Page 66 of Savage Redemption

I’m not so sure. Nathan Darke has made his opinion of me perfectly clear, and I really can’t blame him. I’d have burnt alive any man who treated my Erin the way I treated his daughter. I’m getting off lightly with his threats to go to the police, not that he’s likely to be able to make anything stick. Evidence has a way of evaporating, I find, if you throw enough money at it and target the right places.

“What if he never comes around?” I stroll across to her and tip up her chin. “I can tell you and your father were close. Still are.”

“Yes, but?—”

I brush my lips across hers. “It’s not just that. Apart from losing contact with your family, would you really want a lifetime of looking over your shoulder? Men like Kaminski, they have a long reach and long memories.” I should know, I’m a man just like Kaminski, or I used to be. “We’d be forever putting down roots, just to have to move on at a moment’s notice. Would you want that for our little girl?”

“We’d cope,” she protests, “as long as we’re together.”

I gather her in close to me and savour the moment, the feeling of simply holding her. I never dreamed of this during those months I languished in Kaminski’s cells, but I could get used to it. If the circumstances were different.

I step back, lay my hands on her shoulders and hold her gaze. “I won’t be away long.”With luck.“I’ll come back, once things are settled. Or send for you.”

“How long?”

“A few days, probably.”

“Will you keep in touch? Let me know what’s happening?”

“Yes, if I can.”

“What if I don’t hear from you?”

“Then you move on. Make a life for yourself and Erin.”

“I can’t. I won’t,” she sobs.

I give her shoulders a light squeeze. “You can and you will. That’s what this has all been about, ever since I learned that Erin existed. Promise me.”

She shakes her head. “Please, take me with you.”

“That isn’t possible. I need you to promise me. I need you to be happy.”

Her jaw firms. She looks up and meets my gaze. “You can make me happy.”

I sigh. “I can’t take you back to Tenerife,micorazón. It’s too dangerous.”

“Make love to me. Here, now.”

“A tempting offer,amor.” The best I’ve had in years, in fact. “We can’t?—”

“Yes, we can. I want to.”

“Me, too, but?—”

“Your hands have healed enough. Megan said so.”

“It’s not that.” The burns were superficial in any case.

“What, then? Do you not want me?”

I groan.Christ.“Yes, I want you,”I manage to grind out.I always did, which is why I was so selfish.

She steps away and reaches for the buttons on her shirt. “You always liked me naked, I recall.”

That’s true but hardly the point…

“Rosie, don’t?—”

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