Page 107 of Bastard

“Mierda.” Diego curses beside me. “Sorry, Luciana. I wanted to tell you myself how he refused to sign—”

“She’s my goddamn wife. Understand?”

What follows is a stunned silence, the kind that leaves you speechless. The kind that manages to astonish the most vigilant of men.

“Ex-wife,” I correct him.

Jaws drop. I catch Declan nodding.

Hayden steps in front of me and gently touches my face. “My wife.”

Diego makes a choking noise.

“Former. Or soon to be? Because if this is a proposal—”

“I tore up the papers you sent me.”

“What?” I screech.

“Well bugger me blind,” the Irishman chuckles.

Hayden turns toward the gawkers. “Why are you standing about? There’s work to finish.”

I spin toward Diego. “You knew?”

“He didn’t give me a choice.”

I fix my attention on Hayden. “The night we made love, when you promised me we’d leave everything on the table ... and you said nothing?”

“That’s my signal,” Diego mutters, “to leave.”

“Wait. Get her out of here.”

Diego takes me by the arm and forces me forward.

“Married?” I holler over my shoulder.

But Hayden is back to business, and the questions I have will have to wait.

“Close this motherfucking mine down.”

39

It took three days for Hayden and his team to close down the mine. Like Hayden said, the uranium will remain untapped and unmined, so no one else can profit from supplying bomb-making material to terrorists.

Everyone has reassembled for a debriefing at the Kenyan Wildlife Reserve. And from what Diego has told me, they’ll be given the new responsibility of hunting down every extremist on the receiving end of the shipments.

It was my idea to go on a safari. Though Hayden and I haven’t discussed the bombshell he dropped a few days ago or have had any time to talk at all, I’ve calmed down enough to realize it doesn’t really matter that we’re married. Sí, we’ll talk about his manipulative tendencies. But with the mine closed and this assignment done, my beautiful, battered husband has earned a reprieve. Why not experience nature at its finest before heading off to deal with the worst nature has to offer?

“Madelyn talks about you often,” Kylie says from the backseat of the Landcruiser.

I smile over my shoulder at her. “Same.” I glance at Hayden, who’s next to me in the driver’s seat, then decide to say what’s on my mind. “He’ll never admit it, but he’s sorry about Cabo.”

“Luciana,” Diego grinds out in warning.

“Misunderstandings.” Kylie shrugs, yet still glances nervously at Hayden. “Thank you for helping her escape.”

Declan, who sits next to her, listens silently.