LITMIR.BIZ

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darling.”

      “I think I’m all out of courage,” she whispered.

      “Then borrow some of mine. Remember that Adam’s happy and safe and the kidnapper has promised not to hurt him. We’ll find a way to meet the kidnapper’s demands. And Werner Kloffman’s going to help us do that. He’ll give us his files, and we’ll be one step closer to getting our son back. But the first step is to pick out a dress and put it on.”

      Wise advice. Just take this one moment at a time, one simple task at a time.

      He turned with her still in his arms to face the closet. “I’ve always liked you in blue. How about this one?” He pointed at an elegant, navy-blue suit dress.

      “It’s not very sexy,” she said in a small voice.

      He laughed. “Sweetheart, you could wear a burlap sack and a paper bag over your head, and I’d still find you sexy.”

      She sighed. “You do have a golden tongue. I don’t know if you mean a word you say, but you say all the right things.”

      He kissed her forehead lightly. “I don’t say them to anyone but you, so I must mean them.”

      She let him help her slip on the dress. He zipped it for her, and the perfectly tailored garment hugged her body with its slim lines. Nick left to finish dressing, and she pulled her hair back into a quick French twist. She added stockings and conservative high heels to the ensemble but stopped short of adding a pearl necklace to the outfit. She didn’t want to look like her grandmother, after all. She tugged the dress’s V-neck wider open and tightened her bra straps to increase the undergarment’s lift. There. Definitely non-granny cleavage.

      She smiled at Ellie who was playing in the middle of the big bed. “Sweetie, you do wonders for Mommy’s assets.”

      The baby burbled back. Verbal early, Ellie was. Must be a girl-baby thing. She scooped up the infant and inhaled deeply of her fresh baby scent. “Mommy’s going to go torture Daddy with this naughty dress for a few hours. It’s going to be loads of fun. Be good for the nice FBI agent, okay?” She blew a raspberry against her daughter’s tummy and laughed when Ellie squirmed and gave her a sweet, gum-filled smile.

      Agent Morris poked his head through the open door. “Mr. Cass is ready whenever you are.”

      She nodded at the man. “Ellie just ate. She should be good for at least four hours. There’s a bottle in the fridge just in case, and she should go down around 10:00 p.m. Order whatever you want from room service and watch whatever you want on TV.” She added dryly, “And no boys in the house, please.”

      The agent grinned. “You forgot to ask me if I have a current CPR license and a babysitting certificate from an accredited after-school program.”

      Laura laughed. “I’m not paying you that much.”

      Morris looked around the plush suite. “Hey, this is the best babysitting gig I’ve ever landed. You and Mr. Cass have a nice evening. Ellie and me, we’ll get along just fine.” He patted the bulge on his right hip and added grimly, “Mr. Glock and I will see to it that nothing happens to your little princess on my watch.”

      Laura nodded, abruptly serious. “Thank you.”

      She stepped out into the living room and Nick made an appreciative sound. “You’re stunning, Super Mommy.”

      She made a face. “I’m not feeling very super at the moment. I feel like I’m hanging on by my fingernails.”

      “Well, you’re doing it with style. You look fabulous.”

      She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been over this before. I’m the thirty-year-old mother of two.”

      “That’s correct. You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more.”

      Her heart melted a little. It would be so easy to ignore his trespasses from the past. To fall into his beautiful blue gaze and forget everything else. Exactly the way she had for the past year.

      Like it or not, she had to face up to the fact that their current predicament wasn’t entirely Nick’s fault. She’d been as guilty as he of ignoring the past and pretending that nothing bad could be lurking in that giant memory gap of his.

      If she lost herself in him and his damnably magnetic charm again, she’d regret it as sure as she was standing here. Someday reality would rear its ugly head again, just like it had this time, and bite her. Who would get hurt the next time? Her? The kids? All of them?

      It was time. She and Nick had to confront the past head-on and make peace with it once and for all. They had to do it for their children … no matter what the cost to the two of them.

       Chapter 10

      The place Kloffman had picked for their meeting was dark and quiet. The booths had tall dividers separating them and plenty of privacy. Laura sighed beside Nick as they stepped inside.

      “What’s wrong?” he murmured.

      “Too easy a place to do surveillance. Not a good spot for a clandestine exchange.”

      “Really?”

      “Loud, rowdy, and crowded is a better venue. It’s impossible to eavesdrop more than a few feet away, there’s lots of noise pollution to foul up directional microphones, and people are hard to keep track of in a big crowd.”

      It made sense. And she was the former spy, after all.

      She continued, “Our best bet is to get in and get out of here, fast.”

      “We’ll just order drinks, then. We’ll get what we came for and leave immediately,” he replied.

      She nodded beside him and pasted on a pleasant smile as the maître d’ approached. They were led to a booth near the back of the place, and Kloffman was already there, looking impatient. Nick smiled to himself. Typical German. If the guy wasn’t five minutes early, he considered himself late.

      Kloffman stood as they approached. Laura took his hands and greeted the German warmly. Quick on the uptake, Werner kissed her cheek and ushered them to the table like they were old friends. A waitress took their drink orders and left. Finally. They were alone.

      Laura leaned forward and murmured past a warm smile that kept her lips from moving in any significant way, “Do you have the files?”

      “Yes, my dear, I do.” He brought out a small box from under the table, gaily wrapped in hot-pink paper and tied with a wide white ribbon. A white bow nearly overwhelmed the fist-sized box.

      “How delightful!” Laura exclaimed. “You shouldn’t have brought me a gift. Now I feel bad for not bringing you anything.”

      Werner laughed back. “My wife insisted. She said you should open it when you get home.”

      Laura duly tucked the box beside her on the banquette. She then led the conversation deftly into a discussion of how Werner’s grown children were doing, and what he’d thought of Southeast Asia, where he’d taken a recent vacation. Nick was impressed. How she knew that about the German executive, he hadn’t the slightest idea. Or maybe she’d just made it up and Werner was adept at following along with her patter.

      Nick forced himself not to look around the place, not to check for listeners or watchers. He leaned back, looping an arm over the back of the banquette and smiling at Laura like a proud husband enjoying his attractive and effervescent wife. It wasn’t hard to act besotted with her. He was besotted with her.

      In due course, he and Werner argued good-naturedly about who would pick up the tab for the drinks, and he ultimately let Werner pay the bill. With a promise to stay in touch and come visit Werner in Germany soon, Nick and Laura stood up to leave.

      And just

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