Out of Time Read online

  She had the gall to look affronted. “The sheriff? He’s not my new boyfriend. I barely know him. Where are you taking me?”

  “Where do you think? I’m taking you in—back to DC. There are a lot of people who want to talk to you. You can tell them your sob story and make damned clear while you are at it that I didn’t tell you anything.”

  She took a step back, clearly afraid. “You can’t do that. They’ll kill me if they find out that I’m alive.”

  “Is that supposed to be a deterrent? It’s no more than you deserve and probably what will happen to you anyway when they convict you of treason. But if by ‘they’ you mean your comrade Mikhail, you don’t have to worry about him.” He paused and gave her a hard look. “He’s dead.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Natalie reeled back at Scott’s pronouncement. She covered the gasp from her mouth with her hand. “Dead?” she repeated dumbly, too stunned to let herself dare to believe it and shout for joy.

  But Scott—this Scott who hated her and looked at her as if he didn’t know her—mistook her reaction from one of relief to something else. But could she blame him? She’d made them strangers by lying to him from the start.

  This whole thing had taken on the feeling of the surreal. How could she just be standing here with him and not in his arms? She’d mourned and missed him every day since learning that he’d been killed, and now that he was here all she wanted to do was plaster herself against that big, safe warrior’s body, let him hold her and make her feel better, and weep with happiness. But she couldn’t. Everything had changed because he knew the truth. There wouldn’t be any happy reunions for them. Hatred was her new normal.

  She’d feared this moment in her worst dreams, but it was far worse than she could have imagined. It felt as if her heart had been ripped to shreds and stomped on, leaving her with a longing so strong it threatened to cut off her breath. She wanted what had been so desperately, it was hard to accept this new reality.

  “Sorry to break the bad news,” Scott said—clearly not sorry. “But one of my teammates shot your comrade when the bastard tried to kill my sister.” His gaze sharpened as he appeared to have just thought of something. “Let me guess: there was more than just a love of treason and Russia between you and Mikhail.”

  Natalie knew Scott had every right to his sarcasm and every right to be angry and hate her, but she wasn’t going to take that—not about Mick.

  She looked him straight in the eye and spoke in a firm voice. “You are wrong. I barely remember Russia, and I’m glad he is dead. There was never anything between us. I despised Mick. He was the one who forced me into this.”

  Literally.

  But her words fell on deaf ears and an indifferent shrug of shoulders. “What makes you think I give a shit?” He picked up her purse, which she’d dropped in their scuffle, and tried to hand it to her. “You have three minutes to get you stuff together, and then we’re leaving.” He gave her a warning look. “Don’t try anything. I won’t go gentle on you next time.”

  She flushed, both angry and embarrassed. She hated how easily he’d evaded her defensive maneuvers. But that was the problem. Her training was defensive—meant to give her time to get away. She didn’t have the kind of training that would enable her to go head-to-head with him.

  There probably wasn’t any training she could do to do that.

  She knew every inch of his body. He was ripped. A physical specimen whose muscles weren’t just for show, they were for a purpose. They’d been built to help make him one of the most elite warriors in the world. His strength and skill were on a different level—i.e., not her level. Not 99.9 percent of the population’s level, either, for that matter. Even a small glimpse of his skill had proved that what she’d heard and read about tier-one SEAL operators was true.

  Although she probably shouldn’t be thinking about his body right now. Or have her head filled with visions of resting her cheek on that bare chest she was just imagining with his powerful arms wrapped around her after they’d . . . what? Made love? Had sex? Screwed like bunny rabbits?

  What meant one thing then was now confused. Tainted. It had been real for her, but in a fantasy world that was now gone.

  His body and what they’d once shared were off-limits. She needed to keep her head clear if she was going to get through to him. Somehow she had to convince him not to take her in. It wasn’t just about her; she had to protect her family and the child she was carrying. The only way to keep them safe was for her to stay dead.

  She ignored the purse he was holding out to her. “Please, Scott. I’m begging you just to hear me out. I know you have no reason to trust me—”

  He made a sharp sound. “Christ, if that isn’t the understatement of the year.”

  She ignored the sarcasm. “But if Mick’s superiors find out I’m alive, they won’t just go after me; they’ll go after my family. They know I betrayed them. I never meant to pass on anything important. I didn’t intentionally pass on information about your mission—it was a mistake. As soon as I found out about it, I tried to stop it and warn you. But then they tried to have me killed. I think they wanted someone to take the fall.”

  She could tell he was furious by how hard he tossed her bag on the sofa. “So let me get this straight. Your defense is that you didn’t intend to be a good spy, but when you actually gave them something worthwhile by ‘mistake’ that I should give you points because you tried to warn me?” His voice was reaching dangerous levels of anger and that well-bred facade was definitely looking a little volatile. Had she really wanted to see him lose control just once? Be careful what you wish for. “And now I should feel sorry for you because they decided to make you their patsy?” He laughed harshly and looked at her as if she were an idiot—which is about how she was feeling. “Tough luck, Natalya. That’s the chance you take when you get into the treason and spy business. But I’m not going to let you take me down with you. You are going back.”

  She had never hated her birth name as much as when he said it. It was worse than the grade-school teasing she’d endured that had precipitated the change to Natalie. Apparently, he was done listening to her. He grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the door with one hand, and with the other grabbed her coat and threw it at her.

  “Wait! I need my—”

  “Too late.” He opened the door and tried to shove her through it in front of him. “Your three minutes are up.”

  But she stopped in her tracks, refusing to budge. “Stop, Scott!” she repeated. “You can’t do this.”

  “The hell I can’t. I’m taking you back if I have to tie you up and drag you.”

  He was about to physically force her forward and close the door behind him—with her purse and keys inside—when she blurted, “I’m pregnant!”

  His forward momentum came to a chillingly cold stop. But it was nothing compared to the icy glare he leveled at her. It was a look as sharp and eviscerating as the edge of a razor. “What did you just say?”

  She swallowed uneasily, having never been the recipient of that much raw hostility directed at her, especially by a man who’d once looked at her with such tenderness. “I . . . I’m pregnant.”

  Her wobbly, uncertain voice apparently didn’t help her credibility any.

  He still had her arm and hauled her up to meet his gaze. “You’re lying.”

  The hatred emanating from him made her want to shiver. And cry. Most of all cry over what she’d lost. But maybe she’d never really had it. Whatever feelings he’d had for her had been predicated on a lie.

  But not all of it had been a lie. She had to try to find a way to convince him.

  “I’m n-not. It’s the truth, I swear.” Suddenly she thought of something. “I can prove it to you tomorrow morning.”

  “Why not right now? I’m sure we can find a store with a pregnancy test. Or