longer needed.”
Ella’s eyes widened. “Why would…?” She stopped, remembering something her editor had said. “Interviews,” she groaned. “I should have stayed and done the stupid interviews! Then all of this would have died out by now.”
“Possibly,” Cassy replied, adjusting one of Ella’s curls. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
“Thank you.” She let her hand drift over her slightly curved tummy. “I feel different.”
Cassy grinned. “Pregnancy will do that to you.”
A half hour later, Nasir’s driver pulled up outside of the hotel where the awards ceremony would take place. There was a large crowd that started jumping up and down when they realized that Ella was about to step out of the SUV. The screams of excitement were almost deafening and Ella felt two strong men take their place on either side of her.
“You’re amazing, Ella!” someone yelled. There were more calls and signs lifted over everyone’s heads saying that she was a national hero, that she’d struck a blow for women everywhere, and other signs that she couldn’t read because of the camera’s flashing in her eyes.
“We’re here for you,” one of the guards murmured in her ear. “Just walk forward.”
Ella walked forward, grateful for their help. They were wearing sunglasses, obviously having anticipated this craziness. She lifted a hand to wave at the crowd of people cheering her name as she walked into the hotel.
Inside, she sighed with relief, but that feeling was short lived as another crowd moved towards her as soon as they recognized her. This was a more elite crowd, but there were so many people who wanted to shake her hand, ask her questions, offer her additional news stories to investigate, job offers, and so many other offers that she wasn’t sure what to say or do.
“I’ve got ya,” a deep voice said close to her ear.
“Malcolm!” she gasped, automatically turning to look up at him as he wrapped an arm around her waist. “You’re here!”
He nodded to the guards who immediately started clearing a path. “I’m here, and I’m so furious, you should be terrified.”
Ella laughed. “You wouldn’t hurt me,” she replied with absolute conviction, leaning into his arm.
“Want to bet on that?” he growled, but his breath caressed her ear, causing her to shiver with awareness. “We’re going to talk. Now!”
He led her into one of the small offices for the hotel, shutting the door and closing out the sounds of the insanity.
“Now!” he snapped and turned to face her.
Ella stepped backwards, surprised by the fury in his eyes. “Malcolm?”
“Let’s get one thing straight right now,” he growled, advancing on her. “You will never say something like that and then leave me, ever again. Clear?”
“That I’m pregnant?”
He waved that away. “We’ll get to that in a minute. I’m talking about the other thing.”
“That I’m in love with you?”
“Yes! You said you love me, then you ran away! What the hell was that about, Ella?!”
“Well, I just…”
“I don’t care what you ‘just’ thought, Ella! I love you too! But you didn’t give me a chance to reply, did you? In fact, you dismissed my feelings, told me that I didn’t love you! You made up your mind about me, without giving me a chance!”
Ella realized that he was truly furious. “Malcolm, I didn’t…”
“You created this whole scenario in your mind because you’re too afraid of what might happen if I did love you. If we loved each other!”
“I’m not afraid of anything!”
“Really? Then why did you run away? Admit it, Ella. You’re afraid of being hurt, like your father who was devastated when your mother died. So you came up with this ridiculous idea that I can’t love you, which made everything safe. Because then we couldn’t be in a real relationship. That meant you were safe from being hurt.”
“I was hurt!” she yelled back, furious that he didn’t know how she felt about him. Unfortunately, his comments resonated with her. Had she run away because she was afraid that he might love her? In a weird way, it made sense.
“You run away from everything. It’s one of the reasons you prefer investigating issues in foreign countries, isn’t it? Because you know that you’ll never fall in love with someone committing a crime. You’re safe. You don’t have to invest in a real relationship. You don’t have to truly learn to live and love and form a life with someone who might leave you eventually.”
“I…!” Ella realized that she couldn’t argue. He was right! She’d never thought about it like that before. But he