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Ayla couldn’t read his tone. “No, I’m not telling you that.

What I saw of the room Io was locked in was expensive.

The furniture, the bedding, the curtains—everything was high end.

Even the lattice over the window was fine-quality wood and it was built into a window casing. Nothing was haphazard or shoddy.”

Oz’s hand briefly tightened over hers. “The expensive haciendas are on the north side of Trujillo, in the foothills of the mountains where it’s cooler. Both times you made contact with your twin, we were south of the city.”

“There’s nothing on the south side that fits?”

He frowned. “It’s hard to imagine a smaller home in the rainforest having the kind of interior you described. Something like that almost has to be north.”

“If the connection is stronger than usual…” she let her voice trail off.

“ If. That’s a big word to base a search on.”

“I know. We could waste time canvassing the wrong side of town, and the longer this drags out, the greater the risk to my sister. Are you actually considering using my link to Io? Something you don’t believe in?”

He gave her hand a light squeeze. “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Baggs has nothing so far. We have nothing. We’re trying to find her before Petrova does, and to add an extra layer of difficulty to this quest, both you and I have to avoid being spotted by the Russians.”

With a sigh, Ayla rested her head against Oz’s shoulder. “I’m worried about Io.”

“Pollita,” he said, “I’m worried about you. ”

She didn’t doubt him. From the beginning, Oz had watched over her, protected her, ensured she was safe, and not only in Puerto Jardin.

Even that first night, when she went up to his hotel room, he’d been careful and considerate, making sure she was never frightened.

Making certain she enjoyed herself as much as he did.

Once they learned she was pregnant, he cosseted her as much as possible. He made sure she had crackers or toast before she got out of bed in the morning, worried whether she was rested or was keeping enough food down.

Ayla had spent her entire life being the practical twin.

Sure, Io worried about her, just like she worried about her sister, but everyone else assumed she could take care of herself.

It was nice—more than nice—to have someone else watch out for her.

That this someone was possibly the sexiest man walking was a bonus.

“You said it yourself. They’ll never believe I’m not Io. We have to find her.”

Oz ran his thumb across her palm, stroking the sensitive skin. “Yeah. We’ll have a new set of problems then, but we’ll worry about those when the time comes.”

She didn’t ask. Until she had her sister beside her, nothing else mattered. Whatever problems Oz was talking about could be handled.

Over the past seven weeks, Ayla had thought about him a lot.

She’d wondered where he was, what he was doing, and if he ever thought of her.

And here they were, parked in a hotel room with its own disco ball and walls so bright, she could use a pair of sunglasses.

Her lips curved. She sat next to the man she tried so hard to forget and yet couldn’t put out of her mind.

“Oz?”

“What?”

“Did you ever think of me after I left your hotel room?”

There was a moment of silence before he said, “All the time, Ayla. All the damn time.”

She straightened and pulled her hand free. Standing, she said, “You don’t have to lie. A once in a while would have been enough.”

Slowly, Oz got to his feet to face her. “I wasn’t lying.”

Ayla crossed her arms over her chest and made a snorting sound.

He dug into the right front pocket of his camouflage pants and pulled something out. For a moment, he left his hand curled around it, and then he held out his arm and opened his fist. In the center of his palm was one small gold hoop earring. Her missing hoop earring.

“I’ve been carrying this like some kind of good luck charm since the morning you cut out on me. Don’t tell me I wasn’t thinking about you all the time because I sure as hell was.”

“Because you worried I might be pregnant?” Ayla meant that to be a statement, but it came out like a question.

“No, I never thought about that until the morning my breakfast sausage made you turn green.” He returned her earring to his pocket.

“You were so prissy, Pollita, and yet when we were making love, you weren’t prudish at all.

” His lips curved. “You seared yourself into my brain and I was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to track down one sexy little blonde in a city the size of Los Angeles.”

Ayla let her arms fall to her sides. “You were going to look for me?”

Oz shrugged. “I kept talking myself out of it, but the idea wouldn’t go away. I probably would have taken a stab at finding you when I was back in the States.”

“If you turned up at my apartment, I would have called the police.”

“Yeah?” He closed the distance between them. “Even if it was six months from now?” He rested his hand over her belly. “And it was obvious you were carrying my baby?”

“ Our baby,” Ayla corrected, putting her hand atop his.

“Ours,” he agreed, and then Oz leaned down and brushed his lips over hers.