Lyn Stone – Mission: Marriage: Bulletproof Marriage (страница 14)
“What?” she asked, hating the defensive tone to her voice.
“Do you want to explain to me why you felt the need to go for a walk in the middle of the night, endangering our mission and our lives?”
A flash of anger warred with guilt. “Only when you feel like explaining to me how your entire family and you died in the same accident. In a car you weren’t even supposed to be in. And since you haven’t mentioned them, I’m going to assume your family really is dead.” She knew her voice was laced with pain and anger, and chose to focus on the anger. “I’ve long known someone had to be responsible, though no one—not Corbett, not my superiors at SIS—claimed to know who. You know, don’t you?”
For the space of two heartbeats, he simply stared. Finally, he gave a slow nod. “I do.”
Though she was skirting the edge and moving closer to dangerous territory, she realized she wanted to know, at least this. “Tell me.”
He breathed a sigh. “The Hungarian.”
“That’s what I thought. Especially when you said he might be after me because of you. Why?”
When he looked away, the stab of grief felt fierce.
“It’s a long story,” he said. “And while you might be ready to hear it, I’m not sure I can tell it.”
“Don’t you think it’s time I knew the truth?”
Dragging a hand through his hair, he looked down, up, anywhere but directly at her. “Yes. But you deserve to know everything, all at once, and what I’ve done might make you hate me even worse.”
About to tell him she could never hate him, she bit back the words. Her chest ached. “After all this, you’re still hiding something from me?”
“No more than you’re hiding from me.”
“Quit trying to change the subject.” She shook her head. “I’m not hiding anything. This isn’t about me, it’s about you.”
His smile mocked her. “See? You can’t go on feeling responsible and guilty.”
“Easy for you to say. My entire team died. I didn’t. I’ve got to figure out what the hell I know that the Hungarian wants to keep silent or that he wants to discover.”
“Natalie, listen to me. You need to stop feeling responsible and trying to fix this. It might not all be you.”
She stared at him, heart in her throat.
“Some of what’s happened—hell,
“You keep saying that. But I don’t understand. Tell me.”
Though he looked reluctant, this time he held her gaze. That was Sean, never one to back down from bad news. “They might have gotten word that I wasn’t really dead. The Hungarian knows if that were true, you would be the one person who could bring me back to life.”
“The Hungarian used me to get to you? That makes no sense.”
“You asked about my accident, my family’s
Bewildered, she put her hand to her throat. “If you’re telling the truth, there was one hell of a massive cover-up. Even SIS has the car crash in their files.”
“No car. No crash.”
Briefly, she closed her eyes. “Why? Why would anyone go to such lengths?”
“To protect you from the Hungarian. He’s sworn a vendetta on me.”
The old-fashioned word seemed out of place, wrong. “A vendetta?”
“Blood feud. That’s why he slaughtered my family.”
“Slaughtered?” Closing her mouth, she squared her shoulders. “Is that what really happened, Sean? Your mother, father, sister—he killed them? All of them?”
“Yes.” He inhaled, the sound loud in the quiet room. “He murdered my entire family for revenge.”
“Why? Because of Kitya Renkiewicz, his mistress?”
He shook his head. “I killed Kitya, but I had no choice. If I hadn’t shot her when I did, she would have killed me. But the Hungarian didn’t give a rat’s ass about her. My problems with him started long before Kitya.”
“That doesn’t explain why you faked your own death.”
“You were next. The only way I could stop him from coming after you was for him to believe I was dead.”
“You couldn’t come to me, tell me what was going on? Instead, you engineered a massive cover-up and faked your own death?”
He nodded.
In disbelief, she stared. Her pain felt ten times stronger faced with the unbelievable extent of his lies.
“
“It changed mine, too.”
She wanted to weep. “It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever—”
“It worked.”
“No. It didn’t. You’re here now. I’m getting shot at. Nothing worked.” Raising her gaze to his, she let him see the depths of her bitterness.
“Nat, I—”
“No.” She lifted her hand, managed a careless wave. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Ah, but I do.” The rancor seeped through to her voice, and she let it. “That’s why you need to drop it, Sean.”
“But—”
“If you want to work with me, don’t say another word.”
Turning her back, she blinked back tears. Their marriage had seemed so different, so
That only proved what a gullible fool she’d been.
No more.
“Go to sleep, Sean.” Without waiting for an answer, she got up, turned off the light and sat in the chair by the window.
“What about you?” His voice, combined with the room’s darkness, made her ache again.
“I’m going to sit here awhile.” She kept her tone curt. “I’ve got a lot to think about.”
Sean dreamed. For the past two years, he’d been unable to forget Natalie’s kiss. Or the feel of her body, supple and welcoming, wrapped around him while they made love.
Now, in his dream, he kissed her again, with all the ferocious passion pent up inside.
Instead of kissing him back, in his dream she froze, her huge amber eyes wide open.
He tried to deepen the kiss.
She made a sound of denial against his mouth.
Stunned, he backed away. What the hell was this? He knew she was angry with him. He didn’t blame her. But he’d been certain her fury would melt the instant his mouth touched hers. Always, always, always, the touch of his lips had made Natalie melt.
Not this time.
Made of ice, she hadn’t softened as he moved his mouth over hers. Hell, she hadn’t even parted her lips.
Had she really gotten over him so completely?
In his dream, sorrow engulfed him as he realized she had.