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Wincing, Eva reached for Katya’s hand just as the door swung open behind her.
“What did you do? The kid’s finally quiet.”
Eva recognized the voice. “All babies cry, Sergeant Norton.” She guided Katya’s hand away from the bandage. “That’s one way they communicate.”
He closed the door, stamped his feet and walked past her to the fireplace. “Reminds me of a drill sergeant I once knew,” he said. His arms were filled with the bundles that he’d taken from her on the truck. He dropped them on the floor near the hearth. “He had a good set of lungs, too.”
Eva tried to tug the edge of her coat forward, but it was wedged tight beneath Katya’s back. She pulled her sweater down to cover as much of her breast as she could.
“I’m glad the kid’s sleeping,” he went on, yanking off his gloves as he turned toward her. “That’ll give me a chance to…” His words trailed off. “Whoa,” he muttered.
“She isn’t sleeping,” Eva said, although she was stating the obvious. Sergeant Norton was standing directly in front of her, so he could clearly see what Katya was doing.
He cleared his throat, then focused on her side as he stuffed his gloves into his coat pockets. “I wanted to check your bandage,” he said, drawing off his hat. “But I can see from here there’s no fresh blood.”
She told herself not to be embarrassed. He was only doing his job. He’d seen more skin when he’d tended to her injury on the truck, and between her sweater and Katya’s head, her breast was mostly concealed. This was a perfectly natural function, and she wasn’t about to cut short her child’s feeding because of some misplaced modesty. “I will let you know when we’re done, Sergeant Norton.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“Yes, I realize that. It was unavoidable.”
“How’s your wound feeling? Any pain?”
“No.”
“Would you tell me if there was?”
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
“It’s not you that’s holding us up. It’s the storm.”
“It’s early in the season for this much snow, even at this elevation,” she said. “It should stop soon.”
“That would be good.”
“Then we will be able to reach the helicopter.”
“That’s the plan.”
She nodded, determined to maintain eye contact with him, although it wasn’t easy. The fire and the oil lamp were providing more illumination than the moonlight in the churchyard had, and she hadn’t been able to see much more than his silhouette in the truck, so this was the first time she was getting a good look at his face.
She hadn’t realized how handsome he was. His hair was the color of sable, touched with gold from the firelight. Though it was cut short, it was too unruly to lay flat. It curled in soft waves that made her fingers tingle with the urge to test their texture. His eyes were the indefinable, changeable color between green and brown and were framed by lashes as dark as his hair. The combination of his harsh features and his laugh lines gave him the air of a rebellious boy trapped behind the mask of a man.
Why had she thought that? There was nothing boyish about him. His shoulders were broad and square. His hips were narrow and his legs long. He stood with the same athletic grace she’d noticed when she’d first seen him, like a predator watching his prey.
It wasn’t fear that tickled through her this time. It was the instinctive, sexual awareness of a woman who was in the proximity of a very virile man.
God, no! She couldn’t possibly think about Sergeant Norton in that way. This awareness was merely a product of the circumstances, a side effect of being in danger and the adrenaline that it produced. Added to that was the intimacy of breast-feeding her child. She’d never done this in front of anyone before, let alone a man. A man whose touch she’d already felt on her body.
No. It meant nothing. She had to ignore it.
The fire crackled. The wind howled. Aside from that, the only sound in the hut was Katya’s steady suckling. Which only heightened Eva’s consciousness of their situation. She searched for something to say that would break the silence, even if it was another inane comment about the weather. “What is this place?” she asked.
“Place?”
“We couldn’t have gone far enough to reach another village.”
“From the looks of it, this was a farm. There’s another building out back that was probably used to keep animals. That’s junior’s take on it, anyway. He says it looks like they had sheep.” He wiped his forehead as if he was too hot, then shrugged off his coat. “He and Lang are storing the truck in there. They’ll be coming in soon. Duncan and Gonzo drew first watch, so they’ll let us know if we get company.”
Eva watched him as he hung his coat over the back of one of the chairs that were ranged along the table. He appeared as uncomfortable with their situation as she was. At least the other men were still outside. She guessed by the way they had scattered upon their arrival here that the task of keeping track of her had fallen to Sergeant Norton. “Do you and the others usually work as a team?” she asked.
He dragged another chair closer to the fire, turned it around and straddled the seat. He focused on the door. “That’s right. We’re from Eagle Squadron.”
“Eagle Squadron,” she repeated. “That explains the code words I was given for our rendezvous.”
“Yeah, we like to keep things simple.”
“Am I correct to assume you must be part of the Special Operations unit they call Delta Force?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Your government would want the mission kept secret. We have the same kind of elite soldiers in Russia.”
“Russian commandos aren’t in the same league as us, Dr. Petrova. Eagle Squadron’s the best there is.”
He delivered the boast as if it were fact. She felt her lips quirk before she realized that for all their sakes, she’d better hope the boast was accurate. “You appear to have worked together for some time.”
“Lang and Gonzales have been with the team more than ten years, like me. Sergeant Colbert came on board around five years ago, after our intel specialist decided to have kids.”
“Aren’t you allowed to have families?”
“Sure, she just didn’t want to go out in the field anymore.”
“She? I didn’t know women are permitted to join the Special Forces.”
“Captain Fox wasn’t officially on the team. We kind of borrowed her from Intelligence.”
“I see,” she said, although she didn’t. “What about the big blond man you call junior?”
“That’s Sergeant Matheson, our ordnance guy. The man he’s replacing decided to go freelance and start up his own security contracting company. Junior’s been with us for less than a year, but he’s already proving himself to be one of the best soldiers I’ve worked with.” He darted a glance at her. “But don’t tell him I said that. Rookies need to be kept humble.”
The trace of humor in his voice tempted her to relax, but she reminded herself not to let down her guard. “I hope this mission won’t require him to prove his expertise.”
“Don’t worry, Dr. Petrova. You and your daughter are under our protection now. We won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
He sounded sincere, yet she still suspected his real orders were to protect the disk that she’d brought. She looked at the bundles he’d dropped near the hearth and wondered if he or one of his colleagues had searched them before he’d brought them inside. They seemed intact, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t felt them from the outside.
He followed her gaze. “You said you were careful not to raise anyone’s suspicions before you left.”
“That’s right.”
“And that it could be a day before anyone misses you.”
“Perhaps more.”
“I don’t understand that. Won’t you be expected to work?”
“I scheduled a few days in my quarters to catch up on my reading, which isn’t unusual for me. It’s unlikely anyone would have a reason to disturb me.”
“Wouldn’t they expect to see you around the complex?”
“No. I often fix my meals myself rather than go to the main cafeteria, especially when I’m immersed in a project. I was moved to a self-contained apartment after Katya’s birth so that her crying wouldn’t disturb my neighbors. The walls are well insulated, so no one would be able to hear whether or not we were inside.”
“Are there a lot of kids at the complex?”
“The facility is like a small university campus. It wasn’t designed with children in mind, although there are a few. Many of the researchers bring their spouses, but not many bring babies. They prefer to send their children to boarding schools when they’re old enough, because of the isolation.”
“What do you do with your baby when you work?”
“I bring her to my office with me. There is no organized day care, so no one will remark on her absence tomorrow.”
He got up to add a few sticks to the fire, then remained there and watched the flames. “What about her father?”
“He has his own responsibilities. He seldom has the time to see Katya.”
“So he lives at the complex?”
“Yes.”
“Is he a scientist, too?”
“Yes.” It wasn’t really a lie but only part of the truth.
“Won’t he notice you’re gone?”
“Not immediately. The research I do constitutes only one component of the overall project. My area of expertise is the theoretical side of biochemical engineering, such as mathematical modeling, so I work on a computer. That’s why I can bring Katya to my office. Her father works in the lab, which is in a separate area of the complex.”
“I meant, won’t he miss you when you’re not at work?”
“We no longer have a personal relationship. The last time I saw him was a few days ago at our regular staff meeting, but it’s not uncommon for weeks to go by without any contact between us.”
He appeared to digest that for a while. “And you didn’t want to say goodbye to him?”
“No. I already assured you that I told no one. As I said, I know what’s at stake, and it’s not only our individual safety. Were you told what’s on the disk I’m carrying?”
He poked at the fire with another stick. Flames flared from orange to yellow, highlighting the harsh planes of his face. “I heard you were developing a biological weapon. Some new kind of virus.”
She tried to read his expression. She couldn’t see any condemnation in it, yet how could she help but blame herself? “I regret more than you can imagine that my own work contributed to the Chameleon Virus program. I had believed we would unlock the secrets of prolonging human life, not destroying it. The very idea that I could have helped in the development of this…this evil is horrifying. The world has to learn the truth because only international pressure will ensure the research will be stopped.”
There was more silence. When he spoke again, his voice was thoughtful. “I understand why you made the deal with our government, Dr. Petrova, and I respect that. It took a lot of guts to admit you were wrong and try to fix it.” He tossed the stick into the fire. “But there’s one thing about your actions I don’t understand.”
“Yes?”
He brushed off his hands on his pants and turned to face her squarely. “Why did you hide the fact that you were bringing a child?”
Her pulse jumped. “I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“Now I’m just a simple soldier, and I don’t have the education of you scientists or the smarts of the diplomats you made your deal with, but it’s my guess you had to have a good reason for neglecting to mention your baby. I sure hope that reason doesn’t come back to bite us.”
Despite Sergeant Norton’s disclaimer, Eva wasn’t about to make the mistake of underestimating his intelligence. His questions were continuing to prove his perceptiveness. “I simply didn’t want to be delayed by issues of child custody,” she replied, giving another part-truth. “I couldn’t predict how your people would have reacted.”
“They’d still want your information. Once you’re in the States, they’ll get you a good lawyer.”
“I was willing to offer myself as a pawn but not my daughter. Bureaucrats and courts don’t always put the interests of the child first. I’ve seen how your justice system handles international custody cases, and I won’t risk—” Her voice broke. She cleared her throat, annoyed that she’d once again shown weakness in front of this man. She cupped her hand over Katya’s head. “She belongs with me.”
Sergeant Norton pulled his chair forward until it was even with the bench where she was sitting. He straddled the chair once more, folding his arms over the back. “I read in your file that your mother was American and your father was Russian. You went to live with him after she died.” He paused. “Is that why you’re so worried about your daughter? Because of what happened to you?”
She should have realized that he would know her background. The American government would have investigated her thoroughly before agreeing to her deal. “What else did the file tell you?”
“It said your mother was a translator at the UN, and your father was a diplomat.”
She moved her thumb over Katya’s cheek. “They had very little in common. After their marriage dissolved, my mother and I went to live with my grandmother, and my father took a position in Bolivia. He didn’t see me again until the day after my mother’s funeral. He was a complete stranger to me, yet the court allowed him to take me from the only home and family that I’d known.”
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“My father had many influential friends, including American politicians. My grandmother was just an ordinary woman and didn’t have the resources to fight him in court.”
He extended his arm to touch her knee. “I’m sorry. That must have been rough.”
She shook her head. “Don’t waste your sympathy on me. It’s Katya I’m concerned about. I didn’t want to deceive you about her, but I felt I had no choice.”
“I can see why you thought that, after what happened to you, but your situation’s different. You’ve got plenty of influential friends of your own in our government now. They wouldn’t have scuttled your deal just because of a possible custody issue with one of your colleagues…” His words trailed off. “Katya’s father’s not just an ordinary scientist, is he? If he was, you wouldn’t be so worried.”
She’d realized he was perceptive. She hadn’t anticipated to what extent. “It’s not really relevant.”
He gripped her knee and leaned closer. “I think it is, or you wouldn’t be hiding it. Dr. Petrova, who is Katya’s father?”
There was no hint of a smile around the edges of his eyes now, yet she glimpsed sympathy in the depths, a softness at odds with the determination that showed in his tightened jaw. His hold on her leg was firm, but his touch was still gentle. She wouldn’t have expected that in a man of his size. It made her remember how carefully he’d cared for her wound and how tenderly his fingertips had skimmed over her bare skin.
At the thought, the sexual awareness that she’d thought she’d suppressed sprang back full force. He was leaning close enough for her to catch the scent of his body. It was the same clean tang of soap, wool and man that had clung to his coat. It enveloped her in a warmth that had nothing to do with the fire. She wanted him to touch her again. She wanted to feel the strength of his arms around her and the warmth of his breath on her ear….
All at once, she realized that she could no longer feel the tug of Katya at her breast. She glanced down. The baby’s eyes were closed, and her jaw was slack with sleep. A drop of milk drizzled over her chin as she let Eva’s nipple slide out of her mouth.
A blush seared Eva’s skin from her cheeks to her chest. She’d wanted to use conversation to distract both Sergeant Norton and herself from this intimacy. It had worked too well. How could she have relaxed? How could she have forgotten, even for one second, that she was still sitting with her breast bared in front of a veritable stranger? She quickly shifted Katya’s limp form to her shoulder, using her bent arm to cover herself. Only then did she risk a glance at Sergeant Norton’s face.
He swallowed, then withdrew his hand and curled it over the back of his chair. His casual pose didn’t change, yet she sensed a new tautness in the way he held his body.
She knew he couldn’t have missed seeing her bare nipple. The fact hung in the silence between them. And the sexual awareness she should not—must not—feel strengthened until it was as tangible as the crackle of the flames on the hearth.
