Page 33 of Arranged Wolf's Nanny
“No, I didn’t want to be a ballet dancer. I enjoyed it, sure, but I don’t think my father would have approved.”
Although her words were said lightly, Rick could hear the yearning in them.
Damn, John Heath.
“Papa thinks I’m too clever to be a ballet dancer,” Eva said. “He wants me to join the pack. Do a job like his.”
Rick smiled with pride. Damn right. Eva was aReinhardt. She had far too much potential to do anything else than be a leader.
“And how do you feel about that?” Rosalia asked.
Rick waited for Eva to speak, to tell Rosalia all about her excellent grades, her fluency in French and German, her excitement about the pack. His daughter had achieved more at the age of five than most did in an entire lifetime.
“I…” Eva said, her voice full of a hesitation that made Rick draw up short. “I don’t know…I…I love the pack. And I want Papa to be proud of me, but…”
There was a rustling, as if Rosalia had leaned forward to embrace Eva, “It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do yet,” she said, her voice soothing, “I’m sure that no matter what, your papa will be very proud of you. He alreadyisvery proud of you.”
“He is?” Eva asked, and the hope in her voice made something tight and uncomfortable clench in his chest.
“Of course he is,” Rosalia said, “you’re very lucky to have a papa like him.”
Rick swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
“What about your papa?” Eva asked, a hint of questioning in her voice.
Rosalia laughed, but it was tighter than before, shot through with anxiety. “Oh, my papa is very different from yours. Did you know I once tried to run away?”
“Really?” Eva asked with an amazement that nearly made Rick chuckle.
“Yep,” Rosalia said, her voice turning decidedly cheeky. Rick blinked. Who the hell wasthiswoman? “My bedroom window looked out into the woods. I used to sneak out at night once I was able to shift and play in the woods. One day, I had an…argument with my father.”
The pause made Rick’s blood begin to heat. Somehow, he highly doubted that it was anargument. Certainly not in the sense that an argument involved twoequalparticipants.
“I went out to the woods, and I wassoangry that I ripped a tree apart!”
“Yourippeda tree apart?”
“Just a small one,” Rosalia said, and Rick could hear the smile in her voice. “It was the first time I’d ever felt…powerful. I didn’t want it to stop. So I ran further into the woods. Further than I’d ever been. And I thought to myself, this might not be so bad. I can live out here, in the woods, as a wolf. I can explore the whole world. I don’t need anybody else. I can be free…”
Her voice drifted off, and Rick’s hand flexed against the wood of the door. He should walk in. Announce himself. Rosalia was sharing this with Eva, not him. She wouldn’t want him knowing this about her.
But he stood, rooted to the spot, unable to bring himself to disturb them.
He had known. Of course, he had known that there was more to his wife. That she hid so much of herself away from him. And selfishly, he wanted to see. Wanted to know her. Wanted her to trust him enough to reveal her true self.
But for now, this small stolen glimpse was enough.
“What happened next?” Eva asked in awe, and Rick exhaled. No doubt his daughter was imagining woodland adventures and exciting quests. Such was the world he kept her sheltered in.
“My father found me and brought me home. He was so cross with me! Oh, but…only because he was worried, of course,” Rosalia said with a laugh just playful enough to fool his daughter. To keep her in childish innocence.
But Rick heard the pain beneath. Could read between the lines. This had been no playful excursion into the woods. This had been a genuine attempt at escape.
And he had no doubt at all that Heath would have made his daughter pay for such an attempt.
His blood did rise then, in sheer fury that took him by surprise, and he knew he would no longer be able to remain concealed. Rosalia would smell his anger.
And no doubt believe it aimed at her.
