Page 46 of Hot Soldier's Rescue

“Then tell me something,” she murmured back between kisses. “Who are you?”

* * *

Elise feltDrago freeze against her. Retreat emotionally. Quickly and completely.

“Oh, come on, Drago. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I’ve entrusted you with my big secret. You can share yours with me. Who are you and what are you really doing out here?”

“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously, standing upright and reaching out to button her dress.

“You’re more than just some simple arms dealer.”

“Why do you think that?”

He was back to being Mr. All-Questions-and-No-Answers again. “You went out of your way to help some crazy nun who wandered across your path. You didn’t have to come to Acuna to rescue me and the kids, but you did. You obviously like the children and are going out of your way to be kind to them. By coming after us, you lost contact with a potentially lucrative client. What arms dealer in their right mind would do that?”

“One with a soft spot for crazy nuns and helpless kids?”

“Nice try, but no cigar,” she retorted. “What gives?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“My secrets are bigger than yours.”

She snorted. “That’s a load of hooey. What’s more important than the lives of two innocent children?”

He answered without hesitation. “The lives of hundreds of innocent children.”

“Huh?”

“Like I said. Don’t ask.”

“I’m asking.” He started to turn away, to shut her out. She added desperately, “If what we have between us means anything at all to you, you’ll tell me. You owe me that much.”

He turned back to her and passed a frustrated hand over his face. “That’s not fair.”

“If I were a nun, I might fight fair. But I’m a woman. And since when do we ever fight fair?”

“Good point.”

“Come on, Drago. Tell me.”

“No.”

And with that single word, uttered with quiet finality, he’d shut her out of his life.

Worse, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that there wasn’t a darned thing she could do to change his mind or force him to spill his guts. His job—his secrets—were more important to him than she would ever be. And that pretty much said it all.

No matter how great her fantasies were of the two of them together after this trip, with her emphatically not posing as a nun, they were just that. Fantasies. They would never become a reality. He might kiss her as though he needed her more than life, but it was all just empty promises.

Devastated, she followed him back to the Jeep. She avoided Grandma’s all-too-observant gaze and climbed into the passenger seat in silence. For once, she was glad to have the drab clothes and wimple to hide behind. It wasn’t Drago’s questions she feared anymore, though; it was Grandma’s. Folding her hands as if in prayer, Elise bowed her head and closed her eyes. It was a close thing to fight off the tears burning the back of her eyelids, but she eventually managed to squeeze them away hard enough for her to open her eyes and actually see the road.

She glanced up and Grandma caught her gaze in the rearview mirror, the dark, wise eyes worried. “Are you all right, Sister Elise?”

“I am now. Prayer always calms me.”

A shadow of doubt passed over the old woman’s wrinkled face.

---