He let out the breath he’d been holding. “My God,” he ground out. He caught her up roughly and held her close enough to bruise her, his eyes closed as he rocked her against him. “My God, I was scared to death to tell you...!”
“But why?” she asked gently.
“You might be afraid of our children inheriting bad blood,” he said curtly. “My father is a thief. From what I’ve been able to find out, he’s been in trouble with the law all his life.”
She nuzzled her face against him, feeling warm and safe and secure. “Environment plays a big part in shaping a person’s character,” she said drowsily. “I get sleepy when you love me. Is that natural?”
His breath caught. “When I love you,” he repeated in a slow whisper, feeling the words to his bones. His eyes closed and he held her closer, shivering. Love her. Love her. It was loving. Why hadn’t he realized it? “My God.”
“Is something wrong?” she asked, her voice puzzled.
“No. Not a single thing.” He drew back and searched her eyes, holding them while he looked for more secrets, hoping that he’d hit on the right one. “How do you feel about me, sweetheart?” he asked gently.
“I... I want you,” she stammered, embarrassed.
He shook his head slowly. “Sex wouldn’t be enough for you. Even good sex. Not with your background. Try again.”
She hesitated. It was hard to lay her heart down in front of him, but clearly that was what he wanted.
He brushed his thumb over her soft lips. “It takes a lot of trust, doesn’t it? But I trusted you enough to tell you the most painful secret I have.”
That was true. He had. She was the one lacking in trust, not him. She drew a slow, steadying breath and looked up at him. “I love you, Gene,” she said simply.
“Do you?” he asked huskily.
The expression on his lean, hard face made her confident. “With all my heart,” she whispered.
He traced the soft contours of her mouth with fingers that were faintly unsteady. “Forever, little one,” he breathed, bending to her mouth.
Tears stung her eyes as she closed them. “Forever!”
He kissed her with aching tenderness and picked her up in his arms, sitting down in an armchair with her in his lap. He tucked her face into his throat and sat just holding her close for a long, long time before he finally leaned back with a heavy sigh, still cradling her close.
“Now, you’re going to tell me about your parents.”
She shivered. “I can’t.”
“You can. We’re part of each other now. There’s nothing you can’t share with me. Tell me about them.”
She lay quietly for a minute. Then she began to speak. She told him about the countries where they’d lived, the conditions of unspeakable poverty they’d endured.
“They never let it get them down,” she told him. “They were always sure that things would get better. If we ran out of supplies, they were confident that new ones would come in time. And they always did,” she said wonderingly. “I’ve never known people like them. They really lived what they believed in. And then, one day, it all came down around our ears. The regimes changed so quickly.” She hesitated.
He pulled her closer, sensing her feelings. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. Tell me what happened.”
“We were arrested for giving comfort to the enemy,” she said, giving in to the terrifying memories. She pressed closer. “They locked us up overnight. Even then, my parents were sure that we’d be set free by the government troops when they arrived. But the next morning we were marched out of the village along with some other political prisoners and stood up against an ocotillo fence.” She swallowed. “We could hear firing in the distance. I kept thinking, if we can just hold on for a few minutes, they’ll come, they’ll rescue us. Just as I thought it, the guns started firing. My father, and then my mother, fell beside me. I closed my eyes, waiting.” She shivered and he held her close, bruisingly close. “A bullet whizzed past my head and I knew the next one was going to get me. But before it hit, gunfire erupted around the three of us who were still alive. I was taken out of the village by a priest we knew. He got me to safety, although how is still a blur. Of all the people I knew, Winnie was the only one I could trust, so I called her and she brought me here.”
He thanked God that she was with him, that he was holding her, that the bullets had missed and the soldiers had saved her. “So that’s why you came here.”
She nodded, staring across his broad chest toward the window. She sighed heavily. “It was a nightmare. Sometimes I still wake up crying in the night.”
“If you wake up crying from now on, I’ll be there to hold you,” he said gently. “Starting tonight.”
“But, Gene...!”
He put a finger over her lips. “I’ll leave you before morning. No one will know except the two of us.” He searched her soft eyes. “God, honey, it’s going to be hell being separated from you even while I work, much less at night, do you know that? I don’t want you out of my sight!”
Her lips parted on a rush of breath.
“Are you shocked?” he asked huskily, searching her rapt face. “I thought you knew by now that I’m hopelessly in love with you, Allie.”
“Oh, Gene,” she whispered, shaken.
“I never knew what love was,” he said softly. “I’m not sure I was even alive until you came along.”
“I feel the same way,” she whispered. Her fingers touched his hard mouth tenderly. “I’d die for you, Gene.”
His eyes closed and he shivered. He’d never felt anything so intense, or so special.
Allison kissed him softly, again and again. He looked as if he needed comforting. Incredible, for such an independent, self-sufficient man.
“What about your career, little one?” he asked later.
“I can’t go back
