but reality crept in despite her wanting to indulge in the fantasy.
“We have to go,” she whispered.
She pulled away, but he held her firm.
“Let me go,” she protested. “We have to get out of here, Sam. Your brothers. They have to go too. They’ll kill them.”
He grasped her good arm, and with his other hand he gripped her chin and held her so that she was forced to stare back at him.
“Let’s get a few things straight here, okay? One, you’re not going anywhere. Period. Two, I need answers, Sophie. A lot of damn answers. Three, no one is going to hurt you or my child. Four, if you knew where I’ve been all this time, you damn well should have come to me the moment you knew you were in danger.”
She stared at him in disbelief. Then she laughed. It was all she could do. He was so determined, and how like a man to try and simplify matters.
“You don’t get it, Sam. I can’t stay. I won’t put my baby in danger,” she said fiercely. “I barely managed to escape the bastard last night. He shot me. He would have killed my baby. I’m not giving him a second chance. I’ve stayed ahead of him for the last five months.”
“And now he’s caught up to you,” Sam said calmly. “Sit down, Sophie. You and I have a hell of a lot to talk about. I want to get the personal stuff out of the way first. Because then I want my brothers here when you tell me all this other shit.”
The fight left her and the pain overwhelmed her senses. She sagged onto the edge of the bed and dropped her head in defeat.
Sam knelt in front of her and carefully placed his hand on her belly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She glared at him again. “You didn’t act like a man who wanted to know. You lied to me about everything from the moment we met.”
“And yet you know everything about me. How is that, Sophie?” he asked in a dangerously low voice.
She stared stubbornly back at him.
“I came back for you,” he said, surprising the hell out of her.
She furrowed her brow and frowned hard at him. “What are you talking about?”
He ran a hand through his hair and looked briefly away. “I was there undercover. I couldn’t tell you things, Sophie. I couldn’t share anything more of myself than I did. But when it was over, I came back, but you were gone. Disappeared. I searched, and it was as if you didn’t exist.”
Her cheeks warmed under his scrutiny, but she refused to feel guilty. She hadn’t had a choice but to run and run hard. She’d spent the last five months hiding. All because she’d helped him. And betrayed her father in the process.
“Look at me and tell me she’s mine,” Sam said fiercely. “I have to know. Don’t jerk me around about this.”
She raised her gaze until she stared levelly at him. She let calm invade her because she had nothing to hide when it came to this. Oh, she had plenty of secrets, but in this, her conscience was clear.
“She’s yours. There’s been no one else, Sam. Not for a long time.”
Was that relief she saw in his eyes? Regret? Joy? Maybe a mix of all three? It was hard to tell.
For just a moment, his focus shifted to her belly. He spread the material of the shirt tight over her stomach and he slid his fingers over every inch, studying the curve and the shallow indention of her belly button.
“I can’t wrap my brain around it,” he said hoarsely. “I’m going to be a father.”
She started to thrust her fingers into his hair but held back. There was so much unresolved between them. And maybe there was nothing to resolve. She had been a fling for him—or so she’d thought—but he said he’d come back for her. Did she dare believe him? A man would say a lot to get himself off the hook when his ass was to the fire.
But then he hadn’t made her any promises, and she sure as hell had kept a lot from him. So many secrets. So much betrayal. It would be a lot easier to just warn him of the impending danger to him and his family and walk away.
As if sensing her sudden desire to flee, his hand tightened on her stomach and then he rose from his knees and took her hand in his.
“We can talk more about us later,” he said in a quiet voice. “Right now we need to talk about who the hell is trying to kill you and why you think me and my family are in danger. And we’re not leaving my brothers out of this conversation, since they’ll be the ones I’ll be depending on to help save our asses.”
CHAPTER 7
A myriad of emotions flickered across Sophie’s face. Fear, indecision, pain and deep weariness. She should be in bed, resting, but she was as jumpy as a cricket, and she looked like she’d flee if he looked away even a second.
Sam urged her back to bed. He plumped the pillows and mounded the covers up over her body until she sat like a queen presiding over her subjects. Only she looked small and frail instead of stately.
He held up a finger as he stared down at her. “Don’t move. Not even a muscle. I’ll be back in a minute with my brothers.”
The sudden wash of fear in her eyes made his gut clinch. Her hands went to her belly, and she rubbed in a tight circle. He wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure. Her baby or herself.