Shadow Woman A Novel Page 0,107
could ask are the ones who are trying to kill us.”
“Well, that’s a bitch,” she said acerbically, earning a grin from him.
“No disagreement there.”
Something else occurred to her, and she poked him. “You found me. You had me bugged, too, didn’t you? I got rid of the cell phone, so what else did you have a tracker on?”
“I put three trackers on you, when I saw the situation deteriorating. One was on the backpack you left at your house.”
“Okay. That and the phone made two. What else?”
“Your wallet. I figured that was the most likely item you’d keep with you, if you could. I was afraid enough of your old training would kick in that you’d dump everything you had with you and start fresh.”
“My wallet.” That meant he’d been in her house, gone through her things. “When? When did you put them there?”
“Monday night, after your shopping spree.”
“You broke into my house? While I was asleep?” Outrage made her voice rise. He didn’t look the least bit guilty. If anything, he even looked amused.
“It wouldn’t make sense to break in while you were awake, now would it?”
“You went through my purse!”
“Guilty. Nice one, too.”
“And I had to dump it in a Walmart store, damn it!”
“I’ll get you another one.”
“You’re damn right you will.” She blew out a cool-down breath, slicked her hands over her wet hair. As huffy as she felt, the hard truth was that if he hadn’t put the trackers on her, he probably wouldn’t have been able to locate her again and she’d be all alone in this mess. Not knowing what was going on, not having all her memory back, she’d have made some sort of mistake and been caught. He’d saved her life. Grudgingly she said, “Thank you.”
He looked even more amused. “I know it kills you to say that. You’re welcome.”
“It doesn’t kill me. I just don’t like doing anything that makes you more cocky than you already are.”
“Remember that, huh?”
“Enough … Preciousssss.” With that out of her system, because he never liked being reminded of the few times he’d let people get under his guard, she crossed her arms on the edge of the tub and propped her chin on them. “Something really bothers me, though, more even than the creepy spying.”
“What’s that?”
“My face. Why did they change my face?” She heard the disturbed note in her voice and looked down, not wanting him to see the desolation she felt. It was silly, mourning for a face. This one wasn’t ugly; she was still attractive. Some people might like this face better than her old one. But this wasn’t her; she wanted to look in the mirror and see herself, feel that sense of being grounded.
He was silent a moment, as if weighing how much he should tell her. Finally he said, “To keep you safe.”
“Safe? Safe? The very people who are trying to kill us are the ones who gave me this face, so how is it keeping me safe?”
Again that silence, that pause. “Because the people who are trying to kill us aren’t the biggest problem out there.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears burn. Oh, shit, that certainly wasn’t anything she wanted to hear. What in God’s name had she been involved in?
He was evidently finished answering questions, because he fluidly got to his feet. “The food will be here any minute. You should probably get dried off. You can always have another soak if this one didn’t do the trick.” He got to the door, then stopped. “By the way—”
She looked up, stubbornly blinking back the tears. No way was she going to cry.
“I like your face,” he said softly. “It doesn’t matter. I liked your face before, and I like it now. You’re still you.”
Chapter Twenty-five
He’d never told her he loved her.
They lay naked in bed together, the curtains pulled against the night, against the whole world. The room wasn’t dark; one bedside lamp remained on, because she wanted to see him as much as he wanted to see her. Their lovemaking had been slower this time, longer, but just as exciting because a part of her couldn’t get over the fact that this was Xavier, and she had been so long without him. She was still caught between everything feeling so new and different and at the same time so familiar. Her head was on his shoulder, his arm was around her, one hand absently stroking over her side, her arm, then brushing the backs of