Page 37

‘Not now.’
Call me, mimed Alya as the door closed. Claudia heard more voices outside and then he was getting in the driver’s side and starting the engine. Her bravado—what was left of it—fizzled away, leaving only the occasional bubble of confidence in a sea of flat bewilderment.
Five minutes went by in silence. Ten. Another ten. Apparently, he’d used up all his words when claiming her. He didn’t seem at all eager to reveal why he’d done so.
‘Why did you come for me?’
He didn’t glance her way. Never even took his eyes off the road ahead, but his hands tightened on the wheel and the tension in his body was contagious. ‘Because you have something to tell me.’
He knew. Somehow, he’d discovered her condition.
‘Who told you?’
‘Sophia.’
Hard to take revenge on a little girl.
‘And you think it’s yours?’
He spared her a scathing glance. ‘Don’t even try that line. It won’t hold.’
Possibly not. Everyone knew where her interest lay.
‘My head was covered last time I was kidnapped. My hands were tied and travel was by horseback. This is a luxury abduction by comparison.’
‘There are blankets and pillows on the back seat.’
Now he was making her feel ungrateful.
‘I would have told you.’ Maybe. ‘Eventually.’
‘Big of you.’
‘I’m not trying to make the problem go away, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
‘It’s not a problem, it’s a baby.’ Oh, he could sound vicious when he wanted to.
‘Right. I’m not trying to make this baby go away. I’m adjusting to its unexpected presence. I was protected. I thought I was. It wasn’t a trap.’ She wanted to make that clear. ‘I’m...’ Would honesty suffice? Could she say she was scared this baby would ruin her life and his? ‘I’m trying to get my head around what it means, going forward. I took some time to shore up my defences.’
Nothing.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, mainly to fill that awful silence with something other than tension.
‘Home.’
She laughed, short and sharp. ‘You might need to factor in the Claudia effect. Too bold for my brother’s court. A weapon spent as far as the north is concerned. I have no home. I seem to have run out of options.’
‘I’m taking you to the manor. And if it’s not home to either of us yet, I trust that in the years to come it will be. A bolthole like the room we had in the fortress wall. Our place. A safe place. We can make it happen this time.’
Oh, those words and the memories that followed. The promise of safety was her Achilles heel.
‘We’ll be married as soon as it can be arranged,’ he added gruffly.
It wasn’t a question, but still...
‘You want to marry me?’
‘Who knows?’ He hadn’t looked at her once. ‘But there’s a baby coming so we’re doing it. It’s the only way.’