Page 58 of Close Pursuit

Her reckless desire to love him warred with her need for caution and self-preservation. And there was Dawn to think about, too…

Her thoughts spun round and round until she was dizzy from them.

Dawn woke up, and she fed the baby and played with her to distract herself.

Who was Dawn’s father? When they got back to the States, should she go looking for the birth father or just take over raising the infant and not look back?

Had Dawn been conceived in forbidden love, or was she the product of rape? There’d been no time in their frantic race for their lives to ask the girl anything about how she’d gotten pregnant or who Dawn’s father was.

Katie’d heart told her to keep Dawn and raise her, but logic reluctantly told her the law favored Dawn’s birth father. He had a right to know he had a child and had a right to choose whether or not to raise Dawn.

She smoothed the infant’s hair, which was starting to grow and was coming in pale and blonde—sonot Zaghastani.

Dawn opened her bright blue eyes, looked up at her, and burped. Loudly.

Katie laughed and scooped up the baby for a cuddle. She whispered into Dawn’s hair, “Us girls, we’ll show Alex what it’s like to be loved and have a real family, won’t we?”

But as soon as the words left her mouth, doubt slammed into her. Easy to say. Hard to do. Was it worth the risk? Was he worth it?

Thing was, Alex was a pretty extraordinary man from what she’d seen of him so far.

Dawn gurgled in what sounded like agreement…or maybe she just had gas.

Katie sighed. To try or not to try? That was the question.

Did she dare try to break through the walls Alex Peters hid behind and teach him how to love?

10

A different Marine fetched Alex from his room the next morning and led him downstairs. He caught sight of Katie and Dawn at the foot of the stairs and relief jumped in his gut before he remembered.

She is not who she pretends to be.

He should have known. If life had taught him nothing else, it was that people were never who they said they were.

“There you are, Alex!” Katie cried. “We missed you, didn’t we, Dawn?”

He stepped close to chuck the baby’s cheek. “How’d she sleep last night?”

“As good as ever. She’s a great baby.”

He was vividly aware of the woman attaché from last night and the Marine behind him paying close attention to his conversation with Katie. Looking for him and Katie to send coded signals to each other, were they? What did they know about Katie that he didn’t?

“Shall we go?” the attaché chick said pleasantly.

She undoubtedly couldn’t wait to get rid of him. The feeling was mutual. He was more than ready to get as far away from this part of the world as he could. Had Katie not pulled high-level strings with Uncle Charlie, he doubted they would be leaving the embassy so quickly this morning. Hell, they would probably be lying dead in some alley with bullets to the backs of their heads.

They stepped outside and a limousine bearing diplomatic license plates waited for them. Katie, Dawn, attaché chick, and he climbed inside. The Marine officer from last night’s interrogation was already waiting within, scowling.

They arrived at the airport and were ushered into the terminal by their hosts. An airport official in a suit led them up a staircase and into the passenger area of the terminal, bypassing the usual security checkpoints. The man handed Alex a paper jacket containing plane tickets and boarding passes all the way through to Dulles Airport just outside Washington, D.C.

“Do you need us to stay until you board, Dr. Peters?” the attaché asked solicitously.

Gonna make him beg a little, was she? He answered with a calm he was far from feeling, “That would be helpful.”

The woman added blandly, “We’ve spoken with the airport security staff and they’re on high alert for any problems.”

He’d bet. She’d probably told the Uzbeki’shewas the primary threat.

---